Frustrated!!

[Jen889]

Hi everyone,

I am sorry but i need to semi vent to all of you. i had a client come in a while back for shellac with terrible nails as a result of removing acrylics, she wanted to try Shellac. I told her that it might not last the 14days, that before this she should try and get her nails healthy again etc. she said she understood and we parted ways both happy. TURNS OUT! she has been telling her friends (who come to the gym i rent a space in) that my shellac service was so terrible that it damaged her nails. EXCUSE ME!!!! i didn't even touch your freaking nails, your discount salon acrylic nails did! ugh!

Now this is 4months ago, she has the nerve to walk into my spa today! and ask if i had time to do a shellac manicure on her. i basically told her she had a lot of nerve to come into my spa again after almost ruining my reputation in a new location! she apologized and told me she was going through a hard time blah blah blah and also told me she retracted her comment about shellac to her friends. i told her it doesnt matter, i will not take her because of it, she understood and asked about the shellac since she had it done at another local spa 2weeks ago. i told her if you have already have it then you know the info but i am more then happy (not really) to answer any questions. she BARGES!!! into my room and takes a look at my colors and lamp, this is what she said next

"oh you don't have a lot of colors, thats too bad. (turns to look at my mani table and lamp) oh what kind of lamp is that, thats not what the other spa uses, how could you use a none cnd lamp?!"

i got so upset! i told her my lamp is a certified CND Shellac Lamp and showed her, also told her the other salon used the wrong lamp with the system. she interrupts me and says "oh you don't know what your talking about, your a liar"

OHHHH!!!!! needless to say i KICKED HER OUT after that comment!!!! sorry for the rant ladies

Now the thing is if she talks to her friends again (which are 20 of my clients), what do i do? some of them are good clients and i cant really afford to go back to what happened the last time she "talked"

 

[lucyboo]

If she's already "moaned" & 20 of her friends are your clients, I'm pretty sure they know what she's like.
Well done for throwing her out xxx

 

[geeg]

I don't agree at all with the 'well done' comment. I think you handled that situation ALL wrong from start to finish. Probably not what you wanted to hear after ranting.

 

[sunshineinme]

She's clearly unstable. If your clients are happy with you and your work they won't leave you because of one mad person talking porky pies about you. They surely must know her. If they haven't left you after her first rant they won't leave you now. They know you!

And I can't believe that she retracted what she said to her mates..... As if she would suddenly come clean well... That would be a jolly good surprise.

I fully understand your reaction and I would behave the same. At the end of the day we have our pride and we shouldn't allow people to believe that one rubbish 'I'm sorry I've had hard time' will be all fine with us.

You must respect yourself otherwise no one else will do.

Client not always is right and we have right to refuse treatment after being so badly treated by them!

Good luck to her finding good tech who won't run away from her.

That was all IMHO

 

[min11]

I'd have given her an appointment the second time she came in and shown her what a great set of Shellac nails is all about but that's just me. That way she wouldn't have had anything to go say to anyone and might have bought new custom your way.

She got on the defensive by the sound of it when you refused her this time and she can say now, and in a way she is right, that she apologised and you told her to go away. I've never been turned away as a client so I don't actually know how I'd react, I'd like to think I'd retain some dignity and leave quietly but if I were to try and ask questions in the hope of turning it around I might get a bit defensive too if I was met with 'if you have it done then you know all this'.

Interesting that she knows the correct lamp should be used. She either read about the product, has read articles about how services should be performed or found her way on to a site like this maybe?

All just my opinion :hug:

 

[izzidoll]

I too am shocked that anyone would agree with your handling of this situation!

A little tact and diplomacy would not have gone amiss!

Clients get things wrong, she did initially, but she came back to you and was now converted to Shellac.
You should have capitalised on that fact!
Ye, by all means, mention you had heard she had not been happy before...let her apologise....and move on !

You didn't lose your 20 other clients before because they knew your treatments were good, but you may lose them now because your manners are bad!

 

[min11]

She's clearly unstable. If your clients are happy with you and your work they won't leave you because of one mad person talking porky pies about you. They surely must know her. If they haven't left you after her first rant they won't leave you now. They know you!

And I can't believe that she retracted what she said to her mates..... As if she would suddenly come clean well... That would be a jolly good surprise.

I fully understand your reaction and I would behave the same. At the end of the day we have our pride and we shouldn't allow people to believe that one rubbish 'I'm sorry I've had hard time' will be all fine with us.

You must respect yourself otherwise no one else will do.

Client not always is right and we have right to refuse treatment after being so badly treated by them!

Good luck to her finding good tech who won't run away from her.

