Casey: Sorry to hear about your cancellations as they most definitely suck. I treat an appointment as a commitment and have never cancelled once in ten years. However, ladies have cancelled on me probably 1/10 dates generally for good reasons such as a bad cold which I can understand. I do like to confirm by text or email the morning of the appointment just to make sure we are on the same page. Casey I would love to meet you soon so please no hair tearing.

Its too bad that you are getting cancelled, and not getting the income.  But, that is a common part of being in a "sales" business.  All sales people, whether selling cars, suits, or sex get no shows, and often without even so much as a phone call.  

It is very rude and, certainly, disappointing.  But, it happens in every business, and sales people, even women selling intimacy, have to get used to it.  

I have never cancelled on an appointment.  And, I am not sure how an excort would handle/collect a cancellation fee.  If a guy isn't going to show up for his session, do you think he will drive over and hand over some cash because he cancelled?  I suppose some would, but the majority wouldn't.  

It might be less stressful to think about the next gentleman who is going to show up, rather than seething about the last jerk who didn't

Casey
That's a bummer that you get cancelled on that often.   In all my time hobbying, I have cancelled three times.   I still remember the circumstances because I felt bad doing it.   Two of the cancellations were with providers that I've seen regularly.   So they knew it was not something I do often.    

I tend to hold off and book more last minute appointments only because I do take a commitment seriously.  I don't schedule unless I'm serious.  Unfortunately, that means a providers availablility fills up.   That sucks for me.

So I guess the message is, some of us take it seriously.

-- Modified on 5/19/2013 3:31:59 PM

I've canceled once in 2yrs and that was 12 hours after set-up and 36 hours before appt time.  The communication lacked and was different from anything I've seen so far.  I mean the only thing I received was, ok I can see you then, phone# and city no other info or instruction.   When pressed for more I got the are you new responce.  I figured It was going to be to much of a hassel and decided to cut the cord.

Some thoughts...

Having spoken to Casey recently, I can say that the amount of cancellations she's getting are FAR above and beyond what I would consider to be a normal cost of doing business. I'm fairly UTR these days, but in the years that I worked more or less full-time, I probably got one cancellation for every 10 appointments? Every 15? Obviously things come up and life gets in the way of fun--I get that. But if a provider is having every third or fourth date cancel on her, it can get really frustrating really quickly.  

I wonder how much of it has to do with marketing. To make a sweeping generalization based only on my observations, I think that clients have a certain idea in their head about "Backpage girls," and treat them with significantly less respect than the providers who advertise only on Eros or P411. I'm not saying this is OK. It doesn't matter if you're hiring a streetwalker or a $500/hour porn star; both have bills to pay, both are relying on you for their income, and both get screwed when you commit to a date and then back out because Lil Junior just ain't feeling it that day. That said, though, it's easier and faster to change your marketing strategy to garner more respect than it is to change the mindset of an entire subset of consumers.  

So... raise those rates, institute a fair but firm cancellation policy, consider reworking your ad copy and website, and I think (I hope!) you'll see an improvement.  

And a pro tip for the flakes: crying wolf is some shitty karma.

I would have to agree with what others have said, I take scheduled appointments seriously and only an emergency would prevent me from honoring said appointment.  

I would also agree with Remy in that Karma can come back to “bite” you if you’re not careful.  I’m not sure if an increase in rates is the answer though.  I think you have to give careful consideration to what type of increase, if any, the “market” will support, but it is ultimately your decision.  I do think it’s a good idea to have a cancelation policy.  At the end of the day everyone’s time is valuable and we ALL need to respect and understand that.

Just my $.08…….

Be safe!

Buc

I've never cancelled an appointment.  Setting something up takes a lot of planning and schedule-arranging on my end, so when the ball gets going, cancelling is not part of the equation.

bzb

i have had to cancel once..i have been cancelled on many times..being sick or a change in a touring schedule always mess things up..i try to give the lady at least 72 hours notice..anything 24 hours or less is not acceptable..you are new to the game..being frustrated is normal..once you have been around awhile..it just becomes a part of doing business..you will soon have two lists..winners and losers..unfortunately there are a lot of the latter in this hobby..

Screening may have something to do with it.  If you're booking with  hobbyists who have good referrals and who have a reasonable history of reviews, then you're probably not going to see a lot of cancelations.  If you're getting appointments from guys with little or no history, or thin references, then the likelihood of cancellations is higher.

