Hair salon alleging I haven’t paid

[wellbugger]

Posting here purely for traffic.

I had my hair done last weekend. Their card machine was down. The stylist charged me over the app. I checked my bank in front of her and showed her that the money had left my account.

They’ve called me today to say that on their end, the money hasn’t come through. I’ve sent a screenshot of my bank which clearly shows that the money due has left my account and gone to them.

AIBU to think this is their issue now? I’ve paid, if they’re having issues with their app that’s not my problem

They might also need to check their Fresha settings and balance

• "Daily:
• The default setting, where funds collected before midnight are sent to your bank account by the next business day if the daily balance exceeds 50. If below 50, payment will be made in full the following Monday or the next business day.
• Weekly:
• Funds accumulate from Monday to Sunday, with the total balance sent to your bank account the following Monday or the next business day.
• Monthly:
• This will allow funds to accumulate throughout the calendar month, with the total balance sent to your bank account on the first business day of the next month.
• Never:
• Funds remain in your business wallet, and you can manually transfer money to your team members and locations at any time.

Most people won’t realise this… but this is one problem of many that crypto and blockchain will solve. Absolute transparency and accountability when everyone has a digital wallet.

Something has gone wrong in the banking system. However, only the originating bank can trace what has happened. You need to ask your bank to trace the payment. The salon cannot do this from their bank. As it stands they have not been paid, and you are the only person who can move this on.

honestly the police would do bugger all about it, it’s a civil dispute about a hair cut. I’d do nothing else, as things stand it’s a them problem. If the money ends up back in your account fair enough but until and unless that happens I’d ignore them. If you have to find another salon so what they are ten a penny anyway .

OP’s bank has confirmed it’s left them. Fresha shows the transaction as being complete. The salon needs to check with Fresha and I don’t understand why they can’t / won’t do this.

No way would I pay twice! If the money does bounce back then yes, I would resend it but I wouldn't be sending two payments and hoping for one to come back. The payment system is the responsibility of the shop/salon not the customer.

You do realise they aren’t going to give you your appointment tomorrow don’t you till it’s all sorted and they’ve been paid. I know you said it’s a free appointment but they haven’t been paid so won’t honour the appointment.

You've sent it but that doesn't mean it's arrived.

If, for instance you've sent it with one protocol (BACS for instance) but their bank doesn't accept it, it will sit in limbo until a human sends it back to you, and this could take a few days to a couple of weeks.
So, yes you have sent it but they may be right too. You need to ring your bank to find out where the money has gone.

OP's bank need to go beyond confirming it's left them, and actually put a trace on the payment. The salon's bank can't do this because if the payment didn't reach them in the first place, they have no transaction to trace. It does have to be OP's bank that does the leg work unfortunately. If the OP's bank can trace it to the salon's bank it then becomes the salon's problem.

Go in with your banking app and the correspondence you’ve had from the bank and Fresha. Show them everything you’ve seen. Point out that as the money has left your account, you actually cannot give them any more because you no longer have it to give.

Stay calm because although it feels horrible for you, it will feel horrible for them too and if you lose control the situation could descend into unpleasant.

It will be worrying for them too, remember, they may even struggle to meet financial commitments to staff if money they expected to have available isn’t there. But as pp said, they can’t do anything else at this point to you- the police won’t be called and even if they are you have evidence to support your side of it.

Hopefully pp are right and they’re just not used to waiting for their money from the app, maybe the settings have mistakenly been changed or something.

But the transaction didn’t go directly from OP’s bank to the salon’s bank - it went via Fresha. So it’s Fresha that needs to be chased, as it looks like they may be holding on to the payment

Jesus, does no-one read the thread before posting? 🤦🏻‍♀️

I'd message them back and say, I have provided evidence the funds have left my account. You have evidence of my bank statement, the freesha invoice showing completed and the bank have confirmed to me the payment is complete. I have done all I can my end. I have made payment, if you haven't received the funds then you need to contact freesha as they must be holding the funds. I won't be paying £220 twice.

It's not a criminal offence, you wouldn't meet the test of intending to permanently deprive. It's a civil matter.

That was probably my fault I started it off 🤦‍♀️

Just tell them this, sounds perfectly reasonable. You sound like a regular customer. If I told my hairdressers this I’d like to think they’d be ok with it. Especially when it’s their machine/app issues which have caused the problem.

Could this be an issue if you booked under e.g. your married name but paid with a card in a different name (maybe your maiden name or your husband's name) - i.e. they haven't received payment from their client Mrs Jane Smith and they haven't realised that the payment from Ms Jane Jones is actually that payment? If you paid for extensions then presumably that's a standard charge that other clients might also have been paying, so they might have had lots of payments for the same amount and not reconciled them properly.

I use Fresha too. Never had problems, my beautician takes deposit payments through it. If they haven't received the money they need to raise a dispute with Fresha. It has nothing to do with you. It's either Fresha's/their error or they trying it on with you. I definitely would not pay twice and I'd show then proof of payment and move on.

Yes, but it's not clear that the payment has actually even reached Fresha. The salon might be able to chase Fresha but if Fresha say they don't have it, then only the OP's bank can trace it.

Yes it is clear! OP has provided the screenshot from the Fresha app to show that Fresha has received it! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Just tell them the money has left your account to go to theirs and the bank has confirmed it. If it should bounce back you will of course re pay immediately, but otherwise the salon's demands for another payment constitutes harassment and you will not engage further over this issue.

Did your bank give you a transaction number? I believe you can give this to them so they can chase payment their end

I’ve contacted my bank again and they confirmed it’s rescheduled Fresha. I’ve given them the transaction number but they’re saying they’re too busy to chase and it would be best if I just paid again!

But if the OP talks to her bank and they confirm that the money has gone to Fresha and is exactly when then she can pass this information onto the salon and say that she has done everything she can and it is now up to them.

Ring your bank to double check, it may have gone to a clearing account if suspected fraud, it has happened to my partner who sent me money which I never received, had to ring the bank to get it sorted.