Lesson scheduling and cancellation policy questions

[CaitlinandTheBay]

[QUOTE=CHT;8129179]
Hmmm…ok, rethinking the notice thing. I need to sleep on it.

My students are in general good, but I think I have just been easy going to the point they now think that late cancellations are ok. They are not.

My next thought is that outside board and lesson horse leases include a weekly lesson…so I need to figure out how that will work with the new cancellation policy. Current plan is that if the person takes less than 4 lessons in the month, the difference can be carried forward for up to one month (unless otherwise arranged before hand).

I think the book is a good idea, and I will just have the general time schedule on a white board and on the website, with the names listed in the book.[/QUOTE]

A cancelled lesson is a cancelled lesson whether or not they’re outside boarder/leasers. Theoretically, they’re paying for that lesson with board money. You just credit them forward a make-up lesson (like you would someone who pays all their lessons at the start of the month) for whatever period of time and be done with it.

[SnicklefritzG]

[QUOTE=CHT;8128859]
I want to keep the cancellation policy simple…and not track how many someone has cancelled…but I figure it can still be at my discretion.

Snicklefritz: so how many weeks in advance could you sign up on the white board?

Ybiaw, that day timer is a good idea. I could do it paper wise rather than white board…I could always make my own binder customized for my needs.[/QUOTE]

The white board usually has an entire month on it.

We put it in a place where people won’t rub up against it and accidently erase anything. We’ve never had a problem with it and since it’s a board instead of a book, it doesn’t walk off.

[VelvetsAB]

[QUOTE=CHT;8128789]

Next question: a fairly large percentage of my clients work shift work, or work out of town with varying schedules. This means only about 50% of my students can actually keep a regular lesson…and I sometimes forget if my shift workers are coming a certain day or not…something I need to track better if I want to enforce a cancellation policy. I also have students that occasionally want to ride an extra lesson in a week, which of course I want to accommodate…but I don’t want overly full lessons.

Also planning to charge an extra $5 for lessons scheduled outside of my regular blocks. Typically these would be private, but may also be a group of friends that want to ride at a certain time outside of when I regularly teach.[/QUOTE]

My coach has me write when my lessons are on a calendar in her office. I go back and forth between days and afternoons, and this helps her know if I am riding shortly after lunch, or in the evening. If she isn’t sure, she will send me a text!

She is really good if I cancel late occasionally, just because I do work weird hours, and sometimes feel way too exhausted to ride, and need the extra few hours of sleep. If it was to happen all the time, she would start charging me, for sure. The other coach has stopped scheduling makeups for those who are frequent cancellers.

Lessons for me are typically privates ($43 for a 30 minute private), so having an extra $5 added on might be really off putting. Regular hour long group lessons are $40.

Since the barn has a fairly regular main lesson group, with only a few of us “oddballs”, the whiteboard just has student names and their normal scheduled time. Anything outside of that has to be sorted out with the coaches.

The book does sound like a great idea, though.

[kdow]

[QUOTE=arapaloosa_lady;8129091]
Definitely make the cancellation period longer than that. If the person calls & says they woke up sick, you can waive the fee at your discretion. That’s the point - put the ball in your court as to whether the person pays the penalty fee or you waive it.[/QUOTE]

I agree. I’m someone who is likely to have frequent cancellations due to my health - a 24 hour policy wouldn’t put me off as long as I felt like the trainer was willing to work with me to come up with something that made sense for both of us.

I don’t want to have the trainer there with nothing to do last minute, but some mornings I really do wake up feeling like I’ve been hit by a truck and backed over a few times in the night and there’s no way I could ride. So my best situation would be where I could be upfront with the trainer about that when starting lessons, and then we could discuss where to go from there - perhaps instead of 24 hours I get an extension until the morning as long as I call by Xam. Perhaps we agree that on some of those days if I don’t feel up to riding but am not completely dead, instead of canceling I will come for a non-riding lesson, perhaps looking at conformation or going over figuring out a feed plan, etc. (I don’t actually ride atm anyway because my joints are so bad I’d be canceling more often than riding, but with new treatments hopefully I will get better and in that case I’d hope a trainer was willing to discuss with me how to make it work for both of us and be understanding. Like I said, I don’t want the trainer to be standing around missing a chance at making money, but I also can’t afford to pay for lots of lessons I’m not able to take, so if a trainer couldn’t work something out with me I’d just not ride there.)

[SnicklefritzG]

[QUOTE=kdow;8129291]
I agree. I’m someone who is likely to have frequent cancellations due to my health - a 24 hour policy wouldn’t put me off as long as I felt like the trainer was willing to work with me to come up with something that made sense for both of us.

I don’t want to have the trainer there with nothing to do last minute, but some mornings I really do wake up feeling like I’ve been hit by a truck and backed over a few times in the night and there’s no way I could ride. So my best situation would be where I could be upfront with the trainer about that when starting lessons, and then we could discuss where to go from there - perhaps instead of 24 hours I get an extension until the morning as long as I call by Xam. Perhaps we agree that on some of those days if I don’t feel up to riding but am not completely dead, instead of canceling I will come for a non-riding lesson, perhaps looking at conformation or going over figuring out a feed plan, etc. (I don’t actually ride atm anyway because my joints are so bad I’d be canceling more often than riding, but with new treatments hopefully I will get better and in that case I’d hope a trainer was willing to discuss with me how to make it work for both of us and be understanding. Like I said, I don’t want the trainer to be standing around missing a chance at making money, but I also can’t afford to pay for lots of lessons I’m not able to take, so if a trainer couldn’t work something out with me I’d just not ride there.)[/QUOTE]

I think you are the kind of client that trainers appreciate in that you are open about your situation and are actively trying to work something out.

The problem clients are the ones who just cancel last minute for lame reasons, leaving the trainer high and dry with a lost lesson fee or lost opportunity to let someone else use the lesson horse.

[SuzieQNutter]

In reality as long as you ring before the horse is brought in to be tacked or is tacked up is better for the horse than after.

[keysfins]

We use the planner book system, too.

In addition, we have a blackboard. We write up each day’s lesson schedule, the horses that the trainers will be schooling, the horses that the working students will ride, which horses are off, and any reminders for that particular day.

At the end of the day, we have the lessons already logged in the planner, and we write all the other info in to account for each horse in the barn. Then we can plan for the next day to schedule all of the above.

We do have cancellations. Depending on how tight the schedule is, we may be able to fit the horse in for a training ride, lungeing, a hack, or a day off.

ETA: all the horses in the barn are in a training program with a fee per month, separate from board fees. There are no cancellation charges; the canceling rider knows that their horse will be worked/exercised if possible, but on busy days, the horse may have a day off.