Canceling a booking hours after missing it?

deefine

This is maybe a concern for a mod or admin, but I'm confused on something that happened on the site... after discussion and submitting a booking request, and the pro accepting, she was a no-show but no-communicate as well. I don't see any reason why. She canceled hours after the booking time passed, for a stated reason that didn't make sense with her situation or location, which if course could just be made up if she flaked. Not communicating is what makes it look flakey or shady.

The site was asking me "how did it go?" And to leave a karma... which I refrained from before learning more, but it's hard not to leave one when when someone flakes. I take time out of my day to make sure I show up, and nobody's paying me to anyway.

Why are pros allowed to cancel hours after a booking has passed?

The site assumes it's happened, and I've never seen any option to cancel after it's passed. I've actually never even heard of any event in the real or digital world cancelling after it's passed, that makes no sense. It either happened or it didn't, it's either scheduled or cancelled.

Can we also get the option to retroactively cancel a booking for any stated reason?

Sheena123

Usually when it says “how did your session go”, there’s a little blurb that you can click that says “it didn’t happen”. I would definitely leave a karma on her page saying how she basically ghosted you and had zero communication. Here’s what out contract says for us in this situation;

Cancellation Policy

If you cancel within 12 hours we ask you offer the Client compensation in the form of a discount for their next session with you.
If you cancel within 24 hours and your session includes a rental space arrangement prepaid for by the Client, we ask you pay the full price of that rental cost. In the reverse scenario we ask the same of the Client in order to compensate you.
Client deposits are applicable for refund when an agreed arrangement is changed at your request, or when the arrangement and deposit terms were not clearly communicated beforehand. Any deposit requirements should be stated clearly in your profile. In any case, we reserve the right to require the return of a deposit if we deem the circumstances to be unreasonable for the client.

@Sideon

CuddleDuncan

@deefine, leave 1 star Karma and describe what happened. Do not be emotional, just stick to the facts. This is the only situation where it is permitted to leave Karma when you have not actually met the person. I always say that Karma should be true; as kind as circumstances permit; and fair to the writer, the subject and to any future client who may rely on the Karma.

You are right that it is the not communicating that is the real problem. We've all missed appointments, shit happens. But we offer fulsome apologies afterwards, and an explanation, and a discounted session next time, or something.

Console yourself with the thought that the person's credit card is about to be charged 15% of the fee I hope you haven't paid. (They can get it back but that does involve being a responsible adult.)

Bella_Sera

@deefine, the reason that the pro canceled “after the fact” of the cuddle that didn’t happen was to avoid being charged the commission fee referred to above. As Sheena mention, the pro would have received a prompt similar to the one you did asking “how did your session go,” and she clicked “it didn’t happen.”

The client does not have the option to “cancel”after a session for the simple fact that he doesn’t need to—he is not charged this fee. You can certainly leave honest karma about your no-show experience, though.

I’m so sorry that you dealt with the insult and inconvenience of being ghosted, but try not to take it too hard. She likely did you a favor in the sense that, if she wasn’t ready to cuddle, it probably wasn’t going to be an experience worth paying for anyway.

Good luck getting back out there!

deefine

"it didn’t happen"

OK, that seems fair with the fee (based on no payment being taken for a session that didn't happen), but if somebody just flakes... for whatever reason, they forgot, they just don't feel like it... I guess the only penalty is a bad karma... but then there's the issue of a retaliatory karma... and a lot of people are afraid to leave karma for that reason, so flakiness goes unpenalized...

I mean, maybe it's not that big of a deal, but I hope the site maybe tracks how often a post-session cancellation happens, for whatever stated reason (by the pro), because I've had a lot of flaked sessions, and it seems too easy to just cover it all up.

Regardless, I cleared it up with her anyway after she contacted me, so I think it'll be OK there.

Anyway, I know the pros are at greater risk here (due to having their payment method attached), so I can consider leniency with this kind of post-session cancellation, but regardless of any insult felt (which mostly came from lack of direct communication), I hope there can be a better way of handling this, though for all I know this may be the best way.

Thanks for your input and patience and empathizing.

Sheena123

@deefine I’d like to commend you for your maturity and respect while dealing with this unprofessional person. I’m sorry this happened to you 😓 I would suggest still leaving a karma detailing what happened so others can be warned. If they leave retaliatory karma, you can report it! Good luck!

deefine

She's fine. Just was a hard situation for her to go through and me to understand. Thanks for letting me know 😄