Complaint after 2 weeks

[claude91]

Hello guys!
I have the following problem, I hired this new stylist, on her second day she did a full head of highlights to a girl, she didn't want to tone the highlights afterwards but everything was fine, she seemed happy.
Yesterday, 14 days after the service, I received an email from the mother, saying that the daughter is not happy with the service, that the service was poor and that they had to go to another hairdresser to fix it. She's asking for a refund.
I answer to the email saying that complaints should be reported within 48h, and we must have the chance to check the work in person in order to have a refund, otherwise we can only give a 50% discount for the next appointment (as company policy, that the daughter signed since is written in our new client form).
So she answered back saying that she must have a refund, that she's gonna write bad reviews etc. She also attached a few pictures, the thing is that those pictures has been taken in another hairdresser (can see the styling stations etc) so I can't exclude the other hairdresser did it, also in those picture the girl is blonde, when she came to the salon she had pink hair, we also took picture of her during the services, and she had pink hair!

I don't really know how to deal with this situation
Do you guys have any suggestions?

 

[Sploo]

Sounds like a nutter! U don’t even know if it’s her mum writing to u could just be a friend. They are clearly trying It on. U have stated where u stand so that’s it! If she writes reviews then just answer that the girl in the photo is clearly someone else!

 

[AcidPerm]

Ok, a few thoughts...

I assume the girl over 16yrs? (You aren’t insured to provide chemical services on anyone under 16 so always be mindful of that.)

From a Data Protection perspective, there was no need to reply to the mother regarding the girl as she wasn’t the client and you’d have been in breach of the act. (GDPR 2018)
You could have just replied that you cannot confirm if her daughter was a client and that your terms and conditions require that if a client has any concerns, they must return to the salon within (48 hrs) ...
No need for further written communication after that.

The 50% refund policy is fine if it’s only offered as a goodwill gesture when you (salon staff) haven’t really done anything wrong, but if you have made a mistake, you can’t rely on it. Just because you write such terms into a contract and get a client to sign it, won’t make it legally enforceable if it denies the consumer their statutory (legal) rights.

 

[claude91]

Ok, a few thoughts...

I assume the girl over 16yrs? (You aren’t insured to provide chemical services on anyone under 16 so always be mindful of that.)

From a Data Protection perspective, there was no need to reply to the mother regarding the girl as she wasn’t the client and you’d have been in breach of the act. (GDPR 2018)
You could have just replied that you cannot confirm if her daughter was a client and that your terms and conditions require that if a client has any concerns, they must return to the salon within (48 hrs) ...
No need for further written communication after that.

The 50% refund policy is fine if it’s only offered as a goodwill gesture when you (salon staff) haven’t really done anything wrong, but if you have made a mistake, you can’t rely on it. Just because you write such terms into a contract and get a client to sign it, won’t make it legally enforceable if it denies the consumer their statutory (legal) rights.

Thanks for your answer!
The daughter is 18... but anyway,
what's write in the form is that a refund is possible if the complaint is forwarded within 48h and in person, it seems basic to me that the salon manager must have the chance to see in person!