You turned work away to hold that slot. A three-part system — deposit, confirmation, stated policy — makes cancellations rare and less costly.
20 June 2026 · 4 min read
A cancelled Tuesday is not just an annoyance — it is income you already declined from someone else. You cannot eliminate cancellations, but a simple system makes them rare, early, and partly compensated.
Nothing filters commitment like money. A modest deposit to secure the date — here is how much to ask for — converts "pencil me in" customers into decided ones, and means a genuine cancellation is not a total loss.
A WhatsApp two days before the job — "all set for Thursday 8am" — costs ten seconds and surfaces problems while you can still resell the slot. Most no-shows are not malice; they are forgotten diaries. The confirmation catches them at the cheap end.
One sentence on your quote: "Cancellations within 48 hours may incur a charge of £X or loss of deposit." Stated up front it is policy and almost never needs enforcing; invented after the fact it is a row. Fairness cuts both ways — if you have to move a job, tell them just as promptly.
Because the booking, the confirmation and any cancellation all happen in WhatsApp, the record keeps itself. GraftG sits in the same chat: quote sent, deposit invoiced, job tracked — one thread from first message to final invoice. See getting started.
If your stated terms said so and the notice was short, generally yes — the deposit exists to cover exactly this. Be proportionate and fair, and put the policy on the quote so nobody is surprised.
For late cancellations that cost you a bookable day, a stated, modest fee is reasonable and increasingly normal. The point is deterrence and fairness, not profit — most customers simply cancel earlier once a policy exists.
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