Why CAN'T I get a refund from a hairdresser?!?

[keeponworking]

Myself and DD got back from hairdressers yesterday. I was mildly (only mildly) unsure about my cut and not wildly enamoured of the colour) but not excessively so, and thought I'd catch the colour back around on the next visit and live with the longer than requested cut until next time so I could live with the longer than requested length and see how the colour looked in day to day conditions. On the face of it, DDs hair looked ok although she also had problems where requests weren't followed and colouring was inconsistent.

In light of the fact that:

• DD was charged for a full head of highlights but the colour was not taken down to the end so she has one type of the colour on the top half of her head, and the old version of the colour on the bottom half (which is tonally completely different) - if you pay for a full head of highlights, you expect a FULL head don't you? You don't do from the scalp to halfway down the length?
  
• Because my hair was styled in such a way that until I came home, slept, woke up, and started straightening it this morning, wasn't able to notice that there were bits shorter than other bits whilst I was at the salon, it hadn't been cut in the way I had asked, and it was longer on one side than on the other.
  
  See, I think there's a difference between dissatisfaction with someone saying oh crikey the tone of this colour's not quite what I wanted - versus a colour that is one colour on the top half of the head and another on the bottom, sections of hair not cut to the same length or same angles as other sections or requests about how far to extend the colour towards the scalp to be completely ignored and inconsistently applied. The former is tweaking and making sure the customer is happy, the latter to me are just plain errors. And just plain errors should in my view come with the option to just have a simple refund.
  
  Why would I go back there again - why couldn't the very senior stylist get it right the first time? If I also say that this session (for me and DD) cost over £200 you'll probably also understand my distress.
  
  I emailed the salon today and they are highly insistent that we go back in - but I don't want to. I don't want to because I no longer trust them and because I suffer from anxiety and this is not what I need - just opening their email made my stomach flip over. I absolutely hate confrontation and do not want an awkward going into the salon - and in any case, they say they will not fit us in like, tomorrow evening, but some time in the next two weeks! I've got to go to work with hair at all different lengths and DD has to go to school where she's undoubtedly going to get stick for it (yes, they are that observant) and that will add to her stress when she's already having a shit time at school.
  
  What's been done is just plain WRONG, errors, actual errors. And what are you supposed to do at the time - I'm not a professional stylist or colourist so you have to place your trust in the stylist so when we explained repeatedly that DD didn't want to lose a certain part of how her style had been growing, she was getting well stressed out when she could feel the colour going onto the wrong parts of her hair and I mentioned it to the stylist at the time and she just carried on and I could tell the stylist wasn't doing what DD (and I) had clearly asked for so I got her to confirm she knew what we wanted and was doing what we wanted - what is a person supposed to do?! Leap up, rip the brush out of the stylists hand - when they've seconds before said to you "no that's right, that's what I'm doing" (when they patently aren't) what in the actual name of god are you supposed to do?!??
  
  In fact, what was done to DD's hair can't be 'rectified' as they've taken away something that can't be put back. So not sure how they propose to handle that and you're looking at months to go back to how things were before, not 'two weeks' as per the well known hairdressing saying (which clearly only ever applied to barbering, not highly skilled cuts and colouring).
  
  Also, since it wasn't possible to even see the extent of the issues whilst in the salon, not until we got home (and in my case, not until I straightened my hair) how can the rules of 'you must say something whilst at the salon' apply?
  
  It's clearly not been done up to standard and I don't see why I HAVE to go back in, waiting for two weeks, to have them having a go at my hair again. I'm not sure DD will even go back, she's totally lost faith with them.
  
  Is there really a law (an actual law?) that you have to go back and let them have another crack at it?
  
  Maybe I'm burnt by the previous salon who coloured DDs hair which then turned green, then when we went back in to have it 're-done for free don't worry we'll sort it out for you' they hacked DDs hair off so she looked like she'd been run over by a lawnmower, removed loads of length she'd been building up for several years, and then dyed her hair a darker colour than we had asked for without my or her permission -
  which then turned green for a second time. There was quite a level of unhappiness at this previous salon that they were being asked to put it right for free - which showed in the botched 'recovery' job. I'm not saying for a second that this would happen at our current (soon to be ex) salon but these are actual mistakes, poor practice, not a disagreement over shade or something being half an inch too long.
  
  I so, so do not need nor do I want to have to go back in there I really really really don't.

[keeponworking]

So MoBro, in the scenario of a full head of foils, how far down the length of the hair would the colour/bleach be applied measuring from 1cm away from the roots (if condition was not a problem). Would it be to:
a. halfway down the total length of the hair?
b. 3/4 of the way towards the total length of the hair?
or
c. all the way to the ends of the total length of the hair?
in order to achieve the same chosen colour all over (rather than let's say yellow blonde remaining on the bottom half with ash (incl. random patches of grey and silver on just the top half)?

