How important is customer service?

[miss ellie]

Ok, I've just written an email to a (potential) supplier but had second thoughts & decided to ask for some advice here before hitting the send button. Maybe grab a coffee & a couple of biccies for this ...

On 12th August I had an area rep for a newish spray tan solution visit my salon to spray me. I checked the previous night that she would be bringing her own machine as I was leaving for a weekend trip shortly after the demo & wanted to clean my maximist out.

Long story short - the tan was VERY wet & sticky. Her machine kept cutting out & she mentioned a few times about the boss having the better machine & she always had the "dud" (If I had a problem with mine, I simply would never spray a client until remedied). I can only guess she oversprayed to compensate for the machine cutting out. Anyway, this supposedly "dries instantly" tan was sooo tacky that when I went outside to try to dry off quicker I had midgets sticking to me!! It felt jamlike for about 6 hours, put back my departure time & made for a very uncomfortable 2+ hours car journey whereby the backs of my legs were stuck to the leather upholstery for the duration ...

I didn't take Jen x's advice & shower it off asap - I kept it on & as a result had to rethink my entire weekend wardrobe & even buy tights when I got there!! Was sooo badly applied!!

So, when the rep followed up the demo with a call a few days later, I was honest & told her how sticky it had been & how bad it looked after showering. She apologised & said she would have her boss (owner) contact me ...

Heard nothing for a week then I called the owner to explain that whilst I wasn't impressed with my own application, I still wished to receive a sample in order to try it on one of my clients. The reason for this is that the particular product really ticked a lot of boxes for me, so I was very interested - won't say which boxes as this may reveal the solution/company. She stated that the rep's background was more sales & her confidence had been knocked after speaking to me!! Took my details & said she would surely send out a sample along with some complimentary retails products for me to try ... (we're now at 24th August, keep up!!)

NOTHING ARRIVES - then I send the owner an email in September, to which she replies she'd taken down the address 1st line incorrectly & rep had wiped my number off her phone but will definitely send sample out today as it's VAT free next week so an ideal time to place an order...

Fast forward to Nov 1st & - NOTHING HAS ARRIVED!! - was just going to write it off as a bad customer service experience BUT - was chatting to a girl at the weekend with the most fabulous tan - said it was fast drying, minimal smell, was wearing well after 6 days ... It was gorgeous & it's THAT TAN!!

I'm torn between sending the email as I really want to try it out for myself and just drawing a line under it & saying NO!! was treated poorly, not getting my cash. Problem is, more of my clients are picking this product up retail & asking me about the spray tan AND 2 local salons are now doing it & heavily promoting it as the next big thing.

I hate to be taken for a ride by anyone but what to do? AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!

Elaine xx

 

[Suzanne1118]

Ok, I've just written an email to a (potential) supplier but had second thoughts & decided to ask for some advice here before hitting the send button. Maybe grab a coffee & a couple of biccies for this ...

On 12th August I had an area rep for a newish spray tan solution visit my salon to spray me. I checked the previous night that she would be bringing her own machine as I was leaving for a weekend trip shortly after the demo & wanted to clean my maximist out.

Long story short - the tan was VERY wet & sticky. Her machine kept cutting out & she mentioned a few times about the boss having the better machine & she always had the "dud" (If I had a problem with mine, I simply would never spray a client until remedied). I can only guess she oversprayed to compensate for the machine cutting out. Anyway, this supposedly "dries instantly" tan was sooo tacky that when I went outside to try to dry off quicker I had midgets sticking to me!! It felt jamlike for about 6 hours, put back my departure time & made for a very uncomfortable 2+ hours car journey whereby the backs of my legs were stuck to the leather upholstery for the duration ...

I didn't take Jen x's advice & shower it off asap - I kept it on & as a result had to rethink my entire weekend wardrobe & even buy tights when I got there!! Was sooo badly applied!!

So, when the rep followed up the demo with a call a few days later, I was honest & told her how sticky it had been & how bad it looked after showering. She apologised & said she would have her boss (owner) contact me ...

Heard nothing for a week then I called the owner to explain that whilst I wasn't impressed with my own application, I still wished to receive a sample in order to try it on one of my clients. The reason for this is that the particular product really ticked a lot of boxes for me, so I was very interested - won't say which boxes as this may reveal the solution/company. She stated that the rep's background was more sales & her confidence had been knocked after speaking to me!! Took my details & said she would surely send out a sample along with some complimentary retails products for me to try ... (we're now at 24th August, keep up!!)

NOTHING ARRIVES - then I send the owner an email in September, to which she replies she'd taken down the address 1st line incorrectly & rep had wiped my number off her phone but will definitely send sample out today as it's VAT free next week so an ideal time to place an order...

Fast forward to Nov 1st & - NOTHING HAS ARRIVED!! - was just going to write it off as a bad customer service experience BUT - was chatting to a girl at the weekend with the most fabulous tan - said it was fast drying, minimal smell, was wearing well after 6 days ... It was gorgeous & it's THAT TAN!!

I'm torn between sending the email as I really want to try it out for myself and just drawing a line under it & saying NO!! was treated poorly, not getting my cash. Problem is, more of my clients are picking this product up retail & asking me about the spray tan AND 2 local salons are now doing it & heavily promoting it as the next big thing.

I hate to be taken for a ride by anyone but what to do? AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!

Elaine xx

God that's so irritating! You really need your suppliers to be reliable no matter how good a product is! Is there any other suppliers of this product that you could buy it off?

Personally I wouldn't get the same products as my competition, I would find another and promote it even bigger than them!

Choice is up to you though hun, how much are you willing to put up with for the product you want? xxx

 

[miss ellie]

Hi

Unfortunately it's the owner of the company that sells/provides samples. Like I told her - I'm still open to trying it out as I believe it was simply poor application. At least if I test a sample myself I can rate the solution. Very frustrating indeed - if I had a spray tan product & someone wanted to try it I'd have it in the post super fast!!

Elainexx

 

[Blue Rose]

I understand your frustration. Initially I'd be inclined to tell them not to bother but it could mean you end up cutting your nose off to spite your face.

When it comes to skincare, I'm glad I offer a totally different range from all the other salons/therapists around me. One of the reasons I stopped a previous supplier was because of the amount of competition they supplied.

For nails I went with Gelish. It's very very popular round here & I often get clients phoning up & asking for it by name. In comparison, nobody offers Shellac & I've yet to receive a phone call asking for it....

Personally I wouldn't have too much of a qualm with a tan range if others were doing it if it was better than what I was already offering. Only you can decide on that so maybe you should hold out for getting a sample & then make your decision based on that.

Are they a new company & beset with teething problems? Or rather, were they when you 1st enquired & they've now got their act together?