When looking for a training provider, there is one element that should always be avoided, and that's when the company have the power to cancel courses - whether you want them to or not. You may think 'oh but it doesn't matter, if they refund me and reschedule, it's all right'. But delve into deeper consequences of cancellation and you will see the domino effect it can have on your training schedule. Cancelled courses can affect businesses more negatively than many other aspects of the training company, and here are several reasons why:

1. It ruins your schedule

If you have training set to happen on a certain day, and then it gets cancelled, then you're at a loss to fill that day at short notice. You could say that therefore it's business as usual, but the other scheduling problem is that you once again have to make sure all particular staff are available together on yet another day for training to be rescheduled. On top of that, you'll never have a guarantee that the course won't be cancelled again.

2. You lose money, even if the course is refunded

Having to cope with a rescheduled or cancelled course can mean a loss of money through all the administrative stress and expense associated with it. On top of that, your staff have to be reallocated to do something else for that day - costing man hours and also inconveniencing your workforce.

3. It shows you're not the priority

If a company cancels a course due to low bookings, this means that they are more interested in their profit margin rather than delivering a good service to their customers. A good training company will run the course anyway - after all, it's in their best interests to have your repeat business.

4. Travel and time needs to be reconsidered

Let's say, for example, you have planned a training course a good few miles away, because it's the only business who will deliver exactly what you need. If a large number of staff members are due to go to the training, then travel arrangements (such as hiring a minibus, hire cars, train tickets and so on) will have to be made in advance and are usually non-refundable. If a course gets cancelled, that's money lost - and additional expense will be incurred trying to reschedule it all.

5. You lose confidence in the training company

If you get cancelled when you've booked a course, even if it's easy getting a refund or rescheduling the training, it can only make you lose confidence in the company you've booked. It shows a lack of customer care, and inconveniences you when it should be making your life easier.

Conclusively, always look for a good sized training company that promises not to cancel their courses. Read any terms and conditions carefully, as they may not always make this obvious at the time of booking. A good training company should be customer focused and run the course because they understand that cancelling is always bad business, both for you and them.