I made an offer, set a date, and paid the arrangement fee, but later asked to change the date. Universe refunded the arrangement fee once in points, and after a new date was confirmed, I was asked to pay extra because the woman’s arrangement fee had increased.

> Since the arrangement fee was refunded once in points, That would suggest that you canceled the offer, wouldn’t it? If it were simply a date change, the arrangement fee wouldn’t be refunded. In other words, although the reason isn’t given here, I assume you asked to cancel because something about the situation didn’t sit right with you. They normally don’t accept cancellations, but perhaps they agreed because they felt your reason was legitimate. > When a new date was finalized, It seems the part about what happened before the new date was set is missing, but judging from the sequence of events, I assume you made another offer after canceling. > Since the woman’s arrangement fee has gone up, I was asked to pay the difference. The long-standing rule is that the arrangement fee at the time you make the offer applies. If a woman becomes more popular, she may move up a class. For example, a Gold woman may become Platinum, or a Platinum woman may become Black. If you initially made the offer at the Gold rate and then canceled, that amount should have been refunded. If she was promoted to Platinum afterward, then the Platinum rate applies. Naturally, you would have to pay the difference. > Since I already paid the arrangement fee once, they should have just changed the date at that rate. Why did you say you wanted to cancel instead of asking to change the date in the first place? That’s the key point here. It’s strange to talk about changing the date after canceling. I’ll say it again: changing the date does not result in a refund. > When I contacted my Universe representative and asked to cancel this time because I couldn’t accept the situation, I was told that my rating would be lowered. Women’s ratings are also lowered if they cancel after the arrangement has been set up. The same applies to both men and women: canceling after the arrangement has been made will lower your rating. The wording is rather malicious, but weren’t they simply stating the obvious? If anything, considering how much you put the staff through, I think they were quite lenient to only lower your rating. Since it seems like you’re not a good fit, I almost think a forced termination of your membership would be appropriate. That said, if you normally treat your representative courteously, they might be willing to say, “If you make another offer right away, we’ll keep the arrangement fee the same as before.” (Though that would be difficult if more than a week passed between the cancellation and the new offer.) Mac-san > I’d also like to hear the representative’s side, so could you look into it? I’ll look into it. However, if there were a few more clues, I might be able to figure out who it was. With only this information, it seems very difficult to identify the person. At the very least, it would help to know which branch it was or what date it happened on… Maybe the person in question will contact me and say, “That was me!” > This is just speculation, isn’t it? Isn’t that disrespectful to the questioner? It was speculation, so I’ve deleted it. > President Kida is amazing. > It’s probably for the best that the president stepped in, since Maezawa-san might have made the atmosphere at the office uncomfortable if his coworkers at Universe started finding his strange inquiries annoying. I’m glad the president stepped in. That said, naturally, this kind of thing concerns me, so I’m continuing the internal investigation. It would be best if the person involved contacted me directly, but now that the president’s email address has been posted, they’ll probably contact him instead…

Can you actually change the date or cancel? I don’t think I’ve ever done anything like that—something that would inconvenience the club or the woman I was meeting… Wouldn’t it be understandable for the questioner to have to pay the fee for that occasion? Since it was a schedule change for their own convenience, I think they should consider themselves lucky that they weren’t charged twice… Maybe you should just think of it as having gotten carried away because the woman you were first offered was so wonderful… When it comes to relationships between men and women, there’s no point in a man arguing about it—it’ll only make him look bad. Isn’t it better than being kicked out of the club…? > Maybe I was being too sympathetic toward the questioner? I think Mac’s answer is fine as it is—just say what you genuinely think. Because there are opposing answers and opinions, I think this Q&A site has value no matter what the topic is. I don’t think it’s good to lean too heavily to one side. Especially when it comes to men and women, the two are fundamentally different. The contrast between dominant and submissive personalities, money and dating, short and long periods of time—in every case, opposing preferences exist and people differ in all kinds of ways. That variety is what makes it interesting, I think. When it comes to meeting women, men who make women happy are welcomed. So from the man’s side, as Fuu says: > The moment you say something instead of simply complying, you’ve already lost. A member who contacts their Universe representative saying, > I can’t accept this, so I’d like to cancel this time, isn’t someone the club can welcome. I don’t think that label of “person to watch out for” will ever be removed. To be honest, I think clubs would prefer to expel any member—man or woman—who might damage the club’s reputation. I’m sure both the club and its female members would rather not deal with men who can’t handle things gracefully. The club only makes the introduction; it can’t guarantee anything. Since what they’re providing is something where only the two people involved know what really happened and neither side can take responsibility, that kind of behavior is especially unwelcome… > A man who causes trouble by constantly canceling at the last minute or changing dates should be forcibly expelled. I agree. Once you’re paying to be introduced to someone, you need to recognize that you’re at the very bottom of the dating hierarchy…

