Nasty client threatening me

[kellyyork]

I had a client come into the salon where I work on the 5/3/10 she had l+p enhancements. I asked her to fill out a client record card to which she said yes and for whatever stupid reason she only put name and that she was on "a lot" of medication. i didnt see this till she left. i know i know i know, absolutely stupid of me. anyway she had the nails done and was very please.

I told her the length she wanted was far too long but she insisted so she got what she wanted despite my reservations. told her she needed regular infills every 2 weeks. She booked her next 2 week fill at the salon. In this time I ended up leaving the salon as i could no longer afford the £100 a week rent. They were awful about it and basically kicked me out and didnt let me see the appointment book, and.... as she hadnt given me her number i could not cancell. anyway, i was kind of pleased about this as she had been really off and mardy and a little bit bitchy when i did her nails anyway.

Now 4 weeks down the line she has rang me and demanded her money back... saying she has lost 2 nails and one of them is bleeding from where it has come off.

Ive tried explaining to her that this is not my fault, i told her they were too long in the first place and now with there being another 4 weeks growth on there they will be highly unbalanced and in desperate need of a rebalance. she said its my fault as i was not there at the salon to rebalance them for her.

She's threatening to take me to a small claims court and says shes going to go round all the shops in town and show them her nails and make sure i never get work again in this town.

I dont know what to do about this at all as i know im in a real situation as she didnt sign her record card.

 

[banannarama]

hi kelly,

this must be just horrid and stressful for you - looking at some of the threads on here you'd be forgiven for thinking that some people get a kick out of threatening people! can you phone your insurance company for some advice?

:hug:

xxx

 

[kellyyork]

I think im just going to have to give her the money back. Which really peevs me as i know its not my fault and I feel like giving her the money back to shut her up is kind of like me admitting it when im not at fault.
Shes an evil lady. I just wish i'd made sure she had signed her record card. I will NEVER make that mistake again. x

 

[Marilyn Monroe]

Why would you give her any refund. This is saying you are at fault. It's tough you're gone if she wanted an infill surely she could come to your home or you to hers. As for going around all the salons in the area, leave her to it she'll get her karma silly woman.

 

[shedunlop]

Don't you dare give her any money back!! She is trying it on and if you do give her her money back you will open the flood gates to every nutter she knows!

She has no case in Small Claims, it is 4 weeks since she had them done, 2 weeks late for her infills. Tell her to get lost! You will regret it if you don't!:twisted:

 

[Nail Perfection]

She will still "bad mouth" you if you give her a refund. So you may as well not be out of pocket. Any respectable nail salon would merely humour her if she shows them her nails and thank their lucky stars she didn't get them done by them!

Try not to panic, this will blow over. In the meantime it would not do any harm to call your insurance company. They will have heard this before and can give you sound advice.

Hope you can put this behind you very soon x

 

[Glamour Puss7]

Hi Kelly!
Goodness me some people are horrible:twisted: ...! If I was you I wouldn't give her, her money back just ignore her, you gave your advise at the time when you did her nails and she didn't listen to you:?: Its not your fault you have left the salon now either, sound's like you have enough on your plate girl! have you got into another salon:?: The horrible lady will get over herself eventually and she probably wont really mention you and if you find out she has you could probably take out legal action on her...! Hope everything settles again for you soon, PS always take your clients numbers and have your own appointment book xx

 

[kellyyork]

No i'm not in another salon. Busy trying to find a job now (as if it wasnt hard enough anyway)! As soon as she walked out the door and I looked at her record card and saw she hadnt filled it out properly my heart sank, I just knew she was a trouble maker. I think i will just ignore her. she keeps leaving me messages on my answerphone now that im not answering. Im not being spoken to like she spoke to me earlier I told her this. Shes being stupid i know but its still really scary. x

 

[Emily9]

I would not give her, her money back. You gave her the correct advice and if she had your number to phone you 4 weeks later she could of easily had your number to phone you 2 weeks later to sort out about an infill or to ask advice or to reccommend another salon.
In my experience people like this, as someone else has already said will bad mouth you anyway, she is probably already known aswell for this sort of behaviour. You can't let people like this bully you and that's what they are!

 

[jules123]

I have experienced a difficult customer who tried to bully me into paying her off for 'breaking our contract' when i refused to do her nails anymore. All i got was threats, threats & more threats. I did panic at the time but didnt give in to her. I found she was all talk in the end.

Don't give her the satisfaction of having her money back as she will bad mouth you anyway. She chose to ignore your advise, it is her fault not yours. I would seek advise from your insurance just to put your mind at rest.

 

[kellyyork]

Thanks guys. I'll ring up my insurance company first thing in the morning and explain the situation to them and see what they say. I definately feel better about it now after hearing all your thoughts and suggestions. xxx

 

[fozzyo]

Don't give her any money back! She paid you for the work done, you advised what she wanted wasn't appropriate so it was her responsibility. You also advised they should be seen again in 2weeks, it has taken her 4! She has ignored your advice, and since she didn't leave any contact details on your client record it is her responsibility.

Mark her number in your phone and ignore any calls from her or put them straight to voicemail. Don't get drawn into any discussions or arguments.

