Family expecting freebies!

[Beanie]

How do you deal with friends booking appointments (not mentioning any discount or freebie) and when it comes to paying they give you £10 for a £20 treatment

I had this the other day and really didn't know what to say as she stood there with a smile handing me this £10 note as if it were totally fine...

I also have friends who at the end of treatment say 'oh I need to give you some money don't I...' and never give me the full treatment price. I feel terribly awkward in those situations :irked:

 

[Beanie]

Forgot to add, mum is free, always! Despite her protests!

Sister would be free if she only wanted something occasionally! but is discounted instead as she usually wants a lot of treatments.

Little sister is free, she's 13 and only has eyebrows or rockstar toes every few weeks.

Boyfriend is free but will only let me loose on his eyebrows anyway! x

 

[Tinos]

What we do is charge family half price for hair and nail art is free. Of course our moms we don't charge but all others we do they are still taking time out of your day. We also inform them that if we need to get someone in the will be the first to be moved around. I think this helps us not feel like we are being taken advantage of.

 

[Gemgem675]

How do you deal with friends booking appointments (not mentioning any discount or freebie) and when it comes to paying they give you £10 for a £20 treatment

I had this the other day and really didn't know what to say as she stood there with a smile handing me this £10 note as if it were totally fine...

I also have friends who at the end of treatment say 'oh I need to give you some money don't I...' and never give me the full treatment price. I feel terribly awkward in those situations :irked:

I was in the same situation the other day my cousin came round for a manicure which i said before hand when i text her was going to be £20 she had her nails done then handed me a tenner and said oh sorry i only bought a tenner with me, i was a bit upset as she knew full well the price was £20. I didn't really know what to say!

I am the same i never charge my mum or OH everyone else is full price.

 

[Baggybear]

I give imediate family a 20% discount off full price treatments or 10% off any offers. I have 1 close friend who gets 10% off all treatments and everyone else pays full price.

My mum lives too far away so I've not done any treatments on her yet but if I ever did it would be free (& if she insisted on giving something - highly likely - it would be product cost and no more).

My sister (who also lives a long way from me) just got married so I offered to Minx her fingernails for the wedding for free (she actually chose a design from my cheaper wrap section but had the choice of all my Minx stock too).

As for those who have friends/family etc who produce less than treatment costs when it's time to pay, send them an invoice asking for what they owe you or next time they ask you to book them in for a treatment tell them 'you still owe me £x from your last treatment and unfortunatley I can't book you in until this is paid'. You need to be tough as you wouldn't go into Tesco and underpay your mate at the counter would you - it is the same thing, your a business and need to be paid for services provided.

 

[Katelisa]

Yeah thats true where do you draw the line?? I think that I will do is mayube do something like 50% off for family and friends and do my mum etc for free obv.

People can sometimes take advantage but I will be firm and let people know my prices and anyone who I will honor a discount for I will let them know.

Thanks all! x

I think 50% is too much, you will start resenting it. x

 

[JHall]

How do you deal with friends booking appointments (not mentioning any discount or freebie) and when it comes to paying they give you £10 for a £20 treatment

I had this the other day and really didn't know what to say as she stood there with a smile handing me this £10 note as if it were totally fine...

I also have friends who at the end of treatment say 'oh I need to give you some money don't I...' and never give me the full treatment price. I feel terribly awkward in those situations :irked:

I would sarcastically say " is that the deposit, when will you be paying the the rest?" but then thats me lol

 

[Petit Basque]

I do my mum, my sister and my best friend for free but in fairness, they only have little treatments done like lash tinting, brow shaping or nail shaping....I also do my daughters for free as "pay back" for all the times I used them for practice when I was training

Close friends get mates rates and everyone else pays full whack!

PB
x

 

[Katelisa]

Mom is ALWAYS free. She gave birth to me for gods sake lol. I can never give her enough free treatments to make up for my lovely upbringing!!

She tried to pay me for her Shellac today, because I've just bought it all and spend a fortune. To which I replied, 'No, don't be daft, but I cant afford to give you any housekeeping this week so call it even' lol.

Love my mum, I do!

I do the odd treatment for my Nan, lie, very rarely, I don;t charge her either. It;s bonding time!

I offer 35% off for cousins, aunty, close friends. Best friends for free, but only because it means I can actually get to see them! They dont take the pee either, its prob less than 3 times a year.

 

[Pinkbunny28]

I can't charge my family! They have ALL helped me when I needed people to practice on and still do! Friends I charge full but may give them a few quid off if I'm feeling generous. My friend bought me a bottle of wine the day I passed my driving test as she was coming for half leg wax so I told her it was on me lol otherwise she pays full price.

It's definitely important to establish some ground rules with payment as we are running businesses and our products do NOT come cheap!

I've had a friend ask for my pricelist before then have a manicure and simply not pay me anything, not even offer. It's just rude! And I felt bad asking since I was fresh outa college...

