What should I do.. Awkward Client!!

[Welsh Geek]

Last night I had a call from a client who had was unhappy with her nails... I said I would call back, as I was with a client.... I got really busy and simply forgot to call.
She rang again today, whilst I was with another client, so as soon as I got the message a few minutes later I called her back!! I apologised for having not called her back... Anyway...she had nail enhancements applied a week last Saturday. She said they had all fallen off!! I asked a few questions, nd found that she had had no lifting whatsoever until a week after application, and that a few days later she said she had lost one, she did not go into how the others came off, only that they had all 'fallen off'.
I told her that I would have appreciated if she had called into the salon so that I could have seen the condition of the nails myself, as this would have helped me to understand what had gone wrong..
As it was nearly time for an infil by the time she contacted me, and as I had had no complaints and all clients who had nails on that same weekend had no problems, I said that I felt it was likely that she may not have taken good care of her nails. I offered to do her a new set at half price, this would then have cost her the same as a set of infils... She started shouting, telling me that my customer service stank, so no wonder my nails were bad and that Boots was better with their £6 sets of nails. she said she would throw a brick through my window and have me closed down by Christmas.. in between continually calling me a stupid little cow... she then hung up!!!

My first reaction to this would be to ignore her, as I feel she was just trying to get a free set.... But I feel deeply offended that she could react to me and my nails so badly!! She had been recomended to come to me by another client.

On having a little time to calm down though, I am not sure whether the best 'Customer service' reaction could be to write her a letter, saying that we are sorry if she was not happy with our service, and offer in writing the discount that I had offered her earlier on a new set... etc ( I know the nails I did on her were good, I take great pride in my reputation locally)
Can anyone Please advise me on the best course of action... do I write the letter or ignore???

 

[Jaffacake]

sounds to me like she was out for a free set of replacements! I personally wouldn't contact her, I would rather not have her as a client at all, let her go to Boots!

 

[luckybird21]

Unless you were rude to her (which i totally doubt you were) you are not in the wrong. Why should you loose out and give her a discount, etc, she is rude, plain rude! Also i really wouldnt be supprised if it is simply just a case of her being careless! You say they only started to lift after a week and no one else has had problems. surley if you did something wrong they would have lifte quicker, and so would everyone elses!


Were they l&P? If they were I bet she painted her nails and then used normal nail polish remover! I had a client that kept doing that even tho i gave her a after care advice form and kept telling her to use acetone free and even sold her some, she still insited on using acetone varnish remover!

For all you know she is a picker! Before i became a tech i always got my nails done, and i picked! (naughty naughty!!!) I managed to get a shared of acrylic flick into my eye and start to in-bed it's self into my eye ball! OUCH! As you can imagine i do not pick now! Any who, half the time i didn't even realise that i was picking!!!

What sort of job does she do, could it be excess stress? Does she wear cotton lined rubber gloves when cleaning? Hmm! Bet she ruined them, she knows it! Most people get really rude and irrate when they know they are in the wrong! If it was genuine, bet you she would have been calmer and tried to reason with you.

After calling you a cow, i wouldn't let her in the salon, and would be tempted to report her for verbul abuse, and excess stress, as this has clearly upset you! Don't stand for her crap! When you see the person who recommended you to her, be extra nice to her, (just in case this poison women trys to bad mouth you) and if the subject is bought up calmly explain to her that you really hate it when a client is un-happy and you really tried your best to sort the problem out but she was to upset, and didn't want to come in for a half price set.

At the end of the day you handed out the olive branch by offering a half price set, giving her the benefit of the doubt, even though for all you know she went out side and picked them off! You offered to have a look at the damage and she refused, so clearly its not as it seems! Yeah fine it could have been a fault with what you did, but if it was she would have came in and shown you, and as mentioned before, no one else has had problems.

Just keep smiling! Ignore her, if she puts a brick thru your window she's the criminal. Maybe you should pre-warn the local bobbies that a mad women has threatened you, so if and when it happens, they know who to go looking for!

