Who is BU here? Client or Hairdresser

[NowWhatUsernameShallIHave]

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

[Mummyoflittledragon]

That is really upsetting for you. I would once again ask her to come over one evening for you instead and explain you are vulnerable. Perhaps empathise with her that you understand that she is saving the family business and at the same time would really appreciate her coming to you. You understand she will be tired. If she won’t do that, I think you will need to find someone else for the interim then decide if you want to work with her again once you’ve had the vaccine - presuming you’re intending to have it. This isn’t fair, I know.

[Newmumatlast]

the business is their priority? But their mobile work is also business. It was obviously arranged for the usual times theyre mobile. If they cannot manage both businesses that isn't client's fault, they should just stick to one. Mobile clients should be treated as any other client. And 2 days notice is really very unprofessional unless it's an emergency

[Newmumatlast]

@autumndream

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.

Personally I think that is poor. It isn't the new client's fault. I work for myself and would never do that. To be honest I would rather work a longer day if possible to fit in the regular

[PyongyangKipperbang]

I think I must be missing something.

I have family members who are vulnerable and I dont get how having someone in their home, who has been in a salon for 4 days a week and in others homes for the other day, is safer than going to the salon? PPE notwithstanding, thats a hell of a lot of people she has been in personal contact with.

Surely the safest option is accepting shit hair? Its what my mother has done, and grooming is very important to her, but her health matters more.

[cbt944]

I understand you're disappointed, but I do think you, the client, are being unreasonable. Two days notice is reasonable. Prioritising her salon work and hence day's pay or however it works vs one job for you, is reasonable. And I find it odd you want her to come to you with her salon-facing exposure potential of bringing Covid to you, anyway, given you are vulnerable.

[GalaxyCookieCrumble]

Hairdressers is at fault, she made the appointment she needs to honour it.

[TenShortStories]

I think it's a rubbish situation all round with nobody being massively unreasonable but you sadly getting the worse deal and ending up disappointed. I think more notice would have been good but it wouldn't have changed her availability in all likelihood, she was probably booked up ages ago.

[WheresMyMask]

This reminds me of the time a mobile hair dresser let me down the day before I was due to have my massive roots done before I went on holiday.
It was years ago and I bleached my hair so I went on holiday looking bloody horrible.
I was gutted she cancelle.

[WheresMyMask]

@cbt944

I understand you're disappointed, but I do think you, the client, are being unreasonable. Two days notice is reasonable. Prioritising her salon work and hence day's pay or however it works vs one job for you, is reasonable. And I find it odd you want her to come to you with her salon-facing exposure potential of bringing Covid to you, anyway, given you are vulnerable.

There's no way the wife only found out two days before that she needed to be in the salon. She would have planned that for some time.
She should have given the woman more time so she could make an alternative appointment somewhere else or - shock horror - be one of the clients in the actual salon. I'm genuinely surprised that hasn't been offered as an alternative.

[NoSquirrels]

I'm really sorry, OP. That's upsetting for you.

From the hairdresser's point of view, the business (the physical salon) is going to be more important. You can't change that. The salon will be extremely busy now it can reopen and so it does make business sense that the mobile appointments will not be as high priority, as she'll be able to do less of them in a day with travel etc. I'm sure it was a difficult decision to let down existing mobile clients in favour of the salon but Covid has really messed with things and pre-Christmas is a very busy time in usual circumstances.

She has offered you a few different options - including different times at home - and you can't take any of them up, through no fault of your own.

I'd like to think she'd be able to make more of an effort to fit you in, but perhaps she genuinely can't? Salons are extending their opening hours to fit as many people in as they can, she probably doesn't have the ability to offer you a more convenient time or day.

I'm sorry. If you really want a haircut from her, pre Christmas, I think you'll have to either go into the salon, taking all precautions - perhaps ask for an early in the day appointment to avoid seeing people? - or have it the inconvenient day when you're tired. Or embrace a longer length for the festive season and get her booked in for as soon as she can manage.

[NailsNeedDoing]

Do you mean that she said you could have the appointment at the same time as you booked if you went into the salon? I’m a bit confused. If she offered you the same time but at the salon instead then I don’t think that’s bad of her as said earlier.

[luckylavender]

Hairdresser

[MatildaonaWaltzer]

It sounds as if the hairdresser has done her best to accommodate you, but your diary prevents it. You are therefore considering her to be unreasonable because she is not prepared to turn down 3 or 4 better paying appointments For your previously booked one. If it’s really so important to get your hair cut, offer her the price of all the lost appointments at the salon price to cover travelling time. She has behaved poorly but understandably given the fact she has been prevented from working for the majority of the year. You are annoyed (justifiably) but for your own personal reasons, you’re not prepared to accept the several alternatives that have been offered. I’m calling a draw on this one.

