Clients who try to walk all over you and want everything for free?

[blackcat777]

I'm in the beauty industry... but looking for general tips on how to deal with badly behaved clients (plus how and when to fire them ).

 

I send people home with VERY SPECIFIC aftercare instructions, and if they do not listen, my work is destroyed and they need me to spend two hours fixing it.

 

I am still new... ish... to what I do, but I've worked on enough people to know my products and technique are not at fault.

 

A predatory Bridezilla is giving me a hard time right now. She asked me numerous times about getting other beauty treatments that are contraindicated for the first 24 hours after receiving my treatment. I told her no, no, NO YOU CANNOT DO THIS or everything will be destroyed.

 

She messages me and tells me... guess what! What I did for her was destroyed in less than 24 hours, which means SHE did something she wasn't supposed to - a technique failure on my end would manifest differently, and I used the same supply of kit on multiple clients that day, who were fine.

 

This only happened to me one other time (my work being destroyed), and it was when my best friend went and did the exact same contraindicated thing right after my treatment.

 

I use Facebook for networking, and a day or two later Bridezilla posted something to the effect of, "I love where I got my kids' nails done! I had to call to resolve a *minor issue* after the treatment, but they handled it well and I am so happy!"

 

So I think she's just that predatory kind of person I will encounter from time to time, and I'm wondering the most effective way to handle the situation?

 

I figured I will give her the benefit of the doubt - if she behaves from now on, is extremely gracious, and gives me great word of mouth (I rely completely upon word of mouth), she'll still be worth it.

 

BUT if this is a pattern... I was thinking about taking a soft approach out and telling her that my services might not match her needs, sorry I can't make her happy, refund her and show her the door. My boyfriend told me NO, I have to lay down the law, basically ignore her complaints when I know she is at fault, and ask her when she wants to rebook.

 

I'm torn, from having worked in "yestaurants" for so many years of my life.

 

When do you tell a client they are wrong? For how long do you try to reeducate a person about your service?

 

Regardless, I'm thinking about adding a tougher disclaimer that people need to sign with strict consequences during the consultation, saying they acknowledge I TOLD them A, B, C, in addition to the care card I give them at the end of service.

 

Thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!!

[blackcat777]

Forgot to mention another important detail: when I asked this client if she engaged in X, Y, Z of contraindicated behaviors, she vehemently denied them all.

 

But the way her stuff was wrecked, it's the only possible explanation. CSI: Beauty would agree.

[TaraMaiden2]

I hate to say it, but you don't have a monopoly on beauty treatments, and if clients ignore your advice, there's little redress to be had.

All you can say is that you SUSPECT the client went against your advice, because you are 100% secure in your abilities, qualifications and credentials.

Do not take those clients back on.

If you're in a position to write a work contract which would be signed by both you and your client, then have one drawn up.

 

But bitchin' clients are out of your control.

 

What you seek is revenge,

That's an emotional desire, and while understandable, it really doesn't do anything positive in the long run.

[GemmaUK]

I agree with you not with your bf.

 

You could get people to sign a document but its not going to be worth the paper and toner cartridges.

 

Best bet as you are on FB is singular and regular status posts which say if you have xyz done with me and go on to do 'a n other xyz treatment' the treatment I gave you will fail and state why and the likely outcome.

 

At the end of the day a customer is a customer and they are always right but if someone is consistently saying things have to be fixed when you actually know or HIGHLY suspect they did some other treatment then said customer could cull your reputation.

What do you want?

A failed business for valid (looking) reasons or a living business where you lose some customers because you can tell just by looking or hearing about it that they haven't followed instructions?

Edited April 27, 2016 by GemmaUK

[carhill]

Video the work along with any warranties/disclaimers. Sell it as proof of warranty. I do this in the shop, along with epoxy seals and hidden stamps.

 

If a customer tries to screw me, and plenty have, I simply stand my ground and dare them to sue me and, well, I'm armed so hopefully they don't take their last stand in my shop.

 

My exW still works in the cosmetology industry, mostly as a colorist, and has been doing it for nearly 25 years now. While we were married I heard few complaints about problem clients (there were a few, and yup they were mainly bridal parties) and she seemed to be able to resolve them one way or another. In time you'll learn the ropes. Bottom line is if you don't stand up for yourself, even if things get rough, no one else will. Good luck with your career.

[thefooloftheyear]

I'm considered an expert in my field...on a national level...

In business, generally, you get the respect you demand...While it doesn't happen often, I do get some of the stuff you are talking about...I simply just say something like

 

"I clearly disagree with the direction of this project, but I have no issue with you taking it over.....lets settle up here and you can now spearhead your own project without me"

 

And hand them an invoice....Cash terms....No exceptions...

 

In fairness I am a bit older now and no longer in "growth" mode...While I still held my ground in the past I did have a greater tolerance and had more patience...

