A cancelled appointment recorded nothing about why it was cancelled. So when a customer rang to ask, the honest answer was “it is marked cancelled, but I do not have a reason recorded” — the least useful thing your receptionist can say to somebody who rang up to find out.
Cancelling from the dashboard now takes a reason and an optional note, and records whether it was you or the customer who ended it. Your receptionist can then answer the question properly next time somebody asks.
If you charge for late cancellations, your receptionist says so and hands it to you. Add the terms as an instruction on the new AI Instructions page and mark it “hand this to a person”. The caller is told the charge applies before they ring off — rather than finding out when it reaches their card — and your receptionist never takes the payment, waives it, or promises either way. That is your decision to make.