I started going to this salon about a year ago and at first was very happy with the stylist someone had recommended. She did great color and a great cut. She also was flexible about trying to fit me in for appts with my schedule - but things went downhill fast over the past couple of months.
As for the salon environment, it's okay, but seems a bit dated. There's some sort of "zen garden" or something in the middle of the small waiting room - it's a big box of rocks in the middle of the floor that takes up a substantial space in the small, dark, room. Last time I was there the glass shelves where all the product is had quite a layer of dust on them. I like a salon to be really clean, but that's my own preference. I will say they have a very cool system for sweeping up hair - they have little vacuum vents at the floor that suck up hair that's swept into them.
One thing I don't care for is they only have unisex restrooms. The most accessible one is a small one-room open restroom, so ladies and little girls have to look at a urinal, which I find distasteful.
The last 2 times I had my hair cut, I wasn't happy at all with the cut. The first time I lived with it and just told the stylist next time I was in what I'd like done differently. I still got a similar cut I didn't like, and called after a few days to explain I wasn't happy with it and would like to come in so she could re-shape it a bit. They wouldn't fit me in for 1 1/2 weeks, so I made an appt elsewhere and paid someone else to fix the haircut I had just paid a pretty high price at this salon for and didn't like.
I tried to call and get an appt 2 weeks in a row, but they couldn't get me in for another few weeks. I was trying to get in because I feared a schedule conflict for the time I booked when I was last in. Sure enough, there was a problem that arose, so when they called me the day before to confirm, I said, "I'm so glad you called - please cancel the appt, I'll have to call and re-schedule." That was 24 hrs in advance.
Today was the day I had re-scheduled. The stylist knows I don't want her to have any "assistants" working on my hair, I'm just not comfortable with that, and I explained that to her when I first started going to her. Today one of the first things she said was to let me know even though she knows I don't want her assistant doing my hair, she was going to use her anyway today. I said I wasn't comfortable with that, and she said she knows that, but she wanted to book in another appt and this way she could get the other person in. When I told her we had an understanding about this sort of thing, she said, "Well, I guess I'm sorry...I never promised I wouldn't..." I decided rather than to sit there and be angry and pay full price for work done in part by an "assistant" I never met, I'd just leave. Then she said, "Well last time you cancelled at the last minute!" I'm not sure what that had to do with this situation, and the truth is I didn't cancel at the last minute, I canceled the day prior. Either way, when a client is saying to someone they're paying for a service that they're uncomfortable with the situation being proposed, I'd think the client's comfort zone would be respected. Not so here on this day. (And P.S., since when do the words "I guess" go before "I'm sorry"?)
She's now lost my business and my husband's - which is color, cut, and wax for me and a cut for my husband, every 5 weeks, because she chose to not be respectful regarding my concerns. The customer may not always be right, but they are always the customer. read more
