Hairdresser couldn’t cut toddlers hair but charged full price

[Bubblebather89]

I was recommended a hairdresser in my local area to cut my 22 month olds hair. She has a walk in only salon with one of those sit in car chairs for children. She was highly recommend from a mum whose child has ASD and she said she’s great with kids and makes them feel comfortable, is flexible etc etc. Anyway we visited his hairdresser on a number of occasions and all went well. My son sat better than expected so she was able to cut his hair with no issues.

Then last week I took him and it was particularly busy with it being near Christmas. My son decided he didn’t want to sit in the car so we moved to the chair with him on my lap. But he was particularly fussy and crying. After 5 minutes she said she wasn’t able to cut his hair. She had cut some at the back but literally hardly anything, of course I understood and I was fine with her not carrying on and I said no problem we will come back another time. It wasn’t a good time for my son and she had a line of people waiting I completely understood. As I was getting my son into his pram she said that will be £15 please darling, which was the full price of the hair cut normally. I was taken back because I thought she wouldn’t charge me anything as she literally only cut a small amount at the back and the rest of the time was me trying to hold him down as he tried to wriggle away. His hair looked worse than when we came in. Because there was a full salon of people waiting and looking at me I just paid. If I’d known she was going to charge me the full amount I would have expected her to try abit harder to cut his hair and been more patient with him. The whole appointment took around 5 mins so barely any time at all. Should I have paid full price or should she have discounted it/ let me come back and try again?

It takes as much of her time to stand and wait while you try hold down your toddler, as it would to actually be cutting the hair, so you need to pay for her time. I understand it is frustrating, but that's just the way it goes with toddlers.

When mine was younger, I gave up on hairdressers and bought some clippers. He had slightly wonky buzz cuts for a few years, but it was less stress for everyone (especially DS). We went back to hairdresser when he was 8, but found a fantastic one who offers longer sessions for kids who might not stay still (he's autistic). It's £20 instead of £15, but she literally follows him around a sensory room with scissors, so it's worth the extra to know it's going to get done.

Full price for a few snips at the back and only 5 minutes? I wouldn't gp back. The hairdresser had a line of clients, so wouldn't have been stuck for a client with you leaving. You weren't paying for time, it was for a service undelivered. Had she tried for 15 or 20 mins, different story I think.

I think it's fair to charge because she could and almost certainly would have filled that slot if it hadn't been yours, so she would be out of pocket if you didn't pay.

You have my sympathy because my son can be an absolute nightmare about haircuts and twice I've had to pay when the hairdresser couldn't cut it, but it's not fair for her to be out of pocket when it's not her fault.

Of course you have to pay. If she didn't charge for every stroppy toddler, she'd quickly be out of business.

My hairdresser charges the full price if I cancel at short notice or run late for the appointment (although she will try to be flexible with the running late if she can). It doesn't matter whether I have a good reason- it's not her problem.

Same with DH's barber.

If they run on an appointment basis you've taken a slot they are unlikely to fill at short notice. Sorry OP.

I wonder if a mobile hairdresser visiting your home might be a better environment for your DC?

I voted YANBU for two reasons.

Firstly to counter all the people who can’t read saying “you booked an appointment” when you didn’t, it was walk in. Come on people, at least read the OP properly 🙄.

Second, if I go to a restaurant and the chef spends time producing a meal that is inedible, I don’t pay them for the time they took to produce it, do I? I pay for an edible meal.

You are paying for a haircut, and you didn’t get one. So you are not unreasonable to expect to pay less than full price for that.

She shouldn’t have charged IMO. It’s a long game really. If the whole appointment took 5-10 mins then she hasn’t really lost anything. Now she’s pissed you off and runs the risk of you leaving shit reviews and obviously you wouldn’t be going back. So many businesses don’t look after customers.

Would you not expect to pay the restaurant if the reason you didn't get your meal was because you wouldn't eat it?!

The hairdresser was ready and willing to cut the kids hair, and has done so before, but this time the child wouldn't say still.

