Cancellations and rescheduling

We hold appointments on a first-come basis and our diary fills up a week or more ahead. When you cancel late we usually can’t offer the slot to someone else — the deposit is how we keep the diary open and protect the clinic from no-shows. Please read this before you book: it explains exactly when you keep your £30 and when you don’t.

The short version

• Consultations take no deposit. Every consultation — initial review, follow-up, bloodwork interpretation — is settled in clinic. There is nothing to pay when you book and nothing to lose if you cancel.
• Everything else takes a £30 deposit — blood tests, the venous blood draw and IV therapy today, and anything else we add that isn’t a consultation. It comes off the balance you settle in clinic on the day.
• The deposit is non-refundable. If you cancel, or you don’t turn up, the £30 is lost. That applies however much notice you give us.
• Moving your appointment is different. Tell us 24 hours before your appointment or more and we move the £30 to your new slot. Rescheduling is the way to keep your money — cancelling is not.
• If we cancel, you get the £30 back in full. We’ll arrange it with you — or, if you’d rather, put it towards your new slot instead. Either way, it’s your choice.

Reschedule rather than cancel

This is the important part, so it has its own heading. If you can’t make your appointment, ask us to move it rather than cancelling it. With 24 hours’ notice or more your £30 comes with you to the new slot. Cancel instead and the £30 is gone, even if you cancel weeks ahead — so if there is any chance you’ll still want the appointment, move it.

Rescheduling isn’t something you can do yourself online yet — please get in touch and we’ll sort it. Reply to your confirmation email, message us at hello@optimallab.co.uk with your booking reference (it’s in your confirmation email and looks like BK-260521-A4F2), or use the contact form and pick “About a booking”. We’ll find you a new slot and carry your deposit across to it.

If you have an account, and your appointment is more than 24 hours away, you can cancel it yourself from your account. Closer in than that, ask us — there is no self-service cancel inside 24 hours. Either way, please think before you do it: cancelling loses the £30. If what you actually want is a different date, message us instead and we’ll move it.

Why we ask for 24 hours

A clinic appointment is one slot, one clinician and a set of consumables (the bloodwork kit, an IV set, a room). When a slot cancels with less than a day’s notice we rarely find someone to fill it, and the cost of holding it has already been spent. That is the whole reason the deposit exists. Twenty-four hours is simply the point at which we can still offer your slot to someone else — which is why it is the cut-off for moving your deposit to a new appointment.

Refunds for prepaid services

This section is about money you’ve paid for a service in advance. The £30 booking deposit is handled separately — see the section below.

Where you’ve paid for a service in advance, the prepaid amount is refundable up to the appointment time. After the appointment time, services delivered are non-refundable; services not yet delivered are refundable in full. Refunds go back to the original payment method and normally reach it within five working days.

The £30 booking deposit

Every appointment that isn’t a consultation takes a £30 deposit at the time of booking to hold your slot — blood tests, the venous blood draw and IV therapy. It is not an extra charge: the £30 comes off the balance you settle in clinic on the day. Consultations take no deposit at all.

Here is exactly what happens to it in each case.

• You attend: the £30 comes off what you pay in clinic. An £89 panel means £59 to pay on the day.
• You move the appointment, 24 hours ahead or more: we carry the £30 over to your new slot. Nothing extra to pay.
• You cancel: the £30 is not refunded. This is true however much notice you give — the deposit is non-refundable. If you might still want the appointment, ask us to move it instead of cancelling it.
• You don’t turn up: the £30 is lost. There is nothing further to pay. Please still let us know as soon as you can, and we’ll always try to find you another slot.
• We cancel: you get the £30 back in full, and first choice of a replacement slot. We’ll be in touch to arrange the refund — or to put the £30 towards your new slot, if you’d rather.

Refunds, where they are due, go back to the payment method you used and normally reach it within five working days. Nothing in this deposit policy affects your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and if you think we’ve applied it unfairly, say so — see below.

Bloodwork already sent to the lab

Once a sample is at the lab we’re committed to the lab fee. If you cancel a panel after the sample has been drawn, that panel is non-refundable. Before the sample is drawn there is nothing to pay.

If we cancel

We may need to cancel a booking for staff illness, equipment problems or other operational reasons. When that happens we’ll let you know as early as we can, refund everything you have paid — the £30 deposit included — and offer to rebook you with priority on the next available slot. If you’d rather put the deposit towards the new slot than have it back, just say. If we can’t rebook within a reasonable window, the refund is the end of it — no obligation on your side.

The same applies if our nurse decides on the day that it isn’t safe to go ahead — for instance because you’ve been unwell or are pregnant. That counts as us cancelling, not you: there is nothing to pay for the appointment, and your £30 comes back in full or moves to a rebooking, whichever you prefer.

Repeat no-shows

Two or more no-shows without contact in a twelve-month period and we’ll ask for full payment up front for future bookings. We don’t enjoy doing this and it’s rare. It exists because every empty slot is a slot a regular client could have used.

Bad weather, illness, urgent stuff

If you’re ill, snowed in, or dealing with something urgent, please tell us as early as you can. If there are still 24 hours to go we’ll move your appointment and your £30 comes with it. If it’s the same day, we can’t return the deposit — but tell us anyway rather than not turning up, and we’ll always try to find you another slot.

Concerns about a cancellation decision

If you think we’ve handled a cancellation unfairly, contact us within fourteen days and we’ll review it. We aim to acknowledge complaints within one working day and resolve them within ten. If you remain unhappy, this is a wellness service and not a regulated medical contract — your usual consumer rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 apply.

Questions? Drop us a message — cancellation enquiries are routed to the team and answered the same working day.