Complaint Review: Julia of River City Hair Studio - Missoula Montana

Julia Meeks spilled chemicals into my eyes and LAUGHED about it, then LIED about it when contacted by authorities. She also kept me for three and a half hours and RUINED my hair because she is totally incompetent. Charged me full price, seeing for herself she had totally screwed up and did not care in the slightest. Criminal negligence. If I had realized there was any possibility she was going to outright LIE about what she did to me? I would have (and should have) called 911 immediately and pressed charges for criminal assault.

Neither Julia the stylist, nor any member of management has expressed the slightest concern for my well being, nor have they made any resolution whatsoever in this matter even after being contacted by OSHA for the safety violation, their own Mall Management, and complaints to both the Montana Department of Labor and the Federal Trade Commission. The Manager even foolishly tried to minimize these events to the Better Business Bureau by saying that I was fabricating the entire incident where my eyes were injured (in spite of medical documentation), and that I simply had 'buyer's remorse.' Further evidencing that I do not believe the management or employees have a grip on business law. Buyer's remorse does not apply to situations where a customer purchased one thing, and received another. I have text traffic with photographs evidencing what I requested, significantly LIGHTENED hair, instead I ended up with severely damaged DARKER hair than what I had to start with while being charged for the service I requested yet did NOT receive. That does not meet the definition of buyer's remorse, that does meet the definition of theft of services and negligence. 

This criminally negligent business needs to be shut down. But for now, it looks like we are going to court because they remain steadfast in their position of having no professional or personal ethics whatsoever. I was falsely promised by stylist Julia Meeks from River City Hair Studio that she was capable of bleaching my hair to a platinum blonde, then adding a 'fun color' to it. I had not chemically treated my hair in approximately two years due to pregnancy, so it was very healthy. Instead, Ms Meeks kept me for three and a half hours of negligent torture. During that time she put me under intense heat with the bleach on my hair and absolutely destroyed the health of my hair, I had moved myself away from the heat because it had begun to burn so badly. I then asked to see the color she intended to put on it, she showed me, I very clearly stated, "No...that color is brownish grey. I do not want that color on my hair, and that is not what we discussed.' I then pointed to the color I did want. Without my knowledge, Ms Meeks (in direct violation of my orders) put the exact brownish grey color on my hair I ordered her not to. When I complained and said that is not what I wanted, she applied that same color a SECOND time. My hair was shampooed and chemically processed a total of three times. It is now DESTROYED.

Far worse than ruining years worth of my hair; she also spilled chemicals directly into my eyes from having my head laid back in the sink applying chemicals instead of sitting in the barber chair appropriately. When I immediately complained my eyes burned and their were chemicals in them, she laughed and said, "Great, now I'm gonna get in trouble with OSHA...just kidding!" She actually said that, and LAUGHED at me. Never offering me anything to flush my eyes or expressing the slightest bit of concern for my well being. She then told me as I was leaving to let her know if I wanted to reschedule to 'fix' my hair. She still charged me full price. Since that time, I had to seek medical treatment for the chemical burns in my eyes. I was given a Rx for my eyes by Dr Jennifer Kessler, and had to get new contacts as well as was unable to where contacts until my corneas healed. My doctor told me that it is highly probably my contacts are what saved my corneas from being further damaged. I have sought a refund from the company, and $50 towards my medical bills for a total of $200.00, and was adamantly refused.

In fact, I received a very belligerent voicemail from the Manager telling me I was banned from the salon and 'warning' me that she had contacted a lawyer and I had better never harass her stylist again. At no point did I perpetrate any harassment. No responsibility whatsoever has been taken for what was done to me. I have all text records of all conversations (one) which took place between myself and the offending stylist that perpetrated those travesties against me, there is nothing harassing about me reporting that I wanted remedy made, and I am more than happy to submit transcripts of the texts. I also have witnesses to the events, and Ms Meeks was working alone and unsupervised so she does not. My full time Nanny was present with my baby when these events took place. I of course have medical documentation, photos, and retained the voicemail from management that demonstrated the author was so incapable of controlling her emotions that further harassment was sure to follow, so I filed a police report.

Management actually accused me of fabricating the entirety of these events, in spite of the wealth of evidence I possess to the contrary. I am an upstanding citizen with a clean record, highly educated, and exceedingly honest. On the other hand, Julia Meeks has a reputation (even self-reported) of in her words being a 'spoiled brat' and finding it 'fun to fight.' I also am not aware of any member of that place of business that is college educated, which might also be exacerbating this dramatic display of negligence with regards to how to run a business and most importantly the fiduciary duty to only charge customers for services they actually receive. I was outright charged for services NOT received, I had something done to me I said DO NOT DO that ruined my hair and then was charged for it.

The Manager of the shopping mall where this business is located even tried contacting her to mediate, and encourage her to bring resolution and she lied to him saying that she would and had 'invited me to the salon to discuss it' then left me that shocking message that demonstrated serious professional misconduct and emotional instability, as well as dishonesty because she told her Manager one thing, and me the exact opposite. I didn't achieve the level of success I have early in life, and a 4.0 from Texas A&M MBA program, by being an easy target that's unaware of my rights. I WILL receive restitution for what was done to me and that business WILL put proper safety measures in place to protect the public going forward. If it takes a lawsuit to make that happen? I am fine with that. Because while they may have 'dramatic affect' on their side; evidence and the laws of both the State of Montana and the United States are on mine.