To feel scammed? Hairdressers

[NeverEverAgain11]

I've been going to the same chain of hairdressers for the last 6 or so years and always had the same service, balayage (colour) with a cut and finish - because they run promotions whereby if you book a colour alongside a cut and finish you get 50% off the colour)

When I first became a customer of theirs I'd pay between £130 and £140.

The last time I went, last year, the price had risen to £170 (ish)

DP kindly offered to pay for me to get my hair done this week as a treat. Upon booking under the same offer I always book under I was quoted £190 which felt steep but I only go once a year so it didn't seem wildly overpriced as a one off cost.

I felt bad about the price as DP doesn't have a huge amount of disposable money so I said if he paid £150 I'd pay the rest myself.

I booked for today and in the lead up had two calls changing the booking, the first call said they'd changed me over to a senior stylist for time saving purposes but said it would be at no added cost to me. Great.

The second call this morning they had to push my apt back an hour so I was aimlessly wandering around to pass time.

Fast forward to paying and I was charged £230.

I was taken aback and just paid on autopilot as there were two other customers waiting to pay and I didn't want to show myself up. I've felt increasingly annoyed/disappointed on the way home.

In hindsight I wish I'd have questioned the disparity between prices but it's too late now.

I feel like I've been scammed, as daft as that sounds. If I'd have known that would happen I wouldn't have bothered.

Am I being unreasonable or is this unacceptable?

Edited to add - I have shoulder length very fine hair. I only had about an inch taken off from the ends so I couldn't have incurred additional charges for having complex hair.

Did they charge £40 for the Olaplex? Have worked that out right? They absolutely must tell customers the cost before adding a treatment on at that price - just saying ‘would you like an Olaplex treatment?’ isn’t enough. I know some people will argue you should ask the price but I think a lot of customers might expect a treatment to either be just a free deeper conditioner for dry hair or maybe £20 max.

I’d email / call again and say you found yourself in a really embarrassing situation at the till with customers around so didn’t want to make a fuss but you’d like them to be aware of this (adding £40 to the bill without agreeing that first; other costs exceeding the price you were promised) so that no other customer on a tight budget has the same experience. They should offer you something back as a gesture. (Edited as I saw you won’t be going back!)

I suspect this was a Rush salon?

My lovely hairdresser who works from home, but was with a big national chain for most of their career, tells me that the business model of salons doesn’t work anymore (at least in our area) and in ten years they won’t exist in the same way. I didn’t follow all of it but given the number that don’t last very long around here (affluent south east) it’s not a suprise.

Good grief do people really spend that much on hair appointments?

@NeverEverAgain11 olaplex isn't £40. They are fleecing you 🙄

Their loss.

I know this doesn’t help….but you must learn to advocate for yourself.

Ask questions and check prices as you go along. So on arrival,

’Can I just confirm what I’ve booked for and the price’
If anything is mentioned different to what you thought it would be ‘Can I just query that - I’d understood the price was X and was told it wouldn’t change if the stylist changed’

And ‘ Please can you let me know if you’re offering me any optional extras that incur an extra charge …just so I’m clear about it’.

NEVER be ashamed to ask these questions. Never be ashamed to query a price you think is wrong or stop to check a bill before paying. Always do it there and then. It’s so much easier to rectify whilst you’re then rather than after.

But now you can still follow up. Say clearly that you’d arranged the price upfront of X. Say you’d checked it. Say that no-one mentioned any extra charges for anything when you were having your hair done. Say that that you were shocked at the till but woukd now like to request they honour the price you were originally given.

If they say ‘no’, ask if they consider it acceptable customer service to offer extra treatments without making clear that extra charges are invovled.

And what’s really important is to know and understand that all of this is perfectly valid and nothing to be ashamed of. Say it politely and confidently. Don’t sound like you’re ashamed to ask or easy to fob off.

Never think it’s a sign of a ‘poor person’ querying. It’s the reverse. The affluent don’t let themselves be ripped off on purpose or simply through their own lack of communication.

Im sorry to say, you should have queried it and said you didn’t want to pay for an extra you hadn’t been told the price for at the time. That would have been far better. But I can see how you were presented with a higher bill - possibly error or misunderstanding, likely rather sneaky up-selling, but one which if challenged they’d almost certainly have to back down on.

You always have to be aware and on your guard about upselling ar additional extras. Keep checking. By making clear at the start that you know the price you’re expecting to pay means they are far less likely to try to upsell or charge extra. But it is BUYER BEWARE - and it’s up to you to challenge anything that isn’t right. Feeling annoyed but having said nothing….no good.

Hairdressers pull these kind of stunts a lot IME. Scamming bastards. If it’s not olaplex it’s a deep conditioner, or you automatically get booked in with the most expensive stylist without being alerted to the fact that they will do exactly the same thing as a cheaper stylist for twice the price.

