Hello fellow shoppers. I recently completed a hair cut shop - my first mistake - never have a shop performed on your body! The shop did not allow for additional services so I left with my hair wet and curly. I filled out the report and indicated. I then dried my hair and realized my hair was one inch shorter on one side of head than the other. I contacted the mystery shopping company who told me I could not go back to get it fixed or complain. I sent them pictures and documented everything. They would also not let me enter this information into my shop and said they were fine with what I put in the shop - "the client won't care that your hair was not cut evenly" was what I was told.

I went to my regular stylist who graciously only charged me $20.00 to get it fixed. I asked the mystery shopping company to pay for the re-cut since I couldn't go back to the company I performed the shop at. They refused to offset the cost to get my hair fixed and told me that the other hair cut was free so I shouldn't complain. I didn't want them to not pay me I kept my mouth shut for four weeks.

They have paid me and the check has cleared - so here is my dilemma - do I call the shopping company and demand a refund for my second haircut and if they don't charge my credit card back (I was also told I could not do this)? Do I tell the client of their unethical behavior? Do I just let it go? I don't care about my reputation with their company as I will never shop for them again after this!

Haircuts and hair coloring are almost always bones of contention, whether they are shops or not. There are those of us who get so disgusted with the mess that 'beauty shops' make of our hair that there is a conscious decision to just let it grow long and trim it ourselves so there is some semblance of even cut. Years ago I used to do my own hair coloring for the same reasons. I could use a bottle of Nice 'n Easy and get predictable results or I could go to a salon and end up with red or brassy yellow. Someone who is skilled and attentive is not going to work at the cheap franchises that are shopped.

We all have different degrees of sensitivity about our hair. I used to work with a woman who was never allowed to make a second appointment at the same shop. She kept a supply of wigs because she always was sure they had 'permanently ruined' her hair and would spend days and many repeat visits on the original dime to have them 'fix' and 'fix' and 'fix' her hair.

No company is going to reimburse you for having your cut 'fixed'. If you wait until you are paid it is much too late to go back to the haircut place to complain, and now that you have had someone fix it you have no proof that it was wrong. No matter what you do, you lose. I would suggest you cut your losses and anger by realizing it cost you $20 to fix a mess and that is a whole lot cheaper than a whole lot of messes you can get into doing shops. (During shops I have had my vehicle keyed several times ranging from about 6" to over 3', I have had a tire slashed, I have had numerous door dings, someone break the grill on the front and collapse a fender and that is just what has happened to my vehicle in parking lots. But it could just as easily have happened when I was there on personal business.)

I agree with Flash. I would just write this shop off as a loss and move on. You could spend a lot of time on this and make a lot of noise but I don't think you would gain anything.

For me it's not worth the aggravation for this type of shop. After wearing my straight hair down to my waist for years and only getting it cut at chains to donate to Locks of Love, I finally decided I was too old and it was time for a change. Now I follow the same stylist from salon to salon and believe me at one point I accused of her of changing salons more often than most people change their underwear! It is still worth it to pay for a quality haircut. She does throw in a bonus. Despite my advanced age pulling the 10 or 12 gray hairs is still the better alternative to color

I think as well you have to swallow this....I would think the client would want to know if a stylist is that bad she can't cut even, but, I guess not.
I got food poinsoning from a shop, no recourse, but I did write about it,
and the MSC thanked me, and the place was cleaned up. Find another hairdresser
and straighten it out.

I'm just frustrated that they would not even tell the client. I think the way they handled it was unethical...they pay good money for us to provide data and the MSC didn't give it to them...

Chalk it up I will. Thanks for the advice!

shllbll1 Wrote:
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> Hello fellow shoppers. I recently completed a
> hair cut shop - my first mistake - never have a
> shop performed on your body! The shop did not
> allow for additional services so I left with my
> hair wet and curly. I filled out the report and
> indicated. I then dried my hair and realized my
> hair was one inch shorter on one side of head than
> the other.

Compare it to a restaurant/fast food/fast casual shop. You order what you want, or what the guidelines require. You are delivered something different. That's the time to bring it to their attention, and have your order fixed. When the stylist showed you your hair in the mirror, had you noticed the inch difference, you could have brought it to his/her attention and had it corrected. Then, reported such.

