Cancellation Policy

Time is a very scarce commodity for most people these days, and your instructor is no exception. Unfortunately, not everybody realizes this. Dancing is just a fun activity for most students, and if they can't make it one week, no big deal. They just put it off until the next week. For their instructor though, dancing is a living, and when those students call and cancel, he's now got a slot open, in which he isn't making any income. Add a few of these slots together, and these cancellations can end up having a significant effect on that instructor's ability to meet his own financial obligations.

Now we do realize that legitimate conflicts arise that may prevent you from making a lesson. Likewise, health issues or temporary injuries may cause you to have to take off for a while. These things happen. In light of these contingencies, we simply ask of our students to be considerate of their instructor and his time. Let's take a few examples of what it means to be appropriately considerate:

You and your spouse decide a couple days before a scheduled appointment that you'd like to do something else that evening and immediately call your instructor to reschedule.
You find out the day of a scheduled appointment that you're going to have to work that evening and immediately call your instructor to reschedule.
You hurt your back moving a cabinet and can't stand straight without experiencing disabling pain.
A loved one suffers a severe injury and needs your immediate attention.

The first examples above represent situations that are predictable and allow you plenty of time to contact your instructor. If something comes up along these lines that will necessitate rescheduling your lesson, let you instructor know right away, so he has the opportunity to schedule someone else in and make use of that time slot. The latter two examples represent situations that are unpredictable, in which due notice to your instructor may or may not be possible. Whatever the case, always call your instructor ASAP to let him know (1) that you need to cancel and (2) the reason for your cancellation. With that said, let's consider some inappropriate examples of cancellations:

You decide to change your plans for the evening but forget to inform your instructor. You call him two hours before your lesson with the bad news.
You find out you have to work the night of an appointment and end up calling your instructor 15 minutes before you're scheduled to arrive.
You leave the house later than you should and get held up by traffic. You figure you might as well cancel the lesson, since you would only have twenty minutes left by the time you arrive.

If you know that you have to work or have other plans on a given night but forget to inform your instructor until the last minute, he has no opporunity to fill that slot with another lesson. If you don't account for traffic driving to the studio and you're late, your instructor should not be penalized for your mistake. Although exceptions are in order from time to time, the following rules will apply in most cases...

Cancellations for Private Lessons

As far as private lessons go, if you do not cancel in a timely manner, that time slot is a total loss for your instructor. The penalties for late cancellations in these cases are intended to compensate your instructor for his time, proportionate to the notice given him for scheduling in someone else. Any penalties will be enforced before instruction continues to be certain that they are paid.

With the exception of disabling injury or sickness, cancellations made less than five hours before a scheduled appointment will incur a charge equal to one third the amount owed for the scheduled lesson.
Cancellations made less than two hours before a scheduled appointment will incur a charge equal to two thirds the amount owed for the scheduled lesson.
Failure to notify your instructor of a cancellation or forgetting a scheduled appointment will incur a charge equal to the full amount owed for the scheduled lesson.
If you miss two appointments in a row, you'll have to mail in payment for both appointments before you will be allowed to schedule again.

Cancellations for Group Classes

With group lessons, if you can't show, more than likely someone else will, so the slot is not a total loss. However, if several people cannot come and all fail to contact their instructor to let him know, the class may not happen. So even with group classes, if you're on the roster and can't attend for some reason, let your instructor know!

With the exception of disabling injury or sickness, cancellations made less than five hours before a group class will result in the withholding of party bucks due at the next scheduled class.
Failure to notify your instructor that you will not be able to attend a group class will result in an additional card punch at the next scheduled class.

Again, the purpose of these penalties is to encourage our students to have proper consideration of their instructor's time, so that he can make the best use of his day towards providing for himself and his family. It's our hope that all of our students will be responsible in this regard and not incur any of the above mentioned fees.