Raffle prize win - what would you do

[ihaircut101]

Writing this without saying which side I am, would be interested in knowing who you think is 'right'.

Jill won a raffle prize of a cut and blow dry at a new salon owned by Mary. When Jill attended to claim her prize she also booked in for a root tint, which she expected to pay for.

During their session Mary mentioned business was not so good and she thought it partly due to her website content. Jill told her that her business was website marketing and offered to take a look at Mary's website, which she did. Jill made a lot of suggestions, she rewrote some of the content and suggested mary implement an online booking facility. Mary was very happy with the changes and as a thank you waived the cost of the colour.

About a month later, Mary contacted Jill and asked her to set up the online booking system, Jill was agreeable to take this on and explained her fees. Mary was taken aback at being asked to pay as felt as she had waived the cost of the hair dye treatment, that should cover the cost of the website work.

What do you think? Should Jill charge for this extra work? If yes, would it be ok for Mary to ask Jill to now pay for the colour treatment she had?

Hi 'Jill'

Personally from the OP I assumed you were Jill, then got a little unsure after a couple more comments you made.

IMO

raffle prize - cut & blow dry
advice on website- more than covers 'tint'

expecting booking system set up - CF

I think 'mates rates' on that would be sensible due to you hoping to expand your friendship group & getting new clients etc.

You could have done each other a lot of good in various ways, but 'Mary' is a CF

even if she doesn't quite understand how much work it will be for you, she knows how much you've helped her already & that's way more than 'a tint'

Oh crossed posts but I am also one who is intrigued to know the cost of setting up the system, is it a one off charge? And is it worth the extra revenue Mary can send your way (or not ) as the case may be?

edited to say. I also have a specialism that so many people ask me to do without ever thinking I should charge for my expertise so I know there are a few CF's around.

Keep it simple. Mary and Jill should each charge for their services.

Following your update I owe you an apology Jill and I stand by my original post Mary is a CF.

Compare the going rate for the website work with the cost of the non raffle related hair dressing (the raffle is irrelevant as Jill won that as a separate thing. Mary donated that to the cause not to Jill) whichever comes out least expensive, the party providing that service 'owes' the other.

Could you not charge her but use it to your advantage by asking her to spread the word for you. Hairdressers chat to a lot of people and this might give you the publicity you need for your business.

Mary is a cow who happily offered the tint for advice and a cf who is going back on her word.
I'd tell her at the time she seemed happy to exchange advice for a tint and you don't do your work for free.
If she demands you pay I would but then I'd go elsewhere for further hairdressing and definitely don't let her use you for free.. She's a user.

I thought you must be Jill..it's very hard to make yourself look completely unreasonable!

I think the way I'd handle it would be to message her something like 'setting up the online booking system would take me x hours and would normally be charged at x amount'. As you can see, that's more than the cost of a hair tint so I really can't offer it for free. I'd hate there to be any ill feeling between us though so how about I pay for the tint and give you X percent off setting up the booking system as a.gesture of good will'.

Then forget about being best mates with her as she sounds like a pain but at least you'd be less likely to have made an enemy.

Just charge her. You don’t really know her, she was giving away a raffle prize, she’s not a friend. Most people don’t understand copywriting and marketing is expensive because it makes them more money, it’s not simply the time spent doing the work. The reason she doesn’t want to pay is because business is bad due to her bad website. She chose to give you a free treatment and she’s being a CF for expecting more free work from you

Could you also point her towards apps like Booksy? It might be an out for her while saving face - it sounds like she can't actually afford your services and is possibly being difficult because she's embarrassed.

Personally I’d disstance myself from Mary. I attract these people regularly (my friends say I have some sort of bat signal for CFs) so I’ve learnt you only give with them, they take and take and you’d likely not get anything back in terms of friendship or support, it’ll always come at a price.

however if you want to try and build a friendship due to being new to the area and want her to promote your business you could offer to do the booking system for her and deduct the cost of the “free” tint from your price. For example if you charge £500 normally and the tint was £100, you could offer to do it for £400.

that way you aren’t out of pocket and you gifted her your advice during the hair appointment as a kind and helpful gesture. But the booking system she pays for.

personally I don’t think you owe her anything though

Mary is CF and doesn't appreciate the value of your advice. I would not go to Mary's salon again. She doesn't understand the value of good customer relations either.

