no-show-policy-notice

---
name: no-show-policy-notice
description: Builds a no-show notice you can defend. Fixes the charge to a provable loss, checks it against the Consumer Rights Act 2015's grey list of potentially unfair terms, shows the figure before booking, and logs who saw it and when. Never writes a figure with no stated basis, and never calls wording "guaranteed enforceable": no UK court has tested a restaurant no-show fee. Use before you publish, print or quote a no-show or cancellation charge.
---

# A no-show charge that survives a complaint

Give it your no-show figure and how you calculate it. Get back a notice worded to the test a court would apply, and a log row proving the guest saw it before they booked.

## What it does

1. **Fix the charge to a loss you can show your working for.** Schedule 2 names a term "requiring a consumer who fails to fulfil his obligations under the contract to pay a disproportionately high sum" as potentially unfair.

2. **Build it from what the no-show cost, less what was recovered.** "A cancellation fee is more likely to be fair if it reflects your likely loss and doesn't punish the customer for cancelling." If it cannot be explained in one sentence of arithmetic, it is a penalty.

3. **Show the figure before the guest commits.** "Your terms should appear before the customer is locked in, not only after the booking is confirmed."

4. **Test it against the fairness rule.** A term is unfair where "contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance" to the consumer's detriment (s.62(4)): charging the guest while giving nothing back if the venue cancels fails that test.

5. **Use the regulator's own standard.** The CMA told venues they "should not require unjustifiable, non-refundable deposits or impose unreasonable cancellation charges", and that "unfair terms are not legally binding on consumers, who can challenge them in court."

6. **Write the notice once, plainly**: figure, trigger, how it is taken. **Log the send**: reference, channel, timestamp.

## Then it checks

1. The figure has a one-sentence arithmetic basis.
2. The notice is shown before, not after, the booking is confirmed.
3. No wording claims a guarantee or cites a court decision.
4. The venue-cancels case is covered, even briefly.
5. The send log has a row for the booking.

Any check fails: redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only. Never invent a fact, number or quote. Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never call a charge guaranteed enforceable; no UK court decision has tested one.
- Never set a figure with no stated loss basis, or charge where no notice was shown before booking.
- Working document for the owner's solicitor or trade body to check before reliance. Not legal advice.

## Built from
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, s.62, legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/62, read 4 Nov 2026: fairness test, step 4.
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, Sch.2, legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/schedule/2/enacted, read 4 Nov 2026: para 6, step 1.
- CMA, "Wedding venues advised to play fair", gov.uk/government/news/wedding-venues-advised-to-play-fair, 2 Mar 2016, read 4 Nov 2026: step 5.
- Sprintlaw, "Cancellation Fees & No-Shows UK", sprintlaw.co.uk/articles/cancellation-fees-no-shows-uk/, 17 Oct 2026, read 4 Nov 2026: steps 2-3.

# no-show-policy-notice

## You are given
The venue's no-show/late-cancellation figure in GBP, and its arithmetic basis from Claude: covers held, margin per cover, and anything recovered by resale or walk-ins. The channels the notice appears on (`booking page`, `confirmation sms`, `confirmation email`, `phone script`, `printed menu`). The final notice wording for each channel. The venue's booking terms, if any, to check a venue-cancels case is covered. A sample of recent bookings with channel and timestamp of when the notice was shown, if logged.

## Produce
Write into a `./no-show-policy-notice-output/` folder:

1. `fee-basis.csv`: `fee_gbp`, `covers_held`, `margin_per_cover_gbp`, `amount_recovered_gbp`, `calculated_loss_gbp`, `fee_exceeds_loss_by_gbp`, `basis_one_sentence`. A positive `fee_exceeds_loss_by_gbp` is flagged in `gaps.md`.
2. `notice-check.csv`: `channel`, `notice_text_verbatim`, `shown_before_booking_confirmed`, `contains_guarantee_claim`, `guarantee_words_found`, `contains_figure`, `contains_trigger_condition`. `guarantee_words_found` searches the literal tokens `guaranteed`, `enforceable`, `legally binding`, `will be upheld`, `court has confirmed` and records each hit.
3. `reciprocity-check.md` - whether the booking terms cover what happens if the venue cancels, quoted verbatim, or `not found`.
4. `send-log.csv`: `booking_ref`, `channel`, `notice_text_shown`, `timestamp`, `before_or_after_confirmation`. Appended, never overwritten.
5. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: any `fee_exceeds_loss_by_gbp` above zero; any guarantee word found; any notice shown after confirmation; a missing reciprocity clause; any sample booking with no logged notice.

## Rules
- Codex calculates, checks and records. It never sets the fee, writes the notice wording, or decides the venue's loss; those come from Claude.
- Never write that a charge is guaranteed enforceable, and flag any supplied text that does.
- Never invent a court decision, case name or statutory provision not supplied.
- Amounts are calculated exactly, never estimated.
- Use British English, GBP and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes; flag any supplied text containing one in `gaps.md`.
- Every file ends with: this is a working document for the owner to check against their booking terms, and for their solicitor or trade body to check before reliance. Not legal advice.

## Return
Each file's absolute path and row count. The calculated loss, the fee, and whether it exceeds the loss, in GBP. Channels checked and any showing the notice after confirmation. Every guarantee word found, with channel. The reciprocity-check verdict. Bookings with no logged notice. The new `send-log.csv` row, and the `gaps.md` item count.