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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Who is BU here? Client or Hairdresser

126 replies

NowWhatUsernameShallIHave · 01/12/2020 18:39

Hairdresser works in husbands salon but also is a mobile hairdresser one and a half days a week. Mobile appointment was arranged for 3rd December back in October.
Due to the current situation hairdresser has messaged client on 1st of December to say that she cannot make the appointment anymore as she will now have to work in the salon. She has given an alternative date the next week.

Client has sent hairdresser a message to say this is unacceptable and that the alternative appointment which is in the middle of the day she cannot make and that the hairdresser should’ve given her more notice.

Hairdresser says that the business is her priority.

Client says she cannot make alternative date at all.

Hairdresser says she has no availability at all now before Christmas

If the Hairdresser is be unreasonable please vote YABU

If client is bU please vote YANBU

OP posts:
PyongyangKipperbang · 01/12/2020 21:14

I dont think that the hairdresser is being U.

We only just found out what tiers we are going into, with it only being made official today, potentially it could have been thrown out in parliament.

So the hairdresser isnt allowed into the clients house is she depending on what tier they are in but hairdressing salons are ok, so it makes sense that she works there rather than loses 1.5 days work.

Seems like the client is expecting her to ignore the rules so gets her hair cut!

JinglingHellsBells · 01/12/2020 21:14

@Standrewsschool

Why couldn’t the client have her hair cut in the salon at the appointed time?

I think it’s one of those situations when neither was in the wrong. The hairdresser cancelled - these things happen, and tried to re-arrange the appointment. The client couldn’t make the new time. It’s unfortunate, but nothing more.

well there are a million reasons! Maybe she is vulnerable and wants to stay at home!
HugeAckmansWife · 01/12/2020 21:16

As a full time working single parent, my hair appointments have to be scheduled really carefully and I have very little flexibility. If this happened to me it could be 6-8 weeks before I had another opportunity to get it done. Its only hair, but given how crappy this year has been, people take pleasure in small things and the client should have been prioritised.

autumndream · 01/12/2020 21:21

I have cancelled a new client that was booked in for Xmas eve to fit in a regular client, sorry but my regular client that was cancelled because of lockdown is my priority. It's the beauty of working for yourself.

StatisticalSense · 01/12/2020 21:22

@PyongyangKipperbang
If the haircut in the house wasn't allowed she wouldn't be able to offer to rearrange it for next week. Even if it wasn't allowed it is clear that the hairdresser should have offered in salon appointments to those who were already booked in for home cuts rather than cancel to cut someone elses hair.

StatisticalSense · 01/12/2020 21:23

@autumndream
Unless you are working until midnight every evening until Christmas you have no excuse for doing that and you better hope that you have a lot of existing clients who are unlikely to move away or die as you won't be gaining any new ones once the public reviews of your practices become clear.

Sal1977 · 01/12/2020 21:27

Maybe the hairdresser thinks the client is a PITA and is using this as an excuse to bin off the client.

We all have clients we'd like to sack and this pandemic is a good chance to do it. 😁

PyongyangKipperbang · 01/12/2020 21:30

[quote StatisticalSense]@autumndream
Unless you are working until midnight every evening until Christmas you have no excuse for doing that and you better hope that you have a lot of existing clients who are unlikely to move away or die as you won't be gaining any new ones once the public reviews of your practices become clear.[/quote]
My sister runs a spa, she would rearrange a new client for a regular every time. Regular clients are actually not as common as people think, because they have regular appointments they assume everyone does but a lot of people will ring round until they find an appointment ASAP and then not use that HD again, as they will do the same again next time.

Only about half of their clients are regulars so they treat them like God as its them that pays their overheads, the drop ins are the profit.

VivaMiltonKeynes · 01/12/2020 21:30

I would suggest that this is the risk/price you pay for having a mobile hairdresser who is usually cheaper than going to a salon.

Becca19962014 · 01/12/2020 21:33

The hairdresser can't expect her clients to be available various times on a specific day she wants to change to at a weeks notice when it's been booked for weeks, probably because the person has other commitments, and 3 1/2 weeks before Christmas. It's just not realistic. They'll lose much needed clients, because it's unlikely this is the only client they've cancelled, and incidentally the husband running the salon may as well as the hairdresser has proven to be flakey at their job.

The moment they knew they needed to be at the salon they needed to contact the client(s) immediately.

Incidentally having worked freelance and for a company on site (not hairdressing) this sort of thing rarely works out unless you have the hide of a rhino because the expectation of the company is you can just pop in on your days "off" letting down freelance work. I lasted a few months and it was blazing row after row. In theory it sounds good, I'd sat and explained very carefully my availability and why but the practice was much much different. Sounds like the hairdresser needs to make a choice - salon or freelance and stick with whatever they decide, I know that sounds harsh but it's the only way.

