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.

Speak to the manager/owner on Tuesday and list your complaints. Use your phone to compile the list then you can look at the phone if you struggle with eye contact.

Firstly, You did them a favour twice when they mucked around your appointment time twice to suit them. What if you’d refused to change it because you had other plans? They offered a senior stylist free of charge but considering how the hair turned out, you’re guessing she was not a senior stylist. (Do they treat all customers with such disdain?)

Ask them to explain how going more regularly would ensure that the lightener would lift the colour adequately? Be interesting to hear the answer to that one as it’s patently bollocks. They obviously removed it too soon and I’m guessing it’s because they were pushed for time and had overbooked. Evidenced by moving your appt. round.

Charging for olaplex without making it clear it was a significant extra charge is deliberately misleading and underhand. I buy my Olaplex in 2ltr bottles from the wholesaler and it’s about €100. The amount they used probably cost them less than a couple of quid. 🤔

All in all, I’d expect them to re-do your lightener with olaplex followed by a toner free of charge or adequately refund you.

Could have been the Olaplex but they should have told you if it was an additional cost. Also could have been a mix up with the senior stylist stepping in. Either way, you should call them and ask for a breakdown of the charges. Don't assume anything until you know how they got to that figure.

.... And that's considerably more than I pay.

Hi. I go to a fairly upmarket salon - used to regularly win national awards, so they are pretty decent. I see one of the senior stylists - when he started he was a junior and relatively cheap but he's now one of the most expensive.

Anyway, he isn't overly confident when it comes to dying hair. He does mine, but he won't touch my daughter's. She has hair a bit like yours.

She used to see the colour expert who had done the L'oreal colour course. My guy hasn't done that - it's expensive and time consuming and he isn't that fond of colouring.

Of course the colour expert left recently and they don't have anyone qualified and she saw a regular stylist last time who claimed she could do her hair. But she couldn't. Daughter was very unhappy with it.

Anyway, just wanted to say that colour is a real art and some stylists are better at cutting and styling hair than colouring, even the senior stylists. Maybe you could ask the salon if there is anyone they could suggest who could put it right rather than the one you saw.

I’m not getting into prices because everyone will pay differently. Everyone lives in a different area with varying levels of hairdressing and we all have different levels of expectation as well as hair. I live in London so I expect prices to be much higher than say (pick a city out the air?) Blackpool.

If it’s worth anything to you, I do think your hair does have a noticeable difference in the second picture a year apart and I do think it looks better. You should have raised your price query at the point of paying, but you know that, it’s done, so no point going over it. You did the right thing to call them and try to get some information about pricing. I agree they should have told you about the treatment and that is chargeable, and it still sounds like you’ve been charged for a higher stylist , as I can’t get my head round the treatment is £50?£60? so really the whole situation is just off.

Personally I’d not go back and find another stylist. I’ve had to do that in recent years and it’s not easy I know. I got fed up with my hairdresser for various reasons and I stayed with her over the time I should have , just because I was scared to make that break. Yes I did kiss a lot of hairdresser frogs until I found “the one “. In fact not only did I actually find a fantastic hairdresser, I went to her because she was on Treatwell and her prices are so so so transparent. Every hairdresser I’ve found locally has been so hard to get a pricing structure out of, like it’s a secret. I like that my new current hairdresser has all her prices set out to the minuscule detail and I can also pay on the app. It’s never happened and I don’t envisage it will but there’s no confusion in price and we’d have to discuss it if she were to charge more as I’ve already paid for the service I want, on the app. If that makes sense.

Find someone else, they’ve treated you like a mug , move on

Was the person who charged you the same person that cut your hair? Wondering if it was the receptionist and just looked at who cut it and charged you according to her seniority and wasnt made aware that you weren't mean to charged at that rate?

Do they have a website with the staff listed? My one lists their names with their seniority. You will then be able to tell if your stylist was senior or not.

Have you considered semi perm at home? I use Casting Creme Gloss and its amazing. It leaves the hair in way better condition than permanent hair dye.

This has happened to me a few times. I stopped going to the specific hairdresser who did this. I realised it was only one man at the salon who did it and he was a senior stylist. Really annoyed me. Such blatant money grabbing.

Can I just ask …. If you went into a restaurant and got offered a glass of wine with your dinner would you expect it to be free????

I’ll post this again as I’d love to know people’s thought.

If you went to a restaurant and got offered a glass of wine would you expect it to be free???

This is the same concept in salons, I’m fed up of people moaning about the cost of hair. It is a skill and art with years of experience behind some stylists, plus the amount of terrible haircuts going around during Covid was great to see. I’m a hairdresser and love my job I love making people feel special and it’s the most rewarding job. If our industry fades away because people think they can do a better job with a box dye then our years of experience and bringing joy to others goes down the drain.

