A week or so ago I made an appointment with a provider in the city I had planned to be traveling to this week, via p411.  Her rates were not listed on p411, but referenced her website.  The website pulldown for rates was self explanatory.

I ended up getting quite ill last Wednesday, and saturday morning I scratched the trip.  I PM'ed her on p411 and told her that I had to cancel.  She said:

"Sorry to hear that. Hope everything is ok.
Nonetheless, below is the link to my website
regarding cancellations procedures."

There was no link in the PM, so I asked for it and she provided it.  A page on her site which I did not visit states:

"72 hour advanced notice needed to cancel.
Cancellations that lack proper notification are responsible for the time booked.
Cancellation fee is payable via MoneyPak by GreenDot within one hour of the appointment time."

So my question is - really?  Wouldn't a contract of some type be required for this type of request?   Has anyone heard of / experienced this type of 'request'?

Send her $100 with your sincere apology.  

Thanks, Diva and Makawa, for your input.  I'm still rolling this one around, but I may very well send the $100 and call it good.  

If the cancellation policy had been on her rates page I'd have seen it and most likely have booked another provider.  In the future MrTorque will have to be more thorough.

... directing you to the cancellation page that said "HERE'S MY CANCELLATION POLICY. IT IS ONEROUS. READ IT CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU BOOK!!!"? If so, then I don't see your complaint. But if not, then I would personally be inclined to email Gina at P411 to let her know what this lady is doing. And in that case do us a favor and share the lady's identity, or at least the name of the city you were planning to visit. Gina runs a petty clean ship.

Contract law doesn't really apply. You can't contract to commit a crime, or at least the courts won't enforce it under the doctrine of in pari delicto (in equal fault). Yes, sure, no crime was contemplated as you were only paying for her time and anything that happened between two consenting adults ... But even so.

At the same time, Diva is not wrong that by waiting from Wednesday to Saturday, you had to know you were likely going to inconvenience the lady. If she had booked a hotel room in anticipation of your visit, she has a right to be pissed. Especially if she booked something non-refundable to get the best price.

Whether I sent an email to Gina or not, I hope I would send the lady $100. I won't know for sure until it happens to me.

-- Modified on 10/1/2012 6:43:53 PM

No there isn't.

DivaLady  I'm sure the problem is huge for providers.  My experience.  Same lady within a month.  All dates confirmed.  First one, got an email about an hour ahead saying someones 4th of July party was starting a day early.  Cancled on me.  Second one, got an email 15 minutes before date saying she couldn't get into her hotel early.  She had suggested time.  Cancled on me.  Third one.  Got an email one half hour before time saying she had left town early because biz was slow.  Needless to say cancled.  What should I have recieved except dunce of the year for trying 3 times.

The 72 hrs cancellation policy is absurd but I think she may have already booked a room. It's justifiable to just send her the 100$ and get it over with and move on.

FWIW, the appointment was for an outcall at my hotel.  Again, thanks for the input and commentary.  The suggestion of the $100 cancellation fee was a good idea.

Perhaps someday my schedule will allow me to get to know some of our local providers.  

1. She was not out of pocket for hotel.
2. She is the one setting the rates and if she wants a cancelation fee, she should be conspicuously posting that information alongside her rates.  As you indicated, had you known, you wouldn't have booked.
3. Does she really want you to show up sick?  How many appointments will she miss due to illness she catches from you or how many clients would she piss off by passing an illness to them.
4. You should have informed her of your illness on Wednesday to let her decide whether to wait out her appointment with you or seek another opportunity.
5.  You "owe" her nothing.  Is it a nice gesture to throw her a $100?  Absolutely, but my sense is she'll still be unhappy because she didn't get the full hour and your out $100.

IMO, A lady should only have a "cancellation fee" - period - (72 hour is ridiculous length of notice to expect.  72 hours????   Really????) if they in turn are willing to pay a cancelation fee to the Client if THEY themselves have to cancel an appointment, due to their kid getting sick,  someone dying, dog throwing up, whatever the reason.    



Turnabout is fair play.    .  I wonder how many women offer that as part of their service.  
Giving a cancellation fee to their client if they have to cancel on then.....

Hmmmmmm,
Maybe I'm on to something here.    

Are you serious about sending $100 for nothing, other than you became ill?  Cancellation Fee?  Who does this woman think she is?  Business meetings, or sales meetings are cancelled all the time, with no compensation.  But, it seems when a provider is involved, their time is more important than other sales or trade people.  

Imagine that you had made an appointment with a plumber to fix your toilet, but an hour before he showed up, you canceled.  If he sent you a bill for $100, you would think he is the biggest asshole on the planet. Or, if you told some commissioned Car Salesman that you were on your way to purchase a car, then changed your mind at the last minute and didn't show up. Should he send you a bill for his lost commission?  Of course not.  Escorts are no different than other business people, though some think they are very special.

Frankly, I would not send a dime, nor would I ever see her (I don't like her attitude), and I would let everyone on TER know who she is.  

