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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To want compensation?!

21 replies

desperatediva · 04/07/2012 12:12

For a botch brazilian wax at a 5 star hotel?

Basically the therapist was uncomfortable & nervous and confessed she 'hated' doing these treatments. She kept breaking the wax while trying to pull it off causing several bits of bleeding...then continued to put hot wax over the bleeding bits which meant I had to see a doctor as skin reacted!

Have been offered a refund but AIBU to want more in the way of compensation...it is still sore now!

OP posts:

Kladdkaka · 04/07/2012 12:22

As I understand it compensation is a reimbursement of financial loss. EG it caused so much pain and suffering that you had 3 days off work (loss of pay) or had to pay for the doctor or other corrective treatments etc. So what have you lost?

3teenhell · 04/07/2012 12:22

ouch YANBU i would want more too, a nice 2 night stay or something should do it

sheeesh · 04/07/2012 12:25

YAB a bit U - Compensation on principle is just greedy. If you were genuinely out of pocket, then maybe claiming that back is fair

footphobic · 04/07/2012 13:41

I disagree with the YABU comments. Not saying I necessarily support a compensation culture, but sometimes 'pain and suffering' compensation is legitimate, compensation is not just about financial loss, it's compensation for physical pain, emotional stress, inconvenience caused by their error and for punitive reasons and by way of apology to you. Even if you receive an verbal/written apology, or a refund on the treatment, this doesn't take away from the incompetency of the therapist which left you in considerable discomfort. A basic refund is inadequate.

Compensation over and above any financial loss is a gesture to you to make up for poor treatment causing physical discomfort. If you have to ask for this instead of being offered, which any good business should offer anyway, it doesn't make you greedy imo, not in these circumstances.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 04/07/2012 13:52

YABU to want money in return for their mistakes, but I think you are within your rights to expect a free treatment for something other than waxing. It would be a goodwill gesture.

Bleeding can occur easily with bikini waxing, and so can skin reactions.

You haven't suffered a financial loss, so you don't deserve money.

MsOnatopp · 04/07/2012 13:54

YABU. Money grabbing annoys me so much. Yes she did a bad job, yes you are a victim of that, yes you deserve a refund and maybe offer of another treatment, but honestly, don't sink to such a low level and go for compensation for something so daft...

reluctanttownie · 04/07/2012 13:59

It's not necessarily money grabbing and negative to want compensation for pain and suffering but not financial loss, although I do agree a lot people take it too far.

After all they should do something to make up for it, and given that they can't turn back time how else can they compensate other than by offering something of financial value - a voucher, free stay etc?

Snorbs · 04/07/2012 14:00

OMG - your muff was sore after someone pulled all your pubes out? That's outrageous!

I think you deserve eleventy bazillion pounds in compensation plus you should get to watch while the therapist gets sacked. Ask if you can spit on her as well. And then they should give you the entire hotel for free.

Merrin · 04/07/2012 14:05

I think I would want something to make me feel better and more of a valued customer!

Merrin · 04/07/2012 14:06

Out bank once sent flowers because it took them months to send me a cheque book and I wasn't even in any pain let alone bleeding!

FluffyJawsOfDoom · 04/07/2012 14:09

YABU to want "compensation" but I'd want to know she was being retrained?

Nagoo · 04/07/2012 14:13

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the job to be done properly.

YANBU to expect them to apologise, and throw something your way. I think that financial loss is irrelevant. You should be able to expect that they employ someone competent.

What were you thinking of in terms of compensation.

DunkyWhorey · 04/07/2012 14:24

I actually think YANBU

I don't love a compensation culture either but presumably if in a 5 star hotel she was either on holiday or on a mini-break. She paid for this break. This break was made significantly less enjoyable by an incompetent beauty therapist.

A voucher for the opportunity to have another stay at the hotel which could be more enjoyable this time would be fair. Not necessarily a voucher for the beauty salon; the OP is perfectly reasonable for not wanting to ever set foot in there again.

VonHerrBurton · 04/07/2012 14:28

Ooohh I think people are being a bit harsh! If you want financial compensation then how would you quantify it? £20, £100 per hot wax strip? That WBU.

But. You haven't been treated properly. It's a shoddy and unacceptable way to treat customers. The Manager should at least call and send his/her personal apologies and I also think a goodwill gesture such as a night at the hotel with a meal, as someone else has suggested, would be in order.

YABU if you expect money - but YABtotallyR to expect someone to apologise in a heartfelt manner. The vibe I get from your post is you feel a bit 'brushed off'. I would feel as though they didn't care if I was unhappy or not, which isn't on.

valiumredhead · 04/07/2012 14:30

I would want a refund and an apology and probably some sort of sweetener such as a goodwill gesture would be nice.

I would also want assurance that this person was retrained asap!

ajandjjmum · 04/07/2012 14:30

But presumably Merrin you were starvig and freezing as you couldn't pay anything - you deserved those flowers!

OP - were you away on a special weekend? If so, I would email the hotel manager and say that the sub-standard treatment resulted in a ruined weekend, and you would like him to take some action on this.

OTheHugeManatee · 04/07/2012 14:44

I think YABU. They've given you a refund, what more do you want? The beauty therapist put in the stocks and pelted with out of date moisturiser?

Take the refund and treat your poor battered minge to some nice soothing silk pants, then stop paying people to yank your pubes out and all will be well.

noobydoo · 04/07/2012 14:45

Used to work in this area of law - you may be entitled to compensation however the problem here is that the value of your claim may not exceed the costs involved in making a claim. Two branches are general damages (for pain and suffering) and special damages (for treatments, loss of earnings etc) Questions I would like to ask would be:

When did you have this treatment done?

What have been the symptoms?
How has it damaged you?

You would need a medical report to establish this.

Whether it happened in a 5 star hotel or not is irrelevant.

My knowledge is a few years out of date so don't quote me on it but I feel from reading this that you might be best off writing a letter yourself and seeing what they come back with. If they are completely belligerent that they were not negligent and you continue to suffer then I would recommend seeking legal advice. If they are prepared to accept your case then you will not need to pay for the medical evidence as it will be covered under the Conditional Fee Agreement.

Lastly, if it gets to the stage of litigation - please be sure that you use a respectable firm (there are some out there). If you need help finding one I would be happy to recommend a couple of places.

Merrin · 04/07/2012 16:34

ajandjjmum But presumably Merrin you were starving and freezing as you couldn't pay anything - you deserved those flowers!

I was mildly perplexed :o

LaurieFairyCake · 04/07/2012 16:50

what valiumredhead says.

I do think compensation is appropriate if your chuff has been left all bleedy and unnecessary - it's a bloody horrible treatment.

ajandjjmum · 05/07/2012 09:59

But Merrin - months for a cheque book - that's dreadful!

I had a cheque book go missing in the post once, and fortunately I chased it up, only to be told by a very snotty person at Barclays that I'd used it - there was a cheque for £16,000 being cleared that very day! Into an account opened in my name in Glasgow. The signature didn't match mine, but they didn't worry about that! I never got an apology, never mind flowers!

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