I think your hair looks better now compared to the photos a few weeks ago. Less Goldilocks and more ashy. But the huge uplift for the olaplex is ridiculous.

@SheThinksShesAllThat In my experience, some salons do offer conditioning treatments for free so yes, it should be made explicit when they offer the treatment a) what it is and b) what the cost will be. Likewise, they should make it clear if there's a charge for refreshments. Years ago, I had a four hour appointment in a new salon. They kept offering me drinks and I had three (very small) lattes while I was there. I was very unimpressed at the end when they then charged me £3-something for each latte. There was no mention of a charge at any point.

DONT use the purple shampoo and conditioner with bleached hair!!! All that does is strip the colour off and dry out and damage and make your hair brittle!!! If the colour washes out with normal washing within 2 weeks go back to the salon and get them to sort it out as it’s a THEM problem for not toning properly!! A decent moisturising mask every week along with redken acidic bonding concentrate left on for 20 mins after initially wetting it before washing will keep tour hair strong and healthy and not breaking off and don’t forget to wash twice as a lot of people don’t realise they need too:)

I pay £170 for full head of foils - bleach plus a colour - hair is waist length and blond - plus a cut and blow dry and style by both the top colourist and salon director cutting it in a top salon so you are being ripped off!! Ask on your local fb group in your area for recommendations for someone better

Always ask in advance ‘so how much will that be so I bring the correct amount’. Then bring the correct amount, plus a little tip if you wish.

You have gorgeous hair. I love the style and length and the colour suits you, even the colour you're not happy with... it still looks lovely and natural, but if it's not what you asked for, then ask for it to be redone, and then look elsewhere for future cuts. Maybe someone who works from home/comes to you, as their overheads are lower, so their prices should reflect that.

I'm in SE England and pay max £100 for wash, cut, full head colour (foils), blow dry and straighten. I'm there between 3-4 hrs, and he never tries to upsell.
He's only just put his prices up, too, previously it was £85 for all.
He used to rent a salon in town, but rates kept doubling, so he set up at home in a converted garage, which looks lovely, and you're often either the only one, or overlapping with 1 other person, so it feels like a very personalised service.
There's complimentary tea, coffee, etc, and at Easter/Christmas, etc, he puts out complimentary chocolates, etc, too. It's a really lovely, relaxing experience.

Some years back my long time hairdresser was on mat leave.
I had a special occasion so needed highlights(roots) and a trim.
Called into a salon for a price and told him a couple of friends had used him: “it will be no more than £60”. My usual hairdresser charged around £40.
During my appointment there was a woman complaining in the chair that this was her third vist(with another stylist) to rectify her colour.
At the end, I was charged £100 and when I queried it was told ‘we accidentally quoted the loyalty rate and used sulphate free shampoo’ (which they’d offered with no explanation of the price, other than trying to upsell me some for home). ‘Thanks, see you in 6 weeks’.
None of us went back.

Absolutely! I now colour my own hair and after some practice, I like to think I'm good at it. I even get compliments! I just go to salons for a cut. I shop around and the one before the last place tried to persuade me to have it washed and blow dried which I hate as it's so much faff and I don't have time to sit there while they piss about with a dryer! I was narked at the last place when they sold me a finishing spray for nearly £30! It was one of those times like OP had when I wished afterwards I had queried it. It was £65 for the cut and spray. I even tipped!

I thought you said your hair was shoulder length?

I stand corrected.

It's much shorter at the front than the back.

Is there any kind of industry regulation? We need transparent pricing:
Cut cost plus colour/balayage/roots/highlights plus (optional) treatment =£x+x+x
Long/senior stylist surcharge=£x
Coffee is either free or =£x
Not difficult surely.

I’m absolutely horrific with hair; don’t know a thing about it and my hair is about an inch long at the moment. With that said,

1. I know Olaplex is expensive from social media and they will probably be up charging and not charging the price you would pay in online sales (no one I know buys Olaplex except in sales). It is ridiculous that they are relying on customers not knowing what it is so they can upcharge.
2. Even I can tell how different this photo is from the other; it’s about 100% more “cool toned” than the colour they’ve currently given you. And…
3. If they can’t give you the desired result you want (even though you’ve had it before, so obviously they can!!!), then that’s on them to communicate to you BEFORE attempting anything on your hair, not blaming you for their incompetence afterward.

This all just sounds kind of like a nightmare. I’m guessing the “senior stylist” they switched you too was either fresh out of training or too long out of training?

I just wanted to say your hair is beautiful. I don't know anything about balayage but if you're not happy, then prepare what you want to say on Tuesday, maybe phone or email first if saying it in person would be too stressful? If you write it down today then you can put it out of your mind until Tuesday?

Did you think it was shoulder length?😂

I know the chain you're talking about, luckily mine is very good but I would deffo complain in your case...