I also think that customers who say nothing or don’t kick up a fuss and just decide not to go back, don’t do anyone any favours.

Firms need to know when you’re not happy. You need to ask clearly for a refund and state that good customer service would provide it given the price wasn’t stated clearly. You can say at that point that if they can’t deliver that customer service that you’d expect you wi t be able to return or give positive feedback and will leave feeling extremely disappointed. You can also say that you understand errors like this happen and it’s not a problem if firms rectify them.

Speak out. Silent leaving doesn’t help you or future customers either.

Yes because people have certain standards they like to maintain for themselves, and it's their money at the end of the day.

I could've written this! I've had to stop going to a salon/hairdresser I really loved as every time I went the price was up £20-30. I go every 12weeks ish and it was just getting too much.

I know they have overheads, but the cost at the till never matched the price online and they just said price list had changed or stylist had a promotion. I understand increasing prices annually but this was every visit. Like you I was a bit flustered and just ended up paying it.

I stopped going to my hairdresser after 15 years because each time the cost was going up and up. I started with baylage at £120, when I walked away, it had gone to £180, and they’ve had three prices rises since,

they've also now changed their pricing, so it’s one price for above shoulder hair and one for below shoulder, then with colours, because people were extending the time inbetween, they charge for 6-8 weeks, 8-10 weeks and if it’s over 10 weeks, you are classed as a new style and they ramp up the price even more.

so I walked away to an independent, who trained with them and she charges £100 for baylage.

I stopped going to expensive salons because they kept trying to flog me stuff and tell me I needed X or Y product.
My current hairdresser is silent as the grave, and I pay in advance on Treatwell so no hidden extras.

Yabu not to have queried it at the time

A few years ago, I went to a recommended stylist for a cut & blow dry only.
I had a HUGE high school reunion coming up, and I showed her 3 or 4 photos of flattering styles I liked and was aiming for.
The main thing, I told her - and emphasized, was please don’t make me look like an old lady!
So at the end, she turns the chair around towards the mirror and I was HORRIFIED -
I LOOKED JUST LIKE MY 90-YR-OLD MUM!!
WTF.
I haven’t been to ANY salon since, and now I really need a haircut.
There’s one place in town where I’m guaranteed to get what I want - but it’s $200 for a cut & blow dry, and that seems excessive in this economy.
But I guess I’m gonna have to bite the bullet and go in.
Heavy sigh.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

You weren't being scammed if you willingly paid it. The time to speak up was at the till.

Think I’ve been going to the same company and having similar issue where prices seem to have increased and when I’ve queried it, they go back to the usual price. It’s bizarre and I’m going somewhere else next time.

I honestly can’t grasp paying that much for a hair cut . No wonder the cost of living is going bonkers , early on there was a post about a cleaner charging £75 for less than 2 hours work now hairdressers charging over £100 for an hours work . When did it become the norm to pay all professions this much , even those with no training or little training needed ? Teachers , midwife’s with decades of experience don’t earn this much 🤦🏻‍♀️ seems bonkers to me .

Can I ask what you think of the colour?

What I asked for: balayage refresh, more blonde putting in and taking up higher, the same tone as the existing blonde I had. I didn't ask for, nor want, any darker tones of blonde or low lights or whatever else.

When she was washing the bleach off she warned me that it had lifted "quite warm" and wasn't as light as my lengths already were. She said I'd need to go more frequently (every 2 months!) if I wanted it lighter (IE for the new blonde being added to match the existing blonde on the ends)

She said I'll need to make sure I keep on top of toning it at home with purple shampoo in the mean time.

I've never had to do that before, so I'm dreading what it'll look like when this toner has worn off.

I've gone once a year for the past 5 or 6 years and have never had to tone religiously at home to correct a mismatch in lift. To be honest every other time I've gone and had a toner in the salon, I haven't bothered toning at all afterwards as the colour itself was always acceptable.

I don't know if I'm over analysing the whole hairdo now because I'm upset about the pricing. Thoughts?

Reminds me of when I was a teenager, and when asked if you would like conditioner on your hair after washing, which would be the most natural thing to accept, you had to say no, or were charged extra for it, and at the time it could add some money to the bill, if you weren’t expecting it.
I learnt to ask was it extra, and also if offered a coffee as a teenager, hairdressers started giving you a free coffee, but again you had to verify, as you could get a nasty shock .

I think your hair looks lovely

This is what the colour looks like photographed indoors.

Gosh, I did accept a cup of tea and biscuits, I wonder if they totted that up aswell 😂

FlicaBonnyLittleStar Thank you for saying so, I appreciate it.

This happened to my sister in the 2000’s, long hair and went for a long perm to give it some body, clearly they cut older ladies hair at that salon, and cut it all off and permed it really short and tightly.
She cried for a long time.