Complaint Review: smart style

It sounds like a clear case of miscommunication.  A thorough consultation on the stylist's part may have prevented this, who knows.  

And the one comment is completely right in regards to the bangs and clippers.  As a stylist, when anyone says "I want a #this on the side and #this on top and just trim the bangs" it makes my head split.  But, being the professional and knowing what I do, I then continue my consultation and ask more questions because a #7 is almost an inch, which is finger length.  We are the professionals.  It is our job to figure out what our clients want, and FULLY understand.  I have had consultations go as long as half hour at some points, but those people left with the best hair cut they've had, and they've become my "clockwork" clients.

How were you "verbally attacked" by two "ghetto" workers?  Honestly, this whole entry is laced with latent racism.  Not cool.  If your son did look like a stooge, as the other poster stated, there was MORE than enough hair to salvage.  Some advice as well, don't ever say "Just a trim".  Ever.  It's like telling someone you want your house painted green.  You're thinking evergreen, the painter thinks sea foam.  Be more specific.  

And my last quip.  Smart Styles are owned by Regis and sublease from Wal-Mart.  So if you spoke to the Wal Mart manager on the way out, she was probably irritated and didn't know what was going on because they honestly have nothing to do with that salon.  Try calling, I don't know, the salon.  Or since you clearly have internet access, get the corporate number for Smart Style from their website and call.  You'll get a call back, probably from the district manager to be honest.

My final thoughts are this: have you never had a bad day?  Have you always been perfect?  As cosmetologists, we are 100% like everyone else; human.  We have bad days, we have good days.  Our bad days shouldn't effect our work, but do they?  Sure, just like EVERYONE else.  How would you feel if someone walked in to your place of business on a bad day and told you you were doing a terrible job, you shouldn't be doing this, it's your fault etc.?  If you could take a day and teach us all how to keep up the perfection you have, I'm sure we'd all appreciate it.

prior poster wrote:
So yes, I do understand that no one wants a bad haircut, but if it happens, I thing the customer should ask themself "Did the stylist really do it on  purpose, or was it a mistake from not having enough education".

So if you get a bad haircut you should just be ok with it and not complain?  In my line of work no one knows everything or how to do everything.  The minimum standard for a professional is knowing enough to be aware that you don't know, and bringing in someone who does.  That does not mean that we never make mistakes, but we don't make very many of them.  When we do make a mistake, we would sure as hell never tell someone "well..he didn't really know what he was doing..and he didn't do it on purpose...so it's really not his fault and not a big deal."  If my company said THAT, the client would be correct to say "Well, it may not be his fault, but it is your companies fault.  Someone should have evaluated his abilities and known he would have been in over his head before he was assigned to us, also someone should be monitoring his work - it never should have reached the point of becoming a total disaster. Also, if you didn't have someone qualified to do the job, you never should have accepted the job."   

Maybe if I tell it from a stylist's perspective and give you an example of something that happened to me in 1990, you may understand a bit better.

I worked at the walmart salon, it was not smartstyles then, I can't remember what it was called. Anyway, a mom brought in her 5 year old and wanted a skater cut, only she didn't know what the name of the haircut was. This is back when skater's cuts were just beginning to be all the rage. For those of you who may not know, the skater cut is like a bowl cut with it shaved underneath.

She left him with me and went shopping and came back half and hour later and screamed "SHE BUTCHERED HIM!" at the top of her lungs and ran to me and pulled her son from the chair, screaming.
I had given him a high and tight, like a military cut, because the way she described it was "shaved here"(pointing to sides) and "leave top longer". This sounded like a military cut to me. I didn't know she wanted a skater cut. After she left screaming (I was just out of beauty school and trying my best not to burst into tears, I was only 18 years old). In fact, I was so distraught that I asked to go home. The manager said yes and when I went home, I seriously thought about quitting the whole business. I was really down on myself about it. But after all the work and expense of getting my license and going to school, not to mention my parents' reactions, I had to continue on. But from that day forward, I was determined to learn to listen and understand my customers. If I made someone mad ( which I did, a couple more times) I did not run to the back while the manager fixed it, instead, I watched the manager while she fixed it, to learn. And I got better. Much better. I now own my own salon and have nearly 100 percent booked clientele.

So yes, I do understand that no one wants a bad haircut, but if it happens, I thing the customer should ask themself "Did the stylist really do it on  purpose, or was it a mistake from not having enough education". If it's the latter, which is most of the time, if not all, then please deal with it without embarrassing the person. You can tell them what they did wrong, so they will know, but screaming and humiliating them on a website is just cruel.

They should come out of school already knowing enough to do whatever the salon assigns them to do.

This comment is not true. They would have to be in school for five years. It takes a long time of real behind the chair experience to learn hair. School is a joke. You learn just the basics in school, but then you need practice. You don't get the practice in school. You get it at your first chain salon job, like this one. If you went to a teacher to learn to play guitar, and was taught basic chord progressions, that doesn't mean you can do it. You have to practice. Alot. That's why there are cheap salons and expensive salons. Cheap salons are where we get our practice. Whether customers like it or not, that's just the way it is, and if you choose to go to one, that's the risk you take. And no matter what, a stylist should never be humiliated on the internet, unless she PURPOSELY messed up. This was not on purpose, it was just a thing. She was trying, but couldn't please the mom, or the kid and I am sure she learned from it. And I am sure she wishes she could have done the hc right. Special haircuts need special education.

If you really think that it doesn't matter about price, that you should be able to get the same service regardless, then fine. Keep going to the cheap places and find out. They are still learning. And you are their guinea pig. I've warned you, so if you go and get messed up, don't come on here whining and embarrassing some poor girl who tried her best.

To the hair cutter who posted a rebuttal, whether a place is cheap or not, or the employee new or not, doesn't matter in the least. Either the customer got proper value for the payment, or they didn't. If an employee doesn't know their stuff yet and finds themselves in over their heads, then they ought not be working for pay at that job. They should come out of school already knowing enough to do whatever the salon assigns them to do. Nobody should have to have their hair messed up because they don't know their job. So you can hate moms all you want, and they can hate you right back, and post their experience here with full justification. You're like the candy store owner who hates kids, but makes his living off of them.

Walmart has no interest, they only lease the space to smart style.  Find the owner of smart style and file a complaint.

Now there's drama at the haircuttery too!?

I have worked in salons of all kinds and I can say this: I hate moms. Moms of kids are sooo picky and whiny. It's just hair. Also, this is a cheap salon, you get what you pay for. People mistakenly think that all people with a license are equally good. This is not true. I have been cutting for 25 years, and I am much better now than I was when I first started out. If you want a simple trim you can go to a cheap place, but if you have curls or some special haircut like JB's, you should go to a more expensive salon with more educated stylists. I agree they should not have been rude to you, but it sounds to me that you were rude too. You should go to a barber. By the way, you did not get a buzz. If you did, you wouldn't have had bangs. Blending a buzz in with bangs is a learned skill. A real buzz has no bangs. If he looked like the three stooges dude, it could have easily been fixed by someone with a bit more experience. You should have left calmly and quietly and made an appt with someone more experienced.

I feel terrible for that poor girl that you publicly humiliated on this global website. You should be ashamed of yourself. What if she was your daughter, just out of beauty school and starting her first job. Cheap salons are like grad school You start there, and learn and get more educated. Then you graduate to a better salon. Everyone at good salons has been where that girl is. I have. I have made mistakes, too, when I first started and I am glad that back in the eighties they didn't have internet or I would have probably quit the business. She will get better. Watch. In a few years, you will walk into a high end salon and see her and she will be doing great. You are a bully.

You should apologize to her and get off your high horse.