Please help, I've stained a client's designer bag

[Lovebeauty121]

please advise me
Last week I had a client come in who wanted me to do shellac manicure, pedicure full leg wax eye lash tint bikini in two hours as she had to catch the train. I was so rushed and panicked when she come into the treatment room she dumped her mulberry handbag in the way of my
Work station, me not thinking just worked around it some how i don't know how dropped some eyelash tint on her brand new mulberry hand bag. I'm devastated and couldn't apologie enough she was fine and said mistake happen - a week later i now receive this message
Hi Jess hope all is well. I have taken my bag to mulberry and unfortunately there is nothing they can do. xxxx is in London this week and is going to take it to the bag doctor. He is really pissed off about it. I will let you know how he gets on xx
What do i say and do ? Is it my responsibility?

[name removed]

 

[BannerPenguin]

Unfortunately I do think this is your responsibility.

 

[cheekychick]

I'd say it's your responsibility as you should have asked her to move it.
I always keep clients belongings away from anything that could possibly damage their property as a precaution, it just saves situations like this.

Fingers crossed this bag doctor or whoever he is can rectify it. Then if I were you I'd offer to pay for it. (With a receipt of proof of what's been done of course)
Replacing her whole bag will be costly but personally If it can't be fixed I'd offer to replace it.

It's a pants situation but it's something that I'm sure won't ever happen again as this will always be in your mind xx

 

[laurakate]

Really sorry to hear this has happened

In addition to the advice above, going forward, don't let a client rush you because they can't sort out their time management. Don't let it become your problem. If a client only has a two hour window, be realistic with yourself and indeed them on what is possible.

 

[Lovebeauty121]

I'd say it's your responsibility as you should have asked her to move it.
I always keep clients belongings away from anything that could possibly damage their property as a precaution, it just saves situations like this.

Fingers crossed this bag doctor or whoever he is can rectify it. Then if I were you I'd offer to pay for it. (With a receipt of proof of what's been done of course)
Replacing her whole bag will be costly but personally If it can't be fixed I'd offer to replace it.

It's a pants situation but it's something that I'm sure won't ever happen again as this will always be in your mind xx

I always move clients belongings I'm so professional normally in the 10 years Iv done beauty Iv never had this happen to me , I can't afford to pay for a £5000 bag that would send me into debt. She just put me under so much pressure that this mistake happened and she always does it to me. Im a busy therapist back to back 12 hour shifts I'm just not good in this situation

 

[coco.]

I would claim on your insurance, that's why you have it for this type of situation

What a horrible thing to have happen

 

[cheekychick]

As above, claim on your insurance. That's what it's for.

 

[KrisKross]

Ah this is my worst nightmare, I'm so sorry for you.

Hopefully the bag doctor can sort it out and if so I would ask for a copy of the receipt and reimburse her. If not it'll have to go through your insurance.

 

[pinknsparkly]

I would just message her apologising again and explaining how you were just trying to put her first so felt rushed and in future you will learn and not put yourself under so much pressure to get treatments done in a certain amount of time and you realise you were wrong now to agree to do all the treatments in that time.... as now this has happened and that you are not in a position to be able to afford things like this happening. Let her know you are still very sorry and that you really hope something can be done to fix the bag and ask her to keep you updated. Hopefully by making her realise what pressure she put on you and letting her know you are still genuinely bothered she may not seek for you to pay for replacement.

 

[attitude]

I would just message her apologising again and explaining how you were just trying to put her first so felt rushed and in future you will learn and not put yourself under so much pressure to get treatments done in a certain amount of time and you realise you were wrong now to agree to do all the treatments in that time.... as now this has happened and that you are not in a position to be able to afford things like this happening. Let her know you are still very sorry and that you really hope something can be done to fix the bag and ask her to keep you updated. Hopefully by making her realise what pressure she put on you and letting her know you are still genuinely bothered she may not seek for you to pay for replacement.

Nooooo...don't say this to her. It will pee her off. Get a receipt then claim through your insurance.
Also, never let yourself be this rushed. Just say no.

 

[pinknsparkly]

If you think so. If I was the lady and.someone said this to me I'd be tempted to feel sorry for the therapist and just say it's fine forget it. Of course claim on your insurance if it does "piss her off" and she pursues it but just don't see what you have to lose by being honest about why it happened ... I'm not saying deny it was soley your fault or anything. Suppose it depends what sort of person she is but this approach certainly wouldn't pee me off it would just make me think about it from the therapists point of view and have some empathy but I suppose we do live it a world where that is dying and things like bags mean a lot to people so you are possibly right.

