It has been almost a year since I joined ITALKI as a teacher. I would say one of the biggest problems I've had has been with no-shows. Recently ITALKI helped me to resolve a dispute in my favor where a no-show wanted to pay only 50 ITC of the 150 ITC that I charge for a trial lesson.
As a result of this no-show's action, I have stopped offering trial lessons. I thought the trial lessons would be good marketing, but they attracted too many people who weren't serious, who would have been better off with a language partner.
For other no-shows who are more or less regular, it is a difficult decision to excuse the charge or not. My tendency right now is not to excuse it (and probably lose the student), since such students are proving to be unreliable in the long run.
What has your experience been like?
