Rude/abusive clients... what to do?

[Jen2k]

Legally can you refuse a client in your salon if they are being awkward and abusive?

Basically a client had hair extensions done over a month or so ago, and did not keep up with the maintenance appointments (would have been 3 by now and she didnt book any apart from the 1st one she allocated me a half hour for a wash, blowdry, straighten, trim and bond check which i said would take at least an hour) and the extensions are now matted and a complete disaster! On tuesday she came in with her mum and said she wanted them removed at no cost to her and a full refund for the fitting because apparently she thinks they should last at least 3 months without any maintenance or bond checking maintenance done at all. All the aftercare advice was ignored and she's now calling me a liar saying i told her she wouldnt need maintenance and it is all my fault and spent 5 hours yesterday afternoon sending abusive texts to my mobile to that effect!
Now her mum has been bombarding me with calls in the salon today telling me i will do as she says or she will come in tomorrow and cause a scene until she gets her way... im stuck, help!! What can i do?? Has anyone ever experience rude and abusive clients? In the 3 years we have been open i have never experienced anything like this! I am quite upset to be honest.

 

[catsaremad]

I have read your previous posts and I can understand your frustration. I would suggest that you get on to your insurers asap to inform them and get advice from them as to what your nect step would be.

I would also suggest that you pm persianista she is an expert in your field and should have some very useful advice ( please disregard jasper the avatar, Im sure he is a beautiful persian without the rather evil smile !)

Above all stop paniking, take a deep breathe, beleive in yourself and your profesionalism, do not be bullied

best of luck

 

[Jen2k]

Thank you for your reply, i deleted the other posts to condense it down a bit as didnt want to bore everyone too much! lol

The problem is i know that no doubt first thing tomorrow they will both be make an appearance in the salon (before i cant get onto the insurers) and i am completely dreading it because i am not comfortable even doin the removal now after yesterday and all the abuse

Thank you for your advice it is appreciated, have never come across anything like this before, all our clients are so lovely not to mention well-mannered!

 

[catsaremad]

well does that not tell you that you do a good job and that this yound lady is taking the mickey !!!!


Honestly pm persianista lol she takes no prisoners ! xx

 

[persianista]

I take exception to the comments re- jasps the avatar, he is a handsome cat! I have replied to this thread on the hair forum, in my gentle and diplomat way x

 

[catsaremad]

I take exception to the comments re- jasps the avatar, he is a handsome cat! I have replied to this thread on the hair forum, in my gentle and diplomat way x

No honestly I'm scared, I think he looks like the grinning cat from Alice in wonderland lol:Love:

 

[persianista]

sleepy persian baby Poppy make you happier?

 

[catsaremad]

sleepy persian baby Poppy make you happier?

beautiful xxx
:Love:

 

[jotommo]

if she is not welcome in your shop, tell her the police will arrive at the same moment she does, as she is tresspassing!
what a nightmare for you!!
you have done the service and she has not followed the aftercare so its her own fault,
i have a contract befor ei even do them and they are agreeing to to the aftercare as well, its part of it!!
tell her to see you in court if she wants the money that bad, i doubt she will take it taht far! and hopefully she will stay away from your shop x:Love:

 

[eternalscot]

Legally can you refuse a client in your salon if they are being awkward and abusive?

Basically a client had hair extensions done over a month or so ago, and did not keep up with the maintenance appointments (would have been 3 by now and she didnt book any apart from the 1st one she allocated me a half hour for a wash, blowdry, straighten, trim and bond check which i said would take at least an hour) and the extensions are now matted and a complete disaster! On tuesday she came in with her mum and said she wanted them removed at no cost to her and a full refund for the fitting because apparently she thinks they should last at least 3 months without any maintenance or bond checking maintenance done at all. All the aftercare advice was ignored and she's now calling me a liar saying i told her she wouldnt need maintenance and it is all my fault and spent 5 hours yesterday afternoon sending abusive texts to my mobile to that effect!
Now her mum has been bombarding me with calls in the salon today telling me i will do as she says or she will come in tomorrow and cause a scene until she gets her way... im stuck, help!! What can i do?? Has anyone ever experience rude and abusive clients? In the 3 years we have been open i have never experienced anything like this! I am quite upset to be honest.

Im so sorry you are going through this, you do not have to put up with abuse. I would phone up your insurance company. I had a problem once with permanent make up client (same thing idiot and bully mother), these people are dangerous and YOU HAVE TO LOOK AFTER NO.1. Trust me I have experience, text or contact the client and say you do no longer feel comfortable having this person as a client, however if she wishes to take it up with your insurance company if she believe you have not done your job adequately or feel that somehow you should be responsible for her aftercare. Let it be a lesson to you, hair extensions and permanent makeup bring in nutters, the insurance company will they you this too. My friend was sued for hair extension, just some nut case, awful people!

