To Take Hairdresser To Small Claims Court

[JediJim]

So this may seem like I’m being uber petty but here goes;
A few months ago DW went to a hairdresser salon for the second time and booked an expensive hair style a few months in advance. The price was about £200 ,maybe a bit more. So the salon wanted a deposit of £50. Fair enough, so she paid it. She wrote in her diary the appointment time and date, the 13th September ( next Friday).
Anyway last Thursday, she received a text from the salon confirming her appointment for the next day ( Friday 6th September). So bit confused, she immediately rang the salon and told them she believed her appointment was the following week and that she couldn’t go on the 6th September as she was picking DD up from school ( her first week at school). The salon told DW that she would lose her deposit and if she wanted the appointment on the 13th she would have to pay another deposit. Either way she has lost the initial £50. DW had a lot on that particular time so just let it go and wanted to forget about it. The salon said that they have a 24 hour penalty notice for cancelling appointments.
Now in my opinion this is unfair. She rang the salon after receiving the text and stated that she thought her appointment was the following week. And even with the 24 hour notice for the cancellation policy, she fulfilled this because she rang them the day before.
I know it’s a relatively small amount and they are a business but £50 is a lot to us and we could do with not losing it. DW now stating that maybe she got it wrong and maybe her appointment actually was booked for the 6th. So not sure who is in the wrong. But she did tell them 24 hours before,as I’ve said.
Anyway DW doesn’t want the embarrassment or confrontation of going in to explain and wants to let it go. I on the other hand have a good mind to pop into the salon and explain what happened and ask for a refund. If not, can I tell them I’m going to take them to the small claims court? Would it sway them at all?
I’ve checked the salon website. There isn’t an email address that I can send an email to and there is nothing on there about any cancellation policy. Anyone had a similar experience?

So you think £50 is money you can't afford to lose but are okay with spending over £200 for a hairdo, REALLY?

I reckon your wife ballsed up, she knows she ballsed up but has only told you half of the truth because she’s feeling a bit defensive/embarrassed.

Just a theory

Yeah, I think I'd probably spin the story a little bit rather than tell DH I'd fucked up and as good as threw £50 away.
I love him to pieces and respect him, but I would be extremely embarrassed with myself and find it easier to soften the story a little.

Thanks for the replies. I’m not trying to false DW into it, but I did advise her to pop in and have a friendly word. She wasn’t given an appointment card but as she paid the deposit in a debit card she has the receipt with proof of payment and date/ time.
It’s possible it was my wife’s mistake with the date, she is doubting herself. But she did give 24 hours notice to the salon, regardless of who’s to blame for the mix up.
I’d also argue that she didn’t sign any form of contract, so any agreement would be purely verbal between the salon and the client.
Why they simply wouldn’t honour an appointment for the following week is beyond me, now everyone loses. We lose 50 quid they lose £150. Probably two days wages for two stylists. A fair amount for a small business. .
An experience to be learned from.

I booked a hair apt once, arranged to leave work early, turned up at my appointment time and they claimed i was half an hour late and couldnt do it. I was sure i was right , and it was v annoying as i had arranged to change my work hours. So i had to rebook. Got home, checked the email booking confirmation which proved i had been right and had been on time. I forwarded them a copy with a covering shitty email. Had the hair cut the next week and never went there again.

If you’re paying £200 for a hair cut, £50 isn’t a lot to you!

they lose £150. Probably two days wages for two stylists you think a stylist earns £37.50 a day, really?!

”Why they simply wouldn’t honour an appointment for the following week is beyond me”

You said yourself - they had the appointment in for last Friday. How could they honour an appointment for a completely different day? They certainly wouldn’t have a £200 appointment slot available at a week’s notice, if that’s what you’re assuming? No way!

Do you know for certain that your wife did cancel with 24+ hours notice? I'm not sure why she would be so reluctant to try to get the deposit back if she did, since she'd have the timestamp of the call on her phone it would be a very simple thing to solve.

The fact that she's so keen to drop it suggests it was less than 24 hours, it's just a mistake that happens sometimes and it's probably best to forget about it.

My dentist sends a confirmation text when you make an appointment in person or on the phone, which really helps because I'm crap at remembering dates; they then send another one a day or so before.

If you are so short of money, why is she booking a £200 hairdo ?

Hi OP

Yes a verbalmcontewct is legal. It doesnt matter if it was written on the website or not. If it had been would your wife have read through all the t and cs? They should have explained when booking though.

Clearly it would be very difficult to prove who got the appointment time wrong when she booked and if they adequately explained he t and cs so not worth taking them to small claims court to claim anything back.

However you have some proof of when your wife phoned to rearrange.

I would go in and be calm and pleasant and ask them to please explain their cancellation policy to you. You might have to take your wife with you but you can still do the talking. If they say the deposit to be returned if cancel more than 24 hours explain this didnt happen and could you have the money back.

If they say no, explain they are breaching their own t and cs and ask to escalate it to someone. If you still get no joy, then I would tell them you will be reviewing on every website you can find, posting about them on all social media, and telling everyone you can about what happened. Which will be easier for you and hurt them more than small claims

No I was basing £150 for two days wages, approx £75 pounds each. Most people on average earn around £70 to £80 per day after tax, NI. Just a guess. Other than that it’s not my issue what the salon pays its staff.
Didn’t think that point would be analysed so much. Thanks all.

