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Well one easy way would be to not charge a cancellation fee when you don't provide the agreed upon service!
by jonknee 11y ago
Well one easy way would be to not charge a cancellation fee when you don't provide the agreed upon service!
- robotresearcher 11y agoDid/does Handy promise to provide a particular individual?
- function_seven 11y agoThey may or may not. I don't know. But there is a means of requesting a specific person, and they obviously take it seriously enough to send notifications. But it's not good customer service to notify your client that their request can't be accommodated when it's too late for them to do anything about it. If the notice was prior to the cancellation-fee period, then sure, charge the fee if canceled within 24-hours. But if you give me late notice, at least allow me to late-cancel in return.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- robotresearcher 11y agoI checked the TOS and they do not guarantee the same individual.
- jonknee 11y agoBut they make a point to allow you to book the same individual (or Professional in Handy parlance). https://www.handy.com/help#/315d90/a4db36/19c48c https://www.handy.com/help#/315d90/a4db36/19c48c If they let you book a Pro and that Pro cannot make it on late notice, it is absurd to charge a late notice cancellation fee. At least Amex is great about not giving a shit about awful TOS. If you screw your customers over and accept Amex you'll soon find out that you won't be getting paid.
- robotresearcher 11y agoNo kidding about Amex. OP said they "did a chargeback for every dollar we ever spent with [Handy]". Wow.
- jonknee 11y agoIf they hadn't they wouldn't have been getting in touch to say that the particular individual wasn't going to make it. If anything, the OP should send Handy an invoice for a cancellation fee, not the other way around.
- robotresearcher 11y agoThis text is on the form you use to choose an individual: "We'll do our best to match you up again on your new booking, but please understand that as an independent contractor, it is up to the discretion of the professional to accept or decline your booking. In the event we cannot match you, another professional will be assigned." If you don't like that deal, don't take it. But don't be all pissed off when they do exactly what you agreed to.
- jonknee 11y agoI'm not the OP and have no horse in the race, but it sounds like the Professional accepted the booking and then cancelled with less than 24 hours before the appointment. The OP sounds fully within common sense and again I applaud Amex for listening to reason over a grey area policy. The reason the cancellation policy exists is because if you cancel the Professional doesn't get paid and it's too late to rebook them to someone else. According to Handy, the cancelation fee goes to the Professional who you cancelled on. In this case the Professional cancelled, why should they still get paid? A cancellation fee makes perfect sense in many cases, but sometimes companies take their own policies by the letter even when it's infuriating and bad for everyone. A better tack is to instead think about what the policy's intent is and how to handle it like adults. Usually in these cases the customer just shuts up and pays the fee and will never use the company again, but at least this time they had the follow through to take their money back (and if there's one thing a company notices it is their merchant account sending money in the other direction). A win for the little guy, great job OP!
- georgemcbay 11y agoAll of your "read the fine-print" logic can be applied to Handy and Amex just as easily as to Handy and the customer. eg: If Handy doesn't like the deal where an Amex customer can request a chargeback for inadequate customer service then they shouldn't accept Amex as payment.