Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Should I be upset at paying £300 for haircut

831 replies

charlieginger1987 · 16/04/2021 22:16

Hi ladies,
Have waited 7 months to get my hair done and finally went today. I got a full head of balayage highlights, a root tint to cover my greys and a cut and blow dry. The website was really unclear and it said £130 for a full head of balayage. Knowing sometimes that hairdressers add optional extras I budgeted £180 just in case. I got to the till, the receptionist seemed awkward, didn't confirm the price straightaway, so I asked her what it was, and £300 appeared on the credit card machine. I can only guess that she didn't say the figure out loud because she was embarrassed to charge me that much. I didn't want to say too much in front of a full salon full of people but I simply said "wow that's expensive?" She shrugged and didn't say anything but "your e-receipt will be sent directly to you". I thought I'd best pay and then query the receipt later as I already felt so embarrassed and caught off guard.

Looking at the receipt they have charged me for:
£130 full head of balayage
£65 full head of permanent colour
£65 ladies cut and finish
£35 olaplex
£5 tip
Total: £300

Am I right to be completely shocked at the price of this?? It did take 4 hours and I have long thick hair but really? Have you ever heard of a haircut this expensive and fellow hair stylists, does this price sound reasonable to you?

Needless to say I have sent Rush an email but am I being unreasonable questioning the price of this haircut?

OP posts:
FeeFi100 · 18/04/2021 22:54

It’s not too late if you feel hard done by. I’ve been to the hairdressers where the service wasn’t great at all. I complained afterwards by IG messaging and they ended up refunding me the money and offering a service for free. Well worth the chance if you can.

DadAManger · 18/04/2021 23:02

It’s Rush Moorgate - an expensive shop no matter how you “cut” it...

EmeraldShamrock · 18/04/2021 23:09

Going there you'd have had an idea it would be extortionate.
I'd have done my homework these are the type of salon if you need to check the price you can't afford it.
Like the fancy restaurants with no prices.
Put it down to experience.
I hope it at least looks great.

SeenYourArse · 18/04/2021 23:14

Ok hairstylist here 🥴 so £35 for Olaplex is massively inflated I charge £10 for Olaplex and it costs me a touch less than that so they are making obscene profit on that which isn’t fair, and the full head tint at £65 is way over the odds too as an add on service, reasonable would be around £30/£40 as a bolt on service. But overall we aren’t talking massively overpriced for central London I’m afraid. I’d have expected around the £200/£180 mark as I’m in a very trendy and moneyed seaside town that’s an upmarket tourist destination but in the north and charge around £130 for the services you’ve had. So in my head I’d expect to add on additional £70 ‘London weighting’

stevalnamechanger · 18/04/2021 23:23

@EmeraldShamrock

Going there you'd have had an idea it would be extortionate. I'd have done my homework these are the type of salon if you need to check the price you can't afford it. Like the fancy restaurants with no prices. Put it down to experience. I hope it at least looks great.
Rush isn't a fancy salon . Very standard chain salon IMO .
JFM27 · 19/04/2021 00:02

Good grief it wasnt even a West end salon.

I pay 22 every 8 weeks to have my longish hair trimmed. My hairdresser is a friend abd i know the salon she works in isnt the cheapest in our city but she comes to my home and trims mine. I dye it myself still only need semi permenent.

Harmonypuss · 19/04/2021 00:12

I've read about 4 pages of other people's comments and felt compelled to say something, so I'm sorry if someone else had already made the same comment.

Firstly, imo, you've been charged for 2 heads when you should have paid for the balyage and a root tint, not a full head of colour.

I would also expect that whatever treatment you're having, full colour/balyage/highlights etc, a cut/finish should be included in that price.

A tip is optional and should most definitely NOT have been added to the bill without your consent.

Finally, and I think the most important point, you say that the receptionist wouldn't tell you how much the bill was but that you would get a breakdown on your e-receipt. So, clearly, you had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what you were being charged for, only the total cost shown on the credit card machine. This is dreadful practice. You have the right to know 'what' you're paying for.

If you'd seen the breakdown before paying you would have been able to query the legitimacy of each charge and challenge those which are incorrect or simply not approved by you.

Personally, I would be going back to the salon, armed with the e-receipt and some of the advice you've been given on this thread and confronting them about the items billed for. I would also be contacting their head office, not only by email but by phone too. I would be demanding a refund of all the unnecessary charges and some sort of compensation for all the stress (and if even throw in hardship because it was a lot more expensive than you'd expected) this has caused.

Stamp your feet! Demand action! Then, if you don't get a satisfactory resolution go on their website and leave some absolutely dreadful feedback, then go on every social media platform you can find and name and shame them.

Oh yes, never go back there to have your hair done, they're are plenty of brilliant hairdressers around that are more open about their pricing policy and could do the same job just as well but without the horrendously ridiculous price tag!

EmeraldShamrock · 19/04/2021 00:14

Rush isn't a fancy salon . Very standard chain salon IMO.
Then I'd be bloody furious.
If the prices are not advertised clearly I'd report to advertisement trading standards.

YetAnotherDad · 19/04/2021 00:16

I just priced up Hammersmith Rush and your treatments would have been £240. Cheaper than in the city which is crazy, (but then so are some of the income levels..) but still very strong! I suspect Rush will start to lose customers at those levels..

MrsMaizel · 19/04/2021 00:19

I already said they are a franchise . Head office won't care
careers.rush.co.uk/franchise/the-finance-bit/

RaiseTheBeastie · 19/04/2021 00:29

Jeez. I'd be extremely upset but I would never have gone there in the first place.

