Overcharged at hairdressers?

budget_budd

Ok it took me a while to get up the courage to phone them this morning my confidence went away overnight!

But I phoned up and it was correct £55 for highlights (I have long thick hair) and then £16 for the "finish" eek! So I was charged correctly.

Thank you all for your comments, you have helped me to put my mind at rest now. I hate it when I can't stop thinking about things I should have done.

I think I will take your advice continualdiamond and phone around a few for next time, and ask for the TOTAL cost of highlights (including any extras).

nellytheelephant

£16 to dry your hair?! I actually hate it when they charge extra for a blow dry after you've had a colour, grr!! x

Pssst

Go speak to them and ask them to trim your bill..

There is definitely something wrong as I only pay £8.50

cookie_monster

I pay £7.50 at my barbers.

Poppy9

They are actually being misleading with their prices if they tell you £55 and then charge extra for the finish. You can't walk out with sopping wet hair so it's ridiculous to charge you for that.

A quick phone call to consumer direct who will liase with your local trading standards. Your name will never be mentioned.

I have actually done this about a local hair dressers even though it wasn't me ripped off.

I was waiting while my child had her hair cut and blow dried. In the window they had signs saying £5 cut, £5 blow dry, £5 foils. Before I had paid for my DD another customer went to pay. She was a regular there. She was asked for £60 something pounds and she was a bit taken aback as she normally paid £36 in the same salon with the same girl cutting and finishing her hair. She was told they had introduced a new price structure and you now paid for who did your hair. She asked is that why the junior didn't colour my hair as normal this time and was told "you now have to ask for the junior to apply the colour, else you pay for the stylist you request to cut your hair to colour it". Total rip off. She didn't pay the whole amount she said she only had £40 on her so they settled on that. One customer lost.

I then had to pay for DD. Bill £15. I knew what the answer would be before I queried that the £5 cut/blow dry only applied to junior. However this wasn't made clear on the signs.

Rang consumer direct who agreed it was out of order and they said they would pass on to TS. I never heard from them again but the £5 signs were gone from the windows by the next day.

I also spoke to OH about what you should do if you feel overcharged and misled on price. He told me it's a civil matter so if they threaten to call the police do not be bullied. The police will only attend if you refuse to pay anything at all. However if you offer what you feel something was worth or what you had been led to believe was the charge for X service then they will have to sue you through the courts to get the balance.

So if you feel you are being ripped off then offer what you thought you would be paying if you had checked the price list or asked verbally before you received the service. Then leave them your name and address if they wish to contact you to persue the balance. If they (or their solicitor) write to you to request the money you can ignore it or reply stating your reasons for only making the amount of payment you did. Don't say you made part-payment just that you paid what you were led to believe was due.

budget_budd

Thanks for replies everyone! This is the reason I didn't go to the hairdresser for a year after my old one sold up.

I feel like a total idiot they must see people like me coming a mile off! Grrrrrr

I thought it was misleading but didn't know what I could do. Thank you Poppy I will give Consumer Direct a ring, and see if the price list changes.

Think it'll take me a while to get over this one. Worst thing is I felt obliged to book another appointment in 8 weeks time.

Yes I feel like a total walk over .

tbw

What really makes me cross is the exhorbitant price of very basic extras like a tiny blob of styling mousse or a small dollop of conditioner out of a huge bottle!

Years ago when I lived in London I found a decent hairdresser who charge the same price for a wash & blow dry whther you had these little extras or not. The basic price probably had a bit extra built in but you didn't notice it and you never felt ripped off with an extra few £'s for very little. They did a roaring trade.

Query everything if you think you've been overcharged - its your money and your right to a fair deal. And NEVER order anything unless you know the price ! I sat in a hotel lounge once waiting for my coach while on a tour and heard 2 old ladies shocked comments when they were charged nearly £20 for a pot of tea for two! I'd already enquired the price of a glass of orange juice and told them what they could do with their £8 drink! I'm happy to pay for what I have but I refuse to be taken to the cleaners over charges like this (it was a bog standard chain hotel probably 3*).

Poppy9

I dislike being charged for a cup of tea in the hairdressers. I rarely drink tea and favour water but often when you are sitting having your hair coloured you are there ages and they seem reluctant to give you water.

I now go to local hairdressing college for my colour. £10-15 depending on level student for my roots plus cut and blow dry. I had some foils the other day to have a few more colours in my hair plus my usual roots tint and paid £17.

Gingernutmeg

Poppy9 wrote: »

I now go to local hairdressing college for my colour. £10-15 depending on level student for my roots plus cut and blow dry. I had some foils the other day to have a few more colours in my hair plus my usual roots tint and paid £17.

Would you recommend doing that? I've been looking round at local hairdressers and the cheapest price I can find is £38/£40 for a 'restyle', wash and dry. I'm needing a haircut and I noticed the local college has two salons, a training one and a professional one, and both are significantly cheaper. I'm thinking of going but I'm really worried that something might go horribly wrong ... are they reasonably well supervised, and if (God forbid) something terrible happened would they sort it out? Have you ever had a 'bad' cut there?

Poppy9

Yes I have had a bad cut but that was due to a poor teacher who has now left and a student who wasn't really cut out to be a hairdresser.

99% of the time they are excellent. Colours better than salon and more care taken as they are assessed on their ability to match colour etc. With me level 3 are qualified but doing more advanced techniques (usually colour/wedding hair etc) or just want to be level 3 qualified. Some students work full time in the college salon and others work in salons full time just attending college one day a week.

Level 1 are beginners and maybe allowed to colour and blow dry but not much else. I don't go for these!

Level 2 are great and the later on in the year the more confident they are.

Level 3 are the best. Keen to show off their skills, suggest styles & colours.

I've even had freebies when they have needed clients for assessments or for the teacher to demonstrate a colouring technique. I did once have a colour correction for colour build up on my ends. That costs about £80+ in any salon as it's time consuming and I had it for free!

When you ring ask what level students they have, and tell them what you want. Classes are also at convienent times for me like well into the evening.