A proper legal analysis is necessary based on your location and contract. Consult an attorney in your home state for advice regarding your contract or specific legal situation.
Episode 73: Should You Charge A Rescheduling Fee?
LISTEN ON
APPLE PODCAST • GOOGLE PODCAST • SPOTIFY
Welcome back to another episode of The Legal Paige Podcast! Today I am diving into a topic that is asked extensively in the Legal Paige Facebook Group. Rescheduling fees aren’t one of those easy, cut-and-dry issues. In fact, they fully depend on your business, your pricing, and your policies.
Episode Highlights
- Should you even actually charge a rescheduling fee?
- What types of questions you need to ask yourself as a business owner. Including: Is this the second or third time my clients are rescheduling? Am I missing out on dates that other couples could have booked? Are they wanting to reschedule to a prime Saturday date in 2022? Do I need to charge a fee?
- What to do if this is your clients second and third time rescheduling and how not having a rescheduling fee could have you missing out on lots of opportunities.
- And how much should you charge for a rescheduling fee, what is reasonable, and what will work for your business.
Worth Noting
"If you are on your second or even third time rescheduling a couple it’s probably time to charge a rescheduling fee. You’re missing out on dates you could have available to other couples (at your NEW/INCREASED rates!), you’re putting in more work to arrange a second (or third) date, and sometimes are switching to a completely different location or venue. If this is the case you should fully consider charging a rescheduling fee for your couples."
"A “reasonable fee” describes a fee that isn’t too high or too low when it is compared with similar fees for a similar service. And when a court interprets whether a rescheduling fee is reasonable or not, it uses a “reasonableness standard” test which weighs whether an individual or entity engages in a reasonable way with clients, and whether an action was taken in a reasonable or unreasonable manner."
"A flat fee for all clients across the board is easily proven as reasonable, should you have to go to court to argue for your fees. A rescheduling fee is in place because of the loss of income to you, the administrative costs to rescheduling, and the loss of work and income to your business this year. My hope for you is that you never have to get to the court stage, but just in case you do I want you to be prepared to handle whatever arguments comes your way."
