Hairdresser rights question

Vezdolphin

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Do you want the technical legal answer? If so, you may be liable for damages due to personal injury as per Kemp and Kemp. In your case, damages would be greater than a normal 'hit on the head' incident as this has a greater effect on you due to your condition (in legal terms, the thin skull rule). However the hairdresser may have a valid defence that you didn't make her aware of your condition before the haircut.


However, the realistic answer is that you've paid in full and left. It's not worth stewing over now, you aren't going to get anything, and best to chalk it up as a funny story to tell others.

Thanks, that is what I thought and information to help me in future. Not sure how I'd communicate at the time, (not sure if you saw second post that I'm profoundly deaf) so I'll have to think of a way to stop just bumbling ahead like a passive chicken. Have let many consumer things go based on communication (& agree second disability is irrelevant hence I said not their responsibility, only thing holding this back was communicating). Your answer has been informative to help me find a better way to deal with these challenges. Don't know whether negotiating these mse threads was tougher anyway!

meer53

If you only give half a story in your OP then you're going to get replies based on what you've written. To get useful responses, explain the full situation. In your case, if you'd explained your issues, you would have got different responses.

photome

meer53 wrote: »

If you only give half a story in your OP then you're going to get replies based on what you've written. To get useful responses, explain the full situation. In your case, if you'd explained your issues, you would have got different responses.

The OP did say she had a disability, nobody asked what, they just jumped on her for asking how to deal with the issue.

I dont think she was treated very well by the hairdresser, and should have had a free haircut

Vezdolphin

photome wrote: »

The OP did say she had a disability, nobody asked what, they just jumped on her for asking how to deal with the issue.

I dont think she was treated very well by the hairdresser, and should have had a free haircut

One thing I have learnt is how this forum works! It's only from reflecting through some responses on this thread I realise how being deaf and particularly in the hairdressers when I have to take hearing aids out, makes me more passive. Next time I post I will be much more aware if me being deaf is a factor though I really didn't want this to be about disability

I think from this thread one thing I might do is print out the consumer rights leaflet from here and see if it's something I can point at immediately if I am not happy so I can give myself a chance to communicate how I feel.

mountainofdebt

Sorry but I do think you're over-reacting.

An apology at the time is all I would have expected and to expect anything more (discount/free hair cut) is, tbh, totally over the top.

Of course you could always go to one of the ambulance chasers and see what they say

Vezdolphin

mountainofdebt wrote: »

Sorry but I do think you're over-reacting.

An apology at the time is all I would have expected and to expect anything more (discount/free hair cut) is, tbh, totally over the top.

Of course you could always go to one of the ambulance chasers and see what they say

I agree a simple apology would have been good and in a lot of cases more than enough for the issue. Especially if given at the time. Maybe apologies are not given these days (like in this case) as people do not want to admit to any liability in case of serious recrimination? Like I said, after keeping quiet about a number of consumer issues I just want to empower/educate myself and therefore also help others in the British Sign Language Deaf community here so we know what things can be done especially when communication is a barrier, what to leave go etc.

LilElvis

Vezdolphin wrote: »

One thing I have learnt is how this forum works! It's only from reflecting through some responses on this thread I realise how being deaf and particularly in the hairdressers when I have to take hearing aids out, makes me more passive. Next time I post I will be much more aware if me being deaf is a factor though I really didn't want this to be about disability

I think from this thread one thing I might do is print out the consumer rights leaflet from here and see if it's something I can point at immediately if I am not happy so I can give myself a chance to communicate how I feel.

You would probably have had a more sympathetic response from the outset had we been told the nature of your disability. Sadly, in a climate of people chasing compensation for extremely minor incidents, many of us have become quite jaded. Some phrases in your original post, without knowing the full picture, raised just this spectre - "I paid the full price (not thinking straight)"and "I would have negotiated something then if I could".

Both my father and Mother-In-Law use hearing aids and I suffer from tinnitus so I do empathise with how difficult it must be to articulate when you have a problem, and especially when your aids are not in. As your hairdresser was obviously aware of your condition then she really should have taken the extra time to establish that you were OK. Hopefully you can find another hairdresser who will be more accommadating, and less clumsy.

Regardless of disablity it is always a good thing to be as aware as possible of your rights as a consumer, and if you need to post a question here in future, and your hearing problems are relevent to the issue, then please make it explicit from the outset as this may well have a significant bearing on the advice offered.

unholyangel

Vezdolphin wrote: »

I agree a simple apology would have been good and in a lot of cases more than enough for the issue. Especially if given at the time. Maybe apologies are not given these days (like in this case) as people do not want to admit to any liability in case of serious recrimination? Like I said, after keeping quiet about a number of consumer issues I just want to empower/educate myself and therefore also help others in the British Sign Language Deaf community here so we know what things can be done especially when communication is a barrier, what to leave go etc.

OP is there anyway perhaps they have apologised without you being aware? Not implying anything at all, I genuinely (obviously) dont know how it all happened, what was said, how the knock on the head can affect you etc. Just wondered if perhaps you'd been stunned for a split second that the hairdresser (in a panic at just having conked a customer) said sorry, forgetting you're deaf and wouldnt have been able to hear her?