I’m 100% on the questioner’s side here. “Changing the date” and “canceling” are two different things. If the questioner had canceled and then made a new offer, it would be understandable for the fee to have increased by then. But the questioner intended to change the date, right? Since that wasn’t accepted, I assume the booking was treated as a cancellation and the fee was refunded in points. At that point, the club recognized it as a “cancellation,” while the questioner still understood it as a “date change.” The club should have clearly explained, “This will be treated as a cancellation, not a date change.” I’m guessing they didn’t. Then, because the new fee was higher, the questioner decided not to proceed with the offer. But if the previous offer had already been canceled, there was absolutely nothing wrong with stopping there. This was no different from saying, “Maybe I’ll make an offer…actually, never mind.” The club arbitrarily treated it as a continuation of the previous offer and said it would lower the questioner’s rating. If they considered it a continuation, they should have honored the fee from before the increase. Yozakura-san may find this hard to imagine because you’re looking at it from the woman’s perspective, but suppose a man offered ¥50,000 for an adult relationship (intimate), and when you asked to change the date, he said, “If you change the date, it’ll be ¥30,000.” Even if satisfying your sexual needs were your top priority, wouldn’t that feel a little unreasonable? Then, if you said, “At ¥30,000, I’ll pass,” and the man responded, “That’s not what we agreed on. I’m going to complain to the club,” the structure would be exactly the same. To be honest, I’ve also had about three unpleasant experiences with the club’s handling of things in the past. I make a point of forgetting unpleasant experiences, so even though I’m trying to remember what happened, I genuinely can’t. If it comes back to me, I’ll add it later. When you’re doing business with wealthy clients, the whole point is to make them feel good. It’s not simply about flattering them, nor is it just a matter of hiding behind the rules. In fact, when the rules are ambiguous, you should give the other person the benefit of the doubt and show them respect. They’re not stupid; they’ll recognize that you treated them with consideration and feel inclined to spend money with you again. I’ve had the impression that some people there don’t understand these basic principles. My sympathies to the questioner. Hopefully, Maezawa-san or Kida-san will read this, realize that something went wrong, identify the staff member in charge, hear what happened, and either clear up the misunderstanding or provide appropriate guidance. If that doesn’t happen, then I suppose this is simply the kind of company—or organization—this is. With so many employees, the decisions made on the ground can often be questionable. In any case, I hope my answer has eased your frustration, even if only a little. **Update** Even if the staff member acted according to the rules, it should be obvious to anyone who puts themselves in the other person’s shoes that the rules themselves are flawed—or have a loophole—in this situation. At the very least, the staff member should have responded empathetically, saying something like, “Yes, I understand what you mean. Let me discuss this with my superiors.” That’s what a customer service contact is supposed to do. If their attitude is, “I’m just taking care of filthy old men’s dirty business. I can’t wait to quit this job and find something better,” they’ll never be able to empathize with customers—and they won’t succeed in their next job either. Considering the other person’s position is important in any line of work. **Second update** Maybe I was being a little too sympathetic toward the questioner? This is all assuming that what the questioner wrote is true. A fair judgment would require hearing the staff member’s side as well. **Fuu-san** > As a general rule, cancellations or changing the member after a date has been confirmed are not allowed if they are due to the member’s circumstances. It says “as a general rule,” which means this case was allowed. Section 2 says: > If the reason for or behavior surrounding a cancellation by a member is deemed malicious, the setting fee paid in advance may not be refunded, regardless of whether it was paid in points or cash. So in the case of a cancellation, it seems reasonable to assume that the fee will be refunded as long as the cancellation wasn’t malicious. That means the matter was probably concluded at that point, and I don’t think there was necessarily anything wrong with the club staff deciding that any new offer would be charged at the rate in effect at that time. However, telling the questioner, “We’ll lower your rating” simply because they decided not to proceed with the offer was excessive. Maybe they were desperate to increase sales? If the questioner had said, “Please cancel it because I’ll make another offer later,” and the cancellation was accepted on that basis, then it could be considered a conditional cancellation. But in that case, I would have replied, “I’m not saying I won’t make another offer; I’m just saying I haven’t decided when I’ll do it.” Even if I were on the club’s side, I’d say, “Understood. Since it was a conditional cancellation, please make another offer at some point.” And if they said they hadn’t decided when, I’d simply respond, “That’s fine—whenever you’re ready.” I wouldn’t say “We’ll lower your rating” if my life depended on it. Saying that would only end up lowering Univa’s own rating. **Maezawa-san** > By the way, if you’ve always treated the staff member courteously, I think they might have offered to keep the previous setting fee if you made a new offer soon afterward. No, based on my impression, I don’t think they would have responded that way. I can’t say for sure without checking, though. Also, you mention that the money was “converted into points,” but if the questioner originally paid in cash, you could also say that they had already incurred a cancellation penalty at that point. From an accounting perspective, that money became Univa’s sales revenue, didn’t it? I’d like to hear the staff member’s side too, so please look into it. It’s not simply a matter of deciding who was right or wrong. Customer complaints can lead to improvements in an organization and its rules, so I think this was a valuable question. President Kida, that was excellent. It was probably better for Maezawa-san that the president stepped in too. If he had been seen as prying into things with his colleagues at Univa, they might have found him irritating and created tension within the company.

