What should I do if the student refuses to pay?

While the vast majority of tutoring sessions work out well for both parties, occasional non-payment is an unfortunate risk of the tutoring business (as with many other businesses).

Follow up at least once by phone and once by email to politely request payment. Many people simply get busy and bills have a way of being forgotten unless you remind them.

Perhaps the best way to avoid non-payment is to never do more than one hour of tutoring with a new client before getting paid. This will cut your losses if you do end up working with a student who is not honest.

Many tutors have an unofficial money back guarantee on the first hour of tutoring anyway. In effect, the first session is about seeing if it is a good match for both the student and the tutor. If the student decides to disappear and not pay after the first session, then it would not have worked out anyway. At least your time has now been freed up to find quality students who will value your tutoring services and compensate you for them.

As a general rule, be more cautious with students who contact you asking for "last minute" help before their test tomorrow, or students who email you their assignment, essentially asking you to do it for them. In our experience, these students are less likely to pay because they were just looking for a quick fix and didn't truly want to learn the material. This is especially true if you never actually meet the student in person and only converse with them online or by phone.

The most profitable students that you can find as a tutor are the ones who will meet with you on a regular basis, week after week. These "regular customers" will contribute much more to your bottom line and you can be sure they will pay on time (otherwise you wouldn't keep working with them). A tutor who is welcome around the house and practically a friend of the family is much less likely to be cheated out of money. These are the sort of students who you should ideally seek out.

Finally, if you have a complaint about any specific student on our site, you can email support and describe the problem you are having. We do take action against specific students who are not using the site honestly.

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