Did I Handel this right?

(152 Posts)
Chazz88 Fri 14-Jun-13 21:35:01

Hi I run a small beauty salon that is a hairdresser I rent the space off the hair salon owner Today I had a client booked in at 10.45 for a pedicure and wax this treatment takes about an hour and 15 mins to do my client showed up at 11.05 so 20mins late so I explained that unfortunately because she is so late that I will only be able to do some of the treatment myself and my qualified junior therapist will have to do the rest as I have someone booked in at 12 so I don't have enough time to do the treatment before they are due in.

She said she wanted only me to do it and that its not her fault she's late and as she is a regular client I should make an exception, I then explained that although it is not her fault it is not fair for me to make my next client wait 20mins longer for her treatment evan tho she arrived on time and that she is also a loyal regular client.

She then said she would only have the leg wax done then if I couldn't do the pedicure myself I said I'm very sorry but if you refuse to have the pedicure treatment done by the other therapist I will still have to charge the whole amount as I had waisted time waiting for her to come when I could of had other clients booked in earning money instead of just standing their waiting for her. A pedicure costs £35 so evan tho I had been waiting around to do the treatment and given my time up I would have been down £35 for the day

Well she blow her top that I suggested she pay for a treatment she had not had so I explained that she was paying for my time that she had still taken up evan tho she was not their for the treatment and that she had been offered to still have the treatment by the other therapist just not me. Anyways I could not please her so in the end I did the treatment and my other lady's treatment was started by my junior then i took over (tho I don't think it was fair she had a less qualified member of staff as she was on time for her treatment.)

After the lady left she then rang the salon to speak to the owner saying I was rude, DO YOU THINK I WAS WRONG DO YOU THINK I SHOULD HAVE JUST LET IT GO AND LOST OUT ON THE £35. She said she would not be back to use any services hair or beauty so of course the hair side of thinks think iv lost them a client to, which I feel really band about. My lady also blamed my pregnancy and said it must be the baby as I not normally like this but shes not normally late so I haven't had to deal with this before.

I think as she was late she should of expected my kind offer to have it done by my other therapist as it was after all her fault

WeAllHaveWings Fri 14-Jun-13 21:55:14

Never heard of being charged for missed appointments at a salon before! But if you want to go down this route you need to make customers aware of this condition when booking their appointments.

Think most salons absorb the odd missed appointment as goodwill to keep clients coming back. Are you a busy salon who can afford to turn regular customers away or is she a repeat offender? If neither, I think you were maybe a bit hasty. Does your employer give you guidance on how o approach these issues?

Chazz88 Fri 14-Jun-13 22:01:55

As stated above I Own the salon so have no employer to ask. It does say 50% charge will be made to all missed appointments on the website and price list it is common to have it written I'm surprised you have not heard of it before.

But that's not really my issue she was late I stood their waited for 20 mins then She expected me to not be payed for that time would you go to work and stand for 20mins unpaid.

I feel that as someone else could have done the treatment she should have let them not just said she wouldn't have it or pay for it after making me wait for her, when I could have done another client. I have bills to pay to and £35 is a lot of money.

Numberlock Fri 14-Jun-13 22:07:06

So why did you insist on the full amount and not 50%?

GibberTheMonkey Fri 14-Jun-13 22:10:38

In her position. I would have walked out and never come back.

flowery Fri 14-Jun-13 22:12:32

If the treatment normally takes 1hr 15 minutes I'm surprised you booked it at 10.45 with someone else due at 12. Do you normally leave yourself absolutely no 'give' between appointments? 20 minutes is quite late I agree, but giving yourself no leeway at all in case of overrrunning/lateness is asking for problems IMO.

As this doesn't relate to Employment in any way you might want to get the threat moved to a more appropriate place.

KrazyKurls Fri 14-Jun-13 22:14:10

It's a pain when cclients are late but just something you have to deal with I'm afraid, in your position I would have offered the one treatment and waived the other treatment charge. I've heard of charging for missed/late appointments but never seen it implemented. Life sometimes gets in the way and if my hairdressers/therapist charged for an appointment I cancelled last minute/was late for as a one off I wouldn't be happy.

Pancakeflipper Fri 14-Jun-13 22:14:12

I think discretion should be used. She's a regular. Well she's not likely to come back now so you will lose more than £35.00 and she will tell her mates about what SHE thinks about your salon.

