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.

That's a rip off OP I'd definitely request a refund and I would have done so before leaving the salon. I wouldn't be bothered if the people behind me in the queue heard as it would have raised awareness for them too. That's unacceptable of the salon. 😬

I've just put together a before and after.

The first picture was a few weeks ago, it had been one year since I last had it coloured.

The second photo today after the appointment.

Different times in the day so slight difference in lighting but overall does it even look much different?! I don't think so.

Awwww, you've got lovely hair @NeverEverAgain11 😘

Doesn't look heaps different on pic 2 to pic 1 though. YES you have been ripped off.

What a ridiculous amount of money. That would cover my Easter food shop and then some.

You’ve got beautiful hair, the colour looks nice but if it’s not what you wanted they should fix it, especially at that price.
They were sneaky about the treatment too.
Definitely leave them some bad reviews if they don’t satisfy you.
Be really clear what you want and give them a chance to put it right first.
My lovely hairdresser charges £27 for a cut and finish, she listens, is very patient and makes what would be uncomfortable experience for me bearable, makes lovely coffee too.
I always tip her and even told her she should charge more.

Really unreasonable of the hairdresser to add on stuff when they’d already given the price, I’d ask to be refunded . I’ve had hairdressers try similar tricks. Last time I went I found it the least relaxing experience ever , wondering if even the head massage was going to be a little extra £££££
Actually at the point now where I nearly asked my sons barber if he’d just have a go on my hair 🙈 .
You have lovely hair though op.

Why do you think you'd be showing yourself up when asking why the cost is so much more than originally told?

It kind of already is. Inasmuch as if you refused to pay for the extra treatment that they’ve snuck in without explaining the cost, they’d have a tough time proving that you owed them! But yes it would be much better if they didn’t do it in the first place. I suppose one way to achieve this is if enough people do refuse to pay, but if you take a stand you would then have to find another salon I suppose.

You should have said there and then, especially when you had a 50% off code. You can’t just assume they are going to apply it? Also should have reminded that you were told there was no extra charge for the senior stylist.
IME balayage isn’t classed as a ‘normal colour’ service as it’s an expertise (so they say) so it’s likely that it wasn’t included as the promotion. Normal color is literally all over one colour - not even including hi-lights. So I’d check that first. On top of the senior stylist. Balayage in my area is one of the most expensive hair services, even more than a full head of hi-lights. I’ve never understood why.

Balayage is definitely included in the 50% off colour offer and always has been.

I've seen the kind comments about my hair and want to say thank you as they've given me a little boost. I've never been told I have nice hair before and the fact it's so fine has always really bothered me.

I'm going to go in on Tuesday and ask them to lift the darker areas. Their T&C state that they don't do monetary refunds as they want the opportunity to fix the problems and regain trust, so we will see.

I also came across (in the small print in T&C's) that they apply a long hair charge to anybody who has hair longer than shoulder length, they didn't make me aware of that so that accounts for a further £17 that wasn't communicated.

This is not shoulder length hair. My guess is the price difference is in the length option selected online.

They are cheeky dishonest buggers OP, thats a lot of hidden charges. Totally unacceptable.

You have beautiful hair and it looked lovely before as well as after.

I colour my own hair with semi perm out of a box and it costs 10 quid and takes half an hour! Obviously doesn't look as good as a salon job, but I get complements on it...my point being, surely theres a large middle ground between 10 quid and 230.

"There doesn’t seem to be any consumer law that actually covers this, so they get away with it. If you say yes then you get charged for it..."

Eh?

A consumer can't have agreed to purchase a "product" if they haven't been told beforehand what the cost will be.

Do people really put up with that?

If it isn't covered by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 I'm pretty sure it will be covered by the protection from unfair trading practices provisions of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.

