I am so worried about ripping off a client - advice please

[sodabubble]

I had a phone call from a lady who has seen my post card in a newsagent. My bf took the call as I was out at the time. She told him that she has always wanted tips, but has never had the confidence to go to a salon. When my bf passed the message onto me he said she sounded a little slow, so i rang her back and was super patient with her, and tried to answer her q's in simple terms.

Anyhoo, the upshot being she has made an appt for sat afternoon for a full set of tips and gel overlays. But I charge £35 for this service and I so dont want to take all of her disability benefits off her, or I would feel so dreadful!

I was thinking of perhaps offering her a mani, f&p, or even nno's as this would be cheaper for her, and I dont want to get a rep of taking advantage of vulnerable people, I would sooner do them for free than charge her! But I know thats not good business sense.

Of course I might be totally wrong, and maybe the lady has a speech problem, but her marbles are intact - I don't want to patronise her but I don't want to be cruel either!

Any advice please geeks? xx

 

[g5m_sh]

Why don't you ring her and say you want to do a consultation with her 1st then you will be able to see for your self and then offer her the treatment that you think is best!

 

[littlegrohl]

honestly mate even people with disabilities can make decisions and as you said her marbles are in tact.. giving her a servic is your job.. now if you were selling her things she didnt need and seeing her every second day you would be taking advantage..
she contacted you.. thats a positive thing.. her confidence is what counts.. so help her..

good luck.. you may have a loyal client in the wings.

 

[Bagpuss]

:hug:...i know you mean well hun, but you have to charge what you charge. The choice to have them done or not is hers, nails are not a necessity they are a luxury.

 

[sodabubble]

:hug:...i know you mean well hun, but you have to charge what you charge. The choice to have them done or not is hers, nails are not a necessity they are a luxury.

thank you so much for the advice everyone, I have been fretting about this! I really hope she has some kind of carer present, as I am worried that if I do what she wants, A) she wont understand the aftercare and end up losing them, or B) people might think I'm some kind of goldigger, and I'll end up getting arrested or something!

I want to make her feel pretty - thats my job - but I am fearful that other people might see me as some kind of monster

But I do appreciate your thoughts, and hopefully I will have more confidence by saturday! xx

 

[perfect10kb]

Hi ,

You don't say what questions you asked on the telephone but from what you have said it appears to me that you are making all sort of assumptions about this potential client which may or may not be true .

Did you actually ASK of she was getting disability benefit ? If not why do you assume she is ?


As with any new client a consultation should be done on the first appointment and , as someone else said you then deciede on the correct treatment. There could be many reasons for this ladys speach impediment and it does not always mean that she is slow.


If , for example this lady has had a stroke this could be why her speach is impaired and it comes across that she is slow.I have worked with stroke victims and have a client at the moment that has had a stroke .Her speach is slow and it takes a while for the brain to process information but she is NOT in any way slow.

At your consultaion you would ask about any illnesses etc . Then you may be a bit clearer about any potential probelm that she may have . If it turns out that she has had a stroke you just need to be very patient with her, The brain this these cases just takes a little while to process any converstation etc


Karen

 

[sodabubble]

of course I will do a thorough consultation with her, as I stated in my first post I feel she may just have a speech problem. I don't intend on treating anyone like a lepar!!

The reason I assumed she may be on a very limited income is because she lives in sheltered housing, where all of the residents are on limited incomes as they have needs and issues preventing them from working at the present time.

And yes perfect10, I know it may appear to you that I am making all kinds of assumptions which may or not may not be true - I dont know what the truth is myself until I get there!

 

[VHunter]

I agree AND understand your dilemma.

A while back, a client was referred to me by a friend. She too, is 'mature' and a tad umm simple? I don't want to say slow or impeded. So simple is probably the best way to describe her.
Her income was limited.

But she was bound and determined to have nail enhancements, whether it was with me or the NSS. I didn't want to insult her. And to be honest, she probably needed the 'moral boost' from them.

Anyway... I always encouraged her to do simple things, and I know it's not adviseable, but I always gave her a rebate on different things. Some things, not even charging her (like the polish over her enhancements).
Heck, she was on a limited income and still wanted to tip me, and generously too. SO SWEET!!

Honestly, I would rather have 10clients like her and give them rebates/discounts, instead of a certain 2 or 3 that I have that drive me absolutely mad, despite always spending a fortune on nail art and retail.
She's an absolute doll!

Because she was ultra gentle with her hands, and cautious, I did advise her to go a tad longer between appointments (to save her some money on refills). She appreciated this.

While she can't afford to come see me at the moment, she still keeps in touch and refers people my way.

It's hard sometimes, situations like this.
One never knows...
And we don't want to hurt their feelings, or insult them.

Best of luck. I'm sure you'll do what's best for her.
But in the end, it's important to remember: she's the client and 'WANTS your services. If you dont give her what she wants, she may go somewhere else. Somewhere else that may not offer a Tech as conscientious as you.

:hug:

 

[sodabubble]

I agree AND understand your dilemma.

A while back, a client was referred to me by a friend. She too, is 'mature' and a tad umm simple? I don't want to say slow or impeded. So simple is probably the best way to describe her.
Her income was limited.

But she was bound and determined to have nail enhancements, whether it was with me or the NSS. I didn't want to insult her. And to be honest, she probably needed the 'moral boost' from them.

Anyway... I always encouraged her to do simple things, and I know it's not adviseable, but I always gave her a rebate on different things. Some things, not even charging her (like the polish over her enhancements).
Heck, she was on a limited income and still wanted to tip me, and generously too. SO SWEET!!

