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Did I Handel this right?

151 replies

Chazz88 · 14/06/2013 21:35

Hi I run a small beauty salon that is a hairdresser I rent the space off the hair salon owner Today I had a client booked in at 10.45 for a pedicure and wax this treatment takes about an hour and 15 mins to do my client showed up at 11.05 so 20mins late so I explained that unfortunately because she is so late that I will only be able to do some of the treatment myself and my qualified junior therapist will have to do the rest as I have someone booked in at 12 so I don't have enough time to do the treatment before they are due in.

She said she wanted only me to do it and that its not her fault she's late and as she is a regular client I should make an exception, I then explained that although it is not her fault it is not fair for me to make my next client wait 20mins longer for her treatment evan tho she arrived on time and that she is also a loyal regular client.

She then said she would only have the leg wax done then if I couldn't do the pedicure myself I said I'm very sorry but if you refuse to have the pedicure treatment done by the other therapist I will still have to charge the whole amount as I had waisted time waiting for her to come when I could of had other clients booked in earning money instead of just standing their waiting for her. A pedicure costs £35 so evan tho I had been waiting around to do the treatment and given my time up I would have been down £35 for the day

Well she blow her top that I suggested she pay for a treatment she had not had so I explained that she was paying for my time that she had still taken up evan tho she was not their for the treatment and that she had been offered to still have the treatment by the other therapist just not me. Anyways I could not please her so in the end I did the treatment and my other lady's treatment was started by my junior then i took over (tho I don't think it was fair she had a less qualified member of staff as she was on time for her treatment.)

After the lady left she then rang the salon to speak to the owner saying I was rude, DO YOU THINK I WAS WRONG DO YOU THINK I SHOULD HAVE JUST LET IT GO AND LOST OUT ON THE £35. She said she would not be back to use any services hair or beauty so of course the hair side of thinks think iv lost them a client to, which I feel really band about. My lady also blamed my pregnancy and said it must be the baby as I not normally like this but shes not normally late so I haven't had to deal with this before.

I think as she was late she should of expected my kind offer to have it done by my other therapist as it was after all her fault

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Chazz88 · 15/06/2013 01:31

No today was not relaxing at all but not because I wanted the lady to pay but because she wouldn't take no for an answer, I was trying to keep things running smoothly for the rest of my clients today but this lady's selfishness made me run late for everyone. I really don't see how it my fault she wanted the impossible I can't a
Make more time.

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AnnieOnAMapleLeaf · 15/06/2013 01:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MayTheOddsBeEverInYourFavour · 15/06/2013 02:22

I was going to answer sensibly

But then you started whittering on about benefits and showing yourself as one of 'those' kind of people

So now I can't be arsed, though I will say I'm not surprised you have problems with your buisiness if this is how you are all the time

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EleanorFarjeon · 15/06/2013 02:25

I too came on here expecting a musical dilemma.

Has really made me laugh. Witty vipers..

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plannedshock · 15/06/2013 02:41

It really pisses me off when people do the " I expect to pay at the dentist but not the hairdressers" we are professionals too. Im self employed and completely understand. I usually have a waiting list and when people don't turn up I lose the money, lose the apt because I can't ring anyone else and say "come now", have child care to pay and still have to pay my rent to be there.
The I'm a regular thing pisses me off too, because I have clients that are notorious for being late, if you are a regular you know how it works.
That said I would have sucked it up and only done what I had time to do and not charged, I would of at least expected a phone call to let me know they were running late.

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spondulix · 15/06/2013 02:47

Chazz, as someone upthread said, this isn't about being right or wrong. Yes, she was late and she shouldn't have been. But that isn't what she'll be telling her friends - your potential clients. She'll be telling them that you tried to make her pay for a treatment that she wasn't going to get.

It's said that if you have good service you tell four people, but if you have bad service you tell 12. You're letting yourself in for a whole Holst of problems if you don't have a little give to go with the take in your business.

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MrsHelsBels74 · 15/06/2013 08:45

Wait, I thought you said earlier you didn't do the treatments, now you're saying you did & were late through the day?

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MrsHelsBels74 · 15/06/2013 08:47

Oh just read it again & you did the treatment, so I'm even more confused & am going to bow out gracefully to go & work some more to pay my taxes

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Groovee · 15/06/2013 08:53

I think you should only have charged the 50% not 100%. She did turn up, but late! She needs to accept you are not there to wait on her and conform to her timings.

