When you charge by the month and someone wants to quit at some point, how do you reconcile with previous months, or do they just finish out the month?
This is the way my policy is worded:
Dismissal
If any of the following situations persists after I have notified you and provided time to correct it, I regret that I will have to dismiss the student:
The student demonstrates a lack of enthusiasm and willingness to participate during lesson time
If you choose, for whatever reason, to discontinue lessons, please give at least one month’s prior notice. I will do the same.
You can view my whole studio policy on my piano studio website.
So yes, I do have them finish out the month. It’s basically my policy to never give refunds for any reason. I offer makeup lessons as I am able to, but if you get into offering cash refunds (or even lesson credits) bookkeeping becomes really hairy – at least for me! I’d rather not have to deal with that, and instead do my best to offer my studio families such a great value for their money that it’s no big deal if they miss a lesson here or there. They are still getting their money’s worth because of all the extra things I offer at no additional charge. That’s my philosophy, anyway. Does anyone have any other thoughts on this issue?
Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!
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