Why Do We Charge a
Cancellation Fee?

Prior to the introduction of the current cancellation fee at Hollier Music, we calculated that on average, students attended approximately 64.77% of lessons, with the highest weekly attendance at 91% and the lowest at 25%. To put it another way, students on average cancelled 35.23% of the time or roughly every 1 in 3 lessons.

We kindly note that as each student's time-slot is reserved for that student only, cancellations cannot be replaced with other potential students. It is not viable for Hollier Music to operate under high cancellation rates.

In resolving the above, we considered the following possible options:

1. To increase the cost of lessons by around 35%.

The first option which we considered was to increase the cost of lessons by around 35%. However, we decided against this option as we believe that this is unfair on the students who have high attendance rates because it would in effect be penalising them.  

2. To require students to pay for lessons in advance with no refund.  

The second option which we considered was to require students to pay for lessons in advance, say 10 lessons, with no refund for any cancelled lessons. However, we decided against this option as paying in advance may be too financially burdensome on some students.

3. To offer ‘make-up’ lessons.  

The third option considered was to provide ‘make-up’ lessons for students, meaning that any missed classes will either be credited to their account or rescheduled at a later date. However, we decided against this option as most students are not available for a rescheduled lesson during the other student's cancelled lesson.

4. To charge students a cancellation fee.  

The final option considered was to charge students a cancellation fee. We decided to implement this option as it is the most fair option for the majority of students. Our reasons for implementation include:

• It does not increase the costs of lessons;
• It does not in effect penalise the students who have high attendance rates;
• It does not require students to pay large sums in advance; and
• If some students find that weekly lessons are too frequent, then that student has the option of, without being penalised, reducing the frequency of lessons to fortnightly or less, or to pause lessons for the time being.

To lighten the load on students, we settled on an appropriate rate of 50% and we added an exception to the cancellation fee to accommodate for longer absences such as holidays or serious illnesses.