I think a man who cancels at the last minute or changes plans this often should be permanently banned. Making such a fuss over a small difference in the amount. Does he even consider that the woman has set aside time for him?

It was so long that I lost track halfway through, but I guess that can happen with popular women or depending on the timing.

Sorry for the somewhat indirect answer. I can instantly tell which women are likely to become popular, so I make them an offer right away, anticipating that the setting fee will go up. Every now and then, there are women who move up from Gold all the way to Black, aren’t there?

I’ve had the offer fee refunded in points several times when the woman canceled on the day. In this case, since the questioner made the offer, agreed on the date and time with her, and then requested to reschedule, I believe it would be treated as a cancellation on the questioner’s side. I’ve also been asked to change the date after an offer was confirmed. If the new timing doesn’t work for me, of course I decline, but in that case it would be considered a cancellation on the woman’s side. Though, that’s never actually happened to me. As for the issue where the re-offer happened to coincide with a class upgrade after the date and time had been agreed upon, it does seem rather dishonest for the club not to mention that at the time of the re-offer. That said, we’d need to hear the club representative’s side before making a definite judgment. Just sharing my thoughts.

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but this is how Fuu understands the original cancellation policy under the club’s rules: Article 9 (Cancellation of Date Settings) Paragraphs 1 and 2 were amended as follows: “After the date has been finalized, cancellations or substitutions due to a member’s personal circumstances are generally not permitted. After the date is finalized, the member scheduled for the date may change their profile information (including, but not limited to, their dating type, which members may change freely without the company’s approval), but even in such cases, the member may not cancel the date.” In other words, cancellations aren’t allowed after the date has been decided. Technically, changing the date means changing something that has already been finalized, so it’s essentially the same as a cancellation. Under the cancellation policy, the club wouldn’t originally be required to issue a refund. However, since there are cases where someone genuinely needs to reschedule, men are conveniently given back their points and another chance to arrange a date. That being the case, I think it’s understandable that the setting fee may have changed during the period between rescheduling—in other words, canceling—and arranging the new date. If you really want to make an offer to the same person, you pay the difference. If you don’t want to pay more, you offer to someone else in the same class as before. I think the return of points should be understood as a goodwill gesture outside the official rules—something to be grateful for. If the rules change and points are no longer returned at all for cancellations after confirmation, that would be really tough. I’m skeptical about the claim that they were told their rating would be lowered, but if they don’t want their rating lowered, they should probably just comply. Normally, I think the club would lower the man’s rating without telling him directly, though…

So you intended to reschedule, but it was treated as a cancellation and a new application instead. I completely understand how you feel. However, the club probably has its own side of the story, so it’s hard to judge without hearing that as well. My guess is that once the date is finalized, a record of it is created, and any changes after that may be treated the same as a cancellation. That should have been explained in advance.