Casey, you are such a sweet and wonderful person. If they new what they were missing they would never cancel!!! I've been in sales for over 30 years, your going to have to learner not to take personally.  It's a numbers game. I would agree with a comment made above that if you see persons that have a long history of reviews is less likely that you'll have a cancellation. Casey, I do feel bad that this is happening to you. You're such a wonderful person!!!

I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I canceled an appointment and that was always due to something out of my control such as illness, injury, or some unexpected problem happening.  I always let the lady know as soon as I knew I would not be able to make it.  Casey, unfortunately you have been attracting a higher than normal number of poor clients, which is completely undeserved; the time I saw you everything on your end was handled very nicely from my initial contact to the time I walked out the door.  Hopefully you can develop a better client base as you get more regulars

backpage does not define us, its just another outlet to advertisment.

i have worked on there for many many years.  

and have met some pretty cool guys off there, that screen
just like the ones on ter, eros, p411, and city vibe. (not all will, but most)

and that is my choice to ok it or not.

now...... yes indeed you may get a ton of calls that are cheap but
there are a good amount that are just as good as any other website.

i hate the bashing on bp.....  i would love to eventually
get off there, but it works just fine for me, esp as slow as it has been...

I noticed that you only seem to work on the weekend, and when you advertise it appears that you start setting up your appointments well in advance.

I think weekend only scheduling may be part of the problem.  If you schedule many days in advance that is just more time for something to come up with your client.  Seeing guys during the weekend might be more problematic for keeping their meetings discrete/secret from family and friends than during a weekday afternoon.  I know I personally couldn't do weekends at all under most circumstances and I'm probably not alone (which is too bad because you look smoking hot and I'd love to meet you!).

If you have other commitments during the normal work week my advise would be not to schedule too far in advance.  Run your add on the Ad Board on Fridays for Saturday bookings and run an add on Saturday to book for Sunday.

Hope that helps

I'm fairly new to the hobby, but I treat appointments as a commitment.  I haven't canceled one yet, and won't unless there's a major unforeseen problem (illness, accident, etc).  From my perspective it's just the best way to operate.  

I was a little surprised when I recently made an appointment with a provider about ten days in advance, and she asked me 36 hours before we were to meet if I still wanted to meet.  It sounded like she may have experienced some of the same problems, and especially so with people setting things up further in advance. I hope that's not widespread, as I prefer to schedule well ahead of time and want providers to know that once I set an appointment it is a commitment

And I was still able to give the gal more than 24 hours notice.

my thoughts

Wow! I didn't expect so much of a response from this thread. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for your thoughts. Most have been very insightful, and I appreciate those of you who want to help me out.  
 
I will point out though, that this thread is somewhat self selecting and therefore may be skewed. Reading it, one would get the impression that cancellations are very rare. However.. the only gentlemen who respond to this are obviously going to be the ones who don't cancel. I mean, what guy is going to come out on this board and be like "haha, I cancel all the time on these dumb providers!" Not many. At least, not if they want to be seen by said "dumb providers" It's also possible that the lovely guys here on TER cancel less than those who don't read these boards, since they may understand etiquette in the hobby better.  

Anyway, it is obvious I am doing something wrong to get one out of every three people cancelling on me. It might be the screening process, my advertising, my personality.. I don't know what it is, but it's something. I'll let you all know if I figure it out and see some improvement. For now I am taking Remy's (and others) advice and stopping my half hour appointments. I'm not going to raise my rate, though maybe I will in the future (who knows what the future may hold!)  

Thanks again all!

I'll second what Ranick said regarding weekend only appointments. If it's the way you need to do business then you may have to put up with the higher number of cancellations.  

I haven't quite figured out the "raising rates" advice yet. Maybe it's self-serving to suggest your competition raise their rates.

There is a provider (not minnesota) that rates as one of my all time favorites.   She declines to see me anymore due to my having to cancel twice.  The first instance, I was heading her way for a business conference and I cancelled three (3) weeks in advance of our appointment.  In the second instance, I cancelled only 24 hours in advance due to a medical issue.  I actually called her to cancel from the ambulance on my way to the hospital.

I agree last minute cancelations suck, but the earlier post regarding screening is a good observation and you need to consider whether the reason for the cancelation is legit or if the hobbyist is simply a flake.

I think the worst thing you could do is "stew" over the cancelations.  Look at way of reducing them, but don't let them affect your attitude.  It is an unfortunate part of your business, but avoid letting the bastards get you down.