Turned up with no money, told me after I'd started

[xShaz_23x]

Tonight was my first ever paying client (well meant to be). She asked for an infill but she needed a backfill and my electric file packed in so it took me forever. Told me she didn't bring any money because she had to buy a new mobile today (is that my fault?). If she had told me I'd have rebooked for when she has the money but she only told me after I'd started! She is apparently going to bring it on saturday but I know she won't be seen for dust, but I just carried on and was thinking...if this gets rid of her it is well worth this wasted time and money because she tried this before when I was only practising and taking the cost of product - her sister in law had to pay! I thought it would be a one off but I take it this is how she rolls. Well she can roll off lol

X

 

[gillian w]

People are so blooming cheeky arnt they.Most people I have prefer to pay upfront so they don't have to delve around after having their nails done so in future with those you are unsure of you could always say would you like to pay now.
Apart from sending the heavies round I don't know how you will get your money at least you've gained some experience .

 

[xShaz_23x]

People are so blooming cheeky arnt they.Most people I have prefer to pay upfront so they don't have to delve around after having their nails done so in future with those you are unsure of you could always say would you like to pay now.
Apart from sending the heavies round I don't know how you will get your money at least you've gained some experience .

I dont think il see it either, i just hope this isnt a sign of things to come!!

 

[gillian w]

I have had it happen a few times over the years but I think I've always got my money in the end because they do intend to pay.Its funny isn't it people wouldn't go to a shop and say can I pop the money in to you next week or whatever but if you work at home or mobile they think its alright.It happens to my home hairdresser friend sometimes too.

 

[xShaz_23x]

I have had it happen a few times over the years but I think I've always got my money in the end because they do intend to pay.Its funny isn't it people wouldn't go to a shop and say can I pop the money in to you next week or whatever but if you work at home or mobile they think its alright.It happens to my home hairdresser friend sometimes too.

yeh they seem to think if u work at home then it doesnt matter!!! asif its just a hobby to me or something!!! angers me but i wont let this get to me. infact i hope she doesnt pay me because she definately wont come back lol i mean if you know you dont have any money would u just turn up anyway? i wouldnt, i would call in advance to see what the tech wanted me to do, be that reschedule or pay on a later date or something. turning up and letting me start was very cheeky indeed

 

[geeg]

People will only do what you LET them do. If that is what you are going to do then it WILL be a sign of things to come. If that had been me, I would have shown her the door half done or not! How can people take you seriously if you let them stomp all over you? They won't, is the answer. A bit of respect I think is needed both from her to you and from you to you.

 

[xShaz_23x]

People will only do what you LET them do. If that is what you are going to do then it WILL be a sign of things to come. If that had been me, I would have shown her the door half done or not! How can people take you seriously if you let them stomp all over you? They won't, is the answer. A bit of respect I think is needed both from her to you and from you to you.

I know i was just caught off guard and thought rather than enraging her by sending her home half done, i would give her the benefit of the doubt and see if she pays but the more i thought about it i realised she isnt going to pay atall. Iv changed my mind, i will pester her for that money because she will spread the word that im a pushover if i don't. Thank god for people like geeg to remind us all to toughen up lol xx

 

[JERSEY JOCK]

I work from home and this happened to me.......she was a very strange girl and she would announce at the end of her appointment that she had no money, she also fell asleep a couple of times while I shellaced her which I thought was odd,once I ended up pinned up against the wall as my table is on wheels while she slept, she also didn't turn up for a few of her appointments so when she was 35 mins late for her last appointment I didn't answer the door.....haven't heard from her since!!!!!!!

 

[xShaz_23x]

I work from home and this happened to me.......she was a very strange girl and she would announce at the end of her appointment that she had no money, she also fell asleep a couple of times while I shellaced her which I thought was odd,once I ended up pinned up against the wall as my table is on wheels while she slept, she also didn't turn up for a few of her appointments so when she was 35 mins late for her last appointment I didn't answer the door.....haven't heard from her since!!!!!!!

do you find people being late is a thing that happens often? even if its ten minutes i still think its rude, i tried to be professional as possible even when i was just practising but people would turn up ten 15 mins late, and i thought it must be because they think its more relaxed as its a home. not the case, i work around other things and if someones late it makes other things that i planned after it even later. i think im going to put these points across on the other side of my aftercare sheets when i print more. il obviously put it across in a nice way though. your customer sounds as if she was a real nitemare!!

