charge for interview cancellation

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peace4all

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I cancelled one of my interviews letting them know, that I have an offer in my hand and I want to cancel the interview. The coordinator then sent me an email asking me to repay them their flight and hotel reservation cost. Is this a norm?

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You're talking job or fellowship?

In either case, I don't know norms, but it seems reasonable, at least the flight. Hotel reservation should be cancel-able I'd think.
 
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I don't think you are obligated unless you signed something. I wouldn't.

Moreover, let's say there are 8 partners in the group and your ticket costs 400. That is only 50 bucks per partner and that is in pre-tax dollars, so in essence only about 30 bucks out of each of their pockets.

For you it is 400, and you are less likely to go about submitting it as a business expense to the I.R.S. I would tell them to piss off unless you signed an agreement about cancelling, which I seriously doubt you did.
 
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I cancelled one of my interviews letting them know, that I have an offer in my hand and I want to cancel the interview. The coordinator then sent me an email asking me to repay them their flight and hotel reservation cost. Is this a norm?

It is a sign that you are fortunate not to be at wherever this place is.
 
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How far ahead of time did you cancel? If you canceled a day or two before your interview, I would understand why they want to be reimbursed.
 
Yikes. Although personally I would have gone to the interview anyway to see what they had to offer.

I agree that asking for the money back is in bad taste.
 
It is a sign that you are fortunate not to be at wherever this place is.
This.

They're stupid, to boot. They should have asked you to buy your own ticket and then reimbursed you after you came to interview. Hotels can be easily cancelled, as was previously indicated - unless they booked using Priceline or something... You should not pay these fools anything.

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Unless you signed something to the effect that if you didn't show up you'd be liable for expenses, don't pay them a cent. Don't even reply. These people are not worth an email.

They fail to see that your notification to cancel the interview was a favor to them. Rather than go out there to waste their time and effort knowing full well that you'd not be working there anyway, you decided to let them know ahead of time. That was the proper thing to do. They should see it as such.

This kind of demand makes me think that the department in question is run by number-crunching administrators, not physicians. Be thankful you've dodged that bullet.
 
Wow.

I wish something this f-ed up would allow me to laser in on the obvious perpetrator or even general geographic location.
However, there are so many ****ty places out there that I'm not surprised.
Lucky for you that you found out so early. Normally even the worst places allow for a honeymoon period
before you realize the stench you landed in.
I also disagree with Over9000 in suspecting that this was the work of administrators.
This reeks of cheap partner pathologists to me, but who knows.
 
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