<p>Here’s what happened: I was speaking with a tutor over the course of a few days and decided to book a 2 hour session with him for today. We decided to meet at a public library at a specified time. This morning I took two trains to get to the designated place, and I arrived about a half hour earlier than our appointment. The time the session was supposed to start came and there was no sign of the tutor. 5 minutes pass, then 10. At 15 minutes after the agreed upon time, I call the tutor’s cell phone and am put on to voice mail. At this point I realize he will not be showing up so I pretty much give up.</p>
<p>I then go to the library’s computer and check my email, and sure enough there is an email from him waiting in my inbox. He basically says he had an “emergency” meeting at his school and would not be able to come to the meeting because of it. I check the time stamp of the message and see that it was sent less than an hour before our agreed upon time! </p>
<p>Naturally I am extremely upset at my tutors incompetence and unacceptable, inexcusable behavior. He sends an email to me less than an hour before our appointed time – a time that was agreed upon five days in advance – while I’m on the train en route and when there is no chance I can access it. I traveled for nearly 3 hours total and it was all for naught. </p>
<p>In the email he said I should call him and leave a message with my phone number, and that he’ll get back to me in middle of his lunch break. I left him my number and he has yet to respond. I left him another message tonight to no avail. </p>
<p>I am enraged at my tutor’s complete lack of responsibility in dealing with this issue. He not only caused me to waste a large part of my day, but he didn’t even bother returning my phone calls. Aside from putting the credit card charges on dispute (which I already did), is there anything I can do about what happened? Any agency I can report this too? Any websites I can leave a review about my terrible experience with this tutor? Shall I call him and leave a message detailing how terribly he handled the situation?</p>
<p>It sounds that he assumed you had a smartphone and could check your messages on a frequent basis, which is what many people do these days. Do you have a smartphone?</p>
<p>It also sounds as though he didn’t really pay attention to the fact that your travel would be lengthy. Had you discussed that part with him / was it reasonable for him to know that? For all he knew, perhaps you just lived or worked a few blocks away. I agree it’s unfortunate, but unless you specifically cue that to him, how would he know that you came from a long distance away?</p>
<p>Um, you’re way overreacting. ‘Upset’ and ‘enraged’ are not emotions you want to associate with getting your tutoring session canceled. You wasted a couple of hours, big deal.</p>
<p>Try to be more chill about this type of stuff; life has plenty of it.</p>
<p>First, even if someone had a smartphone, it may not always be accessible due to blocked signals/spotty coverage in certain areas where public transport goes through(i.e. Subway tunnels). Second, canceling an appointment for paid services less than an hour before the time in question is extremely unprofessional…especially considering his lack of timely responses even after two messages. </p>
<p>Sorry to say…chances are this “tutor” may be a flaky person who has serious issues keeping time-sensitive commitments and not feeling the need to apologize or to even respond to messages sent according to his/her terms. If that’s the case, find another tutor as flaky people are a PITA to deal with and have in your life…especially if it involves services you’re paying good money for. It is also good you’re disputing charges with your credit card company…such a “tutor” should not be paid for effectively flaking out on a time commitment you both agreed to around a week in advance.</p>
<p>I completely agree-the overly formal tone of the rant also seems inappropriate. These things happen. Either he really had a meeting or he’s lazy-both are reasonable and expectable human conditions. If you’re that offended just don’t pay him and find a new tutor that doesn’t require so much transit.
I also agree with the smartphone comment-they’re so common these days that between a smart phone and not knowing that you had such a long commute, an hour prior is a reasonable time to email you. Paying him in advance also seemed like an ill advised move. </p>
<p>Why didn’t he have your phone number? Why didn’t you get a more local tutor? Both questions are raised by your complaint.</p>
<p>Wasting two hours of a potential client IS a big deal. </p>
<p>Wasting two hours of a client’s time like that in most occupations I or my friends/colleagues have been in would not only mean a great possibility of losing clients and creating negative impressions impacting future business…but also of being canned by the boss if one is not self-employed. </p>
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<p>If one is being hired to perform a service…the onus is on the service provider(tutor) to work around the client’s needs/constraints…not the client. </p>
<p>Also…contrary to popular belief…not everyone has a smartphone…even those who can afford it for reasons that concerns no one else.</p>
<p>What about the tutor’s emergency meeting though? We’ve all been through school systems and should remember times when something went really wrong and an emergency meeting was had. Say one student assaults another in his class-suddenly he has to do all sorts of administrative report work that day. As to professionalism-maybe I didn’t game admissions enough, but I’d consider a tutor to be held to fewer standards than one of the businessmen you reference. Missing a tutor’s services is far less detrimental than missing a doctor’s, for example. I don’t think that we can crucify this tutor for his actions-if you knew he worked in a school (which seems that you should know what he does to judge competence) then you should expect that meetings, particularly melodramatic emergency meetings, happen. And they happen afterschool-the same time that you likely planned to meet.