And She actually turned up. You'd have had no money if they didn't turn up at all.

Wuldric Fri 14-Jun-13 22:14:47

D'you know, I actually clicked into this thread thinking it was about Handel

Pancakeflipper Fri 14-Jun-13 22:17:34

Wuldric - were you expecting controversy about Water Music?

Chazz88 Fri 14-Jun-13 22:22:17

Sorry I asked u all seam to think I should work for free. Didn't actually specifically ask for the full amount I only got as far as saying the treatment would still need be payed for. I really don't think it was fair to make me wait for 20 mins then turn down the offer of another therapist doing the treatment then to not pay when I had in fact still given the time up stood their waiting for her.

The timing is not that tight had she been 5 mins late or evan 10 it would have been fine I was doing different treatment next so didn't have to clear up the space as would be using a different room and the receptionist takes the payment and rebook people so I walk from one person to another also a pedicure takes 40min leg wax about 15/20 normally so it doesn't take dead on that time but that's the time I allow in my book for a bit or leeway. I actually allow a lot of extra time compared to most salons Iv work. There's is only so many hours in the day so they need to need used as best they can.

Chazz88 Fri 14-Jun-13 22:23:47

I couldn't find a more suitable category for my post sorry if in wrong place this I'd my first post don't think I'll bother again the net mums are much nicer

Onesleeptillwembley Fri 14-Jun-13 22:25:10

I think you have messianic issues.

HollaAtMeBaby Fri 14-Jun-13 22:25:10

She definitely won't be coming Bach grin

DramaAlpaca Fri 14-Jun-13 22:25:49

I was expecting to hear about controversy in an orchestra, not a beauty salon.


nannynick Fri 14-Jun-13 22:27:04

When someone books, do they get to choose which person does the treatment? Does the booking say for example, "pedicure with Chazz"?

The customer seems to have expected the treatment to be provided by you, where as is that actually a choice given to them? If you were not at work for any reason, would they have had to accept someone else doing the treatment?

Charging to the pedicure when not providing it (which was the option presented to the client when they said they would only have the leg wax done) does not seem reasonable to me. A risk of running a business is that you make a loss, you have clients who don't pay or don't pay in full, you have clients not turn up.

Your contract can have a clause in it to try to recover losses in the event of things like a late notice cancellation, though they can be hard to enforce - you need to decide on a case by case basis if it is worth chasing the debt (such as writing the letters and eventually taking it via small claims court).

I would have expected you to stick with the situation being that you had another client at 12 so could not do everything that was booked and thus would charge for what was done and rebook the rest.

Pancakeflipper Fri 14-Jun-13 22:27:55

If you take the time to actually read the posts you would see there are some valid points.

People may not agree with you but it doesn't mean they me are nasty.

GibberTheMonkey Fri 14-Jun-13 22:37:58

Op must be very Strauss-ed with it being so Bizet

BrianTheMole Fri 14-Jun-13 22:41:10

Well you need to look at the longer term really. And longer term you've lost more than £35, as she won't be coming back and she'll tell all her mates. This is your livelihood, but you seem to only be thinking in the moment, not the future.

HenriettaPye Fri 14-Jun-13 22:42:57

Holla I actually just spat out my drink laughing at that!

Op why did u want to charge her full price when website states 50% charge? confused

I would have been very annoyed if I was the customer

Wuldric Fri 14-Jun-13 22:44:32

ROFL. The customer had Haydn-uff and Rimsky-Korsakoved off

Amazinggg Fri 14-Jun-13 22:45:54

Sounds like a big fugue-up to me.

Wuldric Fri 14-Jun-13 22:46:08

But it all ended happily when the OP and the Customer met in a bar and got Brahms and Liszt

Amazinggg Fri 14-Jun-13 22:49:13

What's the norm? I wouldn't expect to be charged by a hairdresser if I didn't turn up. A dentist yes. I don't really go beauty salons so don't know the etiquette.

grin "wont be coming bach" totally made me gigglesnort

op you should have just told her as she was late, that she'd be having someone else finish the treatments and she can either take it or reschedule. she was the one that was late... you cant let the whole day get behind because of it as you have other clients to deal with.

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