The salon had managed DDs hair perfectly to this point and previously (and not unreasonably or against normal expectation) when colouring the whole head, they coloured the whole head! She wasn't having her roots done, she was changing her entire barnet from one tonal blonde to a different one, hence, it's not unreasonable to expect all of the hair to be included. Condition of DDs hair has been monitored and is good and we guided DD to a less bleach-intensive ashy blonde specifically in order to preserve that good condition. So poor condition hair was not an issue but what colours would be ok for her to have, were discussed in some detail - they would never put a colour on that would damage your hair in any significant way.

The colour was taken from 1cm to about 1/3 to 3/4 down only with the entire bottom half of the head including ends not with any colour on them at all. So I cannot agree that this was done correctly especially when it was definitely a full head of foils, not half a head that was charged for.

MaisyPops:
Since the errors at the previous salon we've had at least three previous visits to this salon over a 6-8 month period so I can assure that there is no residual mess to deal with from another salon - we're way past that point; this is all their own work, not someone else's error. I did not 'wait for days' to find the hair wasn't what we'd stipulated that we wanted and had been done incorrectly in several areas, it was the same day but later on for DD, and the following morning ie the very next day for me, after I straightened it. Unfortunately whilst I genuinely appreciate your posts they're 99% incorrect assumptions.

Thank you Enid. I'm not rushing to any decision but very much erring on the side of not going back - even for them to put it right for free. At the moment I've got a lot of extremely stressful stuff I'm handling and helping DD with and I could do without this on top. For me, a visit to the salon is meant to be a lovely relaxing and pampering experience without any kind of trauma and negative emotion attached to it and to go back would just be a miserable experience all round.

Thanks so much to everyone for their comments and thoughts .

[MoBro]

Full head foils is fools from nape of neck to frontal hairline. That can be, and is often, just one centimetre roots. You were not ripped off I’m that respect. Half head foils isn’t half way down your hair; it’s from crown to hairline. 1.5 hrs vs 45mins. Baring that in mind, the hairdresser should ALWAYS match as closely as poss to midlengths and ends or tell you it’s not possible due to over processed ends/uneven colour etc.

[MaisyPops]

I think it's because the hairdressers have offered to correct it when the OP and her DD have been away from the salon for days before raising it (so being more than reasonable) and rather than say 'yes please' they want £200 back (which is unreasonable) and are moaning about transport and timing of the new app etc.

The salon seem to be fixing a bad job done by another salon or hair that has been messed with incorrectly lots. They aren't miracle workers.

I think the point is either is was drastically done wrong and not what they asked for (which case it would have been obvious) or it's wrong and not quite what they wanted when they realised days later (in which case the salon ate being reasonable).

I've been with the same hairdresser for 7 yeara now and she says it's more of a hassle to fix things when people have had poor at home jobs/other hair mistakes. Doable but difficult to get perfect because you're working with stuff you don't know.

[EnidButton]

Not sure why your getting a bit of a bashing on here OP. It’s not that unusual a situation for someone to realise their haircut is shit once they’ve had a play around with it themselves. People don’t tend to study it close up in the salon. They should but we all know most say “that’s great thanks” pay up and then go home —and cry— and look at it closer.

Not unusual for a teenage girl to go with her Mum to a professional hair salon either, or to have her hair coloured or for a city salon to be £££.

No advice sorry keep, unfortunately I think if they’re offering to fix it then that’s all they’ll do. If you insist on having someone different then it might be fixable.

Most importantly, please try to take some deep breaths. A bad haircut can be distressing and frustrating but it absolutely will grow out enough for someone else to correct it and the hair colour can be fixed. Maybe try to focus on something else for tonight to try and relax yourself a bit.

[keeponworking]

I know Emsmum it shouldn't be this hard. What I've found is that salons tend to be great when you first start going, then after a while you'll get uneven cuts or a crappy colour thrown in. Then you go off to another and it's all great to start with and then something gets done badly and you just get fed up of it - I'm not going to keep giving my money to people who don't do a proper job.

Shmoo certainly many schools don't allow certain hair colours - but blonde hair/blonde highlights don't fall under the banned category. One of the reasons DD has her hair coloured blonde is because she got teased and bullied about being auburn haired... We were going somewhere less expensive and more local then they hacked half her hair off and turned it green twice.

