Office & Event Policies

By scheduling a session or reserving a space at an event or class indicates you have read and agree to adhere to the policies outlined below:

Booking Parameters:

Every client booking a session must provide a current credit or debit card number to hold their appointment with our booking system, (Vagaro). Your information is encrypted and stored within the system and we are unable to schedule your appointment if you don't wish to provide this information. Providing your card information and scheduling an appointment signifies that

you have read and agree to the Late-Cancel / No-Show Policy parameters listed below.

Appointment Arrival Information:

Due to scheduling procedures, should you arrive late for your appointment we will have to “shave” the same amount of time from your session, however, you (the client), will be responsible for the full appointment fee.

Ideally, new clients should plan to arrive 15-minutes prior to their scheduled session so paperwork can be filled out and our therapists are able to review your medical history. Established clients should arrive 5-minutes prior to their scheduled session time. We are very punctual with our time management within our office and ask that our clients be respectful and manage their time appropriately.

Late-Cancel Policy:

A. A $35- late-cancel fee will be automatically assessed by our booking system for all cancellations made by 5:00 p.m. the day prior to your scheduled appointment for 30-min or 1-hour sessions.

B. A $65- late-cancel fee will be automatically assessed by our booking system for all cancellations made by 5:00 p.m. the day prior to your scheduled appointment for 90-min or 2-hour sessions.

C. A full appointment fee will be automatically assessed by our booking system for all cancellations made after 5:00 p.m. the day prior to your scheduled appointment, or the day of your appointment.

D. 12/31/2022: With State and Federal governments no longer having COVID guidelines, individuals who late-cancel or no-show due to COVID illness will be held to the same parameters for general cancelations. We, as Independent Contractors, have no way to re-coup income lost on other individual's illness/es. If we test positive for COVID, we will immediately cancel our sessions in the desire to keep you and your families safe and healthy. We are unable to override our system.

E. A full appointment fee will be automatically assessed by our booking system for ALL No-Show / No-Call appointments. We are unable to override this system. Should your card on-file be declined, the amount due will have to be paid prior to your rescheduling.

F. Our system may attempt random one-time-only captures for previous charged fees that are declined. Again, we have no control over this function.

No-Show/No-Call Policy:

Please Note: Our practitioners are paid BY SESSION. Therefore, if a client Late-Cancels / No-Shows and we are not given the time or opportunity to fill the open slot, the therapist is at work, but looses income. The practitioners are not salaried employees; their income is solely comprised by the number of sessions completed. Timely cancellations provide us with an opportunity to fill a (now vacant) appointment slot.

Weather-Related Cancellations:

Living in WNY can be tricky. Should a heavy snow be forecasted, we, the practitioners within Great Lakes Therapeutic Massage, may preemptively cancel appointments for everyone's safety. Should we receive a surprise storm, again, we will contact clients ASAP to cancel/reschedule.

These past few years have shown that one area may have five feet of snow, while 2-3 miles away they only had a dusting. Our practitioners all live in different townships/areas, so some may not be able to get off their streets.

We ask that our clients give us notice ASAP if they are unable to keep their appointment due to a weather-related event. Please do not assume if it's a blizzard in Tonawanda that we're closed/ closing in West Seneca.

Call or text our office, (716-725-0264), to let us know that you are unable to make your appointment due to weather conditions.

If you merely No-Show without calling/texting, we cannot stop our system from charging your card on-file.

We will notify clients and post any unexpected emergency closings on our FaceBook page or on our answering system when possible.

Balance Due:

For all clients, should you late-cancel or no-show and there is a balance due on your account, our system will not allow us to re-schedule you until that balance is cleared. Additionally, if this occurs more than three times, not only will your owed balance need to be paid, you will be expected to pay for your future session when booking, not when you are seen. If you no-show/late-cancel the pre-paid session, you will not be refunded, nor can those monies be applied toward a future appointment. The independent contractor/therapist will be paid for the time they had reserved for you.

