A text at four o'clock
The lesson is at five. At four, the parent texts the tutor: their son has a football match that was rearranged, can they skip today? The tutor has already travelled halfway across town. Your terms say cancellations with less than 24 hours' notice are charged in full and the tutor is paid. But the tutor tells the office at the end of the month, the parent says they gave plenty of notice, and the text is on the tutor's phone.
The office decides to split the difference, again. The tutor feels the agency does not back them. The parent is annoyed to be charged anything. And another family, who cancelled late three times last term, was never charged at all because their tutor did not mention it.
Why cancellation rules are applied unevenly
- Cancellations arrive by text, email or phone to the tutor, not to the agency.
- The time the cancellation was made is not recorded, so notice cannot be checked.
- Tutors decide whether to report a late cancellation, and many do not want the awkwardness.
- The office applies the policy when it hears about it, often weeks later.
- Tutor-side cancellations, where the tutor cancels late, are not tracked at all.
What your cancellation policy says, including what the tutor is paid, is your decision. We apply it the same way to every family and every tutor.
What uneven cancellations cost
Revenue the agency is entitled to under its own terms, never collected. Tutors who travel for lessons that do not happen and are not paid, and who then look for work elsewhere. Parents who compare notes and find they were treated differently. Office time spent arguing about text messages.
Tutors cancelling late are a cost too: parents lose confidence, and without a record the owner cannot see which tutors are unreliable.
How we build cancellation handling
- Parents and tutors cancel lessons through the lesson schedule, from a link in the reminder or their app, rather than by text.
- The time of every cancellation is recorded, with who made it and a reason from a short list.
- Your policy is set as rules: notice periods, what the parent is charged and what the tutor is paid at each point, and any allowances, such as one free late cancellation a term.
- The charge and the tutor payment are calculated at the moment of cancellation and shown to both sides.
- The office sees late cancellations in a list and can waive a charge for a good reason, such as illness, which is recorded.
- Late cancellations by tutors are recorded against the tutor and shown to the owner as a pattern.
- Billing and tutor pay at month end use these records, so nothing depends on anyone remembering.
| Cancellation | Parent charged | Tutor paid |
|---|---|---|
| By parent, with enough notice | No | No |
| By parent, late | As your policy says | As your policy says |
| By parent, late, waived by office | No, reason recorded | As your policy says for waivers |
| By tutor, late | No | No, and recorded on their record |
After the change
The parent opens the reminder and taps cancel at four. The system records the time and tells them, before they confirm, that under your terms this lesson will be charged. They choose to go ahead. The tutor gets a notification before setting off in most cases, and is paid as your policy says. At month end, it is on the bill with the time of cancellation. There is nothing to argue about.
Over a term, the owner can see which families cancel late most often and which tutors do, and have the right conversations.
Is this happening at your agency?
- Cancellations go to tutors by text.
- You cannot tell when a lesson was cancelled.
- Late cancellation charges are applied inconsistently.
- Tutors are not paid for late cancellations they did not report.
- You do not know which tutors cancel late.