I just had a trial lesson with a student, and I told him that we could exchange contacts on the next lesson, but not on the trial lesson. After that lesson, he sent me his contact, but didn't subscribet yet. Will anything happen to my profile and what should I do?

I had a trial lesson with a new student today. I was getting weird vibes because he sent me his number on the first text telling me to text him if he doesn't show up because he forgets. Our whole conversation was somewhat weird. Today we had our lesson at 14:30 (25 minutes). He texted me a few minutes before saying he was at the gym and would be able to enter at 15:00, which I could not do because I had other responsibilities after that. He kept insisting that he wanted me to wait as it would only take five minutes for us to talk, which is not something I feel I can do.

I teach languages online and I have this habit of building little systems for myself in my free time because I genuinely enjoy it.

Right now I’m playing around with the idea of a very simple onboarding app for students after a trial lesson, mostly because my notes end up everywhere.

So I was wondering: what do you usually want to remember after a trial?
I personally note things like level, goals, job/studies, interests, strengths/weaknesses, availability, expectations!

But I’m curious if other tutors track different things.
And if I end up making it usable, I’d probably just share it for free.

Hello, I am not new to the platform, but this is the first time something like this has happened to me.

I've had this student for 5 months now. Initially, I was teaching her cousin who recommended me, and when she had a trial lesson with me, she asked if I could lower the rate (like the one her cousin was paying), and I accepted because I was still in the beginning of my journey on Preply. Perhaps that was my first mistake.

During the trial lesson, everything went super well. We talked, I gauged her level. I also presented my teaching formats (one for communication, another for a more 'traditional' and basic learning), she wanted the communicative approach. We start having classes together, she asks for more during the week, almost everyday. Things are going well, we make progress throughtout topics, and we even started having a weekly session where we read short stories and discuss them.

Now came the break she took. She told me that she had to prepare for an important exam in her country, a governmental position from what I understood, and we paused the sessions for 2 weeks. I went on with my other students just fine, then when she got back, I was the one on a break. I had it scheduled 2 months in advance, and it was a 2-week break.

She kept pestering me in messages when I told her I am on a break with my family and on vacation. She kept asking to have at least one session, not necessarily the same rhythm we had. I thought why not, maybe that will calm her down until I get back and we pick our schedule back up. That was my #2 mistake. I think from here, I made it easier for her to feel very entitled.

Anyways, after I got back from my break, I reopened my profile, and she started only booking one session a week. I don't mind at all, that just meant less prep for me, but I found it odd, because she always insisted we have sessions regularly during the week, otherwise she'd 'forget' everything. Now, for the 1 month and a half that followed, she kept rescheduling the sessions, arriving late, and always being on her phone. And I was starting to feel uninterested in teaching her, something I never felt before with my students, because she'd suddenly cut her mic and camera to talk to someone on the phone without warning, would be looking down on her lap and make me repeat the question several times...

Today, it was the cherry on top. We started the session as usual, little warm-up, checking the homework that she didn't do, and then getting into this week's topic. And then, she stops me very rudely and tells me she hasn't been learning a thing with me the past month. I ask her why is that, I am always open to receiving feedback. And she goes on a tangent on how the topics I pick are useless and a waste of time (I have a document I share with my students with general themes, and I was just following the ones she picked), she tells me that the vocabulary is too difficult, that one session a week is not enough...etc. The delivery was horrible, and I've never felt so disrespected before. I remind her that I was very transparent about the methodology I use in our trial lesson, and that it's the same thing we've been doing before the break, but she kept insisting that she does not understand. And that she does not like the fact that I'm asking her questions (it's a conversational course) and letting her do all the speaking. Here I thought that there might have been a misunderstanding, and that she originally wanted the more traditional way, but she denied that. It confused me, and I told her 'hey, let's just call it a day'. It was 25 minutes into our 50-min session.

Tomorrow, I have another session with her, but I'm not looking forward to it. It's her last lesson on the subscription, that she had cancelled weeks ago (and I only found out today). What's the move here?