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Charging fines for late cancellations and no-shows

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What it is

Clients sometimes cancel at the last minute or don’t turn up at all. Your no-show settings let you decide whether those clients are charged, how much they are charged, and which types of booking the rule applies to.

No-show fines are on top of your refund policy. Your refund policy decides whether a client gets their money or credit back when they cancel late. A fine lets you charge them extra as well. This is especially useful for clients on unlimited memberships: losing an unlimited credit costs them nothing, so a fine gives them a reason not to book lots of classes they don’t plan to attend.

Until now, a no-show fine was always the full price of the class. You can now pick a fine that suits your business: the class price, a fixed amount, or a percentage of the class price.

Where to find the settings

The settings live in your Settings page, on the Class settings tab, under the heading No-show settings. Once you’ve made your changes, click Save.

The fields appear in this order:

  1. No show policy
  2. Applies to
  3. Deadline before class (hours)
  4. Number of warnings before charge
  5. No show fine
No-show settings on the Class settings tab

Each option and what it does

No show policy

This is the main choice. There are four options:

  • No charge no email (this is the default). Clients who break your rules aren’t charged and aren’t sent anything.
  • No charge with email. Clients who break your rules aren’t charged, but they get an email letting them know and asking them not to do it again.
  • Full charge. Clients who cancel after your deadline, or don’t turn up, are charged a fine.
  • Charge only if class was full. Clients are only charged if the class was full at some point after they booked. Once a class fills up, a booking is taking a space someone else could have had. If a client drops out before the class was ever full, they weren’t stopping anyone joining, so they aren’t charged.

If you pick Full charge or Charge only if class was full, three more fields appear: Deadline before class (hours), Number of warnings before charge, and No show fine.

If you pick No charge with email or No charge no email, those three fields are hidden.

No show policy options

Applies to

Choose which bookings your no-show policy covers:

  • Unlimited packages only (this is the default). The policy only applies to clients who booked using an unlimited package.
  • All payment types. The policy applies to every way of paying, including limited packages and card payments through Stripe.

With Unlimited packages only, clients who paid for the class directly, paid part of it with a gift card or discount code, or booked with a limited package are not charged a fine.

Applies to options

Deadline before class (hours)

This is how close to the start of the class a client can cancel without being fined.

For example, with a deadline of 1 hour:

  • A client who cancels more than 1 hour before the class starts is not charged.
  • A client who cancels less than 1 hour before the class starts is charged the no-show fine.

With a deadline of 0:

  • A client who cancels any time before the class starts is not charged.
  • A client who cancels after the class has started is charged the no-show fine.

If you choose Charge only if class was full as your No show policy, this field is set to 0 and can’t be changed.

Number of warnings before charge

The number of warnings a client gets before they are charged, from 0 to 3. Setting this to 0 means clients are charged from their first late cancellation or no-show.

For example, with 1 warning a client is warned the first time and charged the second time. With 2 warnings they are warned twice and charged on the third time.

Late cancellations and no-shows both count towards the same warnings total, and warnings don’t reset.

No show fine

Choose how much clients are charged:

  • Class price. The client is charged the full price of the class.
  • Fixed amount. You enter an amount and every fine is that amount, whatever the class costs.
  • Percentage of class price. The client is charged a percentage of the class price that you choose, up to 100%.

If you choose Fixed amount or Percentage of class price, an Amount field appears for you to enter the value.

No show fine options

When a fine is charged

When your policy is set to charge (and the booking is covered by your Applies to setting), a fine is charged when:

  • the client cancels after your deadline, or
  • the class has finished and the client was not checked in.

The fine is charged to the same card the client paid with. If the charge fails, ClassFit tries again several times. If the client doesn’t have a card on file with enough funds, the fine can’t be collected.

So it’s important to check clients in to your classes. If you don’t check someone in, ClassFit treats them as a no-show.

What your clients see

When a client is charged a no-show fine, they are sent an automatic email called No-show Full Booking Charge. You can edit the design of this email in your automatic emails and send yourself a test version first.

If you choose No charge with email, clients who break your rules get an email instead of a fine, asking them to cancel in good time in future.

If you change your settings

New settings apply to clients who book after you make the change. Clients who booked before the change stay on the terms that applied when they booked, even if their class is after the change.

Your history log

Changes to your no-show fine setting are recorded in your account’s history log, so you can see when it was changed.

FAQs

Will clients who’ve paid for a single class be fined?
Only if Applies to is set to All payment types. With the default, Unlimited packages only, they won’t be.

Does a fine apply if the client used a gift card or discount code?
With All payment types, yes. The fine is worked out the same way as for any other booking. With Unlimited packages only, no.

I forgot to check a client in. Will they be fined?
Yes, if your policy charges for no-shows and the booking is covered. A client who isn’t checked in by the time the class ends is treated as a no-show, so check clients in as they arrive.

Why is the deadline field greyed out?
You’ve chosen Charge only if class was full. With that option the deadline is fixed at 0.

Can I stop charging fines altogether?
Yes. Set No show policy to No charge with email or No charge no email. No charge no email is the default.

Can I give clients a warning before fining them?
Yes. Set Number of warnings before charge to the number of warnings you want them to get first.

Is a fine the same as not getting a refund?
No. Your refund policy decides whether the client gets their money or credit back. A fine is an extra charge on top of that.

Do warnings ever reset?
No. Late cancellations and no-shows all count towards the same total, and it doesn’t reset.

If I change my settings, does it affect existing bookings?
No. Clients who booked before the change keep the terms that applied when they booked.

Which card is the fine charged to?
The same card the client paid with.