I made an appointment a few days ahead of time for a color, my roots are showing pretty badly and I was walking by the salon on my lunch break. The blonde stylist by the front door asked if it was for a special occasion, and I specifically mentioned I needed my roots fixed for Valentines Day. She checked various books to find out who was available, we chit chatted about possible coloring options in between. I am brand new to the area and finally felt relieved to be able to fix my hair before my big date on V-Day. I was assured I would be able to have my roots blended, and was told it would take about 2 hours due to the time my hair would take to lift/process.
Dynette was walking back and forth between her station and the back of the salon, cleaning up and whatnot during this conversation. It turned out she was the only one available to do my hair. She stopped at the end to give me her card, asking me to text within 24 hours' notice if I needed to cancel.
Apparently the two did not talk. Come the day of my appointment, I walked in and when I sat down in the chair initially, Dynette rushed me to the sink to begin washing my hair. I asked her for color recommendations, she mentioned an ombré technique she likes to do but quickly told me she didn't have the time. It would take 2-3 hours but she couldn't stay that long because she had only scheduled me for a cut. She did apologize at first but then profusely insisted that I had only said I wanted a haircut.
When we returned to the chair she said the ombré would make it "look like I paid for my roots" which made me feel a little embarrassed since my roots are obviously showing. But she didn't offer to schedule me on a different day to do this. She did not offer any alternatives, try to reschedule or attempt to get me an appointment with another stylist that could do this on a different day. I know I needed it for Valentines Day but I would have been ok waiting.
She kept insisting, whenever I said anything, that she had only heard me say I wanted a cut. The whole convo with the blonde stylist I had a few days before was about color, and either lightening my roots or blending them through an ombré or beylage. Eventually her insistence became an defensive and borderline aggressive.
I would have been ok with the miscommunication even though Dynette was too busy to interact with me much when I came into make the appointment. And even though the salon was dead quiet, and I was in there for 10 minutes trying to make the appointment while talking about how to fix my hair, and I never once mentioned a haircut (I'm trying to grow my hair). I feel like she should have double checked at least with the other stylist before making my appointment, or at least with me when I came in. But that is really ok with me.
What isn't ok is to become defensive and insist she "only heard" me ask for a hair cut, over and over. Whether or not she apologized, insisting or implying a customer was wrong without offering any alternative is rude. When I said she should have talked to the other stylist, she stormed off. I felt very rushed and stressed and not relaxed at all during my appointment before this miscommunication was discovered.
Seriously I don't understand how you can insist that your customer was wrong and then not offer to help in any way and maintain a client base. Everyone makes mistakes and this could have been partly my fault, but she didn't make an attempt to make this better for me, apart from trying to blow dry my hair. I called all the other salons and couldn't get a hair appointment in time, because I flew out of town the next day. But still what bothers me the most is the lack of customer service during this entire experience. read more