 

[cheekychick]

If someone expected me to just accept an apology for ruining my handbag (especially one that was that expensive) and tried to tell me basically it was my fault for rushing her then I would go mad. I'm sorry but it's just my opinion.
She is a client, and it boils down to your reputation.

Unfortunately on this occasion it was a really expensive bag but £5 or £5000 it's ruined and The op was the one that dropped the product on the bag so I think needs to rectify the situation.

 

[pure]

An alternative solution would be for the client to claim on their own Accidental Damage cover if they have it on the home insurance and you offer to pay their excess. Otherwise as others have said you'll have to claim on your liability insurance.

On a side note I'd be too scared to even own a handbag worth £5k.....I'm way too clumsy

 

[AcidPerm]

Apologise profusely and immediately offer to rectify the situation in full, no quibble.

It shouldn't cost you too much as that's why you have insurance cover.

Trying to shift the blame onto the client would just lose you her business and potential business from anyone she mentions it to.

 

[cheekychick]

An alternative solution would be for the client to claim on their own Accidental Damage cover if they have it on the home insurance and you offer to pay their excess. Otherwise as others have said you'll have to claim on your liability insurance.

On a side note I'd be too scared to even own a handbag worth £5k.....I'm way too clumsy

Same!
Although I wish I had a spare 5k lying around to spend on a bag [emoji15]

 

[Makenna]

Same!
Although I wish I had a spare 5k lying around to spend on a bag [emoji15]

If I had a spare 5k the last thing I would spend it on is one bag!

I have no other advice than what people have already said, I know it's a horrible situation but try not to let it get to you too much, at the end of the day accidents do happen. Good luck x

 

[pinknsparkly]

I never said shift the blame I just meant make her aware of what you have done wrong as a therapist as to why it happened. I.e. it's. My fault I shouldn't have pushed myself that far... as in appologise for yourself but at the same time letting her indirectly know that she has put on you a bit. It is the therapists fault ultimately for not saying no to the treatments in that time and this is just what I would do as I'm sorry I would not just want a claim going through if it could be avoided- I would also not mention insurance unless the lady does - my policy says do not tell the client you have insurance unless they actively try to claim so to offer that information freely wouldn't be an option for me.

But then again I am probably not giving the best advise as I've never found myself in a situation like this as I never ever over book myself as a rule no matter how pushy someone is as that's when you take your eye off the ball and these things happen. Sometimes by putting the client first and trying to accommodate backfires and you end up shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[Xbeautyx]

Id reply with an apology and ask her to let you know how the bag gets on at the handbag doctors first. Shes obvs contacted you to keep you in the loop as it sounds like she'd like something back, if maybe payment for repair or a replacement so in the mean time get your insurance all sorted and see what the process is with that if you need to make a claim and then you can smoothly and quickly ask for everything thats needed from her to do the claim and it can be rectified as quick as possible. Also be carefull not to get taken for a ride, i have no idea if you'll be asked to send the damaged one to the insurance company or what but she may well be trying her luck at getting a new hand bag so then she has two!
Also as rubbish as this situation is and after all you was trying to do her a favour still put yourself in her shoes and do what you can to help but i dont think its a bad thing to say you simply cannot afford to replace the bag if that what she ultimately wants! 5k for a hangbag is a different level sort of money and like others have said, who has a spare 5k that they can buy of all things a new handbag?!
A hairdresser at my salon knocked a bowl of red hair dye down off her trolly once and it splatted everywhere and went onto a ladys michael kors handbag, it got wiped off the leather partnand seemed ok and the girl has never tried to claim anything! These things happen so dont beat yourself up xx

 

[Verve Designs]

£5,000 for a BAG???....to carry things in?...like, a bag?....that you put other expensive stuff in?....

I'm in the wrong line of business.

Sorry OP, I know this isn't all helpful, but I thought that was a typo - until I went on the Mulberry website.

Quite frankly, If my wife bought a £5k bag I'D need the "Handbag Doctor" to resuscitate me.

 

[Miss_Holly]

I would just message her apologising again and explaining how you were just trying to put her first so felt rushed and in future you will learn and not put yourself under so much pressure to get treatments done in a certain amount of time and you realise you were wrong now to agree to do all the treatments in that time.... as now this has happened and that you are not in a position to be able to afford things like this happening. Let her know you are still very sorry and that you really hope something can be done to fix the bag and ask her to keep you updated. Hopefully by making her realise what pressure she put on you and letting her know you are still genuinely bothered she may not seek for you to pay for replacement.

Omg that would pee me off if I were a client [emoji87][emoji85] I'd be asking if they were that pressed why they didn't say it was realistic from the get go, this sounds a lot like passively blaming the client [emoji27]