I signed my daughter up for a Kids…
I signed my daughter up for a Kids Circus class and put her on the waiting list for the 9:00am session.
At 11:28pm the night before the class, I received an email saying that a place had become available — just 9 hours and 32 minutes before the class started.
As we could not attend at such short notice, I called HYPE Fitness as soon as I saw the email. I was told that the booking could not be cancelled and that I would still be charged because their terms require customers to remove themselves from the waiting list if they can no longer attend.
I understand having a cancellation policy, but I find this particular situation very difficult to justify. How can a customer remove themselves from a waiting list before being offered a place? Once the place was allocated at 11:28pm, the 12-hour cancellation window had already passed. The booking system effectively left me with a confirmed booking that I could not cancel without a charge, despite having had no realistic opportunity to make that decision earlier.
I also contacted the studio immediately rather than simply not turning up.
I subsequently emailed HYPE Fitness to raise a formal complaint and ask them to review the situation, but I have received no response at all.
I am disappointed both by the way the waiting-list policy operates in this situation and by the lack of response to a reasonable complaint. I would strongly suggest clarifying how the waiting list is supposed to work when places are offered less than 12 hours before a class.