I was always pretty adamant about not taking money from people for services they weren't going to use. If the only reason I can come up with for keeping someone's money is that it's "policy" or because we want to keep the money, that doesn't pass muster for me.
I'd rather have their goodwill than their money. I've never been the awesomest at making money, but I'd like to think there are better ways to go about it. That being said, we focused on monthly individual memberships. I could see that working differently if you're subleasing offices and such. But coworking's not a real estate business, right? Plenty of members pay for services they don't use, and space owners profit from that. Once in a rare while a member will complain; giving them their money back is part of the cost of doing business. If a member's angry, I'd want to communicate with them, find out why they're angry, and let them know they're heard. Maybe you can give them a partial refund and ask them to leave an honest testimonial on Yelp/Google Maps/etc so they can help you better attract their replacements. Tony *---* *New Work Cities <http://nwc.co/consulting> - Helping people build better coworking cultures.* *Open Coworking <http://opencoworking.org/> - Championing the global coworking movement.* [image: Inline image 8] <http://tonybacigalupo.com/>[image: http://twitter.com/tonybgoode] <http://twitter.com/tonybgoode>[image: http://facebook.com/tonybacigalupo] <http://facebook.com/tonybacigalupo>[image: http://linkedin.com/in/tonybacigalupo] <http://linkedin.com/in/tonybacigalupo> On Friday, March 11, 2016, Glen Ferguson <[email protected]> wrote: > We adopted the same policy as Jerome, and for the same reasons you cited. > We explain that while we want 30 days notice, we understand that work today > often doesn't function that way. New contracts, new assignment by > employers; they often don't give the member themselves much notice. > > W also use the comparison to an apartment lease that collects first and > last month's rent up front. (Yes, I know there are legal reasons to avoid > terms like "lease", "deposit", and "rent". It's not a perfect analogy, but > it helps). They make the mental connection and we've had zero complaints in > over 2 years of doing it this way. > > *Glen Ferguson* Tummler, Cowork Frederick > Phone: 301-732-5165 > Email: [email protected] > Website: http://coworkfrederick.com > <http://link.wisestamp.com/wf/click?upn=hOBFNJQde5xdQoVn4ogqwuppxK3mfNmObodKMFVhwKI-3D_r-2BdYbSjRm9r0i9vSiPZtW-2BAPKyQklbPxdjb2bvgjOXUKay-2Fzcj6elT2l43mgUwrKp-2B9bkPsOy4Afgxs39H7nHyQ02yPjXx-2FhH2qm2-2FBkLwMHZm-2FJ0sEqm2EW6JZcC-2FFZTN7mXDKY-2Fka-2BJ8AGuUhoylLBVJfP83xaxIbMIky9SiVY-2BScSuBH2OH1OpVT8jXDCAo5t-2BRZhcdezGXFntj090CC0-2F2NfWWWwgRzDSATLNHfq9On8f8Nd4pYQcJFcVi-2B-2Fhvs15ar9KzNJVtt5sG0xew-3D-3D> > Address: 122 E Patrick St, Frederick, MD 21701 > > <http://link.wisestamp.com/wf/click?upn=vpKJERi1tY7PB5Tngc96A8GMKz6vw7z0JI8fZ2-2FFUEKeUDpKRYMDliKzBO-2Bh6KbQ_r-2BdYbSjRm9r0i9vSiPZtW-2BAPKyQklbPxdjb2bvgjOXUKay-2Fzcj6elT2l43mgUwrKEMhW-2B40p6aeK-2FnYfufKui5X3yXXrCEJ2LAZEF-2BXc63to1kAmvLqlFm4601WxoxkZfyqgK6hF2t3ppQ7iL-2Bw5Lmm71ml3wmYwoyCIReMudhtHH85DJP6bop-2FJ2TGwpl-2B80-2B97G5wM-2B5aYK8qTB3WcX0lkFR-2Fjat8mWvxnHy350qjowrRAm6uxMOP-2BPziA5znmeAcqgpRVFMz6PzcAdiZgQQ-3D-3D> > > <http://link.wisestamp.com/wf/click?upn=frqkw0-2BXQfUAqxIenKLOlEu-2FpxKX6jxgrO2YUXu2V3n3gNeFoNOcxvfdhHoTSaKi_r-2BdYbSjRm9r0i9vSiPZtW-2BAPKyQklbPxdjb2bvgjOXUKay-2Fzcj6elT2l43mgUwrKGgR-2BPo8kK-2BYo-2F-2B0JIpdbg-2FPSiQRjqYwQqsksGYc0vWRxxriV32gIDYAYEeZkLi0Jhs2KbLriz0JIhCgD-2Bf5zbWtjNQhawhS8Jbs5OOjgWqlOL77ONDmg5IGRJRnQKaTTX-2FvtrWHOgqqHVbiZcwESLgAdXaibQX-2B1LIq1fEHb-2BUBXL2APeqLSAz3KqjVh8AZrRd2FJWu83SGwmynZXpA5fw-3D-3D> > > <http://link.wisestamp.com/wf/click?upn=JpWBgyEnwHH-2BZ-2F6q0khuJM5k-2FxEUD4mWNZQVK1HDwzWC7HKYshpD0Roky5gXt7avdJ2szRciN-2F4agckv3ZFxeA-3D-3D_r-2BdYbSjRm9r0i9vSiPZtW-2BAPKyQklbPxdjb2bvgjOXUKay-2Fzcj6elT2l43mgUwrKQdwpiCs9ZuBQrPUEj7sQUbBOvtdzrl9T1Z2O-2FRwX8nQZ3PNCXIHpzVNf4A2wFEDltVOhB4bbpG7CWozlv5aafhJ2vHyewhhP-2BCoDVAKOz1VurQlEzJzvq7V8p47BRUyJvJDHuVeCPg4O5SQ13qyjlXwU3WVysYiVTGVNrujqbDwDAWwiXh7-2FLP3KEp3sA45lL6rcLKwrU09FJJyMz1M-2B2A-3D-3D> > > <http://link.wisestamp.com/wf/click?upn=LgCARJHnjtd3UE8bx6jzpg32zgjKYf8aPLFsr-2FxjMXR-2FCax144kUcm6o9L6ovRQS_r-2BdYbSjRm9r0i9vSiPZtW-2BAPKyQklbPxdjb2bvgjOXUKay-2Fzcj6elT2l43mgUwrKDAgeqOLETuyPdJgM-2BEz3a4V72e7iQQu2XN0M-2FPFm3GYD1EdMpqYx-2FaTLQopStzwsSaaCW5pd04sCnGS-2FNXGe4G9vlGcAiOJmV8PdTfAI9Yo8t14MeLzjOG0PMqwAiOPq77kTtLu5Kd6qNWs9W1H6LzXqhQ-2BJeKdbbcpWKJdqoufb9XHHED5AficSuof8HXB2e7x0u6gFLnDV0f9EPWb-2BSg-3D-3D> > > > On Mar 10, 2016, 6:07 PM -0600, Elizabeth Trice <[email protected]>, > wrote: > > When members sign up they sign an agreement that says they need to give 30 > days notice to the first of the month if they want to discontinue their > membership. We've done this both to not have surprise drops in revenue, but > also to because we've noticed that it results in members who haven't been > coming in much to start coming in again. Recently a few people got angry > when they requested a change only a week in advance. How do others handle > this? > > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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