I am a personal trainer - customer refund - full price after offering a discount?

[kat87]

Hello,

 

A client bought 4 sessions, and paid a discounted price of 120GBP. (30 pounds each session)

Single sessions would have been 40, but I offer a discount for 4 sessions bought upfront.

 

I saw the client 2, and had to cancel last week twice due to illness, which he was not very happy about.

Yesterday I asked if I can postpone the session by 1hour and he asked for a refund as he was not happy. I was a bit surprised but did not make a fuss about it.

I informed the customer that I will refund 40pounds and not 60pounds, as the discount is only applicable for a set of 4 which did not take place here.

 

I dont think I am unfair here but he demands the other 20pounds as well.

 

Am I doing the right thing? Most of the PTsI know wouldnt even transfer the other 40pounds as he bought them upfront and did not finish them - I am aware I cancelled but I am human and sometimes unfortunately get ill as well, and usually did not have any such troubles.

 

Please let me know if it is legally okay to stand my ground.

 

Thank you,

Kat

[kat87]

Would appreciate any help

[slick132]

Hi Kat and welcome to CAG

 

Normally, the matter of refunds would be covered in an agreement which you would provide to your clients. Do you provide any written agreement and, if so, what does it say about refunds.

 

If there was no written agreement, then I would say you are absolutely obliged to make the refund to the client.

 

You failed to provide training sessions at the time agreed for the last 2 weeks. It doesn't matter that you were ill for week 3; or that you wanted to vary week 4's session by just one hour.

 

You failed to provide the agreed service and I think, in the absence of a written agreement, you should refund the full £60.

 

This is fair to your client and, far more importantly, it shows others that you treat your clients fairly.

 

I would think, in your line of work, personal recommendations are important and that happy clients are your best advertisement. Furthermore, unhappy clients will cause damage to your reputation and that is NOT good for a business.

 

[SabreSheep]

I think the way to look at this is this.

 

You entered into a contract with him for 4 sessions with a discount applied if he paid for 4 sessions up front.

You have failed to provide the service for whatever reason so the client has requested the refund.

 

The discount was for 4 sessions if they were paid up front. The client has upheld his part of the contract. Under that contract the sessions were £30 after discount each.

 

Client had 2 sessions provided. Under that contract that is £60 worth with £60 to refund.

 

The fact you normally sell the sessions at £40 each is not applicable to this contract

[kat87]

We had an agreement via email, that stated that single sessions will be charged 40pounds, and a discount is applicable after 4 sessions....

The customer has also lied to me about being a student which gave him another discount, but I did not want to make a fuss about that either and just left the student discount...

[SabreSheep]

We had an agreement via email, that stated that single sessions will be charged 40pounds, and a discount is applicable after 4 sessions....

The customer has also lied to me about being a student which gave him another discount, but I did not want to make a fuss about that either and just left the student discount...

 

 

You need to make up your mind you have contradicted yourself.

 

in your OP you state " but I offer a discount for 4 sessions bought upfront."

 

One is discount AFTER 4 sessions

The other is a Bulk Purchase Discount.

[slick132]

Hi Kat,

 

I stand by what I said above - keep your client happy for the sake of your business and refund £60.

 

Otherwise, you need to tell us exactly what is said in your email about :-

 

1. The manner in which payment was calculated and/or the discount was applied.

 

2. The matter of refunds being made when you failed to provide the service originally agreed.

 

3. Whether you were permitted to vary training session times, perhaps with a minimum notice period required.

 

[kat87]

I am aware of this but as I usually sell 25 sessions upfront with a bigger discount and some people might then want to unfairly benefit from this buy buying these and only complete lets say 10 and ask for a refund of the outstanding 15.

 

But I have just transferred the rest as well, I just wanted to know what other people thought of this. I think my big issue here was to find out that he was not even a student but had a full time job and hence, had at least 1 discount that was really not fair.

 

Usually, in the 7 years of my career I never had such issue so just wanted to see how other ppl felt about this. I guess I will make it clearer in my offer that the discount will only apply when the sessions are completed and an early cancel from the clients side will not have the discounted price.

 

Luckily, this was only a small amount of money, so no harm done

[kat87]

Thanks everyone for your help!

It can be quite heloful to have other ppls opinion, especially when you feel a bit frustrated

[havinastella]

I am aware of this but as I usually sell 25 sessions upfront with a bigger discount and some people might then want to unfairly benefit from this buy buying these and only complete lets say 10 and ask for a refund of the outstanding 15.

 

But I have just transferred the rest as well, I just wanted to know what other people thought of this. I think my big issue here was to find out that he was not even a student but had a full time job and hence, had at least 1 discount that was really not fair.

 

Usually, in the 7 years of my career I never had such issue so just wanted to see how other ppl felt about this. I guess I will make it clearer in my offer that the discount will only apply when the sessions are completed and an early cancel from the clients side will not have the discounted price.

 

Luckily, this was only a small amount of money, so no harm done

 

If they did this, you would refund pro rota, the same as you should be doing in this instance!

[slick132]

Hi Kat, and thanks for the further input.

 

Hopefully this is a rare occurrence which shouldn't happen too often for you.

 

For the future, I think you should make it clear in your client agreement or email that any session that is cancelled or rescheduled by you without reasonable (perhaps 48 hours) notice, will only be refunded at the pro-rata rate of what the client has paid.

 

I assume any session cancelled by the client without adequate notice will not be refunded by you.