> They have paid me and the check has cleared - so
> here is my dilemma - do I call the shopping
> company and demand a refund for my second haircut
> and if they don't charge my credit card back (I
> was also told I could not do this)? Do I tell the
> client of their unethical behavior?

Calling the MSP, at this point, and requesting a refund is a waste of your time. No, don't contact the client. It most likely violates your ICA. The client did not practice unethical behavior. Your report was accepted and submitted to the client. At the time, you did not realize the length difference.


Do I just let it go?

Yes, let it go. And, let one side of your hair grow:}

I don't care about my reputation with
> their company as I will never shop for them again
> after this!

One of the advantages of being an IC. That's totally your choice!

Be happy that it's only hair and it wasn't a tattoo :/

No one expects a nightmare haircut or food posoning or things to go so aray.
We are here to fix a wrong, had there been a place at the end of your report
to explain what happened, that would have worked for you. They won't pay for
a new haircut, but your post is a warning to others, we get (sometimes) what
we pay for, although I just had my hair cut (my dime) at a Super Cuts, and
got a terrific cut...your stylist definitely should have been told, maybe you can return and show her, and she will fix it.

shllbll1 Wrote:
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> I'm just frustrated that they would not even tell
> the client. I think the way they handled it was
> unethical...they pay good money for us to provide
> data and the MSC didn't give it to them...

Clients want you to provide data, but they're usually looking for specific data and not necessarily the overall experience. Unless there were questions on the form asking whether your haircut was satisfactory after you got home and dried it, then they probably don't actually want that information, as odd as it may seem. If it's a chain salon, they're most likely looking for things like the cleanliness of the salon, how many employees were working versus customers, and things like that. They may simply want to know how long it took for you to get in the chair and get the haircut finished, without having to worry about the variable times it would take to get it blown dry and styled. The client is usually very specific with the MSC about what information they do and don't want included in the report, regardless of what might seem important from a customer standpoint. Sometimes there are different "waves" of shops for the same client that focus on different areas of the experience.

They did not allow you to get a blow-dry or they weren't paying for it? I'm licensed, but have never worked in a salon, but I always always want to blowdry to see the finished "product" and clean up any loose ends. I'll say I've never had an inch difference before, but that's the point where mistakes are caught.
Even if the MSC isn't paying for it, I always get it done.
Take it as a loss, and look at it like you had just paid to get the blowdry in the first place.

Krissyg Wrote:
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> Even if the MSC isn't paying for it, I always get
> it done.
> Take it as a loss, and look at it like you had
> just paid to get the blowdry in the first place.

You have to be careful with doing anything that isn't included in the shop guidelines, however. Sometimes they don't care if you do anything additional, and sometimes doing anything other than what is outlined (even if you go back later and it's not "officially" part of the shop) will void the shop and result in your not getting paid. It can change from client to client or even between shops for the same client, so even if you did it for the same MSC before it may be different. Read your guidelines thoroughly and check with your scheduler first if it's not clear.

Let it go. Lesson learned, although I would be upset too. That's why I've never even considered doing a hair shop. I'm too particular about who cuts and colors my hair.

Sorry

The problem I have with haircut shops is that I have curly hair. It is difficult to tell the first day whether it is a good cut or not. (not obvious stuff but subtle since my curl looks different the following day). The last two cuts I got courtesy of mystery shopping I answered the question about the quality of the cut the opposite of what I thought the next day after my hair was relaxed overnight from the wonderful primping and spraying of extra stuff at the salon. I want my hair to look good without all they do at the salon so for me i like to see how it looks the following day. I have gotten excellent cuts for my curly hair and awful ones.
I recently wrote to the company with this advice from me about curly haired people suggesting they have an answer to how your cut looks the following day and also because I felt bad that I gave a great rating to a a cut that looked awful the next day and a not so great rating to the one that turned out to be wonderful. I have no idea if they will take this into account and I hope I will not inconvenience anyone by requiring an update the next day if they do. I have found that some msc have changed their forms when I have written to them about problems I saw with accurate reporting.

This reminds me of the dilemma I had with the Bread Company shop where I got very sick from the food.

Should I say something? To who? Keep my mouth shut? Just swallow the bathroom rendevous?

I chose to say nothing. I did not want to risk the MS company I worked for, by reporting a problem on a shop.

