No-show and late-cancel fees
Updated September 30, 2026
LOCLbox can save a client's card when they book and charge a fee when they do not show up or cancel too late. The client agrees to your exact policy text before booking. A fee is charged only when you press No-Show or Cancel with Fee, or when the client cancels late through their own manage link, which follows the same policy.
Step by step
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Finish payment setup
Your Payment Setup in Settings > Billing must show Verified. See Get paid: finish your payment setup.
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Have Pro or No-Show Protection
Card on file and fees come with LOCLbox Pro, or with the No-Show Protection add-on ($19 a month) on the Free plan. Add it in Settings > Billing > Add-ons.
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Set your cancellation and no-show policy
Go to Settings > Booking & Policy and fill in the Cancellation & No-Show Policy card:
- No-Show Fee: a percent of the service price, or a flat dollar amount. The same fee is used for a late cancellation.
- Free Cancellation Window: how many hours before the appointment a client can still cancel for free (0 to 168).
- Policy Text: exactly what clients agree to. Say the fee and the window in plain words.
Press Set Policy. Each later change is saved as a new version, and a client stays bound to the exact version they agreed to.
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Clients agree and save a card when they book
From now on the booking flow shows your policy and asks for a card. Nothing is charged at booking. If you require approval for bookings, the Still collect a card when requesting switch in the Booking Approval card decides whether requests ask for a card too.
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Charge the fee from the appointment
Open the appointment in Appointments (on a phone, Calendar):
- No-Show marks the client as a no-show and charges the fee to the card on file.
- Cancel with Fee cancels a late cancellation and charges the fee.
You confirm before anything is charged. Afterwards the appointment shows what happened.
When LOCLbox will not charge a fee
To keep things fair for your clients, LOCLbox tells you "No fee was charged because..." instead of charging when:
- the client never agreed to a cancellation policy (for example, they booked before you set one),
- the appointment was never confirmed (it still says Pending: press Confirm on it, or the client replies YES to their reminder), or it was already cancelled, completed or marked a no-show,
- the booking was made less than 15 minutes ago,
- for a no-show, the appointment has not started yet,
- for a late cancellation, the client cancelled before your free cancellation window closed,
- for a late cancellation, the appointment was booked after your free window had already closed (a no-show can still be charged),
- there is no card on file, or the fee works out under $0.50.
If a fee cannot be charged, the appointment shows the reason instead of the Cancel with Fee button.
Charging for the service itself
On a confirmed or completed appointment you can also use Charge Card on File to charge the service price. Use it only when the client is present and agrees.