Threatened with small claims

[Fyrebird]

Hiya I am new to this forum as I have a problem and now have found quite a valuable resource.
I am a therapist who uses Hypnosis, NLP and MET to help clients reach their goals. I offer a free 30 minute consultation to clients to assess whether they are suitable for treatment and for them to see how i could help them. They then have the choice to go away and think about it or book an appointment for their first session. I do an offer which is a course of sessions if you pay for 3 or more sessions you get the a booster session free. Once a client has done this, they are commited to their course and i can begin work in their program. usually a couple of hours just creating an effective program that benefits the client. I had a new client recently and they had the free consultation and decided to book there and then for the offer. They paid and left. I spent a couple of hours that evening creating a program for them and recieved a call saying that they wanted to use the money for a holiday instead. As i work from a clinic where i rent a room, i wanted to check with them their refund policy. They basically dont refund on anything if you change your mind. I explained this to the client as suggested they could find the resources elsewhere for the trip. Sadly the client didnt agree and wanted the money back. I have spoken to the clinic and out of goodwill I have offered a partial refund charging only for the time spent on the program they asked me to work on. Again they are refusing and claim they have legal advice stating i have to give a full refund back. The excuse the client is using is that on an appointment card the clinic uses, it says that 24 hours notice is needed for cancellations and they paid the clinic. My terms and conditions dont count. Any advice greatly appreciated!!

[squalid]

As i work from a clinic where i rent a room, i wanted to check with them their refund policy. They basically dont refund on anything if you change your mind

off the top of my head, i would suggest that any agreement that you have with the clinic is nothing to do with your client - what is YOUR refund policy and did you make the customer aware of it before they handed over the money ?

[fisicx]

The way your describe the situation, you have a 24 hour cooling off period which the client opted to invoke. As long as they called within the 24 hour period they have met your conditions.

As squalid suggests, their appoinment was with you - the fact that you have rented the consulting room is not their concern.