It’s important to note that I’ve never had to enforce that cancellation and payment language. It simply puts them on notice that professional courtesy is expected. They usually know prior 48 hours prior of the inspection whether or not they want to cancel. They ought to call if that is the case. If they need to *postpone *because utilities are not on, etc., that’s fine…I’ll work with them. But if they want to cancel because they found someone cheaper after I’ve turned down callers for that time slot, they may have to pay me.
But since I put that language in there, I never have driven to an inspection to find a no-show who didn’t even bother to call me and cancel. That happened once and never has happened again after I included the warning. Yes…I’d send it to collections on someone who did that to me.
David- Too funny! I just searched the forum for “cancellation fee” because the same thing is happening to me. Mostly it’s because utilities are not fully functional. I’ve kicked the fee idea around but like others have stated, will I really collect? I’m thinking about drafting a special contract for REO’s stating something akin to “the inspection will occur as scheduled regardless of the utilities blah blah blah OR client will pay a cancellation fee…” I’ve also thought about charging the entire insp. fee in advance. At least that puts me in the driver’s seat. I know REO clients will balk, but perhaps we should just leave those scraps for the competition.
Those “scraps” are a large part of the market in many areas.
Joe, do you have the signed contract prior to the cancellation?
If not, it would be tough to collect when the client hasn’t agreed to the terms by signing.
If so, how do you go about getting a signature before you see the client? Email, fax?
I don’t leave my house without a signed contract. I have two methods of getting my contracts signed.
I have it on my website. They can download it and fax it back to me. If they want to pay at closing, this is the preferred method because they have to fill out their credit card information as a backup payment method.
I upload the Agreement using my Homegage software and they sign it electronically online. This is the primary method I use unless they want to pay at closing. I like this method because I don’t have to maintain paper copies.
In case anyone wants the one I have in my agreement… Disclaimer: This was written by an idiot (me), not a lawyer.
CANCELLATIONS or RESCHEDULING. Kincaid Home Inspection Services often has a backlog or waiting list of clients looking for an opening in the inspection schedule. It takes time for clients to arrange access to homes when they are offered an opening in our schedule, therefore we ask that you make all efforts to keep your scheduled appointment. If you need to reschedule or cancel for any reason, please do so in writing or by email on or before 48 hours prior to your scheduled appointment. A full refund or adjustment will be issued when any inspection service is rescheduled or cancelled 48 hours prior to the scheduled appointment. Any inspection rescheduled or cancelled on or before 24 hours prior to the scheduled appointment will receive 50% refund to the cancelled appointment or adjustment to the rescheduled appointment. Any inspection cancelled or rescheduled with less than 24-hours prior your scheduled appointment will not be refunded or adjusted.
Since I don’t use online scheduling, I am able to confirm that the client is under contract so haven’t had any issues with cancellations.
For those that use online scheduling, a nice-to-have would be a check box for confirming the client is under contract. If they check it, they are informed that the fee is non-refundable. If they don’t check it, they are informed that their scheduled time slot is “penciled in” until they come back and confirm once under contract.
