Who is the CF, me or the beauty salon?

[superdelooper]

Last week my DM was talking about getting powder ombre brows done. My friend had them done, and they are lovely, so asked friend for the salon details so I could contact them for DM.
I reached out to the salon via WhatsApp on Friday (there is no online booking or website) and someone responded immediately with details and an appointment time for this week (Thursday).
All good, fairly reasonable pricing and DM was happy to go ahead and get me to book. There was a £50 booking fee, which I paid, with the balance to be paid at the appointment.
Within an hour of making the booking DM realised she had forgotten about the blood thinners she takes and after a bit of google searching, we realised she needed at least a week off the thinners before she could safely have her eyebrows done. I reached out to the salon again and they assured me she would be fine to continue with the booking, even while still taking the thinners. DM is in her 70's and we didn't want to risk it and requested to cancel the booking. Salon again said it would be fine (these messages have since been deleted by salon) but I insisted we cancelled and apologised. Fine, booking cancelled. I then asked for the booking fee to be refunded. Salon refused stating this booking fee was 'non refundable'.
When we made the initial booking she sent a message with bank details and a note about things to do/not do prior to the appointment. It also stated there was a £50 'booking fee', no mention of this being non refundable.
Who is in the wrong here? We tried asking politely for the fee to be refunded as it seems like a lot to be charged for an appointment we booked and cancelled within an hour, DM would have been happy to pay a small admin fee but £50 is a quarter of what the eyebrows would have cost to have done.

Super frustrating. I'd push for the refund again, and leave a review to warn others if they don't

Actually, whilst I agree that the salon should ideally have checked that she wasn't taking blood thinners, surely the onus was on your mother to be more aware of what the procedure involved when she made the booking. Doctors don't put people on warfarin or other blood thinners for no reason, and you are monitored regularly. Everyone is given a lot of information about diet and lifestyle when they start taking this type of medication and your mum should have been completely aware that any sort of tattooing procedure should definitely be avoided.

It's not a few ink dots
Mine were hair stroke by stroke using digital machine method
Brow mapping can take 30-60 mins before they even start tattooing. Then colour matching and mixing
Plus a top up needed after the first pass has healed

Varicose veins can have some pretty serious complications if left untreated.

Yes I know that.

But that is not what OP is saying - she has said "She is willing to come off them for a week but not with this salon now. It just seemed like a lot to pay when we cancelled almost immediately once we realised"

So why didnt she just say to reschedule for a week later in her first communication after booking - if the mum was willing to take the risk?

I don't know actually, I just find it weird when it's the only way to book, I tend to prefer a business having a more "traditional" online presence such as a website or being on a third party app such as Treatwell.

It reminds me of dodgy "russian lips fillers experts" who advertise and take bookings on instagram - because they're actually not qualified to inject and therefore are doing it illegally.

Different services have different costs and then there will be regional variations. It could be microblading which are tiny strokes to replicate hair and then topped with powder for example or powder by itself. The technician may have a decade of experience or might be a newbie. There are so many variables and when it comes to your face, it's not always the cheapest.
It is the value the individual is prepared to pay and as such "rip off' is emotive terminology.

Actually it depends on the type of blood thinners you’re taking. Warfarin requires regular monitoring. My mum was taking it and was offered an alternative modern blood thinner for which no monitoring was needed. The problem is that while vitamin K is an antidote to warfarin overdose, there is no antidote to the more modern ones, so the first sign of a problem was her being admitted to hospital with a rectal bleed. There was little information about the meds beyond the usual patient information leaflet. If the salon didn’t offer a pre treatment consultation and didn’t enquire about contra indications then l would think they’re liable - and they seem to be aware of that in relation to the deleted messages.

I'm 64 and I get my brows done, hopefully still will when I get to 70, what's wrong with that?

Casual ageism is so rampant on here.

Mind you, I'd find a different method of maintaining them rather than stopping essential medical treatment!

Precisely my thinking. Blood thinners are not a medicine given lightly - and to come off them just to get your eyebrows done seems unimaginable to me!

Has your mum checked with her doctor about the risks of not taking her blood thinning medication for a week? It only takes a couple of days for the risks to start to increase. Would it be safe for her to just stop taking it?

@Rosscameasdoody

My mum tried two of the alternatives to warfarin, and she was still monitored, albeit not as regularly as when she was taking warfarin. There may not have been as much dietary information given with the alternatives, but it was still made very clear that great care had to be taken for any major cuts etc and that you should not have procedures lime tattooing. Regardless of what medical advice is given, surely anyone who takes medication like this must understand the risks associated with a cosmetic procedure like this.

Aside from the medication issue, you need to be ultra confident in the artist who is going to perform semi permanent makeup, it’s not like you can wipe them off. I’ve had my brows done and I’m exceptionally happy but I did my research and the artist I choose did a free consultation whereby she went through everything including my medical history.

She wanted to check with her GP before she made any further decisions.

Yes but you are still a potential customer and could talk to other potential customers, write about them online etc. It doesn't make sense for a business to ignore individuals with reasonable complaints / requests - unless they are so large and profitable they don't care. I was assuming a small local business.

When she first had them done years ago she didn't have any medical issues. Once she realised, after booking, that it was against medical advice to have them done whilst on thinners we immediately cancelled. She's not against having them done but wants to check with her GP first.

Regardless of what medical advice is given, surely anyone who takes medication like this must understand the risks associated with a cosmetic procedure like this.

But then so should the salon. Pre treatment consultations are an industry standard, during which they ask about any medical conditions or medications which may be contra indicate the beauty treatment. The salon clearly didn’t do this and then tried to cover their tracks by deleting messages. Yes the client should be aware of the risks of condition or medication, but that doesn’t absolve the salon of their responsibility.

Thanks everyone for your advice. On reflection it probably wasn't the best idea to book (and pay deposit) without having a consultation to run through medical history, so probably dodged a bullet. We will send salon one last message about contraindications, lack of consultation, deleting medical advice messages and finally mention contacting trading standards and see what happens.

Yep, add that to the national curriculum along with car maintenance, consumer finance, social media skills and home DIY and whilst they have to spend 24/7 at school all our 18 years will know everything possible about life.

Well yeah if you're cancelling you lose the booking fee but if you're just moving it to a later date they keep the booking fee for the new appointment which you wouldn't pay again

Yeah but the salon could argue she should have researched before booking and that they're willing to reschedule rather than cancel

I'm surprised she's willing to stop taking the medication- she might want to run that past her GP!

@superdelooper I know it’s not the same but do they do any other treatments? Maybe they’d agree to put it towards something else eg gel nails/toes? Better than nothing.

What has her doctor said about her stopping her medication for a week so she can get her eyebrows done?

This. Guidance around blood thinners and surgery is changing to keep the period they’re stopped for as short as possible. For some procedures they aren’t stopped at all, because the risk of a stroke is greater than the risk of a bleed. Stopping them for a week before something superficial with minimal bleeding risk compared with surgery seems madness and I would strongly suggest your mum speaks to her GP first. They will almost certainly say go ahead without stopping the meds.