Can Creative make you retrain?

[jaqule]

I am on the verge of giving it all up! I have just spent a fortune on Shellac too!:sad:

I made an earlier post about a client's complaint. Following my own thoughts and advice from others (thank you, I really do appreciate your help and I am not being sarcastic) I told my client that I would not be able to give her a refund for a set of acyrlic overlays as it was over two weeks later that she complained and did not actually come back to see me and show me her nails.

She has now said that she will will report me to trading standards and has already reported me to CND!!!! She is also threatening me with slander against mt name.

I am absolutely distraught. She is claiming that Creative have said they are disgusted with what she has told them and if I do not refund her then they will need me to retrain and send people round to have their nails done to assess me???

I hope there is someone nice on the phone tomorrow when I ring Sweet Squared to find out what on earth is going on!:sad::sad:

Has anyone else been in this position?? All I am trying to do is earn a small living to support my family and enjoy doing nails. x x

 

[angel fingers]

cnd cant make you retrain.

i am assuming you are qualified enough to buy their products in the first place?

i'd be VERY surprised if any of what your client said is true. she is just trying to scare you.

 

[jaqule]

Hi, thank you!

Yes I qualified with Creative in January 10 (Foundation L&P) x

 

[mrs o]

Jacqule
Creative(CND) are in the USA, i doubt very much that this client has been on to them.
If she means the CND distributor in the UK Sweet Squared- i very much doubt they would comment until they had heard both sides of this story.
They probably will see your post soon, i just wanted to say this until you have been in contact with them yourself.Ring them tomorrow.
Do not stress yourself out,until you have spoken to them.

 

[tigi]

God lord, what a thing to say!! I cant imagine Sweet Squared ever entering in such discussions with anyone in such a manner.

I am fairly certain that this person is trying to bully, intimidate and frighten you into getting her own way. I suggest you advise her not to contact you any longer unless it is in writing.

I am sure sweet squared will give you some great advice tomorrow, but for now dont enter into any further conversations with her.

tigi

xxx

 

[angel fingers]

there we are then, you are o.k. i think cnd are more likely to offer you support in the situation rather than 'strike you off'

you are still a very new tech and no matter what training you have it takes a good while before you are making perfectly problem free nails. no only that but you can never guarantee them because you have no way of controlling what happens to them once they leave your salon. i would say you did the right thing by refusing a refund as you did not see the nails.

i'd be surpised if she even knew how to contact the creative distributers here. the whole story stinks if you ask me.

 

[skymark]

Firstly....calm and breathe.

Never assume that a client who is complaining is telling the truth.

This one sounds like a right mouth to be honest, wouldnt be suprised if next she tells you shes reported you to the European court!

I'm sure she has done nothing except run her mouth to as many people as she thinks will listen. If she was really unhappy she would have come to you sooner. End of.

If she continues to harrass, and you have her address I would send a letter acknowledging her complaint in writing but reiterating what you have explained about the two weeks. Also make it clear in your letter that you are highly trained, follow sanitation proceedures and have a policy about refunds and returns. Basically a letter that says sorry you didnt like it but tough shiz...in slightly fancier language. When she sees you are not afraid to put pen to paper to defend your work then she wont be so keen to threaten.

In future you may want to add some terms to your website or pricelist about a timeframe on complaints.

Relax. Theres always one and hopefully you wont get another for a long while.

 

[ally-mac]

It's such a shame that she has upset you so much - don't let her win by feeling like packing it all in!!! It can take many months and often longer (frustratingly) to become a good technician and unfortunately, someone like this client can really knock your confidence in your early days! Don't let her do this. Do you have any signage re: your refund policy or an after care card with this info? Are you working mobile, from home or a salon space? Sorry I should have checked your profile before asking these but I'm now mid msg and too angry at this woman to stop! What was her complaint? I usually tell my clients if they have any concerns over their nails they can come back to me within 48 hours and I will make any changes (re: shape or lifting if any - which there shouldnt be!) but after 2 weeks she would have been ready for a maintenance appointment and I'm sure sweetsquared will be all too aware of that!
I don't use CND myself but CND and sweetsquared don't seem like they were born yesterday and this woman seems to think they were!
I'm sure you did everything you could to ensure you could follow her up and see/correct any problems and if you didn't then it's something to learn from. We all come across difficult clients and learn something from each of them. Everyone starts somewhere and she would do well to remember that!
Don't let her get to you. I'm sure you are producing fab nails so call up sweet squared and put your mind at rest tomorrow. Are you insured? It may be worthwhile speaking to your insurer as well depending on what she is claiming the problem may be - they will no doubt be used to hearing this kind of thing or at least advising on it.