Twillow · 01/12/2020 21:33

Was the appointment within the hairdresser's normal mobile hours? If yes then the hairdresser is BU and should work to find a suitable time for the client.
If the appointment was within normal salon hours, and the hairdresser had booked in many more people than normal and now cannot fulfill them, then the hairdresser is BU.
If the client in either situation is demanding a time to suit then perhaps client is BU.

Becca19962014 · 01/12/2020 21:34

You always prioritise your regular business because that's what keeps you going.

autumndream · 01/12/2020 21:39

@StatisticalSense I have an amazing business thanks and I'm in a position to pick and choose who I do.

CunnyLingus · 01/12/2020 21:44

Anyone wanting a hairdresser in this uncertain world of
Covid and topsy-turvy government should not book their regular business and instead should have thought about satisfying social distancing rules and booked Edward Scissorhands.

autumndream · 01/12/2020 21:45

Also why would I have to work till midnight? I have a life and kids that like to enjoy Xmas!

emilybrontescorsett · 01/12/2020 21:57

Well I've missed 2 hair appointments now due to covid. Try as I might to get in touch with my hairdresser and 're book she so far hasn't returned my messages. I know we are in a pandemic and it's only hair but I'm starting to wonder if all hairdressers are like this.

GabsAlot · 01/12/2020 21:59

butg they knew last month there was going to be a lockdown and theyd be busy why didnt they re arrange back then

Cocomarine · 01/12/2020 22:04

The OP makes more sense if the mobile hairdresser also works in her husband’s salon. However, it’s not totally clear because of the whole “client” nonsense - OP, if you are the client, or someone you know - just say so. It’s far more clear that way!

It’s rubbish that the mobile hairdresser has let her client down.

But, we all have to eat! It’s been an awful year for hairdressers - salons were closed longer than most other businesses, and hit again in November.

If you had one mobile client, or by working in family business could keep say 4 regulars happy in that time - what would you do?

It’s short notice, but at my cousin’s salon they’ve felt so unsure that they’d be allowed to open on 2nd Dec, that they only started phoning clients yesterday to get them in.

I wouldn’t blame her for choosing the salon business over one mobile customer. (who for all we know isn’t a great customer to have)

However, I do think she should work long hours to get her existing client still done - be that a Sunday evening, whatever. So that doesn’t sound great.

Cocomarine · 01/12/2020 22:05

@GabsAlot

butg they knew last month there was going to be a lockdown and theyd be busy why didnt they re arrange back then
My cousin runs a salon. They had some people booked in for the planned re-opening week, but loads just wanted to wait. Remember when people were saying, “bet they extend lockdown right into Dec, to give us a Xmas break”? I personally would have booked in “just in case”, but that wasn’t her experience.
RosesAndHellebores · 01/12/2020 22:10

Ooh er. My hairdresser works in a salon and from home.

She's been my hairdresser for 25 years and ds and we are also now her clients. I have looked after her, reviewed well and tipped well.

She did a colour, cut and b/dry for me ladt week (ahem Blush). She's fitted DH in on Thurs evening.

Whenever I've needed a quick b/d she has always fitted me in.

I have always scratched her back because her services are v important to me.

WhatKatyDidNxt · 01/12/2020 22:20

Hairdresser is unreasonable, rude and unprofessional. Time to get a new hairdresser l think. One who won’t bin a client off at such short notice, leaving them high and dry for Christmas

GabsAlot · 01/12/2020 22:30

but the hairdresser must have known how many bookings there might have been when lockdown ends and could have rearranged earlier

Original poster
NowWhatUsernameShallIHave · 01/12/2020 23:18

So I am the client/customer

Her husband owns the salon.

The hairdresser has offered me a day next week which I’ve told her I cannot make as I have a medical procedure. She has asked me again for the same day but later but I cannot make it.
She said otherwise I can come to the salon which is in another town.

I am classed as vulnerable and she is aware of this and have had to tell her that I don’t feel comfortable coming into a busy salon

Whilst I understand that she has to work I feel she was aware of the appointment when the lockdown was announced and therefore telling me 2 days before the appointment isn’t really fair.

Yes I could go to another hairdresser but in these circumstances I won’t find another hairdresser. I also have had considerable surgery to my brain and so my hair is tricky to cut and she cuts it to hide the unevenness so I’m reluctant to change

OP posts:
Original poster
NowWhatUsernameShallIHave · 01/12/2020 23:21

Sorry just to add she asked me to come on later on in the day after my procedure knowing it’s a long day for me and I get super tired. Also I have told her I can’t guara what tome I’d get back gone as the time of the procedure varies.

OP posts:
Judystilldreamsofhorses · 02/12/2020 00:28

OP, your personal medical circumstances are largely irrelevant here - the hairdresser is being unreasonable in my opinion. Based on your medical circumstances, even more so.