What to do with a bad haircut and how it was resolved.

It's difficult when you move to find a new hairdresser. I never really had a preference when we were in the UK, a different place most times for a trim or a colour.

I had a good one in South Africa and an excellent one in Dubai. 

I've had 2 cuts since returning to the UK, but I've not been happy with either of them. one need a return trip to tidy up and the other was ok but not what I'd wanted.

So off to a new hair dresser.

I don't have any decent photos of my hair before the cut, but it was shoulder length and too bulky at the back.

I had a consultation a few days before and showed the stylist what I was aiming for and discussed the possibility of a perm to create some waves like this.

I asked for an undercut to remove the bulk at the back while it grew. i showed her a photo.

While she was cutting the hair I assumed the length was the same all round and when she showed me the back I could see all my hair had been cut off.

I told her I didn't like the wedge, it wasn't what I'd asked for and she offered to tidy it up with some layers. I'd specifically told her not to do a wedge, just an undercut and no layers. I paid and left disappointed, but thinking, it's only hair, it'll grow.

I got home, washed and attempted to style it and was left with this.

I actually cried.

I found another hairdresser.

I'm more than happy with this cut, similar to what I had a couple of times in Dubai, but now much shorter than I'd wanted and I'll start the process of growing it again.

I sent a message to the original hairdresser, with photos.

'I had my hair cut with you on Thursday last week. I was unhappy with the style having asked for an undercut as I wanted to grow my hair longer and explore the options of a perm, all discussed in a pre visit a few days earlier. I didn’t like the finished style and commented on the wedge at the back. The stylist offered to smooth it out but had already cut off more of my hair than I’d wanted. I said no thank you. Paid my £16 and left thinking it will grow. However when I got home and washed my hair, I was extremely upset to see how the hair had actually been cut and no amount of styling, gel etc could hide this mess. I opted not to return to complain as I didn’t want my hair cut at your salon again and risk it looking worse or too short. (It was shoulder length prior to Thursday) I visited another salon on Saturday who were able to resolve the issue at the cost of £42, however it does not rectify the issues of my hair now being much shorter than I wanted, being out of pocket financially and the upset of the cut. I’ve opted to give you the chance to comment rather than posting a review online as I’m hoping this was a one off. I’d read your reviews before booking initially. The next three photos show how I left the salon, after washing and after being rectified at another salon. I hope we can reach a satisfactory conclusion.'

Their response was:

Hi Suzanne we are sorry you have had such a bad experience at the Salon and we can only apologise for this, we obviously would liked to have corrected this for you, we are unsure how the stylist missed this and we would like to offer you a full refund of £16 that you paid in the salon, if you let me know when you would like to collect this I will make sure it is available for you Kind Regards Xxxxxxx's Hair Salon

I'm sending Peter in to collect the refund.

Should I be more tolerant?

I'm one of the first people today 'sorry' if I bump into someone. I'm also one of the rare breed of people who will say 'excuse me please' and actually wait for a response rather than just shoving my way through.

It takes quite a bit of piss taking before I will challenge someone on their behaviour, but I do like to have a moan and complain.

If I hold a door open and someone walks through I'll say 'thank you for holding the door' and if someone pushes in a queue I'll politely ask 'have you any idea why I'm actually stood here?'

I don't know really if I should be more tolerant or whether people need to be more mindful of others.

Most of the time I find people are less tolerant and mindful of others when they're travelling.

The other week I took a short flight to Northern Ireland. On this flight I was in an aisle seat, seated next to a man who had his arm in a cast, because of this his arm was hanging over my seat. A woman sat in a front with a small child and for the entire flight, played a children's TV show with the volume on full on her phone to entertain the child. The seat in the aisle opposite me was occupied by a young man with headphones on and his music on his phone could be heard. behind me sat a woman who struggled to physically fit in her seat and his knees pushed into my back the entire flight.

Did I say anything? No, not at first. I sat on an angle, with my elbow being knocked by crew and passengers going to the toilet. When I tried to straighten myself into an upright position, Mr broken arm exerted his right to my air space, no eye contact was made, no apology, no polite smile. I just had to tolerate it, along with the two iPhones and their volume. However when the woman behind stood up, pulling on my seat and grabbing part of my hair as she did so, I let out an audible sigh and muttered FFS.

On her return from the toilet, I got a dirty look, followed by pulling on my chair and pushing her knees into my back.
When I turned round in the aisle to ask her to refrain she said: 'what do you want me to do?' 
I replied with: 'maybe try a smile, apologise for inconveniencing me and pulling my hair' 
She replied: 'whatever'

I accommodated and tolerated everyone around me, until the point where my hair was pulled, however they were not mindful of me or anyone else around them. I'll assume they all had a good flight and were comfortable with their arrangements. I'll also assume that the woman behind me who pulled my hair probably thought I wasn't at all tolerant of her needs and the man next to me with his arm in a cast, just saw it as his right and was probably not aware that he was causing me any problem in any way.

Do you complain when someone inconveniences you? Or do you just sigh, tut and mutter and hope they don't hear you to avoid any confrontation?

Sometimes it's just not worth saying anything, however polite I am, I also end up being the bad guy.

Poor Customer Service and getting results online.

I'm getting increasingly fed up with up.

The last few times I've had a problem with major organisations and companies, I've followed the correct procedures, emailed the dedicated customer service team and waited for their response. Failing to get a response, where possible I've visited the relevant department and finally taken to Social Media, had an immediate response and the matter has been resolved within 24 hours.

Why have a customer service email and procedure to follow on a website when all you need to do is complain on twitter?

It irks me and it's not fair on people who don't use social media or have access to the internet and have to resort to being fobbed off over the telephone, after pressing a combination of buttons and being put on hold at considerable expense or being fobbed off face to face or even worse waiting for a reply via the postal system.

I visited several branches to obtain a deposit after a house move at the 'happiness centre' I left in tears on more than one occasion after being told all the paperwork they told me to have was incorrect and in the bank had a complete meltdown when i was made to obtain a ticket and queue 3 separate times to complete my banking needs and was in the branch for over an hour, as I had to see people in 3 different departments to change address and print a statement.

Living in Dubai I'm constantly comparing between here and the UK, whilst I find the above works pretty much the same in both countries, what I find different about Dubai is the service in the stores.

There appears to be an assumption in Dubai that all customers must be followed around the stores, closely by a sales assistant, muttering at you the entire time, taking your purchases off you and trying to get you to the counter or leading away from what you're looking at to show you something better and usually more expensive. This is for a variety of reasons.

Firstly, if they assist you with a sale, they may get commission on your purchase