Bad customer service has a new meaning to me. I have officially seen the worst. And I have seen some real fucked up ones...
This is an email I just sent to the owner of the hair salon where I had an appointment today. I was completely verbally assaulted by a very flamboyant and orange hair stylist who did nothing short of rolling his eyes and neck at me. He made me see red for about an hour. Maybe three. Now my mission is just to get him fired:
(note that I'm not posting their names here. In case they don't reply to me within a day, I will post their link. Then you're all welcome to send them hate mail for me. Thanks in advance.)
"Dear XXXXXXX Hair Designs owners,
I'm taking time out of a busy day to write you this email after experiencing the worst, most disrespectful and humiliating customer service I have ever seen. It happened earlier today, at 12:45am, after I arrived late to one of my appointments at your salon.
I would like to open a parenthesis here and explain that I am a designer/branding professional who works on a daily basis on helping companies create a positive perception with the public, and what I experienced in your salon was nothing short ofappalling. I was very impressed with the organization of the website and the online booking alternative, and I was looking forward to seeing how my experience in your business would be. Evidently, it wasn't the best.
I schedule an appointment online for 12:30pm with N., who I believe is also one of the owners. Sometime before 9am this morning (Tuesday, July 17) somebody called me and asked me if it was ok to re-schedule my appointment with N. at 11:30am instead. Because I wouldn't be able to make, we rescheduled with another girl, still at 12:30pm. I was still very glad with the treatment I was given; the person who called me was extremely polite and made sure I was contacted early enough in case I had to change plans.
On my way to my appointment, I was running late. At 12:35pm I called the salon from my car, while I was stranded in traffic, and told the receptionist that I would be there in about 5 minutes. I apologized for being late and nothing was said about the inability of the hairstylist of making the appointment. When I got to the salon, at almost 12:45pm, I was told that the person I had schedule with had left because she had to pick up her child. I understood that I was late, and if the person had to go, I couldn't blame her, but I thought it was pertinent to bring up the question about an appointment being made at 12:30 when the stylist has to be gone by 12:45. Sounds awfully quick to me, but I didn't mean to challenge the the competence of the salon or the employee. It was a logical question, asked respectfully, not ONCE getting personal with any of the people involved.
So I asked "why was the appointment made at 12:30 if she had to be out by 12:45"? The question was made to the girl sitting in the reception area.
That's when J.B. (I see his photo on the website, that's why I know his name) stepped in and quickly responded "Why are you late"? I explained to him that I had called about running late. I also said that I was referred to the salon by a friend who really likes the salon, and that's why I was there, and that I couldn't understand why he was being so rude to me. He then when on a rampage, telling me "no to tell them how to book", "maybe my friend likes it because she's on time", "he didn't care what I thought", and ended by telling me "I was shocked because he was calling me out, and apparently I'm not used to it." All of that in a VERY standoffish and offensive tone.
I was ABSOLUTELY speechless. All I could say was that I was shocked, that he was completed over-reacting, that I would just call and re-schedule and that that was terrible customer service. I left and walked to my car oblivious, knowing that I would make the owners aware of the incident.
I'm writing you as a person who was extremely impressed with the service offered to me before I entered that place, and was looking forward to becoming a regular customer, since I live nearby. What your employee did to me was despicable, and he made SURE I NEVER, EVER STEP INTO THAT PLACE AGAIN. Not because the hairstylist wasn't there - I could live with that, because I know was late. But because I absolutely refuse to be a customer of a place that will let an employee greet a guest like Jeremy Brown did. This is not an attack at your salon. This is to make you aware of the treatment given to me by one of your associates, while other employees stood around watching him flat out personally disrespect me and my character.
I will make sure my friends who are already your customers don't ever return to that salon. I will also make this incident known to fellow PR colleagues who are a very tight community in this town. My goal is not to hurt your business, but it is to make a statement against this kind of behavior, which I'm sure directly affects the image of your salon.
I hope you take this email into consideration and somehow use it to your benefit. I wish you all luck and hope you realize that at the end of the day, those who work for or with you represent what you and your business stand for.
Hopefully that was just a REALLY bad first impression."
Hopefully the bitch is gone by now.