That was all IMHO

I just don't understand this logic. If nothing else how is it sound business sense? She appologised and wanted an appointment. I'd have given her that and done my job and had her leave with a great set of nails. No loss of reputation anywhere in that, only reaffirming what great service I can offer?

 

[geeg]

Today it's ...

Troubled marriage? Easy get a divorce

Trouble st work? Easy leave and get assistance

Trouble with a client. Easy sack them off (and behave badly as well yourself)

Put two people with the same mentality together and you have the situation above.

And why is the girl clearly unstable? What nonsense.

I would have had that client, eating out of the palm of my hand and had all her friends coming to me too ... But I'm not wasting energy explaining as I'm sure you will neither listen nor understand as that would take a bit of effort and not be easy.

Send her to Onglez Chez Victoria in Motreal ... She knows how to both treat and educate her clients with respect and has a thriving successful business.

 

[LDC]

Hi Ladies,

Its very difficult to judge when nobody was there. Its also very easy to say 'I would have said this, I would have said that' but in reality the pressure and heat of the situation can make us do things that maybe even Jen may think, 'hmm, perhaps I didnt deal with that the best way'. We're therapists/techs and not always taught or confident to deal with confrontation, all we can do is learn from these experiences. I wouldnt say its unfair to Jen to suggest how one would have dealt with things in such a such away so its effectively her own fault!

Moving foreward Jen, I would perhaps suggest you hold your head high, you offer an elite service and in some respects I agree with you, if I had a client who had said those things I personally would have professionally explained my side of things and turned her away, I'd rather not have a client like that as I'm too busy with clients I value. As previously stated your clients who know you and are happy with your service will not leave based on bitchy banter.

Good luck.

 

[sammi010]

Today it's ...

Troubled marriage? Easy get a divorce

Trouble st work? Easy leave and get assistance

Trouble with a client. Easy sack them off (and behave badly as well yourself)

Put two people with the same mentality together and you have the situation above.

I really agree with this. It all seems to be about 'teach them a lesson' 'show them you wont be messed with'

But it's all very agressive, confrontational, take the easy way out rather than face up to an issue and work at it.

If she'd bad mouthed you before, allegedly, then she has every reason to now.

If she'd 'barged' into your room and then started criticising your stock of colours etc. and you obviously weren't interested in converting her to a client, then you didn't have to lower yourself to her level. You could have politely said that you clearly weren't able to offer her what she was looking for, remembering the nice friendly smile, and then asking her if she'd like to sit down and have quick 5 min consultation so you could get a better idea of what she wanted so you could then arrange a suitable appointment for her.

Situations like that you need to take the heat out of, not fuel. Two wrongs do not make a right.

As for "We're therapists/techs and not always taught or confident to deal with confrontation"

Who is taught that? If you go into a service industry then you have to sit yourself down and plan out how you are going to deal with situations. You have to take some accountability for your actions and responses rather than blaming someone else for not teaching you.

 

[tigi]

right,

lets take this situation apart? she upsets you and you feel she tried to wreck your business. she on the other hand probably doesnt see it that way.

sometimes in business we HAVE to bit our tonque, have to pause for breath .

You could have handled this so differently .

you could have:

A. pretended that you didnt have any appointments free and told her you could put her on a cancellation list and never called her.

B. you could have taken her and then when you were performing her treatment you could broached the subject , maybe eased into it, saying something along the lines that you have some very interesting news you would like to share with her about how shellac have confirmed this products causes no damage and then you could have answered her questions as she brought them up.

C. you could done the treatent quietly and then take her money and let her leave saying nthing, but knowing you did the best you can.


Personally i think you wound each other up, she was rude as calling you a liar is rude, but you , I am sure can see that it was handled all wrong.

what I do if I was left with this mess?

you have two choices, do nothing and see what happens. or get your pen and paper out, write to her to say that you are upset by how things went, you didnt wish to offend her, that you are sure she didnt wish to offend you either and that your door is always open to her.

I hope this helps in some small way and if its any consolation, I have not handled things well sometimes and wish that I had dont things differently. but its done now and you need to minimise the damage.

tigi

 

[Mbzh]

Hey Jen, I'm sure by now you have had time to gather your emotions and relax after that heated situation. You might even realise yourself that it was not the right thing to have said to a client. I know it's not nice to have a client bad mouthing your service but I think her coming back to you means that she must have realised that she was wrong and she did apologise. Myself personally if a client apologised I would definitely do a service for them again and move on, we all have our bad days sometimes... I agree that her calling you a liar was not nice at all but we don't know her side of the story and how she perceived your attitude towards her, maybe she felt like she was making an effort with you and you was just refusing and the only way she knew how to retaliate was to insult you and your products/equipment.