Sorry for the long post - this client of yours has really annoyed me so god knows how you are feeling! Chin up and let us know how you get on :hug:
xxx

 

[~Emmsybabes~]

I would say stop worrying hun,
I am unaware of what has gone on previously, but it sounds to me like this client is just trying to frighten you.

DON'T give in to bullies. I cannot stand people who try to intimidate, Years ago I would have been worried, now they don't stand a chance lol.

Stay calm tonight, and Phone tomorrow for reassurance x

 

[Mrs Geek]

@jaqule - we would never ever enter into discussions with a customers or make disparaging comments about one of our customers. We would always look at both sides and as she has said 'CND' I doubt she even knows who S2 is. Also we make it a point to NOT get involved in client / customer confrontations as it is really nothing to do with us at all.

I think you did the right thing. If this lady had a problem with her nails, she most certainly should have let you know ASAP.

Please remember something I have said to many. If you have 20 customers who are happy and 1 who isn't, why listen to the only one who isn't?? Pick yourself back up, dust yourself down and ignore this woman. Trust me - nothing is going to come of this!

And to those of you who suggested S2 would never say anything like that - thank you one and all - we wouldn't and it is lovely to know you have that trust in us. Jaqule - please trust in us too!:Look_left

 

[jaqule]

Thank you so much everyone - I have just about breathed!!

I am working from a salon. I always ensure clients complete the CND client card and send them away with their aftercare advice sheet.

She just never gave me a chance to put things right before going to another salon. After nine days she still wanted her rebalance appointment, by day 13 she wanted her money back!

 

[shedunlop]

Listen to Samantha my darling. You will have every one of us is behind you and most of us will have had or will have someone similar to face.

What on earth are Trading Standards going to do? She paid you to do her nails, a temporary treatment, and, after a period of time she says she wants her money back. She did not produce the nails she was unhappy with straight away so doesn't have a leg to stand on.

If she had come back the day after with clear problems with her nails I am sure you would have sorted things out to her satisfaction, but she didn't! End of!!

She clearly doesn't understand that we do not work for the brands we use. She obviously thinks that we are employed in some way by them, she hasn't complained to anyone she is just full of it!

Think about your happy customers and be firm with the tricky ones. I can assure you every tricky customer has a sister, mother or friend waiting to see if they get away with it so that they might join in too. I have seen posts on here from techs who have pairs of clients who want refunds fairly regularly or freebies or offers! Don't go there!

Remember, we are all behind you!!!

 

[jaqule]

Thank you Samantha, I will sleep tonight now!

My unpleasant client told me she had spoken to a girl called Katy at S2. So that was who I was hoping to get hold of tommorow to smooth this out. x

 

[jaqule]

Thank you Sheila x

 

[Emily9]

Just another thing, if trading standards were informed they have to by law give you a chance to put it right whether thats a refund or whatever before anythign else is discussed xx

 

[wg19]

Glad you feel better & have taken in what everyone has said because it's all true!

This has me thinking tho, in a general sense, with any company that provides training & consequently sells their product to their trained techs, even if this woman had a legitimate complaint that backed up something so heinous ( which I'm sure she does not or she'd have been round to show you immediatley) would a company that provided the training & supplied the product have any right to even look into the complaint, never mind make someone retrain?

Have done training with 3 of the major companies in the UK & don't ever remember when signing up for said courses reading anything in the training literature to say that if I produced shoddy work I would be "struck off"!!!

Maybe I missed that in the small print tho!

As others have said, treat this experience as a learning curve, we will all come across people like her in one guise or another in our careers. Don't let her bully you or lose confidence in your work. Keep going , you did all the right things so if she won't go away, stick to your guns & tell her to bugger off! (kidding about the last bit!)

 

[vintagekj]

This client sounds awful hun, as Samantha said think of all the other clients that have been very happy with their nails and focus on them, not this woman who sounds like a troublemaker too me.

xx

 

[Mrs Geek]

Just another thing, if trading standards were informed they have to by law give you a chance to put it right whether thats a refund or whatever before anythign else is discussed xx

Which she couldn't possibly do as the lady didn't give her the opportunity!

 

[shedunlop]

Which she couldn't possibly do as the lady didn't give her the opportunity!

Absolutely!:

 

[vintagekj]

Which she couldn't possibly do as the lady didn't give her the opportunity!

Here Here!