How to handle clients who don’t turn up

Confirm by hand before the day, review your cancellations and agree clear terms with clients.

When things go wrong

Clients who don’t turn up cost time and money. 4appointments has no no-show status, counter or blocklist, and it doesn’t take deposits, so the work is done with the tools it does have: manual confirmation, the management link, the bookings list and reports. Here’s a practical routine.

Use the pending status as a filter. Every public booking arrives as pending and holds the slot. Before you confirm it, contact the client by phone or text and check they really intend to come. A request nobody answers is cancelled quietly about an hour after its time ends, which also frees the slot.

Give clients an easy way out. The final screen shows a management link for cancelling or rescheduling, with no minimum notice. Ask clients to keep it, and say so when you share your booking link. For bookings you create yourself, copy the link and send it by hand. Then contact them yourself the day before, because the tool sends no reminders by email or text; the day or agenda view shows tomorrow’s bookings at a glance.

Review the pattern. Export the bookings list to CSV, XML or PDF and look for repeated names, and check the cancellation rate in the reports. A client who keeps missing appointments can be asked to ring you to book, and you can reject their pending requests from the panel.

Agree clear terms. If you want a deposit for long or expensive services, arrange it outside the tool, for example by bank transfer or at the counter, and confirm the booking only after you’ve received it. Write the cancellation terms wherever you share your link.

What to remember

  • ✓No no-show status, counter or blocklist exists: use the list, CSV export and reports
  • ✓A manual check before confirming filters out unreliable requests
  • ✓Any deposit is arranged outside the tool, and you confirm after receiving it

Common questions

Can I block a client who often misses appointments?+

There’s no blocklist. You can reject their pending requests in the panel and ask them to book by phone, but the public page can’t be closed to one person.

Am I allowed to keep the deposit of a client who doesn’t turn up?+

That depends on the rules where you work and on what you agreed with the client. 4appointments doesn’t handle deposits, so put the terms in writing where you take the payment.

More guides to read

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