Client refusing to pay for a cleanse after going purple

[Marcus Wright]

Hi,
I mange a salon and came across a situation which I had not dealt with before.

A client came in who has previously had copper, mahogany, red, and now gone bright purple which she has had on the last 5 visits however now she wants to go to a natural brown which would need a gentle cleanse to remove the purple tone, the price for the cleanse she did not want to pay as she believes the stylist/colour technician should've told her before going purple if she wanted to change the colour she would need to have a cleanse and if she knew that then she wouldn't of had it coloured purple bearing in mind all the colours she has had could potentially need a cleanse to go more natural again. The client said she is a loyal client and comes in every 4 weeks for her colour and cut and she will get up and leave the salon and she will tell her son and daughter to not come back to the salon..in the end the stylist then agreed to doing a bleach bath for free! As she didn't want to loose the client, Which after speaking to the owner was not happy about the stylist even giving authorisation to give a service and colour product away for free! when there was no technical fault with the colour, is there any other way I could of handled the situation and should we be telling a client if they want a vibrant colour they would need to possibly have a cleanse to go back natural?

 

[Lauren121]

The client is right in what she is saying in the consultation process the stylist should of told her it wouldnt just be as simple as putting a colour on over her hair and she would be back natural. She should of also told her how much she was going to be charged for the service she wanted before the stylist went ahead and started.

So going forward I would tell your stylists to be thorough in their consultations and make sure they tell the client the price if they are having a change from what they usually have.

 

[Baggybear]

I AM NOT HAIR but what I understand of the first post is... the client was in a consultation to go from purple to brown and the therapist told her she needed a cleanse, the client decided she did not want to pay for it and believed she should have been told before going purple (has had 5 visits of having purple applied) that to go natural after purple she would need a cleanse - so she thinks that whenever she changed her hair colour the salon should have been telling her what would need doing WHEN or IF she decided to go natural again after that colour.
The client threatened to leave and take family custom with her so the stylist offered a free bleach bath, the owners are not happy that the stylist authorised the free treatment.

 

[Dee5]

Honestly I think the stylist was right. She weighed up the pros and cons. If each service cost 50€ and she come 13 times a year that's €650. Then her kids 20 each at say 4 times a year? That's 160 so that client has a price tag of €810. That could have all been lost for a relatively low cost process.
Kudos to your stylist for having the initiative to do the cleanse FOC.
Going forward id agree regarding staff doing a FULL consultation with immediate and delayed effects of big colour changes.
But to keep common sense in their side too.

 

[Marcus Wright]

Okay thank you for all your replies. I think the stylist made a good decision but shouldn't of authorised it until informing the owners but I will bring something up in the next staff meeting regarding informing a client if they have a change of colour to purple and reds.. any sort of vibrant colour to go back natural there could be a charge of a cleanse to get the end result back to a natural colour.