Child ear piercing gone wrong - help me with what to say

@formula3 how is your daughter's ear now? Have you managed to get a better result from Claire's?

Yes new gloves, not sterile gloves. There is no difference with them using well washed clean hands. They are usually the same gloves dentists use, the blue ones, again not sterile. They come out of a box similar to a tissue box.

It's not blunt force trauma because it makes a hole not a bruise.

Poor you, I'm so sorry about the pile-on. SpiraliserSardinePasta is totally right.* *Loads of girls get their ears pierced at 8 or 9 with no problems at all. You were just very unlucky.

I do think you should push for a refund and go public if they won't. They don't know you still intend to have it re-done so just tell them your dd has been put off now and doesn't want to be re-pierced.

Given your dd's history this is the kind of story a local paper might wish to take up - or at least you could let Claire's know you will be going to one if you don't receive a refund. Or try the consumer champions at the Guardian or Daily Mail. I know it all seems disastrous now, but she's only 8 and in a few months she will have new earrings and it will all be forgotten.

I had my DD's done for her 9th birthday at a pharmacy that had good reviews and used numbing cream. It was expensive because the earrings were good quality and they spent a long time measuring to make sure the holes were level. Perhaps find one like that and get a second opinion from them as to the best time to do it.

Excellent post.

Exactly the same thing happened to my DD when she had her ears pierced at Claires we took the earring out that had stayed in her other ear, waited a few months and went elsewhere. When we look at the holes from the Claires piercing they looked wonky as well so didn't trust them to re do it

If you want to re-pierce, ask that the offer not expire, applies to all Claire's shops nationwide, and will be in writing.

The vast, vast majority of children are not getting cartilage piercings.

They are getting their lobes pierced, which is a very straightforward procedure even with a piercing gun. The vast majority of kids getting their earlobes pierced with a piercing gun have no issues afterwards. Kids even do their own or their friends' ear lobes with sewing needles and experience no problems as long as there's some knowledge of hygiene. Cartilage piercing comes with extra risks even if not done with a gun.

Lobes are not cartilage. A poor outcome with a cartilage piercing is not an argument against lobe piercing with a gun because it's a comparison between apples and oranges.

Same.

The best way to get piercings is from someone that uses a sterile needle (piercing guns cant be sterilised) More accurate and hygienic and no jokt from a gun. The needle slides through so fast and far less painful/traumatic. A fraction of the price and done by someone who is an expert at piercing rather than a person who jas probably had a quick piercing training day at Claires 😬

No, i know, but I, like others, did have cartilage piercings done by Claires, with that gun, and it did not go well.

I didn't think on a forum full of intelligent women that i would need to expand that comment to explain i was giving an example of how damaging those gun can be in the hands of ill trained shop assistants.

@formula3
I know you said you're not on X, but for this complaint it it is best to go public on their socials at this point.

Create an account for whichever social Claire's is on.
Post that your daughter's piercing failed and you want a refund, you do not want, nor trust, Claire's to re-pierce your daughter's ears, an 8-year-old child. Say you've been given reasons for the mishap, but they aren't relevant now as you simply want your money back.

Ask to be contacted to confirm the refund.

She never said they did. Claire's also use guns to pierce cartilage though.

My daughter had hers done when she was 15. Obviously she wanted them but she created such drama before and was even worse after.😳🙄 The OP’s eight-year-old sounds like she reacted appropriately towards what had happened. It is okay to call her brave and mature because I think she was.

They don't shatter cartilage if you get a lobe pierced.

Ask for a refund or a printed out coupon/ letter for the free re-piercing, signed by the manager, with no expiration date.

Take the other one out if DD thinks she looks odd.
Let the hole(s) heal.
Get the piercing redone when DD is healed and wants to do it. Maybe at Christmas?

One of my DDs lost an earring soon after piercing but was happy to have just one for a while. She had the healed ear re-pierced after summer swimming season was over but before school started.

Claire's did it for free. We had the printed out free re-piercing note, which was a good thing because by the time we went again the staff had all changed.

Report them to Trading Standards, quoting the relevant laws.

I'd not back down over getting a refund.

You cannot get her ears repierced now anyway, they need to heal.

Go into the store, speak to the manager and tell them you’re not leaving without a refund.

They admitted that it must have been faulty initially though. Which is why when I first replied to you (actually answering your question) I put that in my response.

I had a cartilage piercing, on a whim (!) at Claire’s, with the gun. It became very infected, swollen, painful and required a week of antibiotics. The affected ear is still slightly bigger than the other one!
I’d previously had ear piercing, with the needle method and had no problems at all.
A reputable piercing studio with strict regulations is better. I’m not sure what the training that Claire’s staff are given is like but I doubt it compares to a piercing/tattoo studio
Good luck OP- hope DD is ok

OP this is a perfect knowledgable answer. I have had a few piercings in the last year and have been happy knowing that I went to a reputable piercer and had implant grade titanium with flat backed labrets each time. That and aftercare of Neilmed spray or sea salt/water bathing and no touching, twisting, fiddling has meant everything had or is healing well.

Also, people can heal very differently with piercings. Mine take ages. In fact, my seconds were done with a gun many years ago and were never ok FOR THIRTY YEARS until my now piercer told me to put some implant grade titanium studs in a leave well alone. They're fine now. My first piercings, done by a shaky old man at a jewellers when I was 9, were wonkily placed then one got infected and grew up over the back butterfly and I needed antibiotics. But that was when you were told to clean with TCP and twist the earrings twice a day.... plus the tights as fuck butterfly not giving your piercing space to heal. Thankfully, advice is very different now and my daughter's piercings have all been entirely trouble free.

I can understand your daughter's worry though - one of my thirds, pierced in November, fell out yesterday somewhere, or at least that's when I noticed one had gone. If you have internally threaded labrets, the tops do work loose and you are advised to check them. I managed to clean the wound, sterilise a little titanium clicker hoop that I had and put that in to keep the hole intact but I'm off to the piercer tomorrow to have it all checked out.

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act-aKJYx8n5KiSl#supply-of-a-service

The problem is that consumer law gives the service provider the right of offer to do the service again in the first instance, which is what they have done. See the Which? explanation of the Consumer Rights Act linked above.

To get a refund (aka the 100% discount mentioned in the Which? advice) you’d have to show that it was impossible to do the service again. I think there are arguments for this (eg child too upset, have lost faith in Claire’s and don’t want to risk another mistake etc) but you’ll have to argue it. And you’d also have to show that you were going to let the “good” ear close up too otherwise they’d say that you got at least 50% value. On top of that, you’d also need to point out that the earrings were no longer fit for purpose and return them (I know they can’t be re-used by Claire’s but otherwise you could be said to be keeping them to sell or give to a friend or something).

That’s the law of course, any sensible person in Claire’s management would just refund you regardless of the legal technicalities. But the shop staff probably have no authority.