It doesn't matter if it is pre booked or walk in, the OP used up a slot that on this busy pre-Christmas day could have been used by someone else, so of course the hairdresser had to charge

I can’t see a hairdresser being that upset about losing the business of a wriggly toddler!

I said if the meal was inedible. Objectively. I once got served raw pork. That’s not me “not eating it” or not liking it 🙄. If I was served something inedible I wouldn’t say “well, you took half an hour to prepare this and I took the spot of someone else, here have my money.” Would you?

If it was busy, that means as soon as the OP vacated the chair there was someone else who had walked in and was ready to go. One attempt to cut a toddler’s hair wouldn’t have been missed as much as it would have been on a quieter day. The fact it was busy meant the hairdresser could have discounted the OP with minimal impact on her total daily earnings.

She should have charged you extra for all that aggravation when she had a queue of other customers.
It’s interesting that you would have tried harder to get it done if you’d known she was going to charge full price.

Glad you paid. As others have said I do expect this took longer than 5 mins so not sure why you would expect her to do it for free or offer you another chance free of charge. Perhaps if you yourself were a loyal customer who goes every 6-8 weeks for your own hair cut and colour, paying a lot of money, then I would have expected more goodwill. However you say you went based on word of mouth and have only been a few times before so if you don't go again it's no big loss and she is running a business.
As others have suggested you need to think about timing - you added that it's a place you sit and wait which clearly didn't work. I would look at booking somewhere you make an appointment for a specific time. Also going before Christmas was not wise either, hairdressers are particularly busy at that time so the salon will be nosier than perhaps an average day first/last thing.
Also to note I found my son actually was better when taken to a proper men's barbers rather than taking him to a hairdresser.

The fact it was busy meant the hairdresser could have discounted the OP with minimal impact on her total daily earnings.

And what if 5 toddlers did the same thing? Or ten? Should she let them all walk out for free?

I think it would have been reasonable for her to charge about half of the full price of the haircut.

As it's walk in she moved onto another appointment in the time she would have been cutting your DCs hair.

but in that case the chef was at fault. In this case it wasn’t the hairdresser to blame for the fact the child couldn’t safely have their hair cut

Discount. Not free.

But, she is supposed to be a professional catering to children. It sounds like she was impatient and exasperated having a line waiting. Surely it wasn't the first time she had an uncooperative child in her chair?

The same thing applies - what if she gives 5 or 10 customers a discount because their kids won't cooperate? Is she just expected to lose out on a huge amount of her earnings through no fault of her own?

Ok, consider I walk in to a restaurant for a meal and order a starter, but can’t stay for a main or dessert. Restaurant takes my money for the starter and shrugs off the fact I didn’t order anything else and gets someone else at the table who might do that instead. They can’t charge me for 3 courses. They’re ultimately better off. Same as this hairdresser should have been with just 5 quid. She got someone in her chair quicker, so ultimately cut more people’s hair that day because the OP didn’t spend as long in the chair as she would have done for a full cut.

5 quid for trying, quicker turn over of customers, OP feels looked after, everyone’s a winner.

But it's not her fault the OP's kid was throwing a tantrum and misbehaving. Just because you cater for children, doesn't mean you have to tolerate them kicking up a fuss while you miss out on paying customers.

this. Or she is risking a photo and a review.

If she charges 5 quid for trying and failing to cut the hair of 6 toddlers for 10 minutes each, vs 15 quid for cutting the hair of 2 toddlers for half an hour each, she’s no worse off for that hour, is she?

But it's not just £5 for 10 minutes, is it? She has to clean up between customers, take payment, say goodbye, greet the next customer, get them settled etc.

It's not like as soon as one customer gets up, the other sits straight down and she starts work 😂

OP didn't say tantrum or misbehaving. Regardless, the hairdresser wasn't missing out as it was only some minutes. If you do children's cuts you have to be the flexible one. The hairdresser gave up and refused very quickly.

That's the cost of doing business.