Hi Chloe,
I’m very sorry to read this and, having personally reviewed the circumstances surrounding your appointments, I have issued you a full refund.
We absolutely accept responsibility for the original appointment. Due to the requirements of your particular booking, we were unable to accommodate it as planned and, because the studio was extremely busy that day, unfortunately you were not contacted until shortly before your appointment. I appreciate that you had already travelled to Dorchester by this point and completely understand how frustrating that must have been. We should have identified the issue and contacted you sooner, and for that I sincerely apologise.
Following this, you were offered several alternative appointment dates and selected and accepted a new date that suited you.
I would, however, like to clarify one point regarding our cancellation policy. Our 24-hour cancellation terms were not introduced as a result of this situation. They are clearly provided during the online booking process and must be accepted when making an appointment. They are also included again in the appointment confirmation email and are available on our website. The policy was additionally reiterated when your replacement appointment was arranged.
When you subsequently contacted us wishing to cancel that new appointment within the 24-hour period, our usual cancellation policy was therefore initially applied.
However, having reviewed everything personally, I don’t believe it would be fair to consider that second cancellation entirely in isolation. The need for the replacement appointment arose because we had been unable to fulfil your original booking, and I recognise the inconvenience this had already caused you.
For that reason, I have chosen to override our usual cancellation policy on this occasion and have refunded your booking payment in full.
Our cancellation policy is important to a small appointment-based business because late cancellations generally leave us unable to refill reserved appointment time. However, I also believe policies should be applied reasonably and with consideration for individual circumstances. In this instance, I believe a full refund is the fairest resolution.
I am genuinely sorry that your experience with us has left you feeling disappointed. While I cannot undo the inconvenience caused by the original appointment, I hope this clarifies the circumstances and demonstrates that we have taken responsibility for the part we got wrong.
Emma
Director, Isha Body Jewellery