I have a new student, just have seen her a few weeks. I gave her my very last open slot, and therefore cannot take any more new students. The lesson slot is on a Friday night session.

I get an email from her today: "I'm busy doing something tonight, and I've booked the rest of Friday nights through the whole next month; can we do my lesson another time?"

Don't people realize that when you give them a lesson slot you've made a commitment to them, and they are expected have committed that time as well?? Sheesh! It's not like a "maybe I'll come if I have nothing better to do" situation here......

So I sent her back a note that said, "Nope, sorry, it's Friday or nothing. Maybe another coach would have more time available...."

That is frustrating, isn't it? Music teachers run into this problem a lot, too. That's why a lot of my friends require that their students pay up front by the month, like paying tuition. They'll obviously not charge the student if they (the teacher) has to cancel a lesson, and they'll be lenient for things like illness, but it serves to underscore the idea that both teacher and student have made a commitment here. I've never required advance payment from my students, and haven't really had a problem, but I sure understand why others follow this policy!

As a parent, I think you did the right thing. It is totally unfair to cancel a lesson without 24 hours notice. I don't know if this is an adult or child student, but it is important (IMHO) that children understand and learn about committment right from the start. It works the same for any kind of appointment - piano lessons, haircut, dentist, etc. If this person is disrespectful this early on you are better off without them. My little one's coach invoices for her lessons on a monthly basis. It states right on the invoice that lesson cancelled inside 24 hours will be billed at the regular rate.

That is really, just wrong. If the person had any questions about if they would be available at a certain time, they should have checked first before committing.

I agree with you on this too, but you need to be forgivving of accidents. I woke up for my lesson one morning, and my blood sugar got too low, and I blacked out on my floor. By the time I realized what happened, and was coherent enough, my lesson was to start in about 5 minutes. I called my coach on her cell, and I hope she wasn't too mad at me. But it's not like i got sick the night before. And she does have a student before me, so she didn't have to sit there waiting for me.

I am extremely lenient when it comes to cancelling lessons; I only charge for missed lessons if I'm there waiting & they never show up. And even then wouldn't charge them if they had a good excuse (like you, Sue! I hope you're feeling better!)

But this is different; this is a time slot she committed to, then proceeded to blow it off **for the entire upcoming month!** because she felt like doing other things.

Actually what I'll do is, if someone else wants that time slot, it's theirs, and too bad for her. I'm not going to just hold it for her in case she decides she feels like skating that day.

Good response - don't hold it open for her. She might never come back and you can fill that slot with another student who'll continue.

Do you have standing appointment times or do you mix it up each week?

I find that, as Spring arrives, many of my students have to switch Sat/Sun on a weekly basis to fit soccer games, etc. into their schedule. I end up calling all my students each Thursday to confirm and make a schedule; otherwise I end up with missed lessons.

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I don't know why people do that...I never make commitments and then break them in order to do something else. I'd push her over to another coach to deal with her. Obviously she is not serious about figure skating and not worth your time, and seems like the kind of person who would just forget to show up and leave you waiting. why bother

I agree that sometimes things happen and 24 hours notice is not possible. Your situation is a perfect example of that. We've been in that situation (my little woke up with a raging fever - what can you do?) Her coach was very understanding and didn't charge for the lesson. Of course we (and I assume you) have built up a relationship with our coach over time and there is give and take on both sides. It just seems a bit much for a new student to expect the coach to give so much in a non emergency situation.

Another last minute thing to consider is if a adult skater has to work late. I've been extremely fortunate in that I've never had to cancel a lesson because of this, but it almost happened a few months back when a colleague called in sick.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

I think coaches can be understanding of little things in life if you can do the same for them. HOWEVER, folks need to be responsible for the most part. Life isn't perfect but we can give things our best shot. People get sick, their kids get sick, cars break and "bad" things do occur sometimes. The root of it is how responsible you are in the norm. I don't expect a perfect coach and heaven forbid if she wants a perfect student! Good work ethics are a very good thing.

Chico

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"I truly believe, when God created skating, he patted himself on the back."

You should open that last slot up for a different student.
Scheduling something else for a whole month while having another commitment obiously shows the importance of figure skating, and your time in this students priority list. You deserve a student who is enthusiastic, and understands the commitment that is made when you agree to a weekly time slot with a coach. I'm sure that student wouldn't be to happy if they showed up to work to be told.. Sorry we cant use you today, and we are not going to pay you.
In the few months my daughter has been with her coach, we have built a good relationship with him. I would feel horrible if we were unable to make a lesson without proper notice.

I would be ranting too! That's exactly the kind of student that I gladly let go. Who needs that kind of nonsense? You are better off without her. Fill that slot and don't give it another moment's notice.

