Salon self employment help/damaged reputation/upset clients

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Pixie Hair

Active Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2013
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Location
Winchester
Hello, I have ran into a few problems recently with a hair salon that I have been working in on a self employed basis and would hope that somebody would be able to offer me some professional advice.

I started working in this salon several months ago. The agreement was for me to pay a daily rental for the days that I was in the salon working. This has all been fine so far.

I am a self employed hair extension technician and am the only one in the salon doing this job, which was the reason for me choosing this particular salon. Since starting work here I have been fitting hair extensions on new clients that the salon have provided me, and I have been bringing my current clients to their premises for fittings and have been recommending my clients to use their hair cutting/colouring services.

To cut a very long story short, I brought one of my best paying clients into the salon for a removal of hair extensions, a colour, a cut and a refit of new extensions. The salon turned my clients hair green. Twice. I then asked them to fix it and they did so, but with an attitude towards me. The colour was not perfect by any means but I figured I would be able to cover the discoloured hair with the new extensions in the hope that it would blend and give a great over all finished result. I was wrong. Even after fitting these extensions the colour did not match, it looked dreadful and you could still see tints of green and an off brown colour (the colour was supposed to be copper red.)

After 8-9 hours of working on my clients hair and putting her through distress, we finally got there. The salon charged her £75 for this.

A few weeks later my client contacted me to say that she has washed her hair since and she is still unhappy with the colour and the green had came through a lot. I then decided to seek information and advice else where and several salons had told me that it should have been a straight forward procedure.

By the time I replied to my client, she had already booked back in with this salon, and ofcourse they ruined it even further. Her extensions, which she paid £460 for are discoloured, and her natural hair is all now dark brown, with the extensions still remaining a patchy copper colour. Not a good look.

I have contacted the salon and requested for a full refund on my clients behalf as she is too embarrassed to do so herself and I feel that it is my responsibilty to look after my clients that I have referred to them. In doing so, the owner of the salon has now 'terminated my position at the salon.' and won't seem to do much to help and has said that the issue lies between them and my client. (Fair.)

However she is now trying to say that her reasons for letting me go are due to me; 'damaging the salons reputation,' she has claimed that she has had 'several complaints from my clients regarding hair extensions' (This i had never heard of until now and all my clients contact me directly) and she is now claiming that she has contacted the salon that I previously worked with for a reference, which aparently is poor.

I don't understand. As far as I can remember I have never given them the information of my previous places of work. Is it even legal for them to do this without my permission?

I must also add, that I have also paid the salon £90 to colour my hair from brown to a light blonde/silver grey. Since doing this they have destroyed my hair, it is falling out. I have lost 50% of my hair and I have to go to another salon and get it cut into a bob. They also turned it blue, when 'toning' my extensions and accepted no liability. I have spent a lot of money trying to fix my hair and have had to remove my £460 extensions as they are distroyed. The week previous to this happening I agreed with the salon that I would offer the staff 50% discount and so the owner received a set of extensions done by me for £230. The normal cost for this is £460.

I feel like I have been robbed, treated poorly, and completely wasted my time in a salon that is incompetent and rude.

What are my rights? Can I take this to a small claims court? And what can I do about my very distressed client? Also, has this salon owner broken the law by requesting for my 'reference' to a previous salon that I also was 'self employed' in?

Thank you. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
That sounds like a grim situation but I think you have to chalk it up to experience.

Do you have a written contract between yourself and the salon stating the terms and conditions of the agreement and detailing any termination clause? You might have some room for negotiation there.

The issue of poor service with regards to your client and the salon is strictly between those two parties so you can't intervene other than offer your client a discount or free products as an apology for recommending them. However, you're under no obligation to do so.

With regards to chasing up a reference, there's nothing illegal about asking. If you think the other salon gave out personal information, you could raise that with them but not sure how it would help the current situation.

I think it's vital when renting out space in a salon or offering a chair rental that both parties check each other out thoroughly to ensure they're a 'good fit' and share similar work ethics.
 