Just my 2 cents, but still cheaper than $100

You book a professional to provide a service and then cancel at the last minute and you will be charged.
You book a photographer to take wedding pictures, then cancel just a few weeks before the date.  He will keep your deposit, because he may have turned away other customers for that day.  
This is a common practice when dealing with professionals.  
But is should be clear when booking the appointment.

The simple answer is probably the best one.  My simple answer would be to send no $$, and never call her again.

Any provider who would blacklist a hobbyist over NCNS should be avoided.

...the majority of this conversation is BS.  

Nevertheless, in light of the very sage advice above, I will send a bill for $200 to the Chicago provider I pre-booked with 10 days ago because I didn't learn of her cancellation til I read of it on the Ad Board.  About 12 hrs before our appointment.  Still waiting for your note, Miss C.  Ah well.  Fortunately there are several lovely TC ladies who are reliable, considerate AND freaky fun who more than make up for the BS.

The worst she can do blacklist you and if you have nothing to lose, she can blacklist all she wants in my opinion.

I would understand if she had booked a hotel room only for you, had to travel or was extremely low volume or high end provider $500+ / hr but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

Here is a hint. Depending on when or how she reserved a room. Any reservation made within 72 hours of the date of arrival requires a 6:00 p.m. (local time) or later cancellation policy on the "day of arrival".

This is the VISA contract with hotels if they choose to accept VISA as a form of payment or reservation. Most other cards MC, Discover have similar policies.

http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/visa-acceptance-guide-lodging-industry.pdf (page 19)

In your case, it was outcall so no hotel reservation issues.

She is being deceptive with her practices. Her cancellation policy should be stated on her rates page. No other logical place for it to be but there.

Word gets around about providers who do such things, such as blacklisting for relatively minor offenses and excessive cancellation policies.  Some of this is simply the cost of doing business.  My observations are that very few providers offer any kind of compensation if they cancel and I've never run into one that would offer something for a cancellation that far in advance.  Barring unusual circumstances, I wouldn't expect them to either.  Shit happens and often you just have to roll with it, particularly in this activity.  I've been at this long enough that I have had a fair number of cancellations and most of them were less than a day ahead of time and sometimes on the same day.  I don't make a fuss about it. I understand unexpected things happen.  And I believe that it pays off for me in the long run because I don't make an ass out of myself and most ladies appreciate that.  Yes, some don't but that just goes with the territory.  I won't see them.

Yes, the OP could have notified her when he first became ill but I imagine he was optimistic that he would recover in time.  And as we don't know the exact timeline of things, we don't know if it would have done any good.  Suppose by the time he began feeling ill on Wednesday, it was already within 72 hours of the appointment.  Even if he had notified her immediately, it still would not have been soon enough.  And what if his falling ill had not happened until much later or some other unhappy event had occurred?  Her policy is IMHO an excellent way to get guys not to see her because they don't want to run the risk of dealing with her cancellation policy if they have to cancel. I wonder how much business she has lost because other potential clients did see her policy and wrote her off because of it.

Actually, with the exception of resort and vacation areas in high demand or during a major event such as NCAA Final Four where all hotels are going to be sold out, etc, most hotels, especially those catering to business travelers, have a same day cancellation policy whereby if you cancel prior to 5 or 6 pm, you are not obligated even for a "guaranteed reservation".   The easiest way to know the difference is if you are asked for a "deposit" vs just a credit card to "guarantee".  Deposits are generally at least the cost of the first night and can even be for the entire stay.  

Also, many providers will use an internet service like Priceline to book their hotel, in which case its totally non-refundable no matter when.  But the flip side is you can almost always get a room for half the rack rate or even less.  I once got a room at the W downtown for $80 and the rack rate was $240.  

-- Modified on 10/3/2012 6:48:38 AM

Anybody who gives a provider his real name, regular phone number, or employer name should have his hobby card revoked.  I know I am gonna get a bunch of shit from providers or agencies that have that policy for verification and screening purposes.  It is really not that unusual for guys to be blackmailed once some bat shit crazy provider or her pimp/agency has that information and they learn enough through pillow talk that you have a LOT to lose by being outed.  Some of those blacklist reports are payback for not giving in.   And there was a report here not that long ago by a guy (didn't admit it publicly) who was being blackmailed that way for just writing a mediocre review.

if you didn't pay, you shouldn't.  there was no contract.  did she give you any guarantees in writing about services provided?  she might not see you in the future, but there are lots of other providers. one might argue there is an implicit contract, but how did you make the arrangement?  what details did you know?  i really don't think there is any contractual obligation here.

I guess the provider needs to ask herself if it is worth it to try and extort a full fee from a hobbyist who DID have the decency to cancel (and not NCNS, as often happens on both sides), and if that fails, if she thinks it is a good idea to 'out' the hobbyist.

If, as you say, the provider DOES place the hobbyist on an easily searchable blacklist, and that act DOES end up with the hobbyist being outed..... Do you think the hobbyist might then be a little bit upset?  And is it worth any risk to personal safety to do such a thing?

There is an element of required mutual trust in this hobby, and if it should be broken by either party to the transaction, the results are unlikely to be pleasant for any party involved.

I wouldn't send her a cent.