 

Now, there is just zero tolerance for any bullshyt...

 

Good luck to you...

 

TFY

Edited April 28, 2016 by thefooloftheyear

[jen1447]

I don't know what it's like to be on your side of the chair, haha, but it's worthwhile to keep on point in general that there are certain types of ppl in the world that never take yes for an answer - if you throw them a bone they try to take more, show weakness they exploit it, etc. Apologize and they take that as reason to get more aggressive, act conciliatory and they see that as a reason to dig in deeper. For those ppl the only thing that works and makes them go away is a firm "no." Like telling a dog not to do sth you don't want it to.

[blackcat777]

Thank you, everyone, for your input!

 

I guess I am struggling with when to hand an invoice and when to accommodate (fix for free).

 

I told this client that I am very sorry this happened, tried to figure out what happened, and offered to fix her up no charge... which costs me a lot of time and money (supplies). When I see her this weekend, I will tell her that if this doesn't work out for whatever reason - it's not her fault if she's following my directions to a T - it's just not a good match for both of us and wish her well.

 

I found a (dead) forum for professionals in my specialty, and some of them charge full price to fix people who wreck their services, always, period. I guess I'm finding a hard time finding the guts to do that... also weighing the lost money against the positive/negative feedback on social media that would inevitably entail.

 

If this chick is a royal PITA, but she sends me her entire bridal party, and each of those people send me 3 new clients... it's worth the bit of time and extra supplies, ultimately... at least, I think so now anyway.

 

When I worked as a receptionist in a spa, there were a handful of clients who would come back 100% to abuse the owner/esthetician. She had terrible boundaries, though. These abusers were nutjobs that would phone one week after a facial and complain of mysterious rashes until they were given tons of services for free... never tip... and clean out the entire basket of teabags at the spa by stuffing them into their purses... They could never have enough, they were never happy, they would reschedule their appointments multiple times a day for different times between different receptionists to purposely create confusion...

 

These are the people I want to protect myself from with circles of salt and holy water. I guess that's why this particular client is bothering me so much is because it's my first hands-on situation like this in my new field.

 

And if there's anything I've learned from restaurants is that... THE TAKERS ARE OUT THERE. (Maybe the whole thing triggers me because I have chain restaurant PTSD.)

 

The only other time I had a service fail, that client messaged me and was like, "NOOOO!!! I did what you told me not to do and now I need to come back!!" It didn't bother me one whit... because... she was honest!

 

Maybe that's what bugs me more than anything else. Oh well!

 

(off to take some deep breaths now)

 

And for the future... all I can do is tighten up my consultation... and sometimes say no.

[Buddhist]

You'll just have to get used to the phrase.....

 

Oh that's too bad. Come back in and I'll fix it up for $xxxx.xx, thursday suit you?

 

The takers will then suddenly tell you it's no big deal and disappear. Until recently I worked in a service industry and had to just flat out refuse people all the time. It was quite frankly ridiculous what people would suggest they are 'entitled' to. In a short while I had no problem at all smiling sweetly and telling them to bugger off.

[Taramere]

A predatory Bridezilla is giving me a hard time right now. She asked me numerous times about getting other beauty treatments that are contraindicated for the first 24 hours after receiving my treatment. I told her no, no, NO YOU CANNOT DO THIS or everything will be destroyed.

 

She messages me and tells me... guess what! What I did for her was destroyed in less than 24 hours, which means SHE did something she wasn't supposed to - a technique failure on my end would manifest differently, and I used the same supply of kit on multiple clients that day, who were fine.

 

This only happened to me one other time (my work being destroyed), and it was when my best friend went and did the exact same contraindicated thing right after my treatment.

 

I use Facebook for networking, and a day or two later Bridezilla posted something to the effect of, "I love where I got my kids' nails done! I had to call to resolve a *minor issue* after the treatment, but they handled it well and I am so happy!"

 

So I think she's just that predatory kind of person I will encounter from time to time, and I'm wondering the most effective way to handle the situation?

 

I figured I will give her the benefit of the doubt - if she behaves from now on, is extremely gracious, and gives me great word of mouth (I rely completely upon word of mouth), she'll still be worth it.

 

So on the negative side she wants something for nothing, and on the positive side she's potentially a good source of referrals. That sounds to me like the sort of customer who would probably enjoy a loyalty scheme - which I think beauticians are probably particularly well placed to run. So, loyalty points for getting treatments with you, and additional points for referring new customers to you.

 

Here's a brief article about loyalty programmes for beauticians.

 

Is a Customer Loyalty Program Right for Your Beauty Salon Business? ?

[preraph]

Rather than a contract, put up a sign saying the same thing.

 

Drop this client. You don't need anyone that bad. Just tell her you have no appointments for her, that it's too big a liability since she didn't follow instructions.