 

[persianista]

you know, your right, I have had more problems with hair ext clients than any other!! unrealistic expectations to blame maybe? or guilt at spending so much on their hair?

 

[Jen2k]

Thank you for all your help and advice its REALLY helped, its just annoying that you do the best possible job and proud of ur work etc then it takes just one person to try and ruin it. How can we possibly make sure they follow the aftercare and take the advice given? We'd be in trouble for stalking if we did! lol From the comments i've seen on this site it does seem to point to these types of clients for the more expensive treatments but if they're forewarned that these treatments need upkeep and maintenance and they change their minds after its been done how is it our fault when they try and blame us??? Even when i wasnt a beauty therapist or extensionist i have never been rude or abusive to any salon or any other professional worker for that matter in my whole life! Its just not needed at all!

Okay so time for the update of today's events as i've had a couple of pm's wanting to know what happened...
I was half right this morning the client turned up (late if she was aiming for the original appointment that i suggested and she wouldnt commit to without the refund) 15 minutes late but i was wrong her mum didnt come with her and her boyfriend dropped her off. I could not believe the change in this girl from the rude and abusive person she had been since tuesday, she was completely different.
I wasnt sure 100% where i should so i came to the conclusion last night that the best way of keeping professionalism and covering my own bum so to speak was to do a disclaimer form for the removal treatment (which i done for no cost but refused any type of refund for the hair extensions) stating in the form that in no way was her problem to do with the fitting or the quality of the hair and that basically it was not my fault she had not had any maintenance done etc. it took up a whole A4 page but i made sure anything that could have gone wrong was covered and i told her that until she fully understood, agreed with what was typed out and signed that the removal was not going to be done at all. She was nice as pie i couldn't believe it! I went through the hair and removed it and her hair was in completely perfect condition, no bald patches, no breakage just like i had tried telling her before!!!!!!!!
I dont want her back in the salon even though she had completely changed today (although during the appointment she was chatting away to herself as i didnt really want to converse too much with her) and she said she was having problems with the hospital and was looking into suing them for negligance about something or other! I couldnt believe the type of person she is, am just glad that ordeal is over.

In a way i am glad this has happened as i have a learnt a most valuable lesson... from now on i have typed up disclaimer forms for both before fitting, aftercare (paper form in black and white so i cant be accused of misinforming people) and detailed disclaimer forms for the removal as well. I will not be put in this situation ever again!! lol

Sorry for the long post!

 

[Martigirl]

glad it all worked out for you xxxx

 

[Jen2k]

Thanks hun, its just a relief and nice that all was handled professionally as possible and that hopefully that will be the end of it now. Just hope she doesnt come back wanting something else done as i will be busy for the rest of my career with no free appointments!! lol xxxx

 

[catsaremad]

well done for thr professioalism and well done for getting your paperwork sorted for future clients

 

[Amber-]

hair extensions and permanent makeup bring in nutters

Really? I'd love to hear some stories haha

OP I am glad it all worked out for you, what a pair of psychos.

 

[tog]

Glad it turned out to be not as bad as you expected.

Unfortunately I think this sort of thing will get more and more prevalent as we now live in a litigious society. Manners and a common sense approach to a perceived problem seem to have gone out of the window. People think that they can get easy money by either sueing someone or intimidating them, instead of talking sensibly and politely and trying to sort things out calmly. Incidentally these advertisements for "no win, no fee" solicitors don't help the situation either. . .

It's strange because I have usually found that if I have a grievance be it with a shop, bank, utility company etc, and I explain the problem and how you would like it to be resolved calmly, and perhaps even with a sense of humour, the majority of the time (whether it's because the person being complained to is relieved that I am not ranting at them?) it gets resolved to my advantage.

 

[elements_aus]

Fabulous job with the form prior to taking them out. That was gold. One thing your original post said that bugs me is "she allocated me a half hour for a wash, blowdry, straighten, trim and bond check which i said would take at least an hour"

How is your client allocating your time not the other way around? I think you need to remember that you are the professional and people come to you for your expertise. Be confidant about what you do.

If you get a complaint like this in the future try and flip it from "it's your fault"/"no it isnt" to "lets work out how this happened together". By asking questions about what they have been doing, could it be because of this, have you tried using that, etc etc you can lead them to the conclusion that it is because of what they have done not a mistake on your part.

And then if they are completely crazy and throw products at you (it was tanning cream and made so much mess!) you can do what I did and ban them. Some people are just no quite right.

Pamela