Payment before or after service?

[thatonegirltiff]

Hey everyone!

So I have a few questions.

So I had a client come to my home today to get acrylic nails. I charge $30.00 for a full set with free nail art and free choice of glitter colored smile line. Before she came over today she asked me what the price was and I told her 30, she then said okay I will be there in a few hours (for her appointment) Anyways I do her nails, she wanted three different colors as far as her nails, then she had some pretty complex art that took me about an hour to do. Her total service being about 3 hours. So I finished her nails and I told her it would be 30. She tells me Sorry I don't have any money right now. I WAS SHOCKED! I just asked her if she was kidding because she cracked several jokes through out her appointment. Anyways to make things worse, she was making her way to the door. She just said no, I really don't, I am sorry. She then bolted out my front door. What is wrong with people.

I now can't find her facebook account that she messaged me from. So I am pretty sure I am out of the $30...

So of course, my question is Do you accept payment before or after service?
Have you had anything similar happen?

 

[BABC]

That's so bad, I'm sorry that happened to you.

I would hope she is a one off but if this were to happen again to you then you won't be happy, and there is no harm in taking payment first.

Just remember karma! Hope she comes back and pays you xx

 

[CFBS]

Really sorry to hear this.

You may have to put this one down to experience unless you have some sort of genuine contact name or phone number.
Once we had a client that came regularly and always paid cash. Then one day she paid by cheque with a cheque card number we wrote on the back.
A week or so later the cheque bounced back. We tried contacting the client at home - number didn't work. We then tried calling the nursing home she said she worked at - they had never heard of her.
I contacted her bank and they refused to write to the client about the bounced cheque!
So much for writing a guarantee number on the back of the cheque...
Still annoys me now years on.
However she never came back and it is the only time it has happened in 25 years.
Take heart in the fact that it is a rare occurrence (but always get some contact number off them!)
Xx