I don't think small claims would be worth it in the long run. It's a shame you have had to go through this with your employer but best to find out sooner then later. If they are as atrocious with coloring services as you have witnessed, you don't want any part of that salon and your reputation anyways. Hopefully you have picked up a few new extension clients from them and can move on with ease. Every salon has stylists @ different levels of knowledge maybe next time watch the staff and pick out the best color tech and chat with her about doing your clients colors and offer a special first time offer to the new salons existing clients to get in there with them and see if your new color friend will offer the same to your clients.Sounds like the salon ego was bruised and they fight back dirty verbally with lies just ignore this as the truth always shines forth and there will be no evidence to damage your reputation it sounds like hearsay to me as they lash out. Any responsible salon owner/manager would look into the situation and rectify the blunder them selves. When I managed, I would offer to fix any stylists complaints free of charge to keep face for the biz. Sounds like they see themselves as a whole and you as separate from their whole and a request into a botched job should be handled by the manager not met with slander and pettiness. Lick your wounds waste no time on it and move on they are not worth engaging with
 
The salon has broken the law by terminating your contract without good reason. Did you sign any contracts or agreements when you started renting there? I would possibly speak to someone who knows employment law, Google unfair dismissal. Good luck finding a new chair. Where are you based? Fancy moving to the seaside no one does extensions where I work[emoji1][emoji295]️ lol x
 
The salon has broken the law by terminating your contract without good reason. Did you sign any contracts or agreements when you started renting there? I would possibly speak to someone who knows employment law, Google unfair dismissal. Good luck finding a new chair. Where are you based? Fancy moving to the seaside no one does extensions where I work[emoji1][emoji295]️ lol x

But she's not employed so employment law doesn't apply in this instance. :)
 
Sounds like they are terrible at doing colours and have had a bargain out of your discounted hair extensions. They are in danger of ruining your reputation so the quicker you are out of there the better!

Did they really contact your ex-employer? they may just be saying they did, especially if they didn't know where you worked.
 
Surely you have no rights you were self employed? If the salon owner didn't see you as a right fit they can terminate your contact. In the same way you could have terminated yours with x amount of notice.
 
Surely you have no rights you were self employed? If the salon owner didn't see you as a right fit they can terminate your contact. In the same way you could have terminated yours with x amount of notice.

Hi hairqueen. I do understand that they have the right to terminate the contract. That is not the issue at hand or why I was really looking for advice. I would have left the salon regardless due to their incompetence. I was more so trying to find out what my rights are in regards to the '£230 discounted extensions in return for advertisement,' which I will no longer get, alongside the damage to my business reputation, my hair, confidence and the hair and confidence of my clients. If you have any knowledgeable answers in regards to this I would love to hear.

Many thanks to all of you for your kind responses and support.
 
I don't think small claims would be worth it in the long run. It's a shame you have had to go through this with your employer but best to find out sooner then later. If they are as atrocious with coloring services as you have witnessed, you don't want any part of that salon and your reputation anyways. Hopefully you have picked up a few new extension clients from them and can move on with ease. Every salon has stylists @ different levels of knowledge maybe next time watch the staff and pick out the best color tech and chat with her about doing your clients colors and offer a special first time offer to the new salons existing clients to get in there with them and see if your new color friend will offer the same to your clients.Sounds like the salon ego was bruised and they fight back dirty verbally with lies just ignore this as the truth always shines forth and there will be no evidence to damage your reputation it sounds like hearsay to me as they lash out. Any responsible salon owner/manager would look into the situation and rectify the blunder them selves. When I managed, I would offer to fix any stylists complaints free of charge to keep face for the biz. Sounds like they see themselves as a whole and you as separate from their whole and a request into a botched job should be handled by the manager not met with slander and pettiness. Lick your wounds waste no time on it and move on they are not worth engaging with
I like!!!! I think it's exactly that, they know they're wrong and cowboys and are just making it worse, just pick up the pieces and move on - lesson learnt there. X
 

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