 

[JERSEY JOCK]

She would frighten the bejesus out of me if I happened to look up while I was doing her nails she would be staring at me through her fringe!!!! Luckily she was the only client that would turn up late.....all my ladies know how busy I am so always turn up on time if they are running late they always text me.....you can always drop hints into conversations along the line of how busy you are with back to back appointments.....otherwise just tell them directly they have to be on time or you can't guarantee their appointment......as you said I do think it's worse if you work from home, be firm but polite :hug:

 

[Redduck]

I used to have people turn up late and would always find myself saying 'it's okay, I'm a home clinic so I build in time so it doesn't matter if people are a bit late'. Big mistake as people started coming later and later. One day I decided that was enough. When people were late I said it didn't matter at all but they would lose 'x' minutes of their treatment time. Guess what - they weren't late again.

When I started out I allowed clients to behave like that and now I don't. I just wish I'd had a salon geek website to tell me these things back then.

Text/phone/write to that client who didn't pay every day - she will pay to stop hearing from you! Be polite but firm and if she books again definitely take the money at the start of the treatment.

Good luck with your business xxx

 

[xShaz_23x]

I used to have people turn up late and would always find myself saying 'it's okay, I'm a home clinic so I build in time so it doesn't matter if people are a bit late'. Big mistake as people started coming later and later. One day I decided that was enough. When people were late I said it didn't matter at all but they would lose 'x' minutes of their treatment time. Guess what - they weren't late again.

When I started out I allowed clients to behave like that and now I don't. I just wish I'd had a salon geek website to tell me these things back then.

Text/phone/write to that client who didn't pay every day - she will pay to stop hearing from you! Be polite but firm and if she books again definitely take the money at the start of the treatment.

Good luck with your business xxx

Thanks xx

 

[Wooshka]

I have just had this happen to me last week with a new client.

When I booked her in, my gut instinct told me something was wrong, not because of anything she said or didn't say, it was just something about her.
I am a gut instinct person and the odd times I have ignored my gut screaming at me that something is wrong are the times I have paid the price.

Anyway, she arrived and I sat her down and as this was happening, I noticed a big red flag...............the only item she had on her possession was her car keys, no handbag or purse/wallet.
So my alarm bells are going off, my heart is pounding and I just kept saying to myself "she's got no money to pay me just like my gut said she would"
So I sat down at my desk and confirmed what service she was after and gave her the price and told her that I required payment before we got started.
She told me she had forgot her handbag in her rush to get out the door (she was 10 minutes early, so couldn't have been rushing that much).

I just kindly became empathetic with her and then said "that's ok, we can just re-book you in for another day (all the while I grabbed my appointment book and started to open it) and I gave her some other appointment times that I could fit her in.

Her jaw just dropped cause she really must have thought I would continue and not waste her or my time cause she had turned up but I would prefer to waste 10 mins of my time and no products then waste 1.5 hrs of my time and heaps of costly product

She stuttered a tad and then said she would take the next available appointment time and next time she wouldn't be so silly as to forget her handbag and again, I just became empathetic with her and laughed with her that we can sometimes do silly things like this.

She's due in tomorrow and I will be sending her a reminder text shortly when I do them all for tomorrows appointments and I will add a little note onto hers to not forget her handbag this time.

You have to think quick in this or any business, otherwise we would be taken for a ride many times over. This is my bread and butter and I will not let anybody ruin it.

I have a list (if you wish to call it that) on my wall right behind my head where I put my salon rules and my expectations of my clients and I think I will add this scenario to it, then this way it's written in big bold writing for them to read and this should avoid any problems after the first appointment at least.
For any problem in the 1st appointment like my client, I will just handle it the same way or if they say half way through they can not pay, I will finish off enough to make them not look silly, remind them they would not go to a restaurant to eat and not take money so why am I different and then rebook them.
We are not a free service!!!!
And I wouldn't give 2 hoots if they didn't come back or bad mouthed me, I know with in myself I did the right thing and as long as I hold my head high, that's all that matters to me and I can do without clients like that.

 

[Sandy2986]

WOW..that is insane! I really do hope she shows up on Saturday >:/

 

[geeg]

When a client is naughty, it is absolutely a rule that you need to make them 'pay' for it by doing something they will not like to remind them just who is boss in the salon.

If clients were late for me and disrespected my time, they paid for it by either only getting the remainder of the appt. time they were late for OR being put with a junior technician to do their nails!

If a client showed with no money they got rebooked as per Wooshkas EXCELLENT post above. :Love:

If they were really bad with their enhancements causing oodles of work for us at the maintenance appt. then we advised them then and there, to have a soak off as it was obvious that enhancements were not suitable for them (clients hate that one and always do better) ... Sometime we would politely suggest that another salon might suit their needs better than we were doing .... (They hate that one too lol).

Whatever the scenario, make them pay for their indiscretions. It doesn't have to get nasty or aggressive but you need to be prepared by thinking of these scenarios and working out what you will do and say BEFORE it happens .. That way you are ready for anything when it does.

 

[xShaz_23x]

Thanks geeg I love ur post . The thing is she was over the moon with her nails so its even worse if she doesn't pay, its not as though she thought they were bad quality. She had left it 3 weeks to come back so needed a backfill, plus she had one breakage which just happened 2 days ago which I had told her beforehand that I wouldn't charge her for since she let me practice on her when I was training!. She didn't have any lifting either just regrowth. She loves glaze and go I wish I would have done something like told her the stock had run out and I could only buff them to a shine, but that would have been more work lol. I will need to have a think of things to say that will teach them a lesson when late too, I will make my partner pretend to be a customer later and try them out on him hehe. What difference in cost would you charge between a full set/infill/backfill ? I'm not sure I have my pricing correct for this as it took as long, I know I'm slower than I should be as iv just started though.

X

 

[amyvictoria]

Hey girlies. I'm from hair, I'm mobile and I get this alot people not paying me etc,last thurs I did a half head of foils and a cut and at the end of the appointment she told me that she only had 20 quid on her can she give me the rest tomorrow. She was late giving me the money, and it did upset me because I did such a good job too. Are we allowed to take payment before service? Or perhaps
Take a deposit on booking? I really feel for all of you because in the last month I've had 3 clients who have
Quite frankly treated me like a mug. Xxx

 

[Ellebelle]

I have just had this happen to me last week with a new client.

When I booked her in, my gut instinct told me something was wrong, not because of anything she said or didn't say, it was just something about her.
I am a gut instinct person and the odd times I have ignored my gut screaming at me that something is wrong are the times I have paid the price.

Anyway, she arrived and I sat her down and as this was happening, I noticed a big red flag...............the only item she had on her possession was her car keys, no handbag or purse/wallet.
So my alarm bells are going off, my heart is pounding and I just kept saying to myself "she's got no money to pay me just like my gut said she would"
So I sat down at my desk and confirmed what service she was after and gave her the price and told her that I required payment before we got started.
She told me she had forgot her handbag in her rush to get out the door (she was 10 minutes early, so couldn't have been rushing that much).

I just kindly became empathetic with her and then said "that's ok, we can just re-book you in for another day (all the while I grabbed my appointment book and started to open it) and I gave her some other appointment times that I could fit her in.

Her jaw just dropped cause she really must have thought I would continue and not waste her or my time cause she had turned up but I would prefer to waste 10 mins of my time and no products then waste 1.5 hrs of my time and heaps of costly product

She stuttered a tad and then said she would take the next available appointment time and next time she wouldn't be so silly as to forget her handbag and again, I just became empathetic with her and laughed with her that we can sometimes do silly things like this.

She's due in tomorrow and I will be sending her a reminder text shortly when I do them all for tomorrows appointments and I will add a little note onto hers to not forget her handbag this time.

You have to think quick in this or any business, otherwise we would be taken for a ride many times over. This is my bread and butter and I will not let anybody ruin it.

I have a list (if you wish to call it that) on my wall right behind my head where I put my salon rules and my expectations of my clients and I think I will add this scenario to it, then this way it's written in big bold writing for them to read and this should avoid any problems after the first appointment at least.
For any problem in the 1st appointment like my client, I will just handle it the same way or if they say half way through they can not pay, I will finish off enough to make them not look silly, remind them they would not go to a restaurant to eat and not take money so why am I different and then rebook them.
We are not a free service!!!!
And I wouldn't give 2 hoots if they didn't come back or bad mouthed me, I know with in myself I did the right thing and as long as I hold my head high, that's all that matters to me and I can do without clients like that.

What are your rules? Are we allowed to know? I'm very curious because I know how I want clients to behave but not sure how I would word in on a polite rules list. I have a couple of clients that need a kick up the backside! :smack:

 

[daniella]

I had this onetime like coppel of cents .But still like you check your money before you
lget out the house ore before your apointment coms ?
I think now i ask money before services .This is a good way of making som money on no showsMy salon is not open jet sotime for new rules

 

[gr8nailz]

Maybe I'm old school but if a client told me after I started her service that she didn't have the money to pay me, she'd be leaving with some jacked up nails because we'd stop right at that point and I'd show her the door and I'd tell her to come back with the cash or reschedule for a time when she had the money.

I ain't cheap, honey, and I am most certainly not running a charity.