Policies

Appointment & Event Reminders:

Clients with cell phones will automatically be entered into our courtesy text reminder system. You will receive a text alert when your appointment, (or scheduled event/class), is entered into our booking system, and you will receive one reminder text alert 48-hours prior to your appointment. If you are unable to keep your appointment or attend the event, we ask that you CALL or TEXT our office at (716) 725-0264 to let us know you need to change your appointment when you receive the 48-hour reminder text.

A. Please DO NOT reply to the reminder text as it is computer generated via the Vagaro

booking system; we do not receive reply texts from those alerts,

B. If you are a massage or bodywork client and do not contact our office when you receive the 48-hour reminder text, you will be assessed a late-cancel/no-show fee starting the day before your appointment.

C. Please note: this reminder text is a COURTESY. As an adult, it is up to you to remember your appointments or scheduled classes/event. We are happy to supply you with an appointment card if you are re-booking following an in-person appointment.

Gift Certificate Policy:

A. As per NYS law, when monies have been exchanged, gift certificates cannot expire if

a business is still open or if the practitioner is still in-practice. However, if a service has

had a price increase since the certificate was purchased, businesses/practitioners are able

to require payment for the price increase.

B. If the gift certificate was *donated* for a basket raffle or any other event, a hard

expiration date can be placed onto the gift certificate and enforced as the provider is

volunteering their services and no monies were exchanged. It is up to the recipient to use

that certificate within the time frame stated on the certificate and with the practitioner

who donated the certificate. Great Lakes Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork Practitioners

is not liable for gift certificates donated by Independent Contractors working within our

facility.

C. No refunds will be issued for gift certificates purchases for any reason.

D. If a gift certificate recipient schedules an appointment then no-shows or late-cancels,

(less than 48-hour notification), the gift certificate is forfeited. No exceptions. This

policy is reviewed with the recipient when they call to book their session.

E. If you have a gift certificate, please INDICATE THIS TO OUR STAFF WHEN YOU

CALL TO SCHEDULE YOUR SESSION. If you present a gift certificate at the end of a

session and it was sold by a practitioner who is no longer working within Great Lakes

Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork Practitioners, you will be responsible for paying for

your received session to the independent contractor whom you saw.

Lost, Stolen or Damaged Property:

Great Lakes Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork Practitioners, The Elysian Room Creative Studio as well as the Owner/Management of 4085 Seneca Street, West Seneca, NY 14224 are not responsible for any lost, stolen or damaged property on the premises.

Independent Contractor Liabilities:

Great Lakes Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork Practitioners, The Elysian Room Creative Studio, as well as Colleen Marx, BS, LMT are not responsible for inappropriate behavior/actions and/or injury that may occur by the treating practitioner within the scheduled session. All practitioners are Independent Contractors renting space within 4085 Seneca Street, LLC. Each contractor carries their own practitioner liability insurance, therefor they are solely responsible for any issues that may arise within your scheduled session. However, clients should bring any concerns to management immediately and the issues will be addressed.

Client Dismissal / Discharge:

A. Should a client no-show or late-cancel multiple appointments, you may be asked to

pay up-front for any future appointments scheduled. Should you late-cancel or no-show

any of those appointments, you will forfeit your paid monies, (see item #3 above). The

money paid will not be applied to any further appointment. You will have to pay in-

advance to schedule again.

B. Should a client continue to late-cancel or no-show, they will be dismissed from our

care and will no longer be allowed to schedule appointments or attend events within our

facility.

C. As per NYS law, should a client act inappropriate, make inappropriate comments, or

arrive for their session under the influence of mood-altering substances, it is within the

therapists legal right to terminate or refuse the session. It will be up to the therapist

should they wish to reschedule a client. Because the session was set aside and booked for

you, you will still be responsible for your session fee.

D. Clients unable or unwilling to follow office policies and procedures will be

terminated as per NYS practitioner guidelines.