Mat

 

[Kayleighs Nail & Beauty Studio]

Hopefully with a bit of sense the other salons around the area will realise she should of had them rebalanced and know exactly what happens when you have a broken nail thats draws blood. If it was me she was bad mouthing about you i would of said to the client well you know they r over grown no the wonder you have broken one , i dont put other technicians down just to win a brownie point (if that makes sense lol ) and i hope no way on this earth will you give her a refund , but i hope you get sorted nothing worse when u get nasty people like that who have no common sense.

 

[fozzyo]

Also, if you were in another salon - what would you think if somone called up just to bitch about another nail tech? Would you really take them seriously?

 

[tonitigercharli]

Hi Kelly, you poor thing! Yes we live & learn with these things but any nail tech worth their salt doesn't like it when a client slates another tech coz they know "There but for the grace of God go I!!"
Some people just like to try it on and complain in my eyes- you can usually tell the ones....the consult card is a hard lesson learned :o but as for going into nail salons and slagging you off, isn't this classed as slander?? You could mention this and see if she backs off...I may be wrong but if it was me and I knew I'd done nothing wrong I wouldn't give a refund for no-one! There are plenty of other salons in the town (I know, its where I live) and if she was that desperate she would have booked in elsewhere when she found out you had left. Easier said than done I know, but try not to worry yourself to death over this, stand your ground and in future PLEASE check your card! It's sods law that the one time we don't check or have it filled in that something like this happens. Hope you get this sorted hun :hug: xxx

I had a client come into the salon where I work on the 5/3/10 she had l+p enhancements. I asked her to fill out a client record card to which she said yes and for whatever stupid reason she only put name and that she was on "a lot" of medication. i didnt see this till she left. i know i know i know, absolutely stupid of me. anyway she had the nails done and was very please.

I told her the length she wanted was far too long but she insisted so she got what she wanted despite my reservations. told her she needed regular infills every 2 weeks. She booked her next 2 week fill at the salon. In this time I ended up leaving the salon as i could no longer afford the £100 a week rent. They were awful about it and basically kicked me out and didnt let me see the appointment book, and.... as she hadnt given me her number i could not cancell. anyway, i was kind of pleased about this as she had been really off and mardy and a little bit bitchy when i did her nails anyway.

Now 4 weeks down the line she has rang me and demanded her money back... saying she has lost 2 nails and one of them is bleeding from where it has come off.

Ive tried explaining to her that this is not my fault, i told her they were too long in the first place and now with there being another 4 weeks growth on there they will be highly unbalanced and in desperate need of a rebalance. she said its my fault as i was not there at the salon to rebalance them for her.

She's threatening to take me to a small claims court and says shes going to go round all the shops in town and show them her nails and make sure i never get work again in this town.

I dont know what to do about this at all as i know im in a real situation as she didnt sign her record card.

 

[scissorspaper]

I know I'm not a nail technican but being a hairdresser I've had the odd one try to pull a stunt like this...let her run her mouth you dont want people like her in your salon anyway... let someone else deal with her... you explained they were far too long and 2 weeks for infils left them 4 weeks and surely the only way they would bleed is if she pulled them off!

and say sorry dont do refunds!

let her go to the chinese torture chambers and have them done there! lol

 

[kellyyork]

i've rang my insurance company and have been advised to just give her the money back! Aparently people like her always win because judges don't understand and just see damaged nails and automatically see it as our fault. And aparently the fact i left the salon in negligence?! Which i totally don't understand. So in theory what my insurance company is telling me is that she's legally allowed to do this to me. So does that mean i can go get my hair bleached tomorrow and then leave it 33 days and decide i don't like and want a refund?! I really don't want to give her the money back. But i don't know what to do. I don't want to end up in court and lose and have a heafty bill. X
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[chocolatepickle]

Dont give it back! She would have to be a very desperate person to really take it that far!
Personally I would bluff her if you have to have contact, even if you don't completely understand the legalities of it yet she doesn't know what you do/ do not know law wise.
You can not be the only person in your local area that does nails that could have rebalanced them, you gave her a recommendation firstly to have them shorter- she didn't, secondly, to have them rebalanced after 2 weeks- again she didn't. You gave her the correct advice and she didn't follow it- does she really think you say these things for the fun of it? By not following her part of 'the deal' She has neglected her nails, not you.
Just my opinion! Have you heard more from this client?

 

[kellyyork]

yeah she's rang me again today and i just ignored it as i was driving. She left a message saying had i changed my mind yet and that she will get her money back one way or another. She said 'i may look like an innocent old lady in a wheelchair but i'm not stupid i know my rights' X
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[L119]

Kelly, I feel for you. I used to be area manager for a skincare and nail company and we heard this from our accounts about their clients over and over.

Unfortuantey in my experience your insurance company is probably right, and that the court will see you as at fault as you left the salon and never contacted her - they will side that she re booked in good faith.:sad:

Just out of interest though, how did she get you number?

I'd like to say tell her to sling her hook, but after seeing several of our accounts go through it, I'd say put it down to bad experience, re fund her the money and state thats in honor of you not being able to get a re balance, and that the original nails were fine. Make her work hard to come and get it though, don't deliver the money to her - but don't let her come to your house either!

Good luck with whatever you decide, I know how scary and upsetting it all is:hug: