Sat in tears at customer complaint

[NailAddiction]

Ok so I'm Sat in tears at the moment because I have just received a FACEBOOK message from a client I did a few weeks ago telling me she is contacting her solicitor to make a claim against me because her nails are in that much of a mess that she can't use her hands!!

When she came in she was getting them already at a discounted price and all the way through she was picking and looking at everything I was doing. She then text me the next day to say her cuticles were bleeding and when I said they weren't bleeding when u left the salon when did they start she said 10mind after i left!! She then contacted me to ask how she removed them so k told her to soak them in a nail polish remover that had acetone and that was that! Now she is trying to say I have ruined her hands!!

I am knewly qualified and just setting myself up in a hairdressing salon and am now terrified and don't know what to do. And I will own up on her I haven't yet got insurance if she does make a claim about me and I get insurance in the next day or two will it cover me??!!
Please help ;(

 

[Curlywurly82]

no, insurance will only cover you from the policy start date and not for previous work undertaken.

have you seen the damage you have supposedly done? maybe this woman is just trying to scare you to try and get you to offer a settlement as a way of getting money?

 

[Katelisa]

It must be an awful feeling, but Why are you working without insurance in the first place? That's really irresponsible and totally unprofessional.

Another side point, why did you advise her to soak in polish remover with acetone, and not just pure acetone?

 

[Popart]

DO NOT TELL HER YOU HAVE NO INSURANCE!!!!

If u do (the only way to say this) is you will be up **** creek!!!

Ask her to come in so you can see her hands! How long ago did u do her nails? If u can get her in take a look and explain what you can.
If she still is being negative offer her a voucher.
Dont get weak with her be strong! Chin up doll u will get through it. But saying that get insurance right now, u need it big time! The amount of claims since the recession has went sky high so keep urself safe!

Let me know how u get on xxxxxxxx

 

[NailAddiction]

Yes I no having no insurance is stupid but I have just been concentrating on trying to set myself up!

I will contact her now and ask to see her hands and offer her a treatment to help her, thanks for that advice x

 

[Becky_simon]

Ok so I'm Sat in tears at the moment because I have just received a FACEBOOK message from a client I did a few weeks ago telling me she is contacting her solicitor to make a claim against me because her nails are in that much of a mess that she can't use her hands!!
When she came in she was getting them already at a discounted price and all the way through she was picking and looking at everything I was doing. She then text me the next day to say her cuticles were bleeding and when I said they weren't bleeding when u left the salon when did they start she said 10mind after i left!! She then contacted me to ask how she removed them so k told her to soak them in a nail polish remover that had acetone and that was that! Now she is trying to say I have ruined her hands!!

I am knewly qualified and just setting myself up in a hairdressing salon and am now terrified and don't know what to do. And I will own up on her I haven't yet got insurance if she does make a claim about me and I get insurance in the next day or two will it cover me??!!
Please help ;(

Oh hunny I really feel for you I do, I to am just starting out and this is really not what you want.

Firstly I agree with every1 else has said, you really shouldn't be doing any work without insurance hunny, this is just basic common sense really. Especially when you want to make a success of yourself, you have to do things by the book! Like a pervious poster has stated even if you get insurance it will be dated from after the date this happened, so you still won't be covered.

I would try and make the most of this horrible situation by staying calm and professional, and seeing her again offering to repair the damage at a discounted price. The strange thing is if her cuticles were not bleeding when you left her, why did they start bleeding after? Did you cut her cuticles? Do you get your client's to fill out a Client Consultation Form? As technicially these occurances have happened since leaving you, so they are her responsibilty. If she has picked at her cuticles you can't help that, but without the form you can't really say much.

I also agree with the previous poster, you shouldn't have advised her to soak off in nail polish remover with Acetone. You should have stated Pure Acetone, failing that though you should have recommended that if she wanted them removing to come back to you, at least that way you could of had a look for yourself at whats going on.

If you can give her some TLC, and offer a discount, or a discount on her next treatment she may re-consider the solicitor! Good Luck :Love:

 

[Bagpuss]

Relax...i cant see anything coming from this...to prove that something you have done has left her unable to use her hands would be unheard of.

Ask her to come and see you...just be as nice and polite as you can, give her the money back if thats what she wants (normally i wouldn't offer refunds if something wasn't my fault but as you have no insurance and she is being stroppy you would be best to)

what exactly is she saying is wrong with her hands...?

 

[shedunlop]

The first thing you should have done is asked her to come and show you her nails, bleeding cuticles and all before giving any advice about removal. Then you should only have advised her to return to you for removal.

You cannot take responsibility if she removes her own nails if you have advised her to return to you for removal.

You still need to see her nails and assess what they are like. Ask her to come in to you as you need a photo of the nails if she is to make any sort of claim.

Having no insurance is a huge risk and you will learn from this experience.

Upside is that she hasn't lost both hands, her nails are a bit sore, probably from her picking her nails off.

Get her in and have someone else, preferably a professional to look at them with you. :wink2:

 

[elliemay]

aww you poor thing!! what a b****! ive had a real problem with a client before she was also a nasty piece of work. doesnt surpize me she had it at discount, only looking for cheap deal always trying to get somthing for nothing.

I would most defo recommend getting insurance mine cost be about 100 pounds i think i know it seems like a lot of money because its very unusal for somthing bad to happen but its defo needed. it will only count from the day of getting tho.

would most deffintly ask her to come so u can see what extcally is wrong. for furture prefence if u have a problem where by the nails are wrong just soak them off and give them their money back that way they cant try to anything. youve removed them properly and given after care advice there should be no problem with the hands. good luck let me know how it goes xx

 

[shedunlop]

The other thing that is handy is if you get a client who you are not sure about, maybe an offer or someone picking at everything you are doing. Take a photo of their nails before they leave or get someone else to have a look for you. Obviously don't do this in an obvious way, just get one of the other girls to ask to see them and say they are lovely. That way you have some sort of comeback if she is saying they are bleeding or whatever! You get a nose for the troublemakers eventually! :wink2:

 

[Curlywurly82]

be careful with offering her anything - in the unlikely case she does decide to take this further it could be seen as an admission of guilt.

If you do offer her anything do so in writing and mark it "without prejudice" and state you are only offering it as a gesture of goodwill and do not accept liability due to x.

 

[gr8nailz]

You'll find in your career that you'll have clients make claims like this...that they're going to contact their solicitor/lawyer/attorney. Over a set of nails? Really?

It's a scare tactic. Those of "oldies" just laugh when someone says this to us, if they dare. It's total bullsh*t.

As Shedunlop says, you needed to see her nails in order to assess them. If she contacted you to ask how to remove them, she assumed responsibility.

Don't let her ruffle your feathers. Sounds like what we call in this business, a "picker." She picks at her cuticles and her nails.

Admit to nothing and offer her nothing. She soaked off the nails. You have no responsibility to her.

 

[Andrea85]

You'll find in your career that you'll have clients make claims like this...that they're going to contact their solicitor/lawyer/attorney. Over a set of nails? Really?

It's a scare tactic. Those of "oldies" just laugh when someone says this to us, if they dare. It's total bullsh*t.

As Shedunlop says, you needed to see her nails in order to assess them. If she contacted you to ask how to remove them, she assumed responsibility.

Don't let her ruffle your feathers. Sounds like what we call in this business, a "picker." She picks at her cuticles and her nails.

Admit to nothing and offer her nothing. She soaked off the nails. You have no responsibility to her.

I agree with this, it is very unlikely that she will really take the matter any further. It would take a lot of her time and money, she's probably just trying to scare you.

You know that you shouldn't have been working without insurance, but it's doen now. No point people havung a go at you for that. You've admitted to your mistake. Just please get insured ASAP!

Even though it is unlikely to go any further, i would write down exactly what happened in your own words, and exactly what she's said to you since. The fact that she's chosen Facebook to contact you makes me even more dubious about the whole situation. If I was really that unhappy, i would be calling you and going to see you in person.

Again, as already mentioned, don't admit fault and don't offer to try and fix her nails, she is the one that has damaged them.

I hope everything works out, let us know how you get on x

 

[sammi010]

First off what service did you carry out for her?

Some people just starting out can be a bit heavy handed with a file and snag, but if that was the case she would have bled before you had finished, assuming you were doing enhancements.

If she was that serious she would not be sending you messages through FB, her solicitor would have told her not to have any further contact with you. If it is on your FB page take a screen shot and print it out, if through a private message print it out.

Everyone else has covered the non insurance bit.

When she first got in contact you should have asked her to come back so you could have seen the bleeding cuticlals. She probably wouldn't, but you would have recorded it on her record card.

When she asked you how she could remove them, you should have told her to some back and you would carry out the removal. DO NOT EVER advise clients to carry out their own removals. If they do it wrong, and it's the ripping them off that does the damage, you have told them to go ahead and do it.

You are trained, they are not.

Keep her text messages, send her one back with a delivery report asking her to come back for a free of charge consultation so you can see the damage to her nails. Not being able to use her hands seems a bit extreme though.

 

[Urbanspa]

If she is unable to use her hands, how has she typed to you via facebook? I have heard loads of things like this, one client said to us that our bio sculpture gel nail extensions were rubbish and when we asked how her nails came off "oh I was lifting one of those big frozen turkeys out the open freezer at tesco" ...well there you go love! Clients can take the mick sometimes and it sounds to me as thought this one is, especially if she was nit picking throughout the treatment process.

I agree with all the others about th no insurance policy, you shouldn't mention this to her. Sounds like she is taking liberties and trying to get as much out of you as poss as you are new. Are you sure a competitor hasn;t sent her round to blow the wind up you and scare you out of your venture? Believe me, I have had a famous mans daughter try infiltrating my business posing as a job applicant to steal my clients and she has just set up her business. Sometimes there is more to it than meets the eye.

hth xxx

 

[sara x]

The fact that she contacted you on Facebook suggests to me that she is just trying to cause a fuss and generate attention rather than make a serious claim against you.
As people have said previously, neither apologise nor admit to anything. When she treats them herself (ie removal) the liability moves to her. Although I'm sure you don't want to you need to take her seriously and go and see her asap! Not phone/text/facebook. People can be very aggresive on these forms of communication in a way they never would be face to face.

I'm sure she'll soon back down and you can look at this as a valuable lesson learned.

Hope its all over and sorted for you soon, good luck x

 

[sammi010]

When she treats them herself (ie removal) the liability moves to her.

Not if she's been told she can remove them herself.

 

[Feline]

This is dreadfull, I feel for you I really do.

Everyone here has given fabulous advice, especially in the light of insurance so I wont say any more about that... but the thing I want to know is this...

Her cuticles are bleeding, and she says this is down to you. She soaks her own nails off right? Did she do that?

If she did, surely this would have been terribly painful if her cuticle areas were bleeding because of the service youd provided?

Why did she not come back to you for soak off?

Hugs and try not to panic too much x

 

[Yadagi]

I'm new as well hun, and I am really feeling for you right now.

All i want to say is I am sending you bigs hugs , and i hope it gets sorted out, you have had some very good advice from the other geeks here.

And thank you for being brave enough to post and be so truthful . This is a lesson a lot of us will learn from . :hug:

 

[gemmalou1981]

Confused about the nail polish remover???!!!!!!