Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: missed apointment fee

I don't know that there is any such code section. I believe it's more a matter of contract between you and you customer. From an enforceability standpoint you'd want to be sure that you have a written engagement with clients stating the policy, and that a missed appointment without adequate notice actually does result in a loss, i.e., you are unable to book another client in to the reserved time slot and therefore really are out the money.

Regarding adequate notice, I'm talking something like 48 hours before the appointment time. For many businesses and professions, that seems a reasonable time to in which to rearrange schedules to avoid unproductive time. Every line of work, however, is different. I'll look forward to seeing how the other LawGuru panelists look at this.

Best of luck, and let me know if you need more information.

Tom Newton