No Show Fees? Walk Away from the Vendor

The Washington Post has an "interesting" related blog called "The Checkout". http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thecheckout/). I don't know whether or not the writer is serious about some of the stuff that she writes or whether she is writing with her tongue in her cheek. Recently she wrote about "No Show Fees" being automatically imposed for not showing up. The example was of a hair salon that unilaterally imposed the fee and charged a credit card previously used by the customer. The response was a luke warm, well Doctors do it so I guess it is to be expected. Well, she was way off base on this one. The response should have been to tell her friend to say:

1. You did not tell me in advance of this policy to charge me a fee for a no show;
2. I did not consent to pay this fee in the event I did not show;
3. We do not have a contract which provides you a right to charge me this fee.
4. Your unilateral charging of this fee to my credit card constitutes theft;
5. I demand that the fee charge be immediately reversed, and I insist that you also reverse similar charges imposed on any other customer without their prior consent;
6. I am notifying my charge card company that your salon is engaged in fraudulent use of credit cards and should have its ability to accept charge cards revoked;
7. I have filed a complaint with the appropriate Better Business Bureau;
8. I have filed a complaint with the appropriate licensing authority; and
9. I have filed a formal complaint for theft with the appropriate law enforcement authority.

Is it discourteous to not show up at an appointment? You bet. Is this a growing problem? Not really. Is it appropriate for the "professional" (its amazing who claims to be a "professional" these days.... ) to impose a fee? Yes, but only if the imposition of the fee is set out ahead of time and both parties consent to the fee. The professional is, of course, free to refuse to offer services to anyone who will not consent to the fee, but it cannot be imposed by surprise or trick. (and lots of people, like me, will simply find other alternatives. Its a very very limited group of true professionals that can justify this kind of fee, and no matter how skilled they may be, "hair stylists" do not fall in this group....) AND IF THE PROFESSIONAL IMPOSES THE FEE, he or she must be under an obligation to then timely offer the services to the Customer or waive a portion of the professional fee. In other words, if Stylist Smith offers this fee, then when Customer Jones arrives at the salon, Stylist Smith must take Jones at the time offered, and if not, Stylist Smith should be required to compensate Jones.