Client bad mouthing me

[xxKeelyxx]

I used to always do some tans at a large business before their summer party and ball and I was always chocka!

last year I tanned a woman at this event (whom I know of and she is a total gossip and quite intimidating!) anyways.. I turn around for the tan and she is NAKED completely nude. Right, which is fine, i say nothing and get on with tan but am a bit shocked as we sort of know eachother (if that makes sense as a reason?).

The next day she texts and says her feet are too dark what is she going to do? I was a bit alarmed as I never spray the feet and told her to put the cream on them as well as knees and elbows and dry areas. Advised scrub, tan remover etc. She still seemed miffed tho (I later saw a photo and she looked fine!!)

Later I hear from my friend who works there that she has been slagging me off to everyone at the party how the inside of her legs isn't tanned enough (she was naked! so maybe i avoided area? not sure..) and her feet are black!- they werent! I only used gold10 la tan.

Ive gone to book ppl in this year and I only had 2 book in and they both later cancelled? :-(

I even reduced the price which i now wish i hadnt... dont know what to do :-(

 

[anca14]

Can’t help but wondering why are you so shocked she was naked for a spray tan? We always ask clients if they want to have disposable pants or go naked. Is that just in our salon? lol

 

[JenBella]

I used to always do some tans at a large business before their summer party and ball and I was always chocka!

last year I tanned a woman at this event (whom I know of and she is a total gossip and quite intimidating!) anyways.. I turn around for the tan and she is NAKED completely nude. Right, which is fine, i say nothing and get on with tan but am a bit shocked as we sort of know eachother (if that makes sense as a reason?).

The next day she texts and says her feet are too dark what is she going to do? I was a bit alarmed as I never spray the feet and told her to put the cream on them as well as knees and elbows and dry areas. Advised scrub, tan remover etc. She still seemed miffed tho (I later saw a photo and she looked fine!!)

Later I hear from my friend who works there that she has been slagging me off to everyone at the party how the inside of her legs isn't tanned enough (she was naked! so maybe i avoided area? not sure..) and her feet are black!- they werent! I only used gold10 la tan.

Ive gone to book ppl in this year and I only had 2 book in and they both later cancelled? :-(

I even reduced the price which i now wish i hadnt... dont know what to do :-(

Did you go back to see her or arrange for her to come to you so you could assess the tan?
When you say you told her to put cream on, was this while she was there with you, did she apply the cream? Did you avoid the inner leg because you were a bit put off by the naked thing?

It doesn't matter if the client is naked, fair enough if you weren't expecting it but this should be part of your consultation, just so you don't get any surprises!

 

[KirstieLou]

I tan a lot of naked people! I think there's not much you can do now people never forget a bad thing x

 

[xxKeelyxx]

It's not really about her being naked, I do naked clients all the time it's just that I didn't expect her to as she's quite reserved normally and I had said there are disposable pants and left room. With a stranger/client I am always completely professional but as I said because I sort of knew her I wasn't expecting it as I said she is a bit intimidating.

I did offer in my text to come round and offer to tan remove her feet a little but she didnt have time. as for the cream I don't think I watched her put cream on as I tend to look away and fill machine as they do this as norm undressed by this point but I would have directed her.

I saw a photo and she looked good and a few days later I actually saw her and I asked her if she was ok and she said she was fine and her tan still looked good. She then had a make up lesson and had £5 knocked off that before I even knew she had slagged me off to her work!

Ever since I have been paranoid about missing the inside of the leg? I mean i might have but she didnt mention that just the feet to me i did do 8 spray tans that day, i guess i could have but i am so proud of my tans! I have my normal regulars but am just a bit gutted about losing out on the extra ones and the odd clients I would collect as more regulars.

She also slagged off a friend of mines cake business saying was too expensive and so they ended up giving her loads of freebies they shouldn't have! Hate clients like that just destroy ppls reputations too get free stuff!

 

[xxKeelyxx]

I was really hoping people would be able to say something constructive and help me out with their past experiences :cry:

I am v proud of my business, I don't know if I should just offer her a freebie to get her back on side?

 

[sophiegees]

Perhaps talk to her and then if you feel it is a constructive discussion offer a freebie.

Try not to worry. If it does transpire that it was not up to your normal standard then we cant always get it right - we are human. Its what you do most of the time that matters.

Dont fret

x

 

[Kim Lawless]

I would pick up the phone and say 'Hi (name)! How are you? I've heard from a number of people that you weren't happy with your tan. I'm really sorry to hear that so can I offer you free tan to restore your faith in me'

Of course you probably want to swing her round by her hair but remain friendly and professional. She'll be on the defensive and she'll ask you who told you so just say that a number of people have mentioned it but you can't repeat names. Try to keep the convo upbeat and positive.

 

[Beautygirl1977]

I had a problem with someone not being happy with their tan but I knew from day one she would be trouble. I refunded her to get rid of her and I would never take her back again. I wouldn't give anyone freebies that was bad mouthing my business and I wouldn't have them back. I'm more inclined to give freebies to my loyal clients. I hate those people that get everything free by complaining!

 

[xxKeelyxx]

Thank you everyone this is what I was hoping for!

I can't help wondering if I give her a freebie will she ever say anything good about me anyway? After she got all those free cakes from my friend she still tells everyone they are too expensive and never reordered. I remember a beauty friend telling me she stopped doing her eyebrow waxes cos she seemed to get every other free!

I agree with beautygirl1977 i would rather give a freebie to my regular who also works there! But I will try damage control with this woman before I send out my email to the company for their next event

Xx

 

[anca14]

Are you sure this is the reason why her company didn’t book you in for the tans? It might be that lots of them cant afford or want to try a different treatment.
Maybe try and send a text with a special offer/package to the ladies that had the tan last year.
Regarding your friend’s cake business if someone would tell me dont go as is expensive I would think is something different-handmade, better ingredients etc so I would try her.