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I don't blame you for being upset. The way I as a parent look at it, is if I have to cancel a lesson, I pay for it anyway. I figure I'm paying for that time slot. There has been a couple of times my daughter got in trouble at home and I had to cancel her lesson, but I don't think it's fair not to pay her coach.
That is so aggrivating! I hope you can find another student to fill that spot.
Sarah's Mom

I understand that you are mad but let's not all jump on the poor skater, maybe her boss made her have to work the night shifts for a month to replace a co-worker so she had no choice or maybe she has a lot of group projects to do for school and she's stuck having to meet with her peers at the time slot. I understand it's aggravating but it might not be her fault.

That's sure not what her email sounded like: "I'm busy doing something tonight, and I've booked the rest of Friday nights through the whole next month; can we do my lesson another time?"

It does not say anything about circumstances beyond her control. It says that she, herself has booked the rest of Friday nights!

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Yup. And that's why I'm mad. As I said, I'm very lenient & if someone were to come to me, & say, "I'm so sorry, due to these circumstances beyond my control I'm going to have to miss the next few lessons...." I'd be very understanding. That is not the case here.

I cannot believe this. I had three private lessons scheduled for today. Two went no-show and the other one called a few hours earlier to say she couldn't make it. I had no students at all today, which is a shame because the rink was EMPTY! Grrrr.

One of the hockey coaches told me he wants to institute a new policy for new students. After the first lesson, he's going to accept his payment and ask for the next lesson's payment in advance to "hold the time slot." If the student cancels in less than 24 hours, and the coach doesn't rebook, the money becomes the cancellation fee.

Hmmm. I'd worry about keeping track of who paid and when. (he's not including his current students in the new policy.) He feels that if the people have already laid out the money, it's more likely that they'll show up, on time.

I'll have to ask him how it works out next month.

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Do you observe Daylight Savings time? It might be the time change that's thrown everyone off. I went to skate today and at my rink it's typically jam packed on Sundays, but today it was nearly a ghost town. Granted, I'm not complaining, but that time change messes with a lot of people (heck, I even got to the rink later than I'd intended because my internal clock was disagreeing with the one on my wall).

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"finger painting?"

24 hours notice is a great idea except for illness or an emergency. (Car problems, death in the family, issues beyond a persons control.) Ask for payment at the time of a lesson. I do both of the above with my coach and it seems to work well. Personally I wouldn't like paying for lessons I haven't taken. I also don't expect my coach to give me lessons without paying her when I do. If I was a coach, I would write down what my rules are for my students. If everyone knows the rules then it's easier to inforce them without problems in the future. If the you want the rules followed as a coach you need to do the same for your students. I've known coaches to do the first but then not do the same for their students. This causes upset and anger. Good luck.

Chico

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"I truly believe, when God created skating, he patted himself on the back."

Well, we went to Summer time a week ago, but our rink was rather empty yesterday.

The problem at ours is a virus that is decimating skaters and coaches (and the start of the school Easter holidays, of course - not all schools have finished yet, but one or two have).

In fact, we had the far less common problem of the coach not turning up because she was ill! My husband still has his solo lesson with her on a Sunday morning. But it is not so long since our joint lesson, with her husband, was moved from a Sunday to a Tuesday at the coach's request - and he got confused and forgot that Husband still had his private lesson on Sunday, so failed to let us know. Not that it mattered, of course, but it would have been nice to have been forewarned.

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Mrs Redboots
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Yes, we went to Daylight Savings Time yesterday, but I think the good weather was the more likely reason for the no-shows. Here's a question: do I call the ones that didn't contact me, or wait for them to call me for another lesson?

I was thinking about the hockey coaches' idea. Maybe a partial "reservation deposit" instead of an entire lesson payment would be better. Have to suggest it to him this week.

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Had to laugh at what happened to my GF's lesson last Friday morning. She got a call from her coach about two hours before her lesson saying the coach was going to have to cancel because she (coach) was in Atlanta, not St. Louis.

Don't know why she was in Atlanta, but I'll find out tonight.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

I would call them and tell them if it happens again, you will charge for missed lesson. I think that is only fair.

Wow, we're much more formal about lessons around here! It's common policy to pay for any missed lessons, especially if less than 24 hour notice, but even a few days' notice isn't enough if the coach can't get another student to take the spot. I even payed one day because we were getting a few inches of snow an hour for the afternoon - I cancelled, so I expected to pay the coach. She actually didn't expect to be payed, and gave my daughter some extra time on another day.

I'd find another skater to fill that spot, and tell the former student that you depend on the money from lessons, and needed the income. Coaching, especially at the beginner, lower (as in not elite senior) levels is a very difficult way to make a living, at least here in the Northeast US. Driving from rink to rink, in all kinds of weather, is crazy!

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As an adult skater (i'm not a coach or parent, is it okay to post over here?) I think that the entire lesson payment would be much easier to keep track of than a partial deposit. I would know when I came for the lesson that all the payment was taken care of- I wouldn't have to pay you twice, I wouldn't need to get two reciepts for one class. And you wouldn't have to keep track of things twice!

Just my opinion.

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