If you're really torn you can offer a F&F discount (which she won't give you)

Work out what your treatments would have cost v what you should have charged

And if she's that kind of CF she wouldn't make that good a friend, would she?

Well done, definitely thought you were the CF!

Don't do it for free. Offer a discount if you must but I'd find it hard to get past feeling like I'd been taken for a mug if I were in your shoes and I'd resent the friendship anyway. I'd try and find another friend who didn't only want me for what I could give them.

I don't believe you are Jill for the simple reason you said the below -

Thanks for replies so far. Just to add Mary did also provide the cut and blow dry free (raffle prize) as well as the tint

Jill wouldn't say that. Mary would.

How much do you charge for website work compared to the hairdressing prices?
Could you come to an arrangement where you do website work for free, and she does your hair for free?
Though I suspect you'd be much better off then because really, how often is she going to need website work doing?

Advice for the future: both just pay for each others services. Don’t trade services, it always gets confusing.

I work as a Nanny ad- hoc. I often babysit for my friends little boy.

This friend is a lash technician. She does my lashes every two/three weeks.

We tried doing trading of services, without cash passing hands, but just always ends up more complicated than it’s worth, trying to keep track of who owes who what.

Even more so if your hourly rate isn’t equal - like a hairdresser and a web designer.

If Mary does Jill’s hair, then Jill pays for it. If Jill does web services for Mary, then Mary just pays for it. If you are very friendly then you could always agree a mates rate with each other - you both give each other 20% off

I don't think so. I think she's Mary.

She’s not going to be a good friend if she can’t appreciate the hard work and time that it would take a “friend” to do.

Set up boundaries now or you’ll forever going to be her push over

I think you need to explain to her how much this kind of work costs and how time consuming it is. I had a website created for a project this spring and I had no clue how many hours work it would be. I grossly underestimated it.

Don't really understand why you posted this as a dilemma when what you really mean is
" should I do it to maintain this friendship and get my business known in the community"
I hate these reversy type Ops , annoying

I've only read OPs posts but I'm sure others have said Mary is a CF.

You gave a favour, which Mary reciprocated by waiving the root colour. You're now 'even'.

Mary shouldn't want to piss you off, as you have the ability to bring her more business. She can 'offer' (which you don't have to accept) more salon stuff for no fee as a barter, but she can't act all 'miffed' and expect your services for free.

I used to be in a similar business to you OP, and the amount of small businesses, even today, with really awful websites straight out of 1997 or even an OK website with shite content and equally shite ranking, bemoaning how their site 'doesn't bring in business' yet they won't invest in their marketing... well. I think with the rise in SM to 'promote' businesses they assume all online marketing should be free... Well it can be, if you do it yourself. Expertise costs money.

@ihaircut101 but anybody could have won the prize, it’s irrelevant. The waived tint fee was the price for the advice and copy. Any more IT work is chargeable, as would be hair work. Both parties are square at present.

I'm pleased you're Jill!

Mary bringing the raffle prize into it is totally wrong. If you hadn't mentioned your job, she'd have given you the prize you'd won with no consequence. Or is she saying she'd have still hoped you'd offer to pay for it?!

I think you'd had a very fair arrangement on the first visit. You were lucky to have won a prize that she had generously donated, so she was out of pocket. You'd offered to pay for the additional service but she'd offered to waive it as a result of the free work you'd done.

How much would you normally charge for the payment site? How many free haircuts would that equate to at Mary's prices?

It might not cost you in terms of materials, but your time is valuable in terms of experience and lost revenue that you could have earned working for someone else.

Unfortunately it sounds like she doesn't value your work and you'd be hard pressed getting any money out of her, even if she does agree to pay.

If you think she's key to breaking you into the local network, then perhaps offer her a "mates rate" discount.

It's a separate thing. They already agreed the exchange for the original work.
If she has come back a month later wanting more work to be done Mary definitely needs to cough up.