Sometimes you just have to have stomach cramps and bear it...so to speak

When there is a problem I usually refer to the ICA. Some of them address the issue directly. I was reading one recently that indicated that for bad vehicle repairs, bad hair cuts, etc. you treat it like a real customer would and complain, insisting that it be done properly. Others, such as in this case evidently, would just have you grin and bear it.

I got food Poisoning from a Panda restaurant. I was totally in denial until my doctor told me differently, my husband ate the same food and was fine. I refuse to go back to that restaurant for any reason. I didn't complain, I jsut took it as a life lesson.

How did you eat the same food as your husband and be the only one that got sick? I'm not trying to be bitchy, but am really curious. It seems like that happens where some get sick and others don't or the symptoms are so mild they don't notice.

Most salons will allow you to go back to get it fixed. I would do it on my own and go get it fixed as much as they will do as long as you have a receipt. Or copy.This is only fair. Do not be intimidated.

It all depends on the MSC and what they want. I did a Bonefish shop once and the timing was off. Salads came and then immediately the entre. We mentioned this to our server when she came to check up on us. A few minutes later the manager came by with our bill and tore it up. We were supposed to share a dessert but since they comped our meal we thought better of it. Since we didn't do the shop as written we thought we would do it over in a week. After all no receipt right? The MSC wanted the original report with the screw up.

It is difficult to know what they want when things go wrong.

I got a severe eye infection from a cosmetics shop. I honestly thought I might go blind. The MSC didn't do anything, but was concerned, although the client allowed me medical expenses. Talk about a nightmare.

I go along with the general idea of marking it up to experience and learn from it and go on.

MarlineM Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> shllbll1 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I'm just frustrated that they would not even
> tell
> > the client. I think the way they handled it
> was
> > unethical...they pay good money for us to
> provide
> > data and the MSC didn't give it to them...
>
> Clients want you to provide data, but they're
> usually looking for specific data and not
> necessarily the overall experience. Unless there
> were questions on the form asking whether your
> haircut was satisfactory after you got home and
> dried it, then they probably don't actually want
> that information, as odd as it may seem. If it's a
> chain salon, they're most likely looking for
> things like the cleanliness of the salon, how many
> employees were working versus customers, and
> things like that. They may simply want to know how
> long it took for you to get in the chair and get
> the haircut finished, without having to worry
> about the variable times it would take to get it
> blown dry and styled. The client is usually very
> specific with the MSC about what information they
> do and don't want included in the report,
> regardless of what might seem important from a
> customer standpoint. Sometimes there are different
> "waves" of shops for the same client that focus on
> different areas of the experience.


Agreed, It took me a while to realize there are only certain things that the client is looking for. A haircut outcome is very subjective.

shllbll1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello fellow shoppers. I recently completed a
> hair cut shop - my first mistake - never have a
> shop performed on your body!

just a little hint of advice if this is a dilemma for you. don't ever take any 'valet parking' shops.

several months ago, i took 20 'valet parking' assignments. it didn't dawn on me until afterwards that my vehicle could get damaged. luckily, no damage was found. however, the last valet driver sped my vehicle excessively in an indoor garage as i watched, because he was behind schedule with several others waiting. one of the questions on the questionnaire was 'was your vehicle checked for damages before and after receiving the service?'. i'm not taking any more 'valet parking' shops, unless they are strictly self-park shops.

I had a bad haircut shop once. Asked the stylist to trim about an inch off. We confirmed this with finger measurements since language was a bit of an obstacle. Even showed her how much to cut off the ends.

She chopped off SIX INCHES!! She was too engrossed in someone else's conversation and wasn't paying attn.

I put this in the report. I have no idea if the end client received that information. The MS company did not care.

By choice, I no longer do those shops and I no longer recommend the company.

On the bright side, you have experience doing the hair cut shop with them. And there are other companies out there that offer salon shops too.

ijdk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I had a bad haircut shop once. Asked the stylist
> to trim about an inch off. We confirmed this with
> finger measurements since language was a bit of an
> obstacle. Even showed her how much to cut off the
> ends.
>
> She chopped off SIX INCHES!! She was too
> engrossed in someone else's conversation and
> wasn't paying attn.
>

it's a good thing that you didn't have a half dozen hair cut shops scheduled for that month. maybe just get an inch cut off at each one, lol.

Don't do any more shop for this company. Let it go. It is not worth it.