1
Choose a package
Whetstone sells fixed packages, not hourly time. Each has a written scope saying exactly what it covers. See session packages for what is on offer.
2
Pick a time
Below the packages you will see the times your advisor has opened. Pick one and it is reserved for you. All times are shown in one consistent time zone, labelled on screen — the time you see is the time your advisor sees.
3
Pay
Checkout shows you the advisor, the package and its scope, the date and time, the total, and the insurance statement. Payment is taken on a secure page run by Stripe.
4
You're confirmed
You and your advisor both get a confirmation email, and the booking appears on your Bookings page.
What “payment is held” means
This is the part people ask about most, so plainly: Your money does not go to the advisor when you pay. It goes to Whetstone and is held there. The advisor is paid only after the work is done and you have confirmed it. If something goes wrong before then, the money is still sitting where it can be refunded.The scope is fixed at booking
The scope description is copied onto your booking at the moment you book. If Whetstone later changes what that package includes, your booking is unaffected. What you agreed to is what you get.Multi-session packages
For a three-session engagement, only the first session is scheduled at checkout. You book the rest yourself from the same list of your advisor’s published times, using the Schedule a session panel on the booking once it is paid for. Neither of you can put time in the other’s diary without them: the advisor decides what is on offer, you decide which of it you take.If you close the page or your card is declined
Nothing is lost, for a while. Your booking sits on your Bookings page marked Awaiting payment, with your time still reserved. It does not wait forever, because that slot is time nobody else can book:- After 3 hours, you get a reminder email with the deadline in it.
- After 24 hours, the unpaid booking is cancelled and the time goes back to your advisor.
Checkout will refuse a session whose start time has already passed. You cannot pay full price for a session that has been and gone — pick a new time instead.