I have been wanting to do this forever also. Working in a full service salon I would tell people I wanted credit cards swiped or numbers saved in a locked box in case of no shows for new clients, but only about 1 in 10 appointments made ever actually got this information from the customer.
I recently started using Genbook. For $15 a month my clients can book their own appointments, AND it requires a credit card to schedule. Not only that, but genbook puts a $1 hold (not charge) on their card to verify its a legit card (I have had a no shows would have given a bogus CC number!!) The information is then kept secure in the event I need to cancel. An email is sent out 24hrs before their appointment (so I give them 18hours before their appointment is charged 100% regardless of whether they show up, this gives them 6 hours from their email confirmation). They can't cancel online if there is less than 24 hours to go though, they have to call the salon. Right now the only problem is the appointments made at the salon still - they STILL are too lazy to get those CC numbers and put them in with the appointment (I have a little netbook at the salon that they can put my appointments in). I love the system though. Appointments are synced right to my phone, and ONE client not showing up in a month will pay for THREE more months of service! -Jess On Mar 21, 5:39 pm, Maggie in Visalia <[email protected]> wrote: > I know a million years ago I went on a rant about how I would start doing > this someday-- and I know that we've discussed it a few times since then-- > and I know a few of you are actually implementing this policy now... > > Well, I'm back out on my own and I'm taking plastic now and I'm in danger of > hunting people down when they no-show me so I have a few questions: > > I want to require a 50% non-refundable deposit for all new clients and > appointments scheduled less than 24 hours in advance. > > That's easy enough-- I enter the cc info manually and if they don't show up, > my blood-pressure doesn't stroke me out. If they do show up, they only owe me > the balance of the service and we all live happily ever after. > > My question is, what about appointments that get cancelled or rescheduled > with sufficient notice? I have never done a refund on a cc-- although I > suppose it's easy enough to master-- but I do know that all that tiny tiny > print in my cc contract mentions that excessive chargebacks could lead to my > contract being cancelled by the company. > > Now, I can't imagine that that would mean I shouldn't do refunds on credit > transactions. But can anyone assuage my paranoia that implementing this > policy and subsequently upping the number of cc returns will lead to ulitmate > disaster? > > And anyone who does secure with a cc-- what is your policy? and how do you > implement it? > > > > Maggie Franklin: Attitudes Salon; Visalia, CA > "Visionary rebel dreamer; obviously way ahead of my time." > Art of Nailz > Maggie Rants [and rav...@nails Magazine > Facebook -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NailTech" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nailtech?hl=en.
