Cancellations & refunds

How a booking is paid

A booking exists once a teacher accepts a studio’s offer, or the studio accepts a teacher’s. The studio pays by card at that point. The class total is the rate agreed for the class; on top of it the studio pays half of the platform and processing fee, and the teacher’s payout has the other half deducted. StudioShift holds the money until the booking is marked complete, and only then releases the teacher’s payout.

Part-time and full-time contracts arranged through StudioShift are settled directly between the studio and the teacher. No money passes through the platform and no platform fee is charged, so nothing on this page applies to them.

Cancelling before the class

Either the studio or the teacher can cancel a confirmed booking at any time before it is marked complete. When that happens:

• The studio is refunded in full — the class total and the studio’s half of the fee, every cent it paid. StudioShift keeps nothing on a cancelled booking.
• The teacher is paid nothing for a class that did not happen, and no fee is taken from them.
• The date reopens on the studio’s posting so another teacher can take it.
• The refund goes back to the card that paid. Card networks typically take five to ten business days to show it.

There is no cancellation window and no cancellation charge. That is a deliberate choice while the marketplace is young, and if it ever changes it will be said here plainly and in advance — never applied retroactively to a booking already made.

What is expected of both sides

A refund settles the money. It does not replace a teacher at 4pm on a Tuesday for a room of waiting students, which is the actual cost of a late cancellation.

• Tell the other side as soon as you know. Cancel in the app so the date reopens and the studio is notified — a message alone does not release the booking.
• A no-show is different from a cancellation. Not arriving and not saying anything is the most damaging thing that can happen on this platform.
• Repeated late cancellations, and any no-show, can end an account. Cancellations are recorded, both sides review each other after a booking, and either side can file a report.

After the class — when something went wrong

Once a booking is marked complete the teacher’s payout is released, so there is no automatic refund after that point. If the class was cut short, was not delivered as agreed, or something else went wrong, open a case in the Resolution Centre from the booking page.

• Both sides can write, attach evidence and propose an amount, in private.
• If the two of you agree an amount, that is what happens — a partial refund to the studio, or an extra payment to the teacher.
• A partial refund returns the unearned part of the class total together with the share of the fee that is no longer owed on it. The fee is recalculated on the reduced amount rather than kept in full.
• If 72 hours pass with no agreement, either side can escalate the case to a StudioShift operator, who decides.
• A dispute case is private. It never appears on a profile, in search results, or in a review.

While a case is open, neither side can publish a review of the other. That is on purpose: a public review must never be usable as leverage inside a private negotiation about money.

When StudioShift refunds on its own initiative

StudioShift will refund a studio in full, without a case, if a booking was charged in error — a duplicate charge, a charge for a booking that never existed, or a platform fault that made the booking impossible to fulfil. Tell us and it is fixed.

Fees and tax on a refund

• On a full refund the studio gets back the class total and its half of the fee. Nothing is retained.
• On a partial refund the fee is recomputed on the reduced class total, and the difference is returned along with the refunded class time.
• Sales tax charged on the platform fee is refunded in the same proportion as the fee it was charged on.

How to ask

Start on the booking page — cancel it there, or open a case there. Both routes are in the app and both leave a record. If you cannot reach the booking page, contact us from Settings.