Cancellation of appointments - a clients perspective (I am fuming!!)

[geeg]

You can ring and ask for nothing. There is also a question of consumer rights? I bet a small threat to the salon that you are thinkin of going this route will see a return of your 10.00 without any further fuss. Youhave a true and valid story to tell .... be prepared to tell it to anyone who will listen ... I'd enen threaten to go to the local papers with the story ... they love stuff like this!!

 

[Curly Bamboo]

Btw, if you paid your deposit by card over the phone ie card not present payment, then you can contact your credit card company and raise this payment as a dispute.

Strictly speaking, if there is a deposit and cancellation policy, and you have cancelled with sufficient notice period, your reasons for cancelling are none of the salon's business, and irrelevant. Under the T&C the salon is legally bound to refund your deposit. It's rather pathetic and poor business sense that this situation has arisen, for just £10 !!!

Likewise, if a client cancels without the required notice, they are subjected to cancellation fees, however most of the time the salon are *so nice* they hardly ever charge.

 

[Jolicatellas]

"the therapist said she would see what she could do but seemed more concerned about her loss of income."

Ultimately she loses more money by you never returning & from word of mouth when you talk to your friends about your experience.

 

[tigi]

as you cancelled giving the required notice , then I dont believe it was appropriate to have your deposit taken from you.

I would suggest you contact her, drawing her attention to the policy and request an immediate refund. You complied with her terms and conditions and so you should get your money back.

tigi

 

[Annie23]

I rung up this morning and they were more concerned that I had left it so long, they accused me of swearing at the therapist (I know I didnt do this cos I don't swear over the phone), I was shouted at down the phone by the manager (I was quite angry myself at this point) so I said that I had sought advice and that I was going to take the story to the newspapers if they didnt give me my money back. The manager said go to the newspapers, so I guess thats the next step!!

one word APPALLING!

anne xx

 

[TweezerHappy]

OMG, that's absolutley shocking. Definitely go to the local newspaper.

 

[tigi]

instead of papers i suggest CAB. you complied with their terms and conditions and they dont have a leg to stand on about your deposit. I would also contact your bank too.

dont rise to them, you gave the required notice, they cant change the facts.

 

[Annie23]

Going to CAB and bank is also good advice, thanks, I'll consider them options if I dont get anywhere with small claims court. But on principle I am going to the newspapers, bad publicity is really bad, sorry but this has turned personal. She accused me more or less of being a liar when I said I didnt swear at the therapist, she also said I can tell you are beligerant (in so many words) actually I'm not a beligerant person and anyone on here who has met me would probably agree to that fact. I was angry about the situation, wouldnt anyone be? she also said I had cancelled twice, well actually there is no way I would pay two lots of £10 deposit. The manager also said are you the one that rang in sick? So that infers to me its a common problem and/or they have mixed me up with someone that did swear. Oh and they also said that they tried to ring me cos they wont have anyone being abusive to their staff, well I never recieved such a call, in fact the phone didnt ring that evening I remember it well it was the night my mother was at her sickest, the phone didnt ring once. I seriously think they have mistaken me for someone else, well I am the quietist person until someone rattles me, and I am well and truly rattled!!

I gave that deposit in good faith, I wont in future.

anne xx

 

[miss_petite]

We do not charge new clients for cancellation but we tell them are procedure , if someone make s a habit of it i.e 2 times in a row then they get charged. If you where willing to rebook and can not rebook there and then we just leave a note on your account . Plus you gave them 24 hours notice! what do they think they are doing ?

 

[trulyscrump]

I know we wouldn't charge, especially if you had taken the time to call up and explain your situation. I would think that if you had the manners to do that, it says a lot about you as a person.

I would have thought by law they couldn't charge for a service they hadn't supplied. You should ask for terms and conditions and see what they say. You have quite a few things on your side as a consumer.

It is always a tough call to treat people individually, especially if you don't know them or if they are new. For regular clients, yes, you can accept. But as a salon that relies on the revenue from the time, the incidents of no-shows is quite high (and frustrating).

 

[fewleh]

To try and avoid this problem as best is possible (salon owners) get a text reminder system in place - there are some free softwares out there that you can just load credit on (texts cost about 5p each) and then at the click of a button you can send a reminder to everyone for the following day, at say 4pm the day before. The clients absolutely love the service, and you get less no-shows (in theory).

Pelican text is one, and im sure theres loads of other programs out there ... anything we can do to try and minimise the problems like this!

But on a side note : how they treated you is disgusting, we've never charged a deposit, as people generally rebook anyway as it is a genuine reason. We have a no-show rule of 2. If they do it twice, then they are forced to pay deposits etc to show they are actually going to come in. It seems to me that the salon is probably not doing all that well in the downturn, and they are getting angry at any missed income - which is uderstandable, but it is not your fault! Go to the small claims court - when you wi the case (which you would id guess) they refund the fee (which is 25 quid).

 

[Annie23]

To be honest I was fuming about the whole thing, but other events in my life at the time took over and although I am better now I was very low and seriously didnt need the hassle and decided against taking it further, it was only a tenner afterall. Yes there is the principal but other things in my life that were not great were just too overwhelming, luckily things are much calmer now and I have moved on. Thank you to everyone who took time to answer this thread :hug:

anne xx

 

[lemondrop]

I actually booked in to have my nails done once & paid the full ammount on the phone. On the way there my car broke down & I was late getting there, I did phone the salon & explain but when I arrived they said that I was too late and my therapist was already doing someone elses nails.
They wouldn't refund my money- the whole lot not just the ammount of the deposit, I was livid!!!! :irked: