I called Lockology Salon and let them know of my frustrations and asked for prices and I was told to come in for a consultation. I drove there and met with Lenny the owner. He looked at my hair and told me it would be $95 for my services. I have my hair lock-stitched, so it is more than the palm roll. I agreed thinking he was going to do my hair. He introduced me to Zaki and told me she would be doing my hair the next time I came in. Zaki and I went over the price and my appointment for the next time. She seemed very professional and genuine.
When I came in for my first appointment 4 weeks later, I thought Zaki really did a fantastic job on my hair.
The next time I came in, which was 8 weeks later, Zaki charged me $135 dollars. It went up to $125 for the service and $10 for the style. At no point did she contact me and tell me she went up on her prices. It is very unclear at this place if the stylist are independent or they work on their own. I was given a price and she just went up on me. There is no price list, there is no website that you can refer to look at prices. It seems as though someone can just go up because they feel like it. Anyway, I paid her $135 for the service, I should have said something about the price hike at the time but I didn't. I felt she did a really good job and I honestly didn't mind paying her that much even though she was extremely unprofessional and went up on the price like that.
The next time I came in, 8 weeks later, Zaki charged me $145 for the same exact service she had provided the previous two times. This time she added another $10 for prunning, which she had done previous with no extra charge. I had spoken to Zaki about my experiences with other stylist and the horrible service. She told me she worked at Amazon salon before and how they would nickel and dime people on any little extra thing. She told me she just charged a flat rate for her services. Which proved to be untrue. Anyway, once again I paid her $145 after the service was over. This time not only did I get charged more, but I waited over an hour before she even started on me, so by the time she finished I had somewhere I needed to be. I paid and rushed out. The next day I called Zaki because I was furious at her continuous price hike. I went down the line and asked her why is it that every time I come in she charges me a different price? She really had no answer for me. She did say that she does a good job on my hair and at the price Lenny charges, she felt she should charge more because she does a neater job and uses products. I'm thinking to myself "shouldn't you and Lenny have worked that out before I came for my consultation?" Shouldn't you do a good job anyway. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The price I was given was $95 and this is the price you agreed to do it at in the beginning. She told me how she went up on her prices and she never notified me by email, phone call, or text. Zaki is extremely unprofessional. She does a fabulous job on your hair, I'll admit that. She really does a good job, but she treats it like a hustle instead of a profession. It's about getting over on you for that extra $10 or $20 dollars. I was tipping Zaki, I was even in the process of referring other business to her and she was just very shady. I have clients in my business and I would never treat people like that. Anyway, I expressed to her how I felt about her shady business practices, I was professional with her in expressing that. But I had not planned on going back. A week later she called and apologized for everything and stated that she would do my hair for $95, even though she felt she was worth more. We went through what would be included in the service. She told me general maintenance, wash, prunning. I thought it was great that she did call and apologize, so I agreed to come back.
The last and final time, I get there for my appointment and I wait for 45 minutes. She had not gotten to the shop. I live pretty much in Evanston and she lives in the neighborhood and I have to wait 45 minutes.......but ok, I think this is the $95 service :). She did my hair quicker than she had ever done it before. I think I was out of there in less than 2 hours. I would usually be in there for close to four. It was clear she was not excited to do my hair. She finished, looked me in the face and told me she prunned my hair, when she didn't. I knew I would never come back. I wrote her an email and let her know how unprofessional she was and if she didn't want to do my hair for $95, she shouldn't have offered.
I can only speak for my experience here. There truly needs to be a price list or a website to refer to. It's very unclear whether stylist are independent or work for the salon. My experience with Zaki was very inconsistent. read more
