In this article:
- Cancelling A Reservation (Tutor & Student)
- No-Show Reservation (Tutor & Student)
- Starting a Reservation Late or Ending Early
- Dropping/Missing a Priority Hour
- Returning Student Lessons
Cancelling a Reservation
Tutor
We encourage tutors to cancel or confirm reservations at least 12 hours in advance. If you have not confirmed your reservation within 12 hours of the start time, we automatically cancel it. We do this because we want to give the student enough time to find an available tutor. Our system promotes reliable tutors to students.
What if I need to cancel last minute?
We highly encourage you to cancel or confirm reservations sooner rather than later, but we understand that emergencies happen! Cancelling too many reservations short-notice will result in your schedule being restricted to "regulars only" for 7 days. If you need to cancel your class, please refrain from asking your student to make the cancellation. If you are not able to access your desktop, you can cancel your lesson through the Cambly application on your phone.
What if my student asks me to cancel the lesson?
A student might ask the tutor if they can cancel the class. The tutor can cancel the class if the student requests another time. As long as the tutor cancels within 12 hours of the start time, there is no penalty, however we do encourage the tutor to let the student cancel the class if the student is not able to make it. If the student requests that you cancel the class last-minute and wants to change the time of the lesson, you can select "My student requested another time" and simply reschedule the lesson with them.
Student
Students are also allowed to cancel just as tutors are, and are encouraged to cancel with plenty of notice for the tutor. Sometimes, things come up and a student may cancel their reservation at the last minute! We completely understand that this makes it difficult for you to find a replacement lesson on such short notice. We recognize that your time is valuable, so Cambly will add a $2 payment directly to your account for every late cancellation by a student.
Please note that tutors are not given a credit if the student cannot stay connected. If you would still like to have a lesson during that slot of time, we recommend you switch to "visible" and take any incoming calls!
What qualifies as a late cancellation?
If you are tutoring adults on Cambly and the student cancels 8 hours or less before the start time of the scheduled reservation, Cambly will add a $2 payment to your account. If you are tutoring kids on Cambly Kids and the student cancels 12 hours or less before the start time of the scheduled reservation, Cambly will add a $2 payment to your account.
How will I know I received the $2 late cancellation payment?
If a student cancels for what qualifies as a 'late cancellation', you will be automatically credited the $2 payment. This payment will be added to your Pay History page. If you do not receive this payment for some reason, please submit a request to Tutor Support for assistance.
Will I still receive the $2 payment if a student cancels late but I take other calls during that time slot?
Yes! You will automatically be credited the $2 payment upon the student's late cancellation, even if you choose to log on at the time their reservation would have been to take other calls. Don't forget you can always set yourself as 'visible' and take calls that way if you are unable to book another reservation during that slot!
No-show Reservation
Tutor
If you as the tutor cannot make the reservation, we highly recommend cancelling it, even if it's less than 12 hours in advance. This will allow some time for the student to find another tutor. If you are unable to cancel and are a no-show, as soon as you are able, please notify your students and clear your schedule until you can return.
If a tutor misses or cancels a few reservations, their reservations will be restricted to Regulars Only for 7 days. If your reservations have been restricted, it will be wise to make sure your regulars are actually categorized as regulars on the system. To make a student a regular, please go to the student's homepage (for example, click on their username in your Call Log) and click on the switch next to "Regular Student." Check out this article for more information.
To learn more about missed reservations, visit this Help Center article.
Student
You are paid to wait for 10 minutes after the scheduled start time. If your reserved student doesn't show up after 10 minutes of waiting, the Cambly classroom will alert you that you are no longer receiving late student pay, and prompt you to end the call. You will see the minutes paid in your Call Log.
Note: you must wait until the 10 minute mark to be paid for wait time
Why am I not paid if I extend my lesson before or after the requested time?
As part of the new Cambly Classroom, we want tutors to only be responsible for tutoring within the boundaries of their requested lesson, whether on demand or reserved. Out of respect for your time (and your upcoming students’ time!), we don’t want any student hiccups that affect the duration of the call (tardiness, connectivity issues, etc.) to impact you and your schedule!
This means, if you have a reservation from 1-1:30, you are only expected to be there at those times, regardless of student tardiness or connectivity issues. For on demand, if a student calls with a 15 minute lesson, that lesson begins when you and the student first connect, and does not pause simply because the student has tech issues or leaves the classroom for other reasons.
The hope is that this change allows you to have more autonomy over your schedule, while also paving the way toward a classroom that supports upcoming improvements, such as scheduling, connecting with students, pay, and more!