Honestly, I would rather have 10clients like her and give them rebates/discounts, instead of a certain 2 or 3 that I have that drive me absolutely mad, despite always spending a fortune on nail art and retail.
She's an absolute doll!

Because she was ultra gentle with her hands, and cautious, I did advise her to go a tad longer between appointments (to save her some money on refills). She appreciated this.

While she can't afford to come see me at the moment, she still keeps in touch and refers people my way.

It's hard sometimes, situations like this.
One never knows...
And we don't want to hurt their feelings, or insult them.

Best of luck. I'm sure you'll do what's best for her.
But in the end, it's important to remember: she's the client and 'WANTS your services. If you dont give her what she wants, she may go somewhere else. Somewhere else that may not offer a Tech as conscientious as you.

:hug:

thank you SO much victoria:hug: I feel tons better after reading your post! I would hate for her to call up an NSS mobile, or even worse go to the nss as she lives like, a 2 min walk away from it! I will do my very very best to ensure that I can give her some kind of nails to suit her lifestyle and maybe I am just panicking for nothing, but the last thing I want is to be considered greedy or taking advantage, as I would never do anything like that to any client, ever.....and I think I was just being over-cautious! thanks again xx

 

[mercedes69]

I think the best thing would be see how things go when she turns up.

You obviously have the compassion to put her at ease....and like she said she didn't want to go to a salon but plucked up the courage to phone you so she obviously really wants to have something done and feel nice about her hands....

If she is on benefits...I wouldn't feel like you were taking her money. Just for assumption purposes she might not spend it on stuff that we spend money on...cigarettes, booze, holidays abroad, magazines ( I need a mortgage for my magazines ) etc etc... Do you see what I mean?

My Grandma only had a limited pension...but she had stacks of money!!!! Because she basically didn't spend what she got each week...

Anyway that is all assumption....
I am sure she just wants a nice set of nails and so long as she knows how much they are going to cost before the service then I would just do what she asks for.

You have a business...not a charity...but you could always just give her something extra if you felt the need...like a little nail art or a polish...

:hug: for you anyway...for being a compassionate nail tech xxxx

 

[perfect10kb]

Hi ,

What I was trying to say ( badly it would seem ) is that you really just need to wait and see. You will see this lady saturday , do your consultation and decide on the best treatment for her .

Don't give yourself problems by worrying about this and that as none of it may happen . You seem to be a caring person and i am sure you will do what is right for your client . None of us can ask for more than that .


I once heard a lovely little saying which is

'most of my problems have never happened '


Think this really applies here



Karen

 

[sodabubble]

Hi ,

What I was trying to say ( badly it would seem ) is that you really just need to wait and see. You will see this lady saturday , do your consultation and decide on the best treatment for her .

Don't give yourself problems by worrying about this and that as none of it may happen . You seem to be a caring person and i am sure you will do what is right for your client . None of us can ask for more than that .


I once heard a lovely little saying which is

'most of my problems have never happened '


Think this really applies here



Karen

thanks karen :hug: sorry if i seemed snappy, had some bad news, thanks for the advice xxxxxxxx

 

[marioned]

I wouldn't worry too much. Yes, the lady is in some kind of sheltered housing, but she must therefore still be able to take care of herself, as she is not in residential accommodation. I'd be pretty sure she was in charge of her own budgeting because of this.

If it makes her feel good to have her nails done, why not? As to discounts, it is her decision to have her nails done. She telephoned you. You have told her your price and she has agreed to it. I'm sure she doesn't get, or expect, discounts wherever she goes. What about if she gets her hair cut? Chances are the salon don't give her a discount. What if she decides she would like a nice top from a shop to cheer herself up? A discount? I wouldn't think so.

I can see that you are very caring and don't want to seem to be taking advantage of a lady who may have a disability. Quite often there is a resident "warden" to take care of the residents if they need help. You could perhaps get in touch with her to make sure everything is OK, but I feel that this might be taking away the lady's rights by not allowing her to be in control of herself when there is no real evidence to the contrary. How about like some others who said give a little extra, like doing her polish free, or giving her a little bottle of cuticle oil?

I really hope your visit goes well and you find out that you have been worrying over nothing. Let us know how it goes. Good luck!

 

[sodabubble]

thanks marion:hug: I will let you know how it all goes. I really want to give her lovley nails that she loves and can manage to look after, and more importantly I want to make her feel pretty! I feel a lot more at ease about the situation now, thanks so much to you all for all of your replies xx

 

[sodabubble]

update:

She rang me tonight to cancel (I was half expecting this anyway tbh), I asked if she would like to re-book, and basically she had some more q's about Brisa, and did they have a website?, so I had a chat with her, and gave her the cnd site addy, then started asking me why the hell I was a mobile therapist!!

I explained that I am a qualified beauty therapist and I'm mobile, I was dead nice and patient with her, but it was all a bit odd.....bless her, I hope she is ok, she just seemed to flip out at me, I get the feeling she has maybe been taken advantage of in the past, so maybe gets defensive from time to time.


Anyway I wanted to thank you all for your help and replies :hug: xx

 

[minky]

Hiya , I think maybe your instincts were spot on there Sodabubble ,
good on you for being so patient with her ,

have a set price list for one and all and stick to it
if they don't like it (they have a choice to say yes or no)
its that simple hun ,:hug:

let all clients pay the same price .

you will have to get used to not under selling yourself hun ,
so you can earn yourself a living,
Just think about all that good training you had to pay for with your hard earned cash :hug: x x

.

 

[deehair]

:cry: hi there dont be worring abot this at the end of the day it is down to the client if they choose to come to you to have her nails done.
you told her you price of treatment and she booked if she thought she was getting ripped offf she would of gone to somebody else:hug:so chear up hun you have to make a living and shes happy.