The advice here is generally wrong.
Unless a contract was signed or terms noted visibly before paying, there is absolutely no way, legally, they can keep the £50.

Plus, why is everyone completely forgetting the salon could have been the ones who wrote it down wrong?

The op's wife gave over 24 hours notice so should get her deposit back. The salon are in the wrong.

This.

And they were probably unable to honour the appointment the following friday, it's always a busy day at hair salons and was probably no longer available. In any case they may be unlikely to fill a long appointment the next day so may have lost out on £150, hence the deposit

other than lose them some business, there isn’t much more I can do

I think you’re overestimating your own influence here, man.

If it’s a busy and popular salon (which I’ll guess it is due to the fact that your wife booked an appointment so far in advance and they have a deposit scheme), I don’t think one guy complaining to his 27 Twitter followers about his wife’s potential fuck-up is really going to cost them too much business.

That said, I think it’s unusual for a salon to not work something out with a repeat customer where there’s been a miscommunication like this so I’d imagine there’s more to this story, and maybe your wife hasn’t told you everything.

However, given your response to this has been to post on Mumsnet, threaten legal action, and promise to start a one-man social media takedown, I’m guessing your wife chooses to not tell you a lot of things.

If she gave 24 hours notice they shouldn’t have kept the deposit if 24 hours is their policy. The point of the 24 hours is that it then gives them a chance to fill the appt slot either by offering it to the next person who asks for one (“Luckily we’ve had a cancellation and can fit you in on Friday”) or they may have a waiting list for cancellations.

If she gave less than 24 hours notice then it’s fair for the salon to keep the deposit to cover possibly not being able to fill the slot.

Are you certain the terms are 24 hours to avoid losing the deposit rather than 24 hours to only lose the deposit?

I always make a point of taking an appointment card or making sure I have a confirmation email where possible after a period where I had a date written down and the service provider (mainly GP in my case) had a different date down. Honestly thought my memory was going so bad I needed to see my GP about it. Then one day I phone for an emergency appointment on the day, got given a time and when I showed up they said it was the week after and I realised there was a good likelihood it wasn't just me.

They still do it often now, I'll have the card then I'll get a reminder text and the time is different.

Unfortunately if your DW wants to leave it then I think that's probably what you should do, although if she did cancel in their stated time it sucks.

I'd be in there getting that £50 back and be giving them terrible review.
Go to CAB if no mention of deposit etc in terms.

For those asking what sort of hairdo costs £200: I’m betting that the DW’s hair is very long and/or thick and she’s either getting crazy colours or balayage.

Anyway, as you were with all the helpful advice and whatnot.

What time did she cancel the appointment, and what time was the appointment booked for?

I think you’re getting a hard time on here. If your wife had posted people would have stuck to the facts. As someone who struggles in these situations I can understand why you are helping her rather than her going to the salon herself.
I agree with pps. If their policy is you lose the deposit unless you cancel with 24hours notice, they have to return the deposit. If the policy is you owe the deposit whenever you cancel ( very harsh if you can’t rearrange, life happens) and you are expected to pay the full amount if it’s within 24hrs they could keep the deposit. However the second seems an unlikely policy.
I would, as pps have said, go in or phone, ask to speak to the owner or manager and ask their policy. Then ask for the deposit money back if it is in line with their policy. After that, if they don’t return it or rearrange (if dw still wants to go there) I would mention small claims, social media etc, still very calmly. Hopefully it won’t get that far.

She should have a record of the time/date she called to cancel in her call log on her phone? If it's more than 24 hours before the appointment time then take a screen shot and go in and discuss with them. It does sound unfair if their t&cs state 24 hours notice.

If she booked the appointment ‘months’ ago then next friday probably isn’t available, as pps have already stated

Taking deposits is fairly standard practice, we do it where i work as no shows cost us money. We’re really busy so the odd person who decides to get huffy about it and go elsewhere makes no matter - we can manage without the custom of people who obviously want to reserve the right to be flaky or dick us about thanks v much. Same goes for people who think whinging all over social media is a good look. Girl bye! Somehow we’ll just have to plod along without you

Fwiw, for those who’ve not heard of salons requiring deposits before, it’s reasonavly common for big expensive appointments, and in fact a lot of big salons in the states require you to register your card details with them in advance of your appointment, to protect against loss of income in the event of a no show. I don’t think that’s a thing here because of laws on how you store highly sensitive data like that, idk.

My salon asks for a £30 deposit for new customers, with no deposit required for subsequent bookings. It works for them, they’re a popular, up and coming franchise with multiple branches; with lots of attention on social media so end up fully booked a month in advance. I imagine they had lots of no shows in the past, hence implementing the deposit requirement. (Rather than being a small/dodgy/unprofessional salon as others have suggested)

I think a lot of posters are confusing the salon’s legal obligations with goodwill gestures. If she made a mistake with the booking and didn’t cancel it in time to get a deposit refund, the salon is under no obligation to refund the deposit anyway or to reschedule the appointment at no further cost. Yes they could offer this for customer service reasons, but they are a business and have to consider business needs. It’s redundant to have deposits otherwise.

If the appointment was cancelled within the refund T&Cs then obviously talk to the salon.