 

[happyfeet]

If I felt the error was mine then I would contact the client to discuss the problem rectify it or re spray her. However giving out a freebie if you've done everything right or offering to recyify it and she's bad mouthing you? Absolutely not. What message does that send? Bad mouthe me and I'll give my tan away for free? - aren't we trying to stamp out this sort of behaviour in our industry?

Concentrate on the positives my love, get recommendations from clients, take pics and plaster it over fb and your website. Loyal clients are your focus. If a group of clients that loved their tans and had no problems are so easily swayed by just one person, who from your posts further on had no issues with your work and even booked in for further treatments, then thank your lucky stars they haven't booked in.

Another consideration is this unless you've heard it from the horses mouth don't rely to heavily on a he said she said situatuon. By all means contact this client and gently enquire that you've heard she was unhappy but no freebies unless you actually were at fault- the fact that she wouldn't let you rectify it, the fact that she said she liked her tan and the fact that she booked a make up lesson with you, to me, speaks volumes. Yes we are a service to the public, yes we are paid for our skill and professionalism and yes we have to do an exceptional job along with managing the positives and turning the negatives around for a client, but what we don't have to do is undermine ourselves or other therapists by allowing this sort of behaviour to continue.

Haha sorry for the long post.

Chin up missus x x x

Sent from my GT-I9300 using SalonGeek

 

[Kim Lawless]

Some people make their way through life bitching and moaning........they probably comment or complain about every restaurant, flight, salon etc etc. These are a small minority so if you know your work is good, try not to take it too personally and get rid of them as a client. You'll also find that everyone else thinks the same of them as basically they're not very nice people. Like attracts like. x

 

[Kim Lawless]

I had a problem with someone not being happy with their tan but I knew from day one she would be trouble. I refunded her to get rid of her and I would never take her back again. I wouldn't give anyone freebies that was bad mouthing my business and I wouldn't have them back. I'm more inclined to give freebies to my loyal clients. I hate those people that get everything free by complaining!

I agree with you totally and I'd do the same. However, some people don't like confrontation and I suspect that the OP is like that so I always try to look at things from all sides. I fight fire with fire.........some people are not so confident. x

 

[teens1974]

I would not be offering a freebie to her! she sounds like trouble.

I would phone her as per person aboves suggestion (cant recall who it was sorry) and say i hear you werent happy with the tan i gave you, have been hearing negative comments etc etc then I would listen to what she says. If she does say she wasnt happen and calmly tells you why (and doesnt just say her feet!!!!!) I would then offer a voucher, or a discount. No way would she get a freebie.

Oh and I struggle for clients and am very small but I will not give my work away for free

I personally would be more interested in why the others havent booked, yes she is bad mouthing you but if they had good tans that shouldnt/wouldnt put them off. Try and bring them back on board, discounted tan for the "do" or book for the do and get next one half price etc

Good luck x

 

[charlottepalmer]

I would just be a professional about it, ignore her as some businesses will get bad press because people like her want a freebie and will think everything is rubbish, even when they get one. If you only kind of know her just completely cut her out, there's no reason to stay friends.

 

[xxKeelyxx]

Thanks so much everyone, I know the company has a high turnover I email a contact there to check it is OK to have a meeting room for tans and she send the email round to the company to book in with me.

So a few of them that left book me out of work and some of the others couldn't fit into my time slots or later said they couldnt afford it anymore and so prob did have legit reasons. I had loads of enquiries.
It just all seemed to happen in a few days and I got more and more disheartened.
You just need one person to be making a cuppa in the kitchen and saying I might have a tan for the ball and for it to snowball or do the opposite if madam is saying oh it was crap my feet were black and my legs were white!

 

[FlawlessBeauty]

If this woman is always moaning about every company she tries, I'm sure nobody would pay her much attention.

Like previously mentioned, I would do loads of gorgeous tans, plenty of pictures and spread them all over your facebook page. You could also ask your clients to leave a recommendation for you too, possibly offer 10% off next tan in return xx

Sent from my HTC One X+ using SalonGeek

 

[hazelb]

i agree with so many of the posters here:

She slagged off a friends cake company..and still does after getting free cakes.

She had complained about eyebrow treatments ..and got free treatments.

....she is obviously after another ( free ) tan! .

You have done plenty..offered an assessment of her tan and removal of the darker areas, but she refused it. Check with her she was happy. You have behaved totally professionally.....

She seems to have another agenda....

Don't worry, her work colleges will now what she is like, and will ignore her comments..as they will have heard/seen her do it many times before.

Just try and put it behind you and stay positive.

 

[makeupartistzoe]

You could be the 1st to stand up to her?!

I've heard before through the grapevine '<my salon> is s**t at nails' so I asked my beauty therapist where she heard this. She said through a salon loyal client. I phoned up my salon loyal client and asked where she heard this comment. She said the comment wasn't exactly like that, from a moany lady she works with who b***hes and whines at everything, had a Shellac toes service done and wasn't happy. So being the responsible salon owner I called to say 'I'm Zoe. I own <my salon> and I hear through the grapevine you weren't happy with your treatment. Please can we offer you a complimentary one to let us put things right?' She accepted and came in, we were exceptionally nice with her and offered her a perfect treatment. She didn't book again, proving she was a waste of time client. I knew at the time I should have called and asked exactly what was wrong with her toes and then told her we have many other satisfied customers so kindly stop bad mouthing my salon.

I have since. And hung up on clients that have been rude and raised their voices to me. I have felt better for it. Much better. The positive comments will outweigh the good. You are never going to please everyone and you don't want the headache of this woman.