What would you do?

[SugarMama]

I was booked solid today and my first client was a manicure (30 min). She was a new client and when she sat down she told me that she needed shellac removal and reapplication. She was only booked for a manicure but she insisted that she told the receptionist when she made the appointment that she needed removal and shellac.

So I apologized and said I could only do the removal and a regular polish in that amount of time. (Maybe you geeks are faster, but I knew I couldn't do it. Our standard manicure includes a scrub as well). Then I look at her nails and I knew it wasn't shellac and told her so. She said she painted over it when it started to chip, but it's definitely shellac. So I proceeded to remove it. (I now realized that I should have removed the polish on one nail to see if it really was shellac underneath, but I didn't). Of course, it wasn't shellac, and it took nearly the whole appointment to remove.

Her nails were stained with whatever this was and there was a lot of damage (thin, peeling, gouge marks). As we talked during the process, I said something about CND and she said 'what's CND'? I showed her the bottles and she said that's not what was used on her. I explained everything but after removal, I barely had time to slap some polish on. I only charged her for removal and polish change since I couldn't even do a thorough manicure, and I offered her another appointment for a shellac manicure at a regular manicure price. I know it's not my fault that she had some gel polish on and thought it was shellac, or that it took so long to remove, or that she was booked in wrong, but I still felt so bad that she came in expecting a beautiful shellac manicure, but left with a quicky polish job.

And if it was the front desk's fault for booking her wrong, should I be taking the loss? I'm going to lose money for offering her a discount (I'm an independent contractor) but how else can I rectify the situation? Sorry this is so long

 

[blossom]

I would do the same as you. Hopefully she'll become a regular lady and you'll reap the rewards that way . . . . keep her sweet. Cheese her off and she'll never come back.

It wasn't your fault she had gel-polish on that took so long to remove . . . . but as most of the public are pretty uneducated when it comes to nail treatments, she probably had no idea that this would make a difference at her appointment with you and maybe was even told it was shellac that she was having.

I feel you did the right thing and I hope she's hooked :wink2:

 

[xxx]

I think youv done the right thing. Book her back in for a shellac manicure and educate her in the real CND Shellac and she will respect you for that an hopefully become a loyal regular client z