hi everyone, I have qualified as a nail tech this Summer and decided to go for a manicure just to see how the professionals do it (on the advice of a beauty professional) and to make sure I did things right, as its a year since I did manicure at college and I tend to do just nail enhancements on people. I dont know if its just that I was taught differently, but she used very cold water to soak my fingers, didnt ask me if i was allergic to anything and didnt fill out a client record card! when i was talking to her she was more interested in what was going on in the other side of the salon and didnt hear what i was saying and then she put my nails to dry under a UV light and went to the shops to get some milk! I would never use cold water for soaking and would NEVER go off and leave a client! what do you think? is that bad practice?!!! oh and she took 1hr 30 mins to do my manicure and i ended up getting a parking ticket so the whole thing ended up costing me £40 plus I bought some products so spent £60 in all! sorry! I just thought this didnt seem right!

i think you should go back and tell her..

also tell her your qualified in what she does so your not just a nagging ninny u know ur stuff!!!
Get em to give u ur money back plus ur parking ticket!lol.
why on earth would u put someones hands under uv light unless u were doing gel nails.

I'm glad its not just me! I dont like to complain about things but I was very surprised! I did actually tell her i had qualified but it still made no difference! I was also surprised about the UV lamp as I only use that for gel or UV l&p! One and a half hours! I do artificial nails in less than that! whats more she has been doing nails for years!

You really should have said something at the time, especially about the cold water!
....but don't get me started on soaking in a manicure anyway
What did she do that took an hour and a half??

Are you happy with the appearance of your nauils now though, did she do a good job of the polish application.
Unless you complained at the time you have no real chance of a refund, and you also should have said to her you were on a meter, and asked when she would be finished. Never mind going for the milk she should have gone and fed your meter lol!!

Sorry you did not have a good experience, but at least it will have boosted your confidence that you provide a better service for your clients.

ok so you are qualified and decided to treat yourself, what kind of nailbar did you go to? a local place or did you research it and book into the best one in your area? Did they just do a standard mani or did you choose from a menu. Personally I would not book into any place I wasnt sure was going to give me the BEST service. Name alone wont do it for me.
Why didnt you ask if she would do a consultation? what did you book for..... The reason I ask this as your experience didnt teach you anything. What exactly did you expect to learn? There are a hundred ways to do a manicure so you would probably would have left confused no matter what.

When you call my salon we will talk you through the different mani's we have, tell you duration and what to expect. The difference starts at the appointment.

I would not complain if you have no intention of going back, when you put your hand in the water you could have said it was cold though no respectable salon would do it intentionally. As for leaving you - if you are drying, in heated mitts or have a masque on it is quite acceptable to leave you - granted not to pop to the shops but what is the problem?

I dont care what the compition do, I do my job the best I can that really is the lesson.

thanks for your replies ladies, I dont find it acceptable to go off to the shop and leave a client- I would not do that. That is "the problem". Fair enough if the nail tech stays in the salon but I am new to the business and just wanted to see how other people did manicures (and I wanted a bit of pampering too as I am a bit stressed at the moment with different things). The story is that i went for an interview at a hair dressing salon (the salon owner wanted someone in there doing nails) and she said my massage technique wasnt quite right, but still gave me all the signals that she was going to employ me and suggested i go for a manicure to see how its done. So I did. My nails looked nice afterwards but it was the practice that i thought was bad. (so I wouldnt demand my money back). I really didnt expect it to last so long! The salon where i had my manicure was recommended by my interviewer and its near to her salon. What more the next day the salon owner where i had my interview rang me to say she wasnt going to employ me after all even though she said everyone deserves a chance when they start out! so it was all for nothing really!

I do this as well, and would never book an appointment anywhere that didn't explain exactly what I would be getting for my money! As for the cold water, I likewise would have said something as most of us are human & sometimes mistakes happen (that said I personally don't soak hands anyway!).

Wow, now we have the whole story I am gutted for you!!
Still I hope you can take something positive from this experience, and as I said before you now know you deliver a better service to your clients and this is whatwill bring clients back to you time and time again, so I think your salon owner is the one who has lost out here.

Yes I certainly have learned from it! and yes I think it is her loss!