 

[Trinity]

What a lot of unnecessary stress you really don't need :evil:

I'm with Asperations, and would just leave it be - if you're anything like me you want everyone to be happy, pride yourself on finding a solution to any problem, and making everything right and keeping a good reputation Unfortunately not everyone is like that, and this woman is trying to take advantage of your good nature.

She's obviously not the kind of client you want anyway, who want's someone who calls you names, shouts at you, threatens you and your business

Chalk this one up to a bad experience, continue to serve your existing and new clients to the best of your ability and no matter what this person says or does, it won't matter, rise above it with professionalism and grace.

Don't lose any sleep over her at all - what goes around...comes around. She'll get her comeuppance - you'll see!!!

T
xx

 

[Nailsinlondon1]

Oh dear,
You sometimes can't please them all.......
From what you where telling us ,you did all the right things..
No wonder her nails all came off , if she has a brick throwing hobby lol..........

I think the offer of a new set at infill cost was more then generous........
Put this one down to expirience................but on second thoughts..........
Will she be able to rubbish your reputation ????

I would write a nice letter, starting with something like..............

Dear Mrs xyz
with regards to our telephone conversation on the xyz date...........
I am still offering you a full set of enhancements at the cost of your scheduled infill's ..........Your infills where due on the (xyz date), this offer stands for this period of time ( give a time range)...........
As I was not able to determine the cause of the problem , due to not having to be able to assess the problem visualy, I hope you find this offer acceptable.
Regards
XYZ

The ball is in her court then.........if she takes you up on the offer...do a fantastic client consultation, give her client after care leaflet and tell her to call you as soon is there is a problem.......... that means immediate!!!!
This way you can back up any bad talk with facts and let the world and it's mother know that you did alll you could to help her , but she declined...........

Word of mouth can be a weapon as well as a tool............
HTH

 

[Sassy Hassy]

I had a similar situation a few years ago when I worked in our local nail bar. A mother phoned to complain that her daughter's tooth gem only lasted 2 weeks. I explained that we only guarantee them for a week, and she then went in to one! Ranting for the nest 5 minutes about god knows what, but I stood my ground and refused to give a refund, in fact the more she argued the more I was determined not to give in to her demands. She then was really rude and slammed the phone down. I was SOOOO angry, why do these peeps think they have the right to be so rude (I blame WAtchdog myself)? So... I did a 14713 and got back to her, I told her that she had no right to be so rude and called her what she had called me and put the phone down!!! I know I know 2 wrongs don't make a right, and it was very purile, but I felt so much better.

Don't give in to this woman. If you are confident your work was fine and the probs showed up after a week she hasn't got a leg to stand on. Do you really want her back? If yes, then drop her a line,: if no, then put it down to experience and move on. If it happens again just calmly say that her threatening behaviour is unnecessary and you are reporting her comments to the police so if anything untoward happens to your premises and business trading, they then have her comments on file!!!!! Should shut her up I'm sure!

Don't let it get you down hun, people like this just aren't worth it, and you are definitely worth more.

 

[Welsh Geek]

Thankyou all for your replies....... I think it will get me down, thinking about someone trying to ruin my reputation, so I will do as Ruth suggests....

If you dont mind, Ruth, I will use your reply as a template, as I probably couldn't put it any better than that!!

Thanks again Sue x

 

[Bodacious]

Hi ya, try not to dwell on the problem of someone out to ruin you, it will cause you more stress than you need and really there is nothing that you can do about it. I also blame watchdog as jane public think it is their divine right to have something for nothing.

I work in rtail and have to put up with all sorts of abuse and people demading the rights that they really dont even understand before they demand them. You cannot keep everyone happy, no matter how hard you try so dont beat yourself up about it hun.

If you have an allready good reputation then dont worry, also jane public have a short memory term at the best of times, and annoyingly they think you have to! Put it to the back of your mind and concentrate on your busniess future, keep doing good work and fab nails.

Kaf x

 

[fab nails]

If she is threatening to put a brick through your window..one you don't want her as a client and secondly, tell the police!