If the price discrepancy is because the hairdresser has mis-sold the product by not explaining to the OP how much it would cost the OP needs to be telling the hairdresser that they want a refund of £40 (or whatever it is) and will be reporting this unfair practice to citizens advice for a referral to Trading Standards

I can't believe people would pay £230 to get their hair done . It's extortion. I haven't been to the hair dresser for 3 years because of cancer treatment .. I colour it myself with a gentle brand and my DIL cuts it . It looks no different than when I was going to the hair dresser .

Until 5-6 years ago I always did my own hair at home too, bleach blonde root to tip using the schwarzkopf XL live box dyes.

It looked lovely but as expected over time completely fried my hair and the upkeep was too much, the roots needed to be done every few weeks.

I looked in to a low maintenance alternative and decided on balayage as I wanted to keep as much of the blonde as I could, but as PP noted its a specialised colour and not something just anybody can replicate at home, so a salon / professional was the only option, and it was half the price back then.

Your hair is absolutely stunning. 😍🥰.

I am NOT a hairdresser
BUT I did dye my own hair inc highlights, baylage, all over bleach and fun colours for over 30 years before arthritis stopped me being able to bend to get the back done.

What is standing out to me is that PERHAPS due to the use of Olaplex the stylist did not then use a higher volume of developer to counteract that. Leading to a warmer less ashy band.

Closer to the roots will lift brighter more quickly, but further down takes longer.
Olaplex dilutes the strength of the developer, so if your hair usually goes up by 5 levels using 20 volume mixed with bleach, it would need 30 volume with bleach and Olaplex.

Once I stopped doing my hair at home I went to a small salon in a small town. 5 years ago it was £170. Last Jan it was £240, and this is a very small town in Northern Ireland.

I now go to a great hairdresser who works out of a wooden cabin in her garden. Its round to corner, so convenient and I get a full ashy balayage, long bob, for £80 inc tip.

I understand how expensive the dye, developer and bleach can be. Obviously she is getting it cheaper than I can due to professional discount and bulk buying. Also not needing to buy 3/4 colours to use 1" of one. But it isn't that much more expensive than me doing it DIY with professional products.

I would go and complain

1. The stylist has messed up, you shouldn't have banding. If your hair usually lifts v light ash with no issue it is their application issue and toning problem

1. You were over charged

In future dont go back- I would look for a stylist with a home business therefore less overheads who can pass on those savings to the customer

Agree totally!

I have let my hair colour go to its natural duller blonde. It's been a few years now since I could afford hairdressers so I'm pretty much all natural now. No big drama, didnt mention it to anyone, i just quietly stopped going.

Friends are always telling me how nice my colour looks these days?! 😂

errmmmm so I wasted £££ for YEARS when my natural duller blonde was prettier ?!

I'm not adding it up. I'll have the right hump

Why did you say you had "shoulder length" hair in your OP? Do you actually think your very long hair is shoulder length?
Perhaps if you said when booking that it was shoulder length and turned up with that they increased the price?

You’re so lucky to have such beautiful hair, and it does look much better in photo 2, but my goodness that’s an eye watering amount to pay!
I’m guessing you’re in London.

I think what they call a mushroom blonde is all the rage now. I have a really horrible dull dishwasher natural colour. Only looked nice in the sun

I’ve been faffed around and overcharged by hairdressers today too, OP. It’s well annoying. There’s something about how hopeful/vulnerable you are in the hairdressers, that getting ripped off by them feels doubly painful!

😆I still um and ah about conditioner in case I get charged more!

You should definitely complain. They didn't do the colour you asked for and oversold you some product.

for what it's worth i really like the new colour compared to the bleach blonde :)

The warm colour banding is a sign of a rushed job. They should check how the colour has developed before deciding it's time to move onto the next stage. I don't think it looks like a professional job.

I am mid-50s (so need to incorporate grey blending) and pay £70/90 for this colour one or twice a year. (The time between colour services and amount of blonde I want changes the price slightly due to the amount of time taken.) a cut is charged separately.

I'd go back and ask them to improve the blending.