New client texted me and said I suck!

[Killakels61]

A new client came in today, had heard great things about my salon. She had an almost perfect, 3 day old set of gel polish on (she wasn't sure what brand), with a couple of tiny chips. She is hard on her nails as she is in the cna field. Had nothing nice to say about her two previous salons. Complaints from the way her nails felt to the way they took them off. Was not happy about how long it took them to soak off (about 15 mins, which I explained to her so normal). When I soaked her gel polish off (for free) it came off easily with no scraping and her nails looked great afterwards. I applied black gelish, and glitter on her ring fingers, even applied a free lacy stamp over the top of the glitter fingers for free as a new customer gift! She texted me later saying they were flawed, she wasn't satisfied, and that she would like a refund. I replied that I would soak them off and apply it again the next day no charge. She went off on a rant about how terrible they looked and that she liked them better before. I explained that we replace and fix but do not do refunds. She said literally "well you should because you suck haha. Dude at least get a better light or a bigger window. They look great inside" I said "thank you I appreciate that comment, have a great afternoon and haven't answered her back. She's pestered me all afternoon. She asked if I'm my own great manager and said she would like to speak to one about getting her money back. I still haven't answered her because I know I'll say something I shouldn't, especially because I am the manager. What should I do?

 

[Murfles]

If she keeps pestering you I would just send one more message saying "look as I said before, I am willing to redo/replace but as per salon policy, we do not refund. I am the manager and will not break policy for any reason - that's why we have a policy in place. If you would like a redo, please let me know". If she then keeps going on, just ignore her. Sounds like she is just after a freebie. If you absolutely must refund her, TAKE THE NAILS OFF FIRST. Never give someone a refund and let them keep the nails

 

[Killakels61]

Thank you, great advice!

 

[MamaG]

I wouldn't let a client speak to me like that. I would tell her she is no longer welcome at my salon.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using SalonGeek mobile app

 

[Helengrace000]

Gosh she sounds like a horrible person! To say you suck and being nasty like that, I wouldn't want to see her again. You offered to redo so that's that! Xx

 

[facelashbrow]

I would reiterate what you said before but on the phone not via message.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using SalonGeek mobile app

 

[Perfecttennails]

What a horrible woman! I would call her instead of texting and explain you don't offer refunds, you will check them and replace if necessary but no refund as per your policy. Inform her if she keeps messaging you with derogatory comments, you will report her and leave it at that.
If she does come back, inform her that you do not want her custom after you sort the problem x

 

[Leeanne67]

Sorry I'm new to nails and I may be wrong on this but if someone told me I sucked I wouldn't even entertain the thought of servicing them again. She is rude and disrespectful. I would say sorry I won't be spoken to like that, I am not the technician for you.

 

[Jen889]

Sorry I'm new to nails and I may be wrong on this but if someone told me I sucked I wouldn't even entertain the thought of servicing them again. She is rude and disrespectful. I would say sorry I won't be spoken to like that, I am not the technician for you.

This is the perfect scenario of where you would offer to remove/redo and when the client comes in put the biggest smile on, then never book her again without saying anything. You keep the peace, so to say, to keep up the reputation of your salon whether you think she will talk bad about you or not.

 

[Kim Lawless]

Pick up the phone!!!!! Call her and tell her straight that she had nothing nice to say about her previous techs so you're not surprised to hear from her.

Then tell her that there was nothing wrong with the nails that you did and not only will she not be getting a refund but she's banned from the salon. Make sure that you tell salons in your area her name.

If you had done something wrong then you should always do everything to make your client happy but you can't let these serial complainers blackmail you which is what she's doing as the next thing will be saying is that she's going to badmouth you to everyone on social media.

Fight fire with fire and stand up for yourself.:hug:

 

[Mrs Bod]

I notice you said her previous set had been on for three days?
Sounds to me like she's on a salon crawl getting free nails!! xx

 

[Kasey590]

Haha omg. What a piece of work! Call her from another number and set her straight on company policy etc.

Also, tell us what happens lol!!! OMG! U poor woman :-(

 

[xnailsbylisax]

I would tell her not only are you refusing to refund due to salon policy but also due to the fact she called you 'dude'.

 

[lisalarry]

After the first refusal of the offer of a redo I would then withdraw that offer! I could not actually sit facing that woman for the treatment time without wanting to slap her! (I wouldn't! But I'd want to!)

She's going to bad mouth you anyway, it was a good suggestion of calling her and also letting other salons know of her in your area.

She sounds like the worst kind of client you really don't want! 😡

 

[blossom]

I would personally put it in a text message as its a written record that you have offered to repair x

 

[W00bear]

I would ignore her - she sounds like she's just on the ponce to me and I imagine she tries it on at every salon! X

 

[NailMadness]

What a horrible lady! Don't let anyone speak to you like that, so rude and not needed.

 

[Chickafish]

The red flag for me is always when they start bad mouthing another person in front of me. If they didn't hesitate to bad mouth another in front of me before I've even finished, they're not going to hesitate go to another to bad mouth me there. She's just after freebies, and by the sound of it, she got more than enough freebies off you. You've offered to rectify the problem (if there was even any to begin with), and she's shot you down by acting childish and insulting you further. So really, there probably isn't a problem with her nails, and she's done this loads of times before. Get them done, wreck them, then complain for a refund only to go get them done elsewhere and do the same so her nails stay lookin fresh. If she comes back, it's really on you what you wanna do- fix them or give her a refund. But if you really had to give her a refund, remove your work off her fingers and give her a partial for the use of your products. Good luck!

 

[char1112]

Tell her she sucks!

 

[char1112]

Sorry, I don't mean that......