Eft

[cocobeachtanllc]

i no longer accept EFT's. Most people have their c.c.'s declined after a month or two. They don't even bother cancelling their memberships. They are also the same people that don't buy lotion, and never pay for up-grades. These same people are the ones that tan 3 times a week. I only have 2-3 who keep their membership year round. The only people I still have on EFT memberships, are the people that have been on it. Once they cnacel, they cannot go back on it.
EFT memberships only cost me money.

[Owner#1]

Wow! EFTs only cost you money? EFTs are the most important part of my business. That's the only reoccuring income I can count on to pay rent and my employees. I would seriously reconsider and maybe market the program better.

[cocobeachtanllc]

When I first purchased the business 5 years ago, it covered the rent. Now most people don't even stay with eft for the minimum 3 month requirement. People that are still on it, tan an average of 3 times a week. So they are basically paying $2/session. I now offer a package for $18/month with $3/session co-pay.

[theislandtan]

Is that working better than eft? We do not do eft in our salon.

[perfecttan01]

Originally Posted by Owner#1

Wow! EFTs only cost you money? EFTs are the most important part of my business. That's the only reoccuring income I can count on to pay rent and my employees. I would seriously reconsider and maybe market the program better.

I think they are fine if you can get a year comittment and a decent price.
In many areas, mine included, that is not possible.
You have too many 19.99 per month, no signup fee, cancel anytime with no cancellation fee.
Not for me.

[cocobeachtanllc]

The co-pay session works better for me. No commitment, no declined credit cards. Plus you get a couple of dollars everytime they tan. A few of the customers on this plan actually upgrade quite often as well.

[JaneT]

We do eft, but it has to be tied to a banking account

[jordie114j]

we do a 1 year membership and we do not give them an option to cancell
at anytime, if you do they use it mar-april and may and then cancell and you lose out, this way we have money coming in all year long. We lose out on maybe 3 or 4 a year who will just cancell their card but that's it. Why give them an option?

[mmurra]

The trick is to CLEARLY set the expectation at signup. We have a bulleted 10 point guideline (not a contract), the the staff person holds and reads, looking eye to eye, with the customer, indicating the draft dates, cancel policy, etc. WE do this before they sign up. We require a cancel reciept (which we provide when they cancel in person), in order to dispute a membership drop. We have the manger in charge verbally review with the customer at the time of signup. Yes, we have some problems but it is worth the hundreds of satisfied customers on EFT every month!

[eyecandytanning]

mmurra....i went through all this and still had peeps sign up for a month and just cancel their credit card.

[dougl020]

When presenting the EFT to our guest we like to say that the client "authorizes the salon to automatically charge their account monthly", we believe wording it this way then makes the guest feel more in control & instead of saying "we debit &/or take money from your bank account", which can put a wall up, especially for people who have bad experiences.

[aeltiger]

EFTs are a double-edged sword for us. I love them, but at times I also hate them! We did our draft yesterday (15th) and had more declines than ever before. One of my salons had about 30% of the credit cards decline and the other salon had almost 50% decline!!!

They have the option of drafting a credit card or a bank account. We encourage them to use a credit card, as we are able to see the declines immediately. My software, Helios, doesn't show the bank account declines right away. Only about 35% of my clients use a bank account.

After looking at the people who's account declined, I realized that many of them had a balance of $200+...which means their account has declined for several months. Usually its the ones who sign up on our 12 month plan and only tan for 3-4 months and then their card mysteriously starts declining! Its so frustrating!

I don't know the answer to it. Maybe its the economy. Maybe people are just a**es! Who knows? But I still don't think I am ready to do away with EFTs though. Even with the declines, it still brings in a significant amount of our revenue!

[dcjjp1]

I was going to eliminate my middle and high EFT's, but I think for now I will keep them. I bill in house so I know when they decline (CC only) and freeze their account. If it's not rectified by next bill date (30 days) they are dropped and can only buy sessions or full priced months. So no problems with that.
I just had a mass exodus from the plan this past week, close to $500 cancel. We are pushing it hard at this time and offering incentives to join, but it's a tougher sell these days

[Glowtanning530]

We have all inclusive EFT or level 1 eft. thats it