Usually I am quite peaceful and mild mannered, but a recent haircut experience I had has gotten my quite heated under my scalp. On Wednesday January 13, 2010 I got a hair cut at the 17944 Marcola Road, Springfield, OR location. What I asked for was shorter at the back, longer at the front and gentle layers. What I ended up with was long shanks at the front and a short cropped layers at the back. In short, it was a disaster. The only way to make it look have way decent is to wear a head band to disguise the hideous layering. (And most head bands give me a headache, which has only added to the situation.)There is behind each ear a lack of hair in a wedge shape from over cutting and layering in that area. Because it is shorter than any other length of my hair, it will take months for that to grow in.
I do not know whether it was the lack of skill on the stylist part, or that she did not know how to cut my hair in the style I wanted, or that she was distracted while she was cutting. She was working alone, and each time the phone rang or someone came in, she stepped away. When she returned to finist the style, she must have forgot where she was in the cut. I asked her how she was going to reconcile the way she was cutting the back and the way she was cutting the front. She said she could taper them to meet. They did not meet. You would think that the manager (Amy) of the salon would have a higher skill level than that.
Because my hair was wet when I left the salon, I did not realize how bad it was. But I suspected something was not right when I got a closer look in my rear view mirror. It was when I washed and dried it that I saw the full hack job it was. And each time I wash my hair, I reminded of the disaster.
So I decided to go back to the store and ask for a refund as promised by the back of the receipt. It turns out there is a process to get a refund. You have to call into customer service, and they refer it to the regional manager. The regional manager (Becky, who has been unavailable for the last 36 hours) then calls you, and is the only one who can authorize a refund. Now there are several things in this situation that are red flags. Individual stores are not authorized to do refunds; where is the responsibility and accountability in that? Most other stores will do an refund there and then as long as you have a receipt. And it is pretty scary that they must get enough complaints that they have a whole hierarchical system. Apparently a regional manager's job is to handle complaints; has she been so busy with complaints that she has not had time to call me? Or is she avoiding calling me because I am complaining?
In looking on-line, I found other stories of disasters at Supercuts. From my brief survey, at Supercuts you stand a 50/50 chance of getting a bad cut. Who would want to take that risk with their appearance? I have had bad haircuts before, but never to such an extreme. When you get a haircut, a good one, you should feel good about it from the minute you leave the salon until it has grown out. A haircut should not have you feeling increasing horror.
I am currently unemployed and looking for a job. So I can ill-afford wasting $16. And I want to look my best for job interviews; how can I do that when my hair looks like it was attacked by a weed-whacker. The plus side is that I have plenty of time to chase down my refund and express my displeasure and frustration.
My best source of consolation has been reading other horror stories of Supercuts and other salons, so that I know I am not alone. So let's hear from you while we wait for time and the hair growth cycle to heal our wounds. read more
