Shellac peeled off, re-do or refund?

[Skittle]

Hi, I am looking for some advice please. I trained as a nail tecnician and beauty therapist and worked in and managed a salon for a few years. After I had my children I retrained and have not been working in salons but have continued to do friends and family.

My question is I had a lady come to me to do a shellac manicure and pedicure on me and within hours it was peeling off. I sent her a picture immediately and she replied to say sorry and asked how the other nails were. I told her that they had started to peel too. I got a reply saying sorry you didn't have much luck with it, I have never had a problem with my other clients. Maybe it was because I forgot my alcohol wipes.

I waited for her to offer to re-do them or offer me some money back but nothing. I sent her another message today asking her to recify them and she has said that she will at a discounted rate by 50% to cover her fuel and time!

When I worked in a salon if a customer complained we always offered to re-do the treatment at our expense and if this was not acceptable to them then we offered them a refund. Happy customers = a happy business, surely?

Well my question is have things really changed that much? Am I wrong to expect her to recify this at her cost? I paid £30 for a treatment that she told me would last for 2-3 weeks and it didn't even last the day.

As I am a bit out of touch with the actual business side of beauty because I only treat friends and family what can I do about this? I very rarely treat myself to beauty treatments and £30 is a lot of money to spend on something that didn't do what it said on the tin.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you

 

[pauline71]

I don't do nails at the moment (but planning to do shellac and minx soon). I do eyelash extensions however and if I had a client contact me the next day to say they had come off I would be horrified and only to happy to do them again free of charge! That way I protect my reputation as most of my business is word of mouth. Obviously this doesn't matter to her.

 

[Lou x]

Disagree...
Too many people try it on, especially eyelashes!!
I always explain to my client that when their natural lashes grow out the extensions obviously will too (3-6 weeks)
Also when I had mine done the next morning I'd forgotten..and rubbed my eye so quite a few fell out!!
You don't know what a client has done after the treatment!
Spray tans for example, say the client ignored you when you said not to shower until the morning, 3 hours later she showers and just called you and said "the tan dosn't show I havn't showered or touched it"

I once had a client say her lashes had fallen (my 1st ever complaint) I panicked and offered to either sort them out or give her full refund... She chose refund.
As my mum lived near her I asked if she could drop the money back to client and she said her lashes looks perfect!!
I give 50% refund after I have seen the problem and removed them myself. If I feel it is a fault of my own!! x

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[Susie H]

Disagree...
Too many people try it on, especially eyelashes!!
I always explain to my client that when their natural lashes grow out the extensions obviously will too (3-6 weeks)
Also when I had mine done the next morning I'd forgotten..and rubbed my eye so quite a few fell out!!
You don't know what a client has done after the treatment!
Spray tans for example, say the client ignored you when you said not to shower until the morning, 3 hours later she showers and just called you and said "the tan dosn't show I havn't showered or touched it"

I once had a client say her lashes had fallen (my 1st ever complaint) I panicked and offered to either sort them out or give her full refund... She chose refund.
As my mum lived near her I asked if she could drop the money back to client and she said her lashes looks perfect!!
I give 50% refund after I have seen the problem and removed them myself. If I feel it is a fault of my own!! x

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Sorry hun but this doesn't help the poster, she didn't have lashes done she had Shelac done. I have weeded the garden, decorated my bathroom, washed floors scrubed sausepans and never had a problem with my Shelac.
They should not have peeled of at any point. The lady should have found after 2 or 3 weeks depending on how fast her nails grow that she had uncovered nail plate at the new growth point.
She didn't with in 1 day she had peeling. So yes, something went wrong and yes the tech should appologise, be horrified that it happened and come round at her own expense to replace them.

 

[chocolatepickle]

I would never offer a refund without seeing the nails myself incase its a case of client interference, if the product is picked off the are often signs of this.
I would not expect to have such problems the day after application with any product and I would make every effort to return asap to look at the issue.
If the problem was my fault- I.e I didnt follow the correct procedure then I would certainly rectify free of charge.
I would be irritated in your situation as the technician has told you she forgot the alcohol wipes she usually uses.
Though I agree with what has been said already, there are so many chancers out for a freebie or who dont follow aftercare advice, I'm sure as someone in the industry you have seen this too.
I hope this is resolved for you :hug:

 

[abicrunch]

Hi, I am looking for some advice please. I trained as a nail tecnician and beauty therapist and worked in and managed a salon for a few years. After I had my children I retrained and have not been working in salons but have continued to do friends and family.

My question is I had a lady come to me to do a shellac manicure and pedicure on me and within hours it was peeling off. I sent her a picture immediately and she replied to say sorry and asked how the other nails were. I told her that they had started to peel too. I got a reply saying sorry you didn't have much luck with it, I have never had a problem with my other clients. Maybe it was because I forgot my alcohol wipes.

I waited for her to offer to re-do them or offer me some money back but nothing. I sent her another message today asking her to recify them and she has said that she will at a discounted rate by 50% to cover her fuel and time!

When I worked in a salon if a customer complained we always offered to re-do the treatment at our expense and if this was not acceptable to them then we offered them a refund. Happy customers = a happy business, surely?

Well my question is have things really changed that much? Am I wrong to expect her to recify this at her cost? I paid £30 for a treatment that she told me would last for 2-3 weeks and it didn't even last the day.

As I am a bit out of touch with the actual business side of beauty because I only treat friends and family what can I do about this? I very rarely treat myself to beauty treatments and £30 is a lot of money to spend on something that didn't do what it said on the tin.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you

Hi

This is really unprofessional. If Shellac peels after day one then this sounds like an issue with the product adhering in the first place so was not done right. Im my experience if I have done everything right and a client gets peeling, this is normally about a week later and only on nails where they have peeling nails themselfs. If this happens, although its not my fault I have redone the few that have peeled and not charged, as I want to keep my customers happy. She said to you that she forgot her alcohol wipes, so did she pep your nail before hand. She would have needed scrubfresh to prepare the nail to dehydrate it and help shellac adhere first. I would text her saying that the product was not adhered to your nail in the first place probably due to an error on her part, and that you want either a full refund or them re-done. £30 for fingers and toes sounds very cheap to me as well, so maybe she is not fully qualified and you might be one of her first clients and I think this shows in the way she has delt with this situation. I always try to keep my customers happy, as most of my work comes through word of mouth and I dont want people saying bad things about me, as I will loose business. I hope that you get this problem sorted. Let us know how you get on. Ax

 

[mum]

Preparation of the nail is key to the success of any nail service. The technician has already admitted that part of the preparation was missed out. Incomplete or inaccurate cleaning of the nail plate is one of the main reasons that the whole layer of Shelac could peel off!

Using 'alcohol wipes' is not how Shelac is taught to be used but they may do the job and a cleaning of this type is certainly essential! I think in this instance the technician has admitted they did something wrong so should rectify it FOC

 

[shuntersue]

I agree with mum - let us know how it goes!! xx

 

[milliondollars]

I know thy some people try it on but she should have come round to see what the problem was. Especially with shellac there is little that you could have done in that short space of time to cause them to peel like that, it sounds like inadequate nail prep. If one of my clients had a problem like this I would go round to see the problem myself and if it was my fault/ problem with product I would always offer to replace as my reputation is more important! X

 

[Wooshka]

How did you find her?
Through and add somewhere, through Facebook or something else?

The reason I ask is, if you found through, lets say Facebook, can you go in and see if she has a policy to cover this kind of thing.

Most techs have policies of some kind and these should be available to the client to see.
So lets hope she does and lets hope she says that she guarantees her work for x amount of time before the client must pay for repairs etc.

Failing this, I wold be ringing her back and stating that you have paid for a service you didn't get (here in Australia that is against the law) and that she has already admitted to some fault and you have done your research and Shellac does NOT peel off with in one day if applied correctly of which she admitted it wasn't due to the alcohol wipes being forgotten and insist she come and rectify the problem.

It is a not ok in my opinion to ask her to give a refund and expect to keep your Shellac on, so you need to make a choice if you want her to refund and remove product or fix it.

Good luck, this kind of thing really sux and it's clear this tech does not value the future of her business and I agree that it sounds like she is new.

Maybe you need to somehow check on her qualifications/how long she has been in business for and that will tell you a bit more about what your dealing with.

 

[totalbirdbrain]

As a salon owner I would be horrified. In the very beginning we had one or two cases like this, down to our inexperience with application. Our policy is that should anyone have a problem with any of our treatments we ask them to return so we can see evidence etc and then discuss the way forward, whether its refund, redo or in some cases it may be a discount .
I personally would ring and ask her to come round to see your nails, take pictures if she can't come straight away. She should at least see for herself and not just brush it off. Good luck....(sorry if this sounds a bit of a ramble...i haven't had my coffee yet!)

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[Mrs.Clooney]

This technician is not professional in her handling of this. I have no experience of Shellac, but from what I have learned about the product, it is definitely not supposed to peel within hours or days after application.

You reported the matter to her on the same day as application and she responded. Keep your text correspondence. Don't delete it in case you need to take this matter further.

You are entitled to a full refund. she has three choices:
1. Suggest to her that she come and remove the product and give a refund. Her error and therefore you are not expected to cover her travelling costs.
2. She return to redo the application and again she is responsible for her travelling costs. She should have the option to correct the error, although personally, this is my least favourite option as by now I think you have lost faith in the technician.
3. If she is not prepared to travel to you, then she refunds you by post.

Either way, you are entitled to a full refund or redo. If you have problems with her, then perhaps you could notify the trainers and distributors of Shellac (Sweet Squared) as they are obviously keen to maintain their standards with this product. Hope I'm correct in this last paragraph.

 

[Lou x]

Sorry hun but this doesn't help the poster, she didn't have lashes done she had Shelac done. I have weeded the garden, decorated my bathroom, washed floors scrubed sausepans and never had a problem with my Shelac.
They should not have peeled of at any point. The lady should have found after 2 or 3 weeks depending on how fast her nails grow that she had uncovered nail plate at the new growth point.
She didn't with in 1 day she had peeling. So yes, something went wrong and yes the tech should appologise, be horrified that it happened and come round at her own expense to replace them.

