Cancellation policies

T's business cards say she charges $30 for appointments cancelled without 48 hours notice. However, if somebody is sick she wants them to stay home and not make her sick. So she doesn't charge. I have had a couple of times that something came up with one of my kid's she said she would never charge me for these because she knows how important my kids are and they come first (her words). She does try to reschedule if at all possible. There have been a couple of times I totally forgot about my appointment or thought it was a later time because of a change from our normal time. She hasn't charged me. When I asked about the $30 fee she said she only charges if a person misses appointments without notice frequently. In 8 years, I have missed without 48 hours notice about 6 times.

doesnt have a policy.
we dont have set times/ day for sessions. with both our extmely busy schedules, we get ahold of each other when we can, and if its a good time for both of us to talk, we talk for as long as we have time, it might be 15 minutes, it might be a few hours.

My therapist requires 24 hour notice or you have to pay for the session you missed. I'm not sure how strongly she enforces that if you've had a true emergency and can't go to the session.

I did once lock my keys in my car and couldn't make it to the session. But, I was able to reschedule for the same week, so she didn't charge me.

My therapist seems fairly reasonable and I've never missed a session with her except for the one mentioned above. So, I would hope that if I did suddenly have to miss one, she'd be understanding and not charge.

My psychiatrist has the same 24 hour policy, but I think he's probably more strict about enforcing it.

I would never consider someone with such a strict cancellation policy, nor would I refer others to such a therapist - sounds like someone who is either extremely rigid or unaware of personal interest and indeed rationalizing greed. Anger has a place in therapy without the therapist making outrageous demands. My therapist has a 24-hour cancellation policy, which I find very doable and mutual common courtesy. His cancellation policy goes both ways, too. Also, he understands emergencies and things out of my control, such as health issues, and he was willing to see me later during the same day back when I was commuting from another city (the trains in my country have huge delays in the winter and summer, even over an hour). On the other hand, unless it's a true and unforeseen emergency I can honestly do nothing about, I never cancel unless it's at least 24 hours in advance, and neither does he. For me it's about trust and mutual respect.

My T has a 24hr cancellation policy. Of course, if it's an emergency type situation, then she won't charge me.

In 11 years I have never canceled. I did get caught up at work and was late once, she called me sounding a bit concerned, thankfully her office was less than 5 minutes away (she has sense moved) so was a bit late but did make it.

But I'm sure if I did miss an appointment she would cut me some slack.