[EMSMUM16]

if you don't want to go back then you don't have to, you should request a refund but the reason you might not be successful in getting the whole refund is because they have spent time and supplies on you, which is different than a shop selling you something that is faulty, there isn't time involved, they haven't actually spent time making the goods. I would ask by word of mouth about a good salon in your area, find someone with really nice hair and ask them where they go!

[ShmooBooMoo]

I thought schools wouldn't let children with dyed hair attend.

Btw, OP, it's unfortunate but if the hairdresser can't put back what your daughter didn't want removed what are you expecting them to do? I'm not saying the hairdresser isn't at fault here but it doesn't sound like the problem can be rectified to your or your daughter's satisfaction.

[keeponworking]

Neither have I Bluntness, had my hair cut that fast!

Ask for it to be straightened if that's what [you?] want, I didn't ask for it to be straightened as she'd asked me did I want to go with curls for a change so I said yeah why not - maybe every single time I go to the hairdressers from now on I should:

• stand up and shout out loudly every time anything is done which I think might be wrong
  
• always ask for my hair to be straightened fully and then examine it from every angle to be sure the cut is right
  
• stand over the hairdresser whilst she colours my DDs hair examining her every move and questioning everything she does
  
• check the colour before leaving using a comb to part the hair in multiple places in order to see if it's been done right.
  
  Honestly, do you think they'd want us for customers if we were doing that? I should have to DO that anyway! It's crazy!
  
  Ragwort Do people spend this much on theirs and their 15 yo DDs hair - do you know how we ended up like this? We went to a local salon who cut massive length off DDs hair, cut it really badly at all different lengths, and turned her hair green twice! So we went from a really well priced local salon to this place who were supposed to be 'better'. Trust me, if I could find a local salon that can actually do their job, I'd be using them!
  
  So we've tried local, we've tried big city - maybe mobile next? Not tried that yet.

[Ragwort]

Do people really pay £200 + for themselves and a 15 year old to have a hair cut/dye? .

[Bluntness100]

Ok op, it’s a very unusual situation, I will have to bow out, IVe never had my hair cut so fast I had to play mental catch up and couldn’t see the cut. I’d also just ask for it to be straightened if that’s why I want.

With your daughter, generally you can see where the dye is applied and where the foils are, you can see where the coulorist applies colour.

So your experience is well out with my realms of experience I’m sorry but good luck. Hope you get it fixed,

[keeponworking]

It WAS NOT POSSIBLE to discern the differing lengths and cutting issues bearing in mind my hair is naturally curly anyway so unless she'd fully straightened the whole lot first there'd have been no way to see the dreadful cut I'd been given (aside from it just being longer than I really wanted). I was happy to live with that for a bit to see if it was ok but there were clear instructions and preferences which she totally didn't follow.

[MaisyPops]

Err keep
If you had spoken up and raised all ypur issues surely you DID notice in the salon (not days later) and would obviously have said in the salon 'this is not what we have asked for' and then it would be sorted.

I'm not following. It's not for lack if reading your posts.

Either ypu noticed in thr salon something was massively wrong (in which case surely ypu'd have dealt with it then) or you noticed 2 days later with you and DD in which case it's unlikely to be a massive cock up and it's more likely to be a preferenve issue.


If someonr was dying my child's hair and I was aware mid-dye that they weren't doing what we'd asked then i'd have been right in there. I wouldn't.let it happen and then decide later that we are both not happy.

[keeponworking]

Bluntness

No, I don't. My account is consistent, it's your interpretation that's in consideration here.

As I've said, she cut my hair SO fast I was playing mental catch-up when she'd 'finished' it and started on blow drying. Fwiw, I thought oh, she's going to dry it and straighten it and then do some more cutting (because the duration of cutting seemed SO short). Before not many minutes it was clear there was no more cutting because she started curling it - at which point, it wasn't possible to discern a lack of back to front angle, or odd bits cut way too short, or the front two sections being longer - because of the curl.

Whilst I'm not happy with the colour and it's a bit long, I'm not THAT fussed about that so much as bits chopped at different lengths and so on which are absolutely, irretrievably, errors,

[Bluntness100]

Op every one of those issues you would see before it was dried and styled, never mind before you left the salon, or even got home.

I genuinely don’t understand.

[keeponworking]

Er MaisyPops are you actually reading my posts.

You say "If she messaged you saying 'help she's painting it on my scalp' then as the adult in that situation you are responsible for speaking up"

I did.

[Bluntness100]

I’m not with you op. Your hair is wet cut before it is styled, and you watch in a mirror, generally we can see how it’s being cut. You were looking at your daughter in broad day light and couldn’t see an issue with her colour.