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BinarySolo · 15/06/2013 09:30

I'm confused as you said you always left plenty of extra time for appointments then you've said you were behind all day. If each appointment had extra time included you'd have caught up. I suspect you're exaggerating the impact slightly as so many people have said you were unreasonable.

YABU. To make a late customer pay but not a no show. It's unfair to try to charge someone for a service they haven't received. Judging by your attitude here, I wouldn't be surprised if that's what made your customer dig her heels in and be difficult, this appears to be backed up as she complained later about your rudeness.

This is one of the downsides of self employment, if you're at work but not working then you don't get paid. It's annoying but one of those things.

Bigger picture is that your customer service and treatment of this lady has lost you a repeat customer - one who had always been on time in the past. I think you were a bit shortsighted with how you dealt with her.

And pregnancy is not an excuse to be rude to people.

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Chazz88 · 15/06/2013 10:02

Look if you all read my first post you will see that did did in fact carry out the full treatment but only because I was forced to as the lady was making a seen in the shop.

I do leave extra time in treatment for lateness ect but not 20mims extra if I left a 20mim gap between each appointment I would only be able to do half as many people in the day.

Also I had offered her to have the treatment with the other therapist so I would not be late for my next person.

I said to her if she did not except the treatment with the other therapist then she would still be charged the full amount evan if I couldn't do all the treatment in the time that was left. As I had I fact still given her my time by waiting for her.

She was still given the option to her have treatments just with someone else which I thought was a fair compromise seeing as she was the one that was late.

In the end I was 10mims late for my next lady who wasn't best pleased as she had to pick her lo up form half day school.

I was also then running late for everyone else that day.

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Sleepyfergus · 15/06/2013 10:53

OP - your story seems to be changing and you seem to be quite aggressive. Yes, it's bloody annoying and v rude of the customer to be late, but as countless others have pointed out SEVERAL times, this is unfortunately the downside of self employment and whilst it is inconvenient to you, you have to grit your teeth and politely smile through these sorts of circumstances and notch it up to experience.

And if you can't grasp that, then I think you're in the wrong business.

The musical anecdotes have been hilarious and kept me amused trough an early morning breastfeed! So thanks to everyone for those.

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Numberlock · 15/06/2013 10:53

Remind me what the question was again...

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GibberTheMonkey · 15/06/2013 11:48

How much extra (spare) time do you leave for each customer?

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Pancakeflipper · 15/06/2013 12:12

Numberlock - come on keep up with the tempo. It's mozartly about overtures between the customer and the beauty therapist.

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scarlettsmummy2 · 15/06/2013 12:16

You sound like a nightmare. I wouldn't use your services again either.

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Wuldric · 15/06/2013 12:27

Once you've got over the Shostakovich, you'll look back and reflect that you could have Handeled it better

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AnnieOnAMapleLeaf · 15/06/2013 12:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mrsdinklage · 15/06/2013 12:41

Is it too early for Wine ?

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LadyBeagleEyes · 15/06/2013 12:47

This is why I love MN, the composer puns are sheer genius.
Op, as others have said, short term you may feel you were right, but long term it really didn't make business sense.
I don't blame you for being annoyed, but you just have to suck it up as so many businesses like yours gain by word of mouth.
And she won't be recommending you any time soon.

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Chazz88 · 15/06/2013 12:50

So none of you think the client is wrong for demanding I still do the treatment evan tho it would make me late for another regular customer, and that her refusal of having a different therapist was unreasonable, and that as it had been her that refused and a different therapist to complete her treatments and that it was her fault she was late I should go with out pay evan tho I had stood their waiting for her when I could of had another client booked.

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Chazz88 · 15/06/2013 12:53

If someone uses a childminder regularly and booked for a certain days for the week and then the mother decided that they did not need to use the child minder that day as they were taking the day off work for some reason the childminder would still be payed evan tho the child did not come to her. How is it different

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LadyBeagleEyes · 15/06/2013 12:54

Yes the client was being unreasonable.
I've never run my own business but have worked in many public facing roles, and you will always encounter rude people.
You have to learn to grit your teeth and move on.

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notapizzaeater · 15/06/2013 12:56

No one is saying the customer was right ! She was wrong but you have handled it really really badly. For the sake of £35 you have now probably lost hundreds in repeat/recommendations. I own a business - sometimes even when I am right I have to smile and get on with it.

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GibberTheMonkey · 15/06/2013 12:58

It's called a contract Chazz

You didn't answer my question, I figueras as much

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