For Attendees of Events and Classes:

The Elysian Room Creative Studio:

A. All of the treatment session parameters above are applied toward events, classes, etc

within our teaching and shared event space. We expect patrons to arrive to classes, events

and functions not under the influence of illegal drugs/alcohol, in a non-disruptive fashion,

be respectful to the facilitating practitioner/event facilitator, be respectful to others, and

leave the space in the same condition as it was when you entered;

B. For all events, you are not considered registered until your payment has been made to

secure your reservation;

C. No refunds. Once you have registered for an event or class, there will be no refunds. It

is up to the event facilitator to decide if they approve of you transferring your paid

reservation to another person;

D. Please arrive on-time, or 10-15 minutes prior to the start of any event. For certain

events, once the lobby or suite door has been locked, we will not unlock it to allow for

late-arrivals, you will forfeit any monies paid for the event;

E. If you are ill, running late or have a change-of-plans and can no longer attend an event

or class, please call our office, (716) 725-0264 within 1-hour of the event. Our office

phone is silenced for many events, so if you call a few minutes beforehand, we will not

receive your message until after the event has concluded;

F. If an attending guest is unable to follow the parameters above, you will be barred from

attending future events within our facility. No exceptions;

G. Should an event facilitator/instructor cancel a class or event, it is up to them to

reimburse all individuals of their monies/deposits. Great Lakes Therapeutic Massage &

Bodywork Practitioners and The Elysian Room Creative Studio are not responsible for

monies, including deposits or monies paid for a transaction of service or good/s, taken by

Independent Contractors. Depending upon the circumstance of the event cancellation,

those facilitators may not be welcome to present within our facility in the future. It is up

to the attendee/guest to pursue all avenues, including legal parameters, to re-collect a paid

debt/monies transaction from a facilitator who canceled and did not reschedule;

H. All 1st-time attendees to The Elysian Room Creative Studio will be asked to sign a

form that asks for your general information, (address, phone, etc). If you do not wish to

be added to our newsletter, please let us know on that form, (by checking the appropriate

box), and you will not be added. Your information is kept within Great Lakes

Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork Practitioners and The Elysian Room Creative Studio

and not shared, even with the class/event facilitator. All facilitators are Independent

Contractors, if they wish to obtain individuals information they should/will supply their

own contact sheets at the event/class;

I. In this day of social media and connectedness, everyone has a camera/video recording

device tucked into the purse or pant-pocket. While we appreciate your desire to share

events you may be attending, you DO NOT have the permission of the facility, event

facilitator or other guests to share their images without their written permission. We ask

that guest attendees to events within The Elysian Room Creative Studio not take photos

or videos to post on social media without asking permission of the facility, presenter

/facilitator or other attendees. Photos and video posted to social media without the

consent of The Elysian Room Creative Studio or the event presenter/facilitator are in

violation of ownership infringement/ownership copywrite law. We reserve the right to

ask the poster to remove your post, (or edit the post to properly credit the facility /

presenter). This is simply courteous and respectful to all. Thank you.

For Psychic-Mediumship Reading Clients:

Psychic Mediumship Readings with Colleen:

If you schedule a psychic mediumship reading with Colleen and then no-show or late-cancel,

please note that the parameters above for late-cancel and no-show appointment policies still

apply. Colleen reserves mediumship reading times from her massage appointment schedule and will often start to hear from people wishing to connect/speak with the client sometimes days in-advance. Should you late-cancel or no-show, she has lost income from where she could have booked another client, and, more importantly, now has to contend with the spirits who were looking forward to communicating with the client.

Should you book a massage with a message and then choose not to receive a message that day there will be a $35 upcharge automatically added to your massage session for two purposes;

1. To allow Colleen to recoup a small portion of "the lost monies".

2. Colleen will now have to work to clear the energetic beings who caame through wishing to speak to you that day.

We ask that you be respectful of her time AND the time/energy of those in the energetic realm. Should you reserve a reading session and then cancel/reschedule several times, you will not be scheduled again.

General Note:

If you teach a class or craft or some type of enrichment program, or if there is something you'd

like to see at our facility, please contact Colleen at (716) 725-0264 to discuss your thoughts and

inspirations. We are always looking to add up-lifting practitioners and events into our space!