Yabu though - you should have checked the price before you booked!

SheenMcQueen · 19/04/2021 00:41

@Harmonypuss

In what world is a cut included in a colour treatment? Not in any salon I've ever been to.

BlackCatShadow · 19/04/2021 01:06

Maybe I'm wrong but Trust Pilot was riddled with complaints and they don't seem to care. The OP has already paid, so I don't see them refunding her any money. I'd just take it as a lesson learned and never go back there again and make sure you confirm costs before you get your hair cut in the future. I think most people would be shocked by 300 pounds, but at least your hair looks great.

VaizyCrazyDaizy · 19/04/2021 02:17

Smaller independent salons would be a lot cheaper and probably better. That’s a shocking amount of money. I never go to the hairdressers as I am scared of what they might charge! Lucky me with curly hair and a £5 diy haircolour!

Darlingx · 19/04/2021 04:46

Exactly the same thing happened to me after the first lockdown. Colour only as they were back to back with appointments and they charged me the price of a trim and blowdry on top?It was more than double what I would usually pay. My partner who has long thick hair got his highlighted and got charged a normal rate? They are trying to recoup their losses but I also haven’t earnt anything the past covid year and so it seems unfair but what I wanted to say was I don’t know if its wearing a mask or the whole awkwardness of current restrictions but I too couldn’t dispute it bear in mind you feel u shouldn’t hang around. So don’t feel bad about this you are not alone. I have managed to get myself into a pickle again with this next hair apt as I have two . One with my trusted hairdresser who was not replying and the salon is far away so not local so I booked local but non refundable deposit but I have a lock on my card so wasn’t sure appointment was made . My big worry is that the local salon is going to rip me off .I have gained weight ,no job and my hair looks a mess and I can’t colour it out of a packet . It really wrecks your self esteem at a time when you actually need the boost so I am just going to take the hit but make it clear that I haven’t been on furlough or benefits or wages the past year so I can’t afford any add ons? Also my partner was in the same boat. I am currently having to wear a beanie as the regrowth just looks horrible so getting the colour done finally will be the first steps into feeling more positive about things in general. Just don’t ever take your business to the places that rip you off. If this one does the same I won’t ever use that Salon again.

Harmonypuss · 19/04/2021 05:17

@SheenMcQueen

In what world is a cut included in a colour treatment? Not in any salon I've ever been to.

EVERY salon I've been to!
I don't do the stupidly overpriced places, a haircut is a haircut at the end of the day and I can't see the point of paying £100 in an overpriced salon when I can get the same thing done elsewhere for £30 or even less. In fact my current hairdresser is lovely, local and doesn't charge the earth. I get a cut and blow dry for £20 and that includes a £6 tip because I believe she deserves it! She only charges £35 for a full head colour and £28 for a root tint and they both include a cut.
Basically, what I've been saying all along is that you can get a decent haircut anywhere, for a decent price, there's no need to go to these stupid chain salons (especially in London) that charge astronomical prices for doing the same job as someone a few miles down the road for less than half the price!

dementedpixie · 19/04/2021 06:59

[quote SheenMcQueen]@Harmonypuss

In what world is a cut included in a colour treatment? Not in any salon I've ever been to.[/quote]
All my local salons include a cut with a colour. The drying is also included

Isaidachangewoulddoyougood · 19/04/2021 07:07

I don’t know any salon that includes a cut with a colour, and for the last past five years I’ve preferred to have someone come to me - the charge separately as well (two different people).

Totally understandable as they are two different things.

Cabamba · 19/04/2021 07:28

I'd have wanted a full head transplant for that money. Even at half the price it's madness. Thank heavens I zip over my son's hair with a no.2 cut and he does mine with a no.8. Total outlay shears at circa £30, renewable about every 5-7yrs.
The money you ladies part with suggests there is far more loot than sense in many households.

catface1 · 19/04/2021 07:52

I have paid that in a Covent Garden salon - the type to cater to media people but locally the same costs 120 quid , and to be honest there was no difference in quality of finish !

sue20 · 19/04/2021 08:22

Not too late to question it. I live in that area it’s probably expensive cos central London. But generally bad business practice not to make all treatments clear and the cost of them. Contact them complain about lack of clarity. What the hell is olaplex? I always get cut and highlights been to lots of those “salons” in London over the years. Until I discovered local hairdressers half the time used to work in them previously and cost half the price cos you’re not paying central London rent

IntermittentParps · 19/04/2021 08:25

London prices unfortunately.

Just read that receipt to my hairdresser brother in law…he said "that will be London, but yeah sounds right" His hairdressers are very well trained

actually when you break it down, those are typical London prices

I really don't get these comments and the others like them. The cost per se isn't the point; the point is first that the receptionist 'seemed awkward' and avoided confirming the price, which is very dubious and implies strongly that she knew they were ripping the OP off; and second that they charged for a full head of permanent colour that the OP didn't have, and gave only an approximate price for olaplex, which they bumped up at the end.

Joonio · 19/04/2021 08:28

I normally pay £13 for the cut then wash it at home. You must be mad.

SamW98 · 19/04/2021 08:32

It does seem from reading these comments and from what I've been told by a previous employee of Rush that they are deliberately giving a quote for the basics then adding in extras without being clear about the costs. They have a reputation for it and as others have said the internet is full of reviews telling similar stories

I still pay a reasonable amount to a mobile hairdresser but she has over 30 years experience in top salons and she's worth every penny. And the price she quotes is the price I pay, no extras

Barney60 · 19/04/2021 08:34

WOW! i moaned as my hairdresser put her cut up by £5.00 to £30!