[NowWhatUsernameShallIHave]

No she didn’t offer the same time

She knows I am vulnerable and the salon isn’t close

It isn’t that I’m not prepared to accept- it’s that she has repeatedly given the different times on the same day that I’ve already told her I will be in hospital

In the past she has had to take her adult son for an appointment and I have always been accommodating of cancellations

I understand if the appointment was during lockdown but it isn’t

She cannot cancel on customers just because she might make more money in the salon

[NoSquirrels]

She cannot cancel on customers just because she might make more money in the salon

Well - she can.

Whether she should or not - whether it is good customer service, or good business practice, is a different matter.

As the client, you can go elsewhere if you don't like the way she treats you. I appreciate that for you, in your particular circumstance, that is really difficult and upsetting, but it's your option if you don't like the way she does business. When you say "it isn't that I'm not prepared to accept" I'm afraid you're not correct - you aren't prepared to accept either going to the salon or having your appointment later on the day of your medical procedure. For good reasons, I am sure, but what you mean is "I am prepared to accept a different arrangement that she's not offering me".

They will want the salon to stay open as it will make more money than mobile hairdressing. That's the long and the short of it really.

[Cocomarine]

She cannot cancel on customers just because she might make more money in the salon

Well, she can and she has!
It has been an awful year for hairdressers.

[TheDowagerDuchess]

That is shit for you OP.

I think that if she were going to cancel she should at least give you much more notice - she surely knew this was going to be the situation when lockdown started? Also she should give you more of a choice of dates, or offer to come to you outside of salon hours.

Is it her husband behind this, do you think?

[TrialOfStyle]

YADNBU. The thing is, if you as a client cancelled short notice and only gave one alternative when she couldn’t do, you’d still be liable to pay.

Fine, she might have a lot booked in but she needs to be more flexible and look at reorganising her calendar to fit you in.

[MadameButterface]

There are numerous reasons why this might have come at such short notice, particularly if she hasn’t got the same time available - another stylist could be ill or self isolating, and has a full diary and she’s trying to fit as many of their clients in as possible.

Salons are very safe environments, I don’t think any outbreaks have been traced to them. You should only be 2m or less from the person doing your hair, same as you would in your home. All clips, products, scissors, combs, sinks, chairs are disinfected between clients. I even disinfect the lockers where people leave their bags, the door handles, the card machine and the banisters between clients. We use disposable gowns and towels (biodegradable). I have a number of vulnerable/pregnant clients and they’ve all been very happy with the measures we’re taking.

[Sewrainbow]

I sympathise with your situation and morally she was wrong, if I was you I probably wouldn't use that hairdresser again BUT given the year we've had a days worth of salon clients is worth more than one individual payment, that could be the difference between their business going under or staying afloat. So I'm sympathetic to the hairdresser too.

Only you know if you think she let you down with regret or with indifference, if you value her service enough, keep using her if you cant get over how she treated you find someone new.

[SpudsandGravy]

YABU, definitely!

[cbt944]

48 hours is not short notice.

The normal cancelation period before a client is charged part or full price by most businesses (not just hairdressers, but dentists, doctors, etc) is 24 hours. I would assume it works both ways.

[SionnachRua]

Yabu. Hairdressers have lost out on a huge amount of money this year already. She can cancel to make more money in the salon, of course she can. It's shit for you but she has to treat herself as her #1 priority, not you.

[Whycantibetangy]

DH is a self employed hairdresser, he has been out of work with no furlough and very minimal govt support payment due to not meeting the thresholds for income.
When lockdown v1.0 finished he worked 12hr days to try and make some money up, lockdown v2.0 has finished the last of the savings so he is again working like a dog to try and recover. Its been so shit for hairdressers so I can completely them understand trying to maximise income.

In an ideal world, you should have been given first refusal for the salon appointment (at salon prices) but for some reason this didn’t happen and that slot has gone. I guess it depends on your relationship with the hairdresser, dh is bending over backwards to try and fit everyone in.
BUT
Please be gentle, they might be struggling more than you can imagine and every single penny matters. They know that by cancelling the (I assume cheaper) mobile appointments they risk losing that client but the industry is seriously fighting for survival at the moment.

[Twillow]

Having read your update that she's offered you 3 other options, I can see why you're upset BUT I do think she has tried to help as much as reasonable. Unforeseen things happen in a pandemic.