Introduction to Cancellation Policies
RealKick wants to make the private soccer session market more transparent and stable. Our goal is to drive down costs for parents/guardians while improving the quality of life for coaches. As such, it is important that we have clear policies in place for both parents/guardians and coaches when a session needs to be canceled. The policy below is a summation of our more formal cancellation policy linked here: RealKick Cancellation Policy
Before we start, we need to introduce the idea of the No Cancellation Period. In the past, coaches who give private sessions have dealt with the ongoing issue of players missing a session or parents/guardians cancelling on short notice. This leaves the coach with an open time slot but no one to fill it, and ultimately results in a financial loss. Once this happens several times, it’s typical for a coach to raise their prices in order to account for those sessions that will periodically get missed. So prices go up and players get priced out of private sessions, paying the cost in more ways than one. RealKick’s No Cancellation Period attempts to treat the problem at the source.
A set period of time (24 hours before the start of the session) before a session begins, the No Cancellation Period will start. During this period if a parent/guardian cancels a session they will be charged for half the price of the session. If a parent/guardian cancels before the No Cancellation Period, the coach has an opportunity to find someone else to fill the session, and the parent/guardian will not be charged. It is RealKick’s belief that this plan will keep base prices of sessions down while improving the show rate of players. With costs of sessions lower and show-rates higher, everyone wins!
Parent/Guardian Cancellation Policy
The Parent/Guardian Cancellation Policy is simple. If a parent/guardian cancels before the No Cancellation Period begins, then the parent/guardian is not charged. A parent/guardian that books a session can see when each session’s No Cancellation Period begins. If a parent/guardian cancels after the No Cancellation Period begins and they are the only participant in a session, they will be charged half the price of the original session.
Coach Cancellation Policy
RealKick’s cancellation policies are designed to bring some financial stability to coaches who want to give private sessions. We take pride in this goal. However, in return we don’t want bad actors to take advantage of our platform. So, coaches are expected to be at sessions on time and hold a session for the total length of the session (typically 1 hour). If a coach does not show up for a session, the incident will be investigated. We know that life happens. and sometimes there is an unexpected and/or unfortunate event right before a session and you can’t get to the session and need to cancel last minute. Cooperate with us and we will find a way to make it right. However, we reserve the right to immediately terminate any coaches account that takes advantage of this policy for their own benefit.
If a coach cancels a session after the No Cancellation Period begins, they MUST list a reason. All coach cancellations are investigated by RealKick. A coach can cancel without penalty for two reasons: 1) The weather would cause the session to be unsafe for the player or the coach or 2) Circumstances outside of the coach’s control. If a coach’s cancellation does not fall under either of these two reasons, then the coach will receive a strike. One strike is a warning and no further action will be taken.
Coaches who have two strikes will receive a 10% pay cut for their next 5 sessions. Coaches who get a third strike will have their account suspended. Strikes can not be appealed. If a coach’s account is suspended, they can appeal to have their account reinstated 6 months after their final strike. Full details are in our full cancellation policy, linked here: RealKick Cancellation Policy