Cancellation Policy at STIA

To reduce any likelihood of forgetting or misremembering your appointment date and time, you will be sent an SMS reminder of your appointment date and time 48 hours prior to your appointment. However, it is expected you do not rely on this text message should there be a glitch in the software that is not in STIA’s control. Out of courtesy, we ask that you please notify us of any appointment changes 48 business hours prior to the appointment.

We understand that there may be reasons why you may need to change or cancel your appointment.

Please note, if you change or cancel your appointment the day before your scheduled appointment (falling on business days) you will be charged a cancellation fee of $100. If you cancel your appointment on the day or fail to attend, you will be charged the full scheduled fee.

What will be charged if I cancel my appointment on a Friday or Saturday and my appointment was on the following Monday?

If you cancel your appointment on a Friday (regardless of time) or over the weekend you will be charged an $100 cancellation fee. If you cancel on the Monday morning, you will be charged the full fee. Please note - hours prior to cancellation are counted on business days only, weekends and public holidays are excluded.

Please note: Cancellation fees are payable on the phone at the time of cancellation or will be directly charged to the encrypted credit card account details stored, or invoiced.

Why does STIA have a Cancellation Policy?

Our cancellation policy is based on the same rationale as many other industries. One example being the airline industry, you pay for your seat whether you arrive at the airport or not. As psychologists, we only see a limited number of clients per day. When a 50-minute appointment is scheduled, that time has been set aside for you. Given that the time has been set aside, if you do not use it, then it is unlikely at short notice it can be used by anyone else. Further, organising the rescheduling of that missed appointment ties up future appointments, pushes out our waiting list, and diminishes the availability of care for others. We trust you will agree that this is a fair and reasonable policy, and we thank you for your understanding.

The Office of Fair-Trading states that a business is within its rights to charge a cancellation or “no-show” fee for appointments, so long as this has been communicated to a new patient or customer before making the appointment.

Please Note:
In order to support our clients' financial wellbeing and ensure transparency, we kindly ask that any outstanding accounts are settled before future appointments can be confirmed.

All fees are payable by phone at the time of cancellation or will otherwise be automatically processed via the securely encrypted credit card details we have on file.

This policy is in place to prevent the accumulation of debt, which we believe is in the best interest of our clients and ensures we can continue providing care in an ethical and responsible manner. Thank you for your understanding.