Both of you were looking at each other and you could see absolutely no issue with your own hair or the other persons, but it’s so bad you want a refund.

Do you see the discrepancies in what you are saying ?

[keeponworking]

Disagree MasyPops.

If they didn't do what you had asked"

Me:

• Didn't do a bob
  
• didn't do a shorter at the back longer at the front bob
  
• pieces of hair cut shorter than others and at a different angle
  
• hair longer on one side than the other
  
  DD:
  
• said they would do and charged me for full head of highlights but only did the top half of the head
  
• didn't follow instructions to not remove something DD didn't want removing and removed anyway to her great alarm
  
• whole large sections of hair underneath the top layer not coloured from 2" from the scalp all the way down to the tips.
  
  None of these are preferences, they're poor hairdressing, not listening, pretending (?) they are doing what you've asked when they clearly aren't doing what you asked.
  
  Additionally, I raised the issue of the 'you're not taking away what DD didn't want taking away are you?' directly with the hairdresser in the shop, she said she wasn't doing what it looked like she was doing, but she was doing what we suspected but again, short of ripping the brush out of the stylists hand and screaming for her to stop, I mentioned it clearly to her and she confirmed she wasn't taking that thing away. But she was! And that was before we left!

[MaisyPops]

If she messagwd you saying help she's painting it on my scalp then as the adult in that situation you are reaponsible for speaking up.

[candlefloozy]

I wouldn’t want to go back either my friend had a bad cut in a salon once. They cut it so so short. So she rang up an complained and they asked her to go back in and they put extensions in! She said it was worse than the original cut and she didn’t want to
Go back for them to rectify the second mistake.
I’m sorry its happened to you and i think emailing over pictures and explaining that you aren’t comfortable going back and would like a refund

[keeponworking]

Thanks Etymology, I'll look at the link. I think as ever when it comes to services the law's a bit either vague or unrealistic.

Sure, if you left a hairdresser's with them having burnt all your hair off then you'd know straight away and fair enough they'd need to sort it out straight away.

But in some cases you don't see the errors until you come home. I didn't notice the previous salon had hacked DDs hair to pieces until a day or two after. We voted with our feet and have never gone there again. So we were still out of pocket even after all that.

And I wouldn't have been able to see any issue at the hairdressers on my hair due to how it was styled, and DD, do you think, maybe, she would have felt awkward being only 15 to pipe up and say something to her stylist, after she'd already messaged me to say 'help she's painting it on my scalp' and in the knowledge that her poor old single mum was paying for it - maybe she felt awkward.

[MaisyPops]

If they didn't do what you had asked (E.g. you asked for a bob and they did a pixie cut / you asked for an ombre but they did low lights / you wanted a strawberry blonde bayalage but they did brown etc) then it would have been VERY clear before leaving and you could have raised it then.
Anything else is just preference.

As bluntness says, going away you could have done any DIY fix it job at home and then come back asking for a refund. I'm not saying you did, but tjat is exactly why you have to raise issues there and then.

[Bluntness100]

Op, yes, of course both of you could have had a disaster at the same time, unlikely in a good salon, but possible, then for neither of you to notice befor leaving is even more unusual, or not even to notice before you got home, so looking at each other in broad day light,, on the train etc, it makes me wonder how bad it is, if neithet of you could spot it.

[Bluntness100]

I also think it’s unreasonable to leave saying nothing then demand a full refund the next day, asking to see it again is reasonable. You could have been messing with it yourself or styled it to make it look worse,

The fact you have transportation issues or anxiety doesn’t mean they should just give you a refund, I’m sorry,

[keeponworking]

I can categorically state Maisyops that is NOT the case. What you say in your last paragraph is what I did (ie sat with something to see if it would be ok) but not (as I already explained because I just didn't like it) but because I asked for something (as did DD) and they didn't do what they were asked to do, or, did do it, but stuffed it up.

I can't post pictures I am sorry, it would be too identifying. I realise you can only go on what I say but it's not beyond the realms of reality that two people attending the same salon seeing the SAME hairdresser, could both experience something going wrong! I promise, I'm not making this up. It's stressing me out and making me feel ill quite frankly.

[MaisyPops]

You don't have to let them put it right but you can't decide a few days later ypu don't like your hair and then expect a £200 refund.

A monumental cockup on one persons hair that they noticed at the time I can understand, but 2?

Seems a bit 'i don't like it but pondered iver it for a bit and now I want money back'.


I asked for a few layers in my hair years ago and what they actually did was make it look really thin and choppy. I wasn't overly happy but thought I'd see how it styled at home. I didn't like it. I couldn't have gone back and demanded a refund because I didn't like it. That would be unreasonable