This article explains how the cancelation policy is enforced, how you can set it up, and ways to manage it.
An agency's cancelation policy is one of the most important policies in their business. This helps ensure clients aren't creating 'back-up plan' jobs, caregivers still get paid for time put aside for a job, and the business can recover fees for time spent on filling a job. This article will walk through how the policy is enforced through the Sitter Pro system and will provide scenarios to help you set up your policy.
How does it work?
When creating your policy, you will define 3 elements:
- Service Fees The amount that should be paid to the business. This can be set at either a flat amount (i.e. $25) or an hourly amount based on the planned time of the job (i.e. $5/hr x 4 hrs scheduled).
- Caregiver Wages The amount that should be paid to the caregiver. This can be set at either a flat amount (i.e. $25) or an hourly amount based on the planned time of the job (i.e. $15/hr x 4 hrs scheduled).
- Timeframe If the client cancels within X hours, the cancelation policy will be enforced (most common are 48 hours, 24 hours, and 8 hours).
Based on the settings you provide, the cancelation policy will go into effect if the client cancels a confirmed job (i.e. there is an assigned caregiver) within the timeframe assigned and they will pay the business and caregiver the amounts defined in the policy.
Where do I set my cancelation policy?
You can set up your cancelation policy in two locations- the default policies and individual services. The default policy should be set with your most common policy rules. Whenever you create new services, they will start with these defaults, but can be changed if necessary (i.e. if most jobs require 24 hours notice that would be your default, but if the Newborn Care Specialist service requires 48 hours notice, you can change it on the service).
**Reminder: If you update your default policy, you'll need to make sure the rest of your services are properly updated as well because they are not updated when the defaults are changed.
How is the payment received?
The payment process will be dependent on how your payment is received for the specific service that the client requested. For example, if the service is set up to charge payment to the client's credit card for both the service fees and wages, the cancelation fees will be charged to their credit card. If the service is set up for the service fees to be charged to their credit card and caregiver wages paid in cash, their card will be charged for the cancelation service fee, but not the caregiver's wages. In this instance, or if anything was set to 'invoice', it would be up to the caregiver or business to recover their wages from the client. The system will only process cancelation fees on services that are set to credit card payments.
When is payment received?
When a job is canceled by the client and it's within the cancel timeframe, it will automatically move into a status of 'Canceled- Processing Payment'. Their credit card will then be charged at the time of your standard auto-charge setting. This is to provide admins with a chance to waive the cancelation fees if it's determined that they shouldn't be applied for any reason. Once the credit card is charged, payment will be received in the same timeframe as paid jobs.
How do I waive the cancel fee?
In the event a client cancels within the cancelation timeframe, but you don't want them to be charged the fees, you can waive their fees. When the job is in the 'Canceled- Processing Payment' status, you can go to the action menu on the booking and go to the 'Actions' and select 'Stop cancelation fee'. It will confirm you want to stop the cancel fee and then it will stop the auto-charge process. This will waive both the service fee and caregiver wages.
Alternatively, if the client calls you to cancel (instead of doing it in the app), when you cancel the job you can indicate that the fees should not be applied.
How should I structure my cancelation fees?
While we don't provide guidance on pricing because each market is different, we have compiled a few scenarios to help you determine the best structure and best way to collect the fees.
Scenario 1: Our policy is that if a client cancels within 24 hours, they need to pay for 2 hours of our service fee ($3/hr) and 2 hours of the caregivers' wages ($15/hr). In this instance, you'd want to enter the fees with the 'per job' option and multiply the hourly rate by 2 hours. If you use the 'hourly' option for this scenario, your clients may end up paying for more than planned since the hourly option is based on the planned number of hours. So if a 4 hour job was canceled, they'd pay $12 in service fees and $60 in caregiver wages, which is twice amount they should be paying.
- Service Fees: $6 per job
- Caregiver Wages: $30 per job
- Timeframe: 24 hours
Scenario 2: Our policy is that they pay half the caregiver's hourly rate ($14/hour) for the amount of time booked and our full booking fee ($25/day) if they cancel within 12 hours of the start time. In this scenario, you'll use a 'per job' rate for the service fees and a 'per hour' fee for the caregiver's wages. For a 4 hour job, they will pay $25 in service fees and $28 in caregiver wages.
- Service Fees: $25 per job
- Caregiver Wages: $7 per hour
- Timeframe: 12 hours
Scenario 3: Our policy is that they pay our non-refundable service fee of $25 and the caregiver $50 if they cancel within 24 hours. However, our caregivers are normally paid in cash and we want to charge the client's credit card for their fee. In this instance, you can choose to collect everything as part of the service fee and then pay the caregiver their wages separately.
- Service Fees: $75 per job
- Caregiver Wages: $0
- Timeframe: 24 hours