Rescheduling or cancelling an appointment

Every appointment you book comes with its own private link for moving or cancelling it. There is no account to log in to and no need to phone anyone: the link is enough.

This article covers where the link is, rescheduling to a different time, cancelling, what the business is told, the calendar invite, and what the page means when it says the appointment can't be changed.

Where the link is

Your confirmation email has a box headed Need to change this? with two buttons, Reschedule and Cancel appointment. If the business sends you reminder emails, each one ends with the same two links.

Both lead to a page headed Your appointment, which shows:

What, the appointment and who it is with
When, the date and time
Where, the place and address, when there is one
How, a phone call, WhatsApp call, video call or in person

If the business has chosen to show times in your own time zone, the time is labelled with it, for example "(New York time)", and matches what your confirmation email said.

Use the link in your most recent email. Each time you reschedule, the appointment gets a fresh link, and the link from the earlier email only shows that the old time was cancelled.

Rescheduling

Click Reschedule, in the email or on the page. You land on the business's booking page, headed Reschedule your appointment, with a box showing what you are Currently booked for. If the business shows times in your own time zone, that box does too, and names the zone.

Pick a date on the calendar. Only dates with a free time can be chosen.
Pick a time on that day.
Check your details. Your name, email and phone are filled in from the original booking. The notes box starts empty: add anything the business should know about the new time.
Click Confirm new time.

The page says You're rescheduled and shows the time you picked. Your original time is cancelled in the same step that books the new one: either both happen or neither does, so you are never left without a booking or holding two.

If your original appointment was already cancelled or moved (from another tab, or by the business) before you confirm, nothing is booked and the page says so. Choose a time again to book a new appointment.

A few things to know about the times offered:

Your current time stays on offer. If you open the page and change your mind, you can pick the same slot again.
The business sets how far ahead you can book and how much notice they need. Times inside that notice period, or beyond how far ahead they take bookings, are not shown.
Some gaps are deliberate. Times close to another appointment, or clashing with an event the business is running, are not offered. See buffer time between appointments for how the business sets that up.
The type of appointment stays the same. A phone call moves to another phone call, and an in-person appointment to another in-person time. If you want to switch between phone, WhatsApp and video, ask the business.

For a video call, the business needs to add a meeting link for the new time, so the page says You'll be sent a confirmation in due course with the video link inside the email. instead of confirming straight away. Your original time is still cancelled at that point.

Use Reschedule rather than booking again. Booking a second time from the business's booking page makes a second appointment and leaves the first one in place.

Cancelling

Click Cancel appointment. A box asks Cancel this appointment? and reminds you that it can't be undone.

Keep it closes the box and changes nothing.
Yes, cancel cancels the appointment.

The page then says Appointment cancelled, and you get an email confirming it. If you cancelled by mistake, reply to that email and the business can help you rebook. The link itself can't bring a cancelled appointment back.

If you arrived from the Cancel appointment button in your email, the confirmation box opens by itself. Nothing is cancelled until you click Yes, cancel.

What the business is told

The business is notified as soon as you reschedule or cancel. A reschedule tells them the time you moved to, and a cancellation tells them which appointment it was. You don't need to email them as well.

The calendar invite

Your confirmation email has a calendar invite attached, appointment.ics. Open it to add the appointment to your calendar.

After a reschedule, the updated confirmation carries a fresh invite for the same appointment. In most calendar apps, opening it moves the existing entry to the new time rather than adding a second one.
After a cancellation, the email carries an update that removes the entry from your calendar.

When it can't be changed

The page tells you why when something is not possible:

This appointment has already taken place, so it can no longer be changed. Once the start time has passed, both buttons go.
This appointment was cancelled. It was cancelled already, either by you or by the business. To book another time, contact the business.
This appointment can't be moved online. The business has stopped taking online bookings for that place. Reply to your confirmation email and they will find you another time. You can still cancel from the page.
Link not found. The link is incomplete, or the appointment no longer exists. Check you copied the whole link, or contact the business directly.

If the page shows only Cancel appointment with no Reschedule button, it is the same reason as the third one: online bookings are off for that place, so moving the time goes through the business.

Troubleshooting

"There are no available times right now." Every slot in the period the business takes bookings for is full or inside their notice period. Try again later, or reply to your confirmation email.
"Sorry, that time was just taken." Somebody else booked it between you opening the page and confirming. Pick another time. Your original appointment is untouched.
"Booking unavailable". The booking page is switched off. Your original appointment still stands. Reply to your confirmation email to arrange a different time.
No cancellation email arrived. If the page says We've cancelled your appointment. If this was a mistake, please contact the venue, there was no email address on the booking to send one to. The cancellation still went through.

Appointments and the booking page, the business's side of the same booking page.
Buffer time between appointments, why some times are not offered.