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.

Really love the ashy colour.Lidls purple shampoo and conditioner is brill. Use it every 6 weeks x

Thank you, i'll pick some up.

It looks so different photographed indoors when compared to the ones taken in daylight outside. It's thrown me off a bit.

I buy Olaplex , you can buy a full bottle for what they’ve charged for one treatment

I initially thought you were being unreasonable for not querying the price, but now that you have shared a pic of your hair, I think you actually need to complain.

"It had lifted "quite warm" and wasn't as light as my lengths already" were.
That is entirely on the hairdresser; they need to check that your hair has lifted enough before taking the bleach off, and then you use toner until the desired tone is achieved. Blaming you for not getting your hair bleached more often is unacceptable, it's not like you were asking to go from black hair to blonde hair in one sitting, you already have light-ish hair and as you point out, you have been following this routine for some time, and it's worked in the past...

Your hair looks nice, but it now has a warmer tone in the middle (between the blonde lengths and the roots) and it's obviously not what you wanted. Considering that they overcharged you, this is adding insult to injury and I would go back and ask them to fix it or refund you for the balayage.

Blimey, I'd never pay that sort of price. My hairdresser cuts my hair for £20 every 6 weeks. DH too. But we are in rural Oxfordshire. Were you in the West End of London?

Most.colours do look different inside and out. Not sure where you are based but its defimtley worth shopping around for hairdressers. Im currently researching xx

You have echoed my thoughts about what she said exactly.

I didn't want a warmer tone to be introduced and I don't think it's fair that she passed the failure to adequately lift on to me for not going more often.

Reccomending refreshing balayage every 2 months is bonkers to me, low maintenance upkeep is the reason I transitioned from having an all-over bright blonde in the first place.

Sods law is that the salon will now be closed until Tuesday at the earliest.

I'm in the industry but more on the male grooming side. It's generally the overheads that are really grinding us down - I've put off hiring staff for about 3 years as they just keep going up and up. Once you've paid rent, service charges, staff wages, staff holiday pay, NI and pensions, then employer NI (that's just cost me another £100 per month), staff training, servicing of scissors, clippers (used to be £28 pre Covid, its now nearer £80). I understand it is becoming crippling for many and it's really shit - I'm not sure what the answer is as I don't know anyone in the business who really tries to rip people off - most are in it because they enjoy it. I know I feel embarrassed when I have put my prices up by £1 per year (£1.50 this year), in a VERY well off demographical area; most customers are lovely but there is always ONE who complains. I don't think I have a single concession on state pension alone; they even book in online as an OAP when they have retired early because they are so well off. In your case, I think the fact the price agreed shifted and wasn't transparent was wrong of them and they should reimburse you, no question about it. All pricing should be clear.

Sorry OP but it looks a bit orangey - hope you will be able to do your own toning, but yes I would have it out with them, not only about not telling you the extra olaplex cost, but the colour is not what you said you wanted. This is one of the reasons I stopped going to hairdressers many years ago, was always disappointed and sometimes upset that they never got it right.

@NeverEverAgain11 I think it looks nice, but only you'd know if it wasn't what you asked for. I did think balayage was to allow for more time between dyes, but I could be wrong.
As an aside, I wouldn't say your hair is shoulder length, more mid back length

People are too polite in hairdressers.

I agree its orangey in parts and that isn't what I want 😔 I wanted (and asked for) a cool tone blonde as per what I already have.

Ideally I would like it to be lifted in those darker areas but is it even safe to do so soon after having one load of bleach? I don't want it to snap off but don't want to leave it as it is either.

What are the chances of them agreeing to fix it? Has anybody ever dealt with similar? If they refuse to, then what should I do?

What an expensive pain in the arse this turned out to be.

A fool and their money are soon parted springs to mind. 😁

Email or phone them back and tell them You weren't told the olaplex was extra a d that your booking was also moved and changed by them so you want the difference refunded.

My hairdresser has suddenly introduced a £50 retainer fee ! At the next appointment he's wanting customers to pay an extra £50 on top of your bill which he will keep so you can book the next appointment. But you dont then get £50 of that appointment.
Not sure what will happen to this extra £50 if you stop getting your hair done by him ?

Go back and ask them to correct the colour if you’re not happy, OP!

I go to a fancy salon. They charge £35 for Olaplex, which is ridiculous.

The junior colourist I had for years was fantastic, charging £128 for a full head of highlights. She’s now left to become a PA and the person she recommended I see instead is £40 more expensive for highlights 🤦🏼‍♀️ I’ve just booked for next month, £273 for the highlights, cut and Olaplex. I’ll cancel the Olaplex and buy it for home. I’ll try her once and see if she’s good. Agree that hairdressers are becoming far too expensive!!

The issue is you were quoted a price and they then charged you more. It us totally unacceptable, even if you didn't challenge it at the time. Write/email them explaining what you had been quoted and request a refund for the difference. ²

Your hair is very long and looks quite fine so a bond repairer is probably a good idea as your hair may get quite fragile without it. Having said that, the margin salons put on Olaplex treatments is enormous, and you could quite reasonably demand a discount or refund for not being properly informed of the price. They won’t be out of pocket.

Someone upthread said you can buy a whole bottle of the stuff for the same price as the salon treatment but the retail product has a far lower concentration of the active ingredient in Olaplex than the salon treatment does. Using the retail product weekly is probably as good having a one-off salon treatment but you couldn’t use the retail product only before and after a colour and expect to get the same protection.

Today is the first I've ever heard about Olaplex but it's helpful to know I can just buy it myself if it's important.

It's ironic I've been slyly upsold a product intended to protect my hair whilst they lift it to the required level, and they haven't lifted it to the required level.

firstly im so sorry, im a low maintenance ashy balayage and do the same, though every 6 months. I personally wouldnt be happy with that outside colour for the price point, opalex or not. I’d call and try and get them to remediate it. That being said it does look nice, it’s just not that fresh feel I’d personally want going so far between appointments. You can ash it up like previous posters have said, but i think they should do it professionally, especially after messing you around x

go in and ask to see the manager
Talk to the ships captain.

I can improve on that. There's alot of I was told etc. Told by who

I usually try and get names it can help.

Sheila told me, not I was told

I'm not a hair dresser but think your hair looks lovely

As for the length though, that is LONG hair. Not shoulder length. That would at to the cost at my salon.

I hate when they offer you all these add in treatments when getting your hair washed. It
fools a lot of people, and they end up being charged and additional £20-£40 that they weren’t expecting. I find hairdresser’s pricing is not transparent or consistent, and they need to spell out costs clearly before they start

I hate this- makes it so hard to relax at the hairdressers after it’s happened once.

I just dye my own now, I cannot incur a 6 weekly £200 tax for being an aging female

You can buy Olaoplex off Amazon.

I used to share a hairdresser with my mum and sister. He would come to the house, when olaplex first came on the scene he raved about it - so we all had the treatment. He then charged £500!!! For three cuts and the olaplex. This was pre-Covid

Buy it off Amazon