Starting a Reservation Late or Ending Early
The Cambly Classroom requires tutors to start the lesson within 2 minutes of the scheduled start time. It also requires tutors to wait a full 10 minutes past the scheduled start time for the student to arrive. If a tutor begins the lesson after the 2 minute window or ends the lesson before the 10 minute mark, the tutor will receive an automated Oh No! email. As a reminder, too many Oh No! emails can result in the tutor being restricted to Regulars Only for 7 days.
Dropping or Missing a Priority Hour
Priority Hours must be cancelled over 12 hours in advance. This gives other tutors enough time to pick up the Priority Hour. However, if your Priority Hour is within 12 hours but you no longer can make it, it is better to drop your Priority Hour late than to simply miss that Hour. Dropping a Priority Hour late will hurt your Priority Hour access, but missing your Priority Hour will hurt your access significantly more.
If your PH was somehow released, you will still be paid for every minute you chatted with students on Cambly. However, you may miss out on the guaranteed minutes that we provide for tutors who complete PHs successfully. You can confirm this by checking out your Chat History.
Why was I blocked?
Cambly's system automatically blocks tutors from Priority Hours for a period of three days if they miss multiple recent PHs or release too many within 12 hours of their scheduled start time. We will email you directly if you are blocked (if you haven't been blocked but just don't see many PHs, then check out this article for more information). This temporary block isn't meant as a punishment, but rather a way to allow the system to adjust to the needs of our students.
We completely understand when even tutors with the best attendance miss Priority Hours due to things that are out of their control. That's why we bake in some leeway before the system blocks any tutors. Given that we do offer this leeway, it's our policy not to remove PH blocks for any reason.
Please note, in the event of a Cambly-wide outage (see Cambly's status page here: status.cambly.com), please do submit a request so we can restore any affected Priority Hours right away.
What do I do now?
After three days, PH access is automatically restored. In the meantime, you are welcome to tutor on-demand (that is, without a Priority Hour)!
For future reference, you can also drop Priority Hours from your phone or other device if you can't access your computer.
To learn more about missed Priority Hours, visit this help center article.
Returning Student Lessons
If for any reason you find yourself in a call that you are unable or unwilling to complete, you will be able to leave the lesson within the first two minutes without cost to the student.
To do this, click the End Lesson button. When this option is available, you will see the below options.
Selecting End lesson and return minutes will refund the entire lesson to the student. Prior to leaving the call, it is best practice to kindly let the student know you cannot complete the call, and that their lesson will be refunded to them. They will also receive an email letting them know the lesson was returned.
When tutors select the End lesson and return minutes option, tutors do not receive payment for those 0-2 minutes. If you know ahead of time that you will not be able to complete the call, please use the new “decline” button prior to answering the call. You can learn more about the new decline button in here.
If a tutor opts to return the lesson to the student, ratings will not be counted toward tutors’ overall rating.
When your call surpasses 2 minutes and this option is no longer available to you, you will no longer see the return lessons option when you click End Lesson.
In the rare case a student calls you with a 2 minute (or less) lesson and the lesson is completed, instead of returning the lesson to the student, you should select “End Lesson”.
I am receiving a 30-minute call, but I only have 20 minutes available, should I answer the call?
No, in this case, please click the “decline” button. You should only answer calls you intend to tutor fully. If you happen to answer the call out of habit or by accident, please kindly let the student know you are unable to complete the lesson request, and that their lesson will be refunded to them. Then, click the "end or return lesson" button and select "end lesson and return minutes.”
If a student hangs up after one minute, do I still get paid?
Yes, payment will work exactly as it always has if the student decides to end the call. The only change in tutor payment is specifically if the tutor chooses to select “End lesson and return minutes” within the first two minutes of the class.
How often can I end lessons within the first 2 minutes?
Try to use this new feature sparingly. In most cases, tutors should strive never to leave a call mid-lesson. Despite this, we understand things happen, and occasionally you may need to leave a lesson within the first 2 minutes.
I do not want to teach children on Classic Cambly, can I use this new “End lesson and return minutes” feature when a child calls me?
Yes. While Cambly encourages tutors to teach everyone who calls them, it is acceptable in this situation to very tactfully let the student know you cannot complete the call, that Cambly will return their lesson, and to select “End lesson and return minutes”.
Pro Tip: To maximize your minutes chatting, we recommend having just one prepared child’s lesson on Classic Cambly. You can complete the lesson and then hide from the student if you don’t wish to receive more calls.