If you re-read the question further down it says the question is has the industry changed this much and is she wrong to expect refund ect.
So I was explaining how I deal with any issues like this.
I did not refer to shellac as I'm not experienced using it and to be honest if she had admitted to me she hadn't prepped properly then I would expect her to fix the problem if she didn't then it's her loss of a client! x


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[sparkle_girl]

I have had a peeling issue with one client. That night she told me two of her nails had peeled off. I was shocked and baffled as I meticulously did all the steps. I apologized and offered for her to come back in the next morning. I redid the two peeled nails and later that night....same nails peeled again.
She is a very sweet lady and we were both bummed. We think that she just may not be a candidate for Shellac. :cry:
Despite all this, I'm having her come back in to remove it and I offered to paint her nails with regular polish. She was quite happy with the plan. She may not be a Shellac client for me, but I'm sure she will be coming back in for a mani or pedi.
If I were in your shoes, I would expect something to happen other than being brushed aside. Good news travels, but bad news travels faster.

 

[Wooshka]

Any luck?
What is happening?
Please come back and let us know, we have all gone to trouble to help advise and I'm sure we would all love to know the outcome.

I really hope it has been a positive outcome for you

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

If you re-read the question further down it says the question is has the industry changed this much and is she wrong to expect refund ect.
So I was explaining how I deal with any issues like this.
I did not refer to shellac as I'm not experienced using it and to be honest if she had admitted to me she hadn't prepped properly then I would expect her to fix the problem if she didn't then it's her loss of a client! x


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I agree with Susie here in that I don't think you can't compare lashes to having Shellac applied. Yes, a few clients do try it on. I don't think anybody here would doubt that, however, professionalism here is key and the therapist should undertake to try to find out what went wrong and why and then try to rectify the problem. This is not a simple case of somebody just trying it on.

In this case, the Shellac should not have peeled off just hours after application, but it would appear the therapist has not handled it well.

In your eyelash situation, you should have asked your client to come to you or you should have gone to your client (depending on whom visited whom when the treatment was performed). Having your mum do it and offer her opinion is irrelevant just because she lives nearby, as the contract of service is between you and your client and not your mum and your client. You should have assessed the situation for yourself and offered to redo or refund or not. That is customer service!

Getting back to Skittle's final questions.... yes, I think customer service has deteriorated and you are entitled to a full refund or redo. Please let us know what transpires.

 

[emma2011]

Hi can you point me in direction of these policies? so I can make my own.
I had a similar issue recent with a manicure where it did not dry and later smugged and client had to remove. Was 50/50 she didnt allow dry time I used x3 coats not usual so I kept the payment and offered another treatment at later date, also acknowelged issues so client happy. However your nail tech has admitted an error in nail prep no alchol wipes so I would argue refund on this basis. Did you pay prior to treatment as customer always pay after xx

 

[Susie H]

Hi can you point me in direction of these policies? so I can make my own.
I had a similar issue recent with a manicure where it did not dry and later smugged and client had to remove. Was 50/50 she didnt allow dry time I used x3 coats not usual so I kept the payment and offered another treatment at later date, also acknowelged issues so client happy. However your nail tech has admitted an error in nail prep no alchol wipes so I would argue refund on this basis. Did you pay prior to treatment as customer always pay after xx

I trained with cnd and how to handle customer issues was covered in the course notes, so that's the first place I think you should look, in the notes your course provided for you. In the event they didn't, maybe in an nvq lesson plan?
Of the top of my head, the law states that an item should be fit for it's purpose. If the customer has been given a receipt then they are intitaled to a refund. With out a receipt the customer still has rights but it's to an exchange for an item of equel value.
Now in our business it's a bit different, because it's a service, but, we still need to think and gage each service with a thought to, 1, giving good customer service but, 2, not being taken advantage of.
In your case I think you handled it just right, you've now got a regular client who will say how lovely your were when there was a problem. Which is allways the out come we wish for.

 

[Lou x]

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[Mrs.Clooney]

Sorry I don't think anybody is understanding what it is I am getting at.
The problem with her was shellac.
But then she wanted to know what people do in these situations.

As I have said already I have no experience with shellac so I don't know if it can be picked off or anything.
There are normally do's and don'ts with all treatments so I was trying to point out that clients do not always follow them through.
I was only sharing my opinion and what I have previously done in a similar situation (which is what this site is for!)


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Opinions are welcome and I was also offering mine. In this situation I believe the poster is entitled to a full refund since the therapist has not even bothered to look at the nails.

You mentioned your situation whilst offering an opinion and I pointed out that I don't think it is professional for your mum to drop off your refund for the client and then offer her opinion without you looking at the alleged fall out for yourself before commenting on a public forum.

I haven't trained in Shellac myself and do not feel I need to in order to know that the therapist has not handled this well or instilled any confidence in her client.

This is a public forum which is visited by both professional and non professional people including our clients. The advice given is important and unfortunately I feel in many respects that excellent customer service has gone to the dogs so to speak.

I'm not having a go at you x