The only friend I hate charging is my best friend because I've grown up with her and she always hides money and tells me when she gets home lol bless her! x

 

[Lolly22]

These are all pretty much the same replies eh? I will defo set some firm ground rules when i start off and then there will be no confusion! Thanks again geeks for all your help xxx

 

[ladybird]

I don't charge my immediate family as they have all helped me get where and who I am. I dont charge my childminder cos she does all my washing and ironing for free - other family members get a few quid off

I also like to barter services my hairdresser did my hair ( foils, colour, cut, blow dry) in exchange for bio nails, eyebrow wax and tint

Another friend exchanged a hand carved gift she makes - for me doing her MYScara

Love bartering

 

[Titch16]

I've just tanned my sister tonight, she's never had a spray tan before & wouldn't really go for one but she insisted on paying full price to help me as I've just started, bless her. After a long yes I'm paying, no your not i told her I would accept this time but in future it's free.

 

[sukic]

I don't charge immediate family, friends and extended family I do the first one free then charge full price. I quite lucky though, my family don't really take the piss with regards to treatments. I get my payment with babysitting duties!

 

[Sam81]

I was in the same situation the other day my cousin came round for a manicure which i said before hand when i text her was going to be £20 she had her nails done then handed me a tenner and said oh sorry i only bought a tenner with me, i was a bit upset as she knew full well the price was £20. I didn't really know what to say!

I am the same i never charge my mum or OH everyone else is full price.

I would have said, "I'm sorry did you not get my text? The manicure is £20 but that's ok you can give me the rest when I see you next". She blatantly knew the cost because she apologised for not giving you enough, in which case I'd feel no guilt asking her to make it up! People who do this will then think it's ok to short change you all the time!

I had friend's daughter booked in yesterday but she text me about 5 minutes before she was due to say she'd had to pay out for her dog at the vets and was trying to find enough cash to pay me. She laid it on really thick about how she'd promised her daughter for her birthday, obviously trying to get me to offer a discount (or even free knowing her!). This woman has no-showed for 5 appointments now so as harsh as it may seem I didn't offer. It might be cutting my nose off to spite my face but I'd rather not do it at all than do it for less than it's worth. It really winds me up when people take advantage!

 

[TracyS]

On this subject I'm fuming... a cousin who is a very good friend's partner, asked me to treat said friend for her birthday, so I said no problem, I was going to give her a reflexology session anyway as I know she loves it so suggested a facial to him, he said fine, said he'd leave the money with her for when I went around.

So I go, do the treatments, no £. She actually offered to go to the cashpoint but seeing as it was her birthday treat I said no, he could get it to me. 2 weeks later I'm still waiting. I went round the other day and she mentioned it as soon as I got there - full of apologies and saying he had said 'its only £x, that isn't going to break the bank for Tracy'!!!! Furious to say the least!!!

Family are just the worst - except my mum who's the best!

 

[Lolly22]

God it seems people do take advantage sometimes too! I don't know where people get the nerve! I could never do that to someone!

 

[Sher16]

Its an awkward one isnt it, but it totally shouldnt be!

I agree with all other posts on here. I do my mums for free and sisters but only see sister 3-4 times a yr as she lives in a different country! Friends - well i was doing 25% off but im going to stop as thenfriends of friends keep tagging on "so and so says its £x much isnt it? Here you go....." so i have started charging full. Although i dont charge the extra few pounds for nail art....

I had a friend (who did nails at college about 10 yr ago, never does them anymore) ask me about shellac she had heard all about it and wanted it for her holiday. So i told her and offered her an appt to which she agreed. I charge reasonable for shellac - £20, bigger salons charge around £28-32 and other mobile techs about same or little more than me- anyhow i told her it would be 20 but said id not charge her extra for french...did them...she was a total pain all way through kept picking me up for things - and may also point out things that were not there...she even at one point asked me to paint to the skin because she didnt like the teeny tiny gap which is how i was taught to do all nail colours - a gap which is barely visible- it came flooding back to me as i did enhancements for her about 2yr ago and i remembered how awful she was then and vowed never to do them again, she moaned about everything i did on her enhancements even though they were a good set of nails- Anyhow at end she gave me £18 for the shellac as thats all she had (she had also smudged them twice as her little boy cried and she picked him up just before i put her hand under the lamp so twice i had to redo one hand of french tip) then rang me next day to say she was leaving at 6pm on flight for hol and wanted toes done to match now!! So, i raced round to do them and she said at end "I dont owe you anything do i? I mean i paid full price yest and so toes can be my mate rate discount" i was so baffled that i didnt pipe up to ask for the money but kicked myself after i left. She hadnt paid full price in the first place, as i did french for same price as colour (normally theres a tiny difference)...and even at that she didnt pay the price she was £2 short!

At first i felt tight moaning about £2 but how would we feel if all clients did that....

Also she had taken an appt that i had to turn others down for so of course I charged her.

So yep, from now on friends are all same - only mum & sis get freebies. And my OH whos toes get practiced on when i get new products!!!! He sported a nice shellac french for 3 wks when i first got it ! Ha ha ha ;-)

 

[Sher16]

Talking of friends, i also had a friends child stand on my cnd uv lamp and break it. She didnt offer a penny toward it - despite me discounting all her treatments and have done for over a year - wasnt even that apologetic. Id nipped to kitchen to make her cuppa and he pulled it off my table then once on floor stood on it and jumped. So shes now full price also. Cruel but tough

Another thing re friends expecting freebies- i dont really tell them when im doing a course. When i did semi perm lashes i had a friend rattle on for months that she would "let me" practice on her after. When i got the balls to tell her i wasnt practicing i was doing them and this was the price she never booked in, funnily enough!

 

[Katelisa]

TipsToToes, I am horrified by your 'friends' :o x