I agree that the onus should be on the hired professional, but this level of condemnation over a single missed appointment seems excessive. Not having a smartphone is one thing-but couldn’t the tutor expect OP to have been at home with computer access an hour before the meeting? Seems silly to travel so long for the meeting and I wouldn’t have expected such a commute.</p>
<p>There is no excuse for not returning the phone calls. Set aside all the Emergancy meeting/smart phone/travel time stuff, and her still hasn’t returned the phone calls.</p>
<p>I’d find another tutor. It’s just not worth the hassle.</p>
<p>Depending on location of the OP or transportation options, your assumption about computer access would be unreasonable IME. Some of my high school classmates had 2.5 hour commutes each way on public transport, for instance. </p>
<p>If one is to cancel appointments, it should usually be done at least 24 hours in advance. If it was an actual emergency, the OP’s tutor should have been responsive with apologies in a timely manner as promised in the left message rather than prompting through inaction to leave a second message. A second message which turned out to have been left in vain as there was still no response…and IMHO renders any apologies* in the last minute message meaningless as it betrays a whiff of insincerity. In short…the tutor’s actions indicates he/she does not respect the time of the OP…which IS A BIG DEAL. </p>
<p>Yes, we all have our school/work/personal emergencies…but those are our own issues. We shouldn’t make them issues for other people.</p>
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<li>Assuming there were…which doesn’t seem apparent in this case.</li>
</ul>
<p>Get over! Things happen. How about if somebody died, got into accident, you still would be enraged? There are much more important and critical events that do not go as planned. It is unbelievable that you waste time typing this post. Your problem is so small. Get with your life and forget it. Time is too precious for being enraged, you need to learn to enjoy it. Day that you did not enjoy is a waste of a day in your life.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t get so upset over this - you’ll run into a lot of disappointments in others in life. That said, I would look for tutoring services that are more convenient where logistics are better.</p>
<p>My son has tutored for many years out of the tutoring center at his school. Tutors are expected to act in a responsible way. If you miss three scheduled work periods, you’re gone. Students have to provide their work schedules a week in advance - the schedule are posted on the web the Friday before the work week - this is so students requiring tutoring services can plan which day and time they will go to the tutoring center for help. The names of the tutors are posted on the schedule and there’s a list of what courses each student covers so students would look for tutors that cover the course that they need help for and then look up their work schedules.</p>
<p>A tutor that missed a schedule work period could inconvenience any students looking for the tutor. It may not be a big problem for courses that have a lot of coverage (like chem, physics, calc), but there are some courses which only have one or two tutors and mission a session can be a burden for students.</p>
<p>When talking to a tutor, find out his or her situation and explain your situation. The tutor might suggest finding someone else if the logistics will be difficult.</p>
<p>My son sent an email to someone looking for a private tutor. The original email didn’t specify if it was for an individual or for a group (as in a TA situation). It turns out that it’s for an individual trying to get a refresher for the second part of a course. I suggested that he not take it because of the logistics in doing this for the rest of August - son already has a job that’s keeping him reasonably busy and the course that the other student took is a different version (practical vs theoretical) than the one my son took. I think that he could do a good job at it but it would add some stress to his life that he really doesn’t need.</p>
<p>I would maybe give him another chance, BUT he should somehow make it up to you that he did make you waste the time and travel expenses. I’ve been a regular tutor for three years, and have only once missed an appointment (due to an alarm failure). As a result, I offered three free hours (I was initially going to tutor for one and a half) to make up for my own mistake.</p>
<p>Your tutor acted irresponsibly, especially considering how far in advance he made the committment to you. That said, sometimes people mess up, and it seems as if there was a lack in ability to contact anyway. See how he handles the aftermath, and if he doesn’t do that honorably, you might want to consider getting another tutor.</p>
<p>I agree. Life is too short to spend it chasing after undependable flakes. But don’t get overly upset and certainly not enraged. Life is too short for that too. Just fire the tutor and get a new one.</p>
<p>You still haven’t answered whether he knew that for you to get to the agreed-upon place involved a long train commute. If he knew, then it was inconsiderate. If he didn’t know, then for all he knew, you lived five blocks away. I agree he should have called /texted in addition to email.</p>
<p>Is there some reason that this tutor is so great it would be worth the travel time to meet, in general? Can’t you find a tutor who is closer, but as good?</p>