 

[VHunter]

Please see below for my comments

Hi everyone,

I am sorry but i need to semi vent to all of you. i had a client come in a while back for shellac with terrible nails as a result of removing acrylics, she wanted to try Shellac. I told her that it might not last the 14days, that before this she should try and get her nails healthy again etc. she said she understood and we parted ways both happy. TURNS OUT! she has been telling her friends (who come to the gym i rent a space in) that my shellac service was so terrible that it damaged her nails. EXCUSE ME!!!! i didn't even touch your freaking nails, your discount salon acrylic nails did! ugh!
Out of curiousity, how much time did you spend on your consult and how much did you educate her regarding the trauma on her nails? Did you get into the nitty-gritty why's and whatnot? Or just leave it at "NSS/MMA bad for nails..."? Also, how much time did you spend on 'aftercare' and etc. AND did you encourage her to contact you should there be any problems? Did you retail/gift her some oil?
It's VERY important that at a first appointment, that you build a rapport. That you educate with regards to your services and products and establish the difference between you and NSS (which is so rampant in Qc), then followed by detailed aftercare. Ensure that they understand by asking questions.

Now this is 4months ago, she has the nerve to walk into my spa today! and ask if i had time to do a shellac manicure on her. i basically told her she had a lot of nerve to come into my spa again after almost ruining my reputation in a new location!
Wrong move. You should have smiled sweetly and 'educated' her about your services.

she apologized and told me she was going through a hard time blah blah blah and also told me she retracted her comment about shellac to her friends. i told her it doesnt matter, i will not take her because of it, she understood and asked about the shellac since she had it done at another local spa 2weeks ago.
Big mistake. You had the opportunity to attempt to gain HER loyalty and that of all of her friends and any random stranger in a store that complimented her on her nails.

i told her if you have already have it then you know the info but i am more then happy (not really) to answer any questions. she BARGES!!! into my room and takes a look at my colors and lamp, this is what she said next "oh you don't have a lot of colors, thats too bad. (turns to look at my mani table and lamp) oh what kind of lamp is that, thats not what the other spa uses, how could you use a none cnd lamp?!"
i got so upset! i told her my lamp is a certified CND Shellac Lamp and showed her, also told her the other salon used the wrong lamp with the system. she interrupts me and says "oh you don't know what your talking about, your a liar"
While she may have been discourteous etc, you clearly lost control of the situation and she obviously had no respect for you as a result.
Being firm, polite, and smiling will go a LONG way, even if you have to bite your tongue and rant quietly inside your head.
This is where age and experience come into play.
YES... I've been short with a client. It's happened.
Just four weeks ago I said to a client, quite firmly BUT politely "I'm very sorry, but that is offensive to me" and then I moved on to the next subject. She apologized and let it go and hasn't raised it since and has still returned. There is a 'way' to say and do things in a professional manner.

OHHHH!!!!! needless to say i KICKED HER OUT after that comment!!!! sorry for the rant ladies

Now the thing is if she talks to her friends again (which are 20 of my clients), what do i do? some of them are good clients and i cant really afford to go back to what happened the last time she "talked"

I don't mean to be harsh, but perhaps you could have thought of that before you were abrupt with her.
A good habit to exercise when you're annoyed is bite your tongue, count to 60 in your head, and think of all the different ways to handle a situation and what the likely RESULTS will be. Consider the possible results before you act.
I feel for you. Business is frustrating. BUT IT'S A BUSINESS and we can't run it as we would our personal lives when someone ticks us off.

I won't play the hypocrite, I have 'fired' a client before. BUT for much bigger offenses than that and only AFTER I tried alternative measures of dealing with the client. "Firing" is reserved for the "when all else fails". Usually firing is unecessary, if you establish clear lines of communication and establish a rapport and mutual respect.

Education is key.
MANY of my 'first time appointments' run over their slotted time. WHY? Because I spend a great deal of time EDUCATING my clients. I talk to them, I use written materials, pictures etc. I encourage them with "don't take my word for it, just type mma into google and see what crops up". Quebec is a mess. You know this. I shouldn't have to explain it. To establish trust and a rapport, you have to CLEARLY show why YOU are better than the NSS down the street.

I explain EVERY SINGLE step in my service, I explain what the products are and how they work. I am truthful and honest to a fault. THAT'S why my client's trust me and don't question me. There's a thread here somewhere about one of my client's onycholosis issues that later turned out to be the result of them being too long and her helping to move her mom.
I even linked her the thread to share the information and comments of my peers.
She is my biggest fan and trusts me implicitly.

YES there is the occasional one that won't listen and learn and is just looking for the cheapest service. Steer clear of those and keep your prices out of the reach of the high-school students and welfare-recipients etc. Because if all they are looking for is the price tag and not the quality, you don't want them as clients.

hths'.

Today it's ...
Troubled marriage? Easy get a divorce
Trouble st work? Easy leave and get assistance
Trouble with a client. Easy sack them off (and behave badly as well yourself)
Put two people with the same mentality together and you have the situation above.
And why is the girl clearly unstable? What nonsense.

I would have had that client, eating out of the palm of my hand and had all her friends coming to me too ... But I'm not wasting energy explaining as I'm sure you will neither listen nor understand as that would take a bit of effort and not be easy.

Send her to Onglez Chez Victoria in Motreal ... She knows how to both treat and educate her clients with respect and has a thriving successful business.

Thank you Gigi:hug:

 

[Annemarie]

Ooh I just love this site. The help and advice is brilliant.:biggrin:

 

[Ambur30]

I try to put myself in my client's shoes.

I had a 15 year old client who told all of her friends that my acrylics were "horrible" and "I wouldn't go to her!" Well, yeah, I was angry. And I wanted to slap her. But, I offered a new set for free, sent her a birthday card for 25% off her next service, and still to this day (almost a year ago) haven't seen her in my salon. Would I turn her away if she came in? No... Because if you think someone has wronged you, human nature is to complain about it to your friends. So, she did exactly as I would have done. Truth hurts!

Your client was wrong. But, as a professional, sometimes we have to bite our tongues, grit our teeth, fake smile, and take a hugeeeeee gulp of pride. That one client could cost you 10.

But, as someone else said, I'm sure you've had time to calm down and think about how the situation could have gone differently. No one needs to tell you "how wrong you were" because we have ALL acted with anger at some point in our lives, rather than tact and professionalism.

Take this as lesson learned and try to move on. Your next hateful client will come through the door and you will know how to handle the situation with grace and professionalism.

 

[gr8nailz]

We've all encountered the odd client that can push our buttons, Lord knows I have. But you got what you wanted from her, an apology. You got her back and then you lost her. You gained nothing.

I've always had this horrible hang up...an overwhelming need to win. To me, making her my client when she didn't really want to be...making her fall in love with me...making her think she can't bear to miss an appointment with me...making her look forward to seeing me in two weeks...making her think I'm the best freakin' nail tech on the planet...well, I win!

You missed that chance with her.

 

[sunshineinme]

I just don't understand this logic. If nothing else how is it sound business sense? She appologised and wanted an appointment. I'd have given her that and done my job and had her leave with a great set of nails. No loss of reputation anywhere in that, only reaffirming what great service I can offer?

I expressed my opinion. Not everyone has to have the same one And I don't expect people to share my views.

Everyone's got their way of dealing with things. It is an open forum and therefore we are all allowed to speak our minds.

I replied to the thread. And I think it's great we're differed because at least the author of the thread has got a choice of opinions

 

[geeg]

I expressed my opinion. Not everyone has to have the same one And I don't expect people to share my views.

Everyone's got their way of dealing with things. It is an open forum and therefore we are all allowed to speak our minds.

I replied to the thread. And I think it's great we're differed because at least the author of the thread has got a choice of opinions

So nothing any one of these experienced, not to mention successful, people who have replied with a different opinion to yours, has helped you to see the light and swayed your opinion to think a little differently about this situation? You can't see it could have been handled differently and with a better outcome?

WHOOSH!! That is the sound made when reason, experience and good sound sense goes right over the head of someone too stubborn or arrogant to admit they might be wrong and take good advice on board! Missed opportunity there.

 

[pocketdragon]

Personally i would have pretended not to recognise her as the client who slated me, i would have looked at her as a potential new client. Id have booked her in, done a fantastic shellac and watched her have to eat her words everytime someone commented on her nails and asked who did them! That would have satisfaction enough plus id be getting paid for the priviledge! Bonus! Not to mention regular albeit sheepish regular client!
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but in this instance when cash is waved under my nose who am i to say no??? Afterall she did come back! Xx

 

[sunshineinme]

So nothing any one of these experienced, not to mention successful, people who have replied with a different opinion to yours, has helped you to see the light and swayed your opinion to think a little differently about this situation? You can't see it could have been handled differently and with a better outcome?

WHOOSH!! That is the sound made when reason, experience and good sound sense goes right over the head of someone too stubborn or arrogant to admit they might be wrong and take good advice on board! Missed opportunity there.

Oh Geeg,

It's not a thread about me and I am sharing my views contributing my way to the subject. it's an open forum and as long as we don't disrespect each other but express our views I believe it's ok.

I respect your opinion and don't question it. It's your opinion.

if 'too stubborn etc." comment is about me I find it patronising and a bit aggressive...

I am not here to hijack someone's thread or being publicly called 'arrogant' or 'stubborn' because of my opinions.

I suggest we not carry this any further and allow others to contribute.