Does anyone have an example ‘no refund policy’ for clients who don’t meet requirements of your progra but still want a refund?
I have a client who signed up for a 6 week program with me. She was going to train with me three times a week for six weeks. Right from the get-go, I knew she was going to be difficult when she re-scheduled twice and actually tried to push our 1st session out two weeks due to being busy. I remedied that and got her to start earlier than she wanted to but she was a chronic cancelor and also was bad at communicating (wouldn’t respond to voicemails, emails and texts for days and sometimes for more than a week). We started the 6 week program in April and by July she had only completed 7 of the 18 sessions, well over the 6 weeks (we kept pushing out due to her having ‘impromptu’ travel). I finally terminated her contract and offered to refund her last installment but asked her to consider all the ‘extra work’ I did – provided her workouts to take with her when traveled, etc. She took me up on the offer and I refunded her. I don’t currently have a ‘no refund policy’ or even a ‘refund policy’ in my contracts. I want to include something that if clients don’t follow the program requirements laid out, that I reserve the right to NOT refund their money. Can I do this? Suggestions please? Thanks!
I place timelines in my contracts which state that their sessions have to be completed by a certain time. It usually allows for extra time for cancellations, sick days, unforseen events, etc. Depending on the number of sessions purchased, depends on how much time I add on. I do this mainly for group classes I offer and then I add in a no refund policy without medical release (I work with pre/post natal clients) for unused classes.
My personal training sessions typically go on a month to month basis for which I have a 24hr cancellation policy. For these clients I will offer refunds as they tend to be long term clients (6months to multiple years).
Good luck. Take it as a learning experience and change your company policies accordingly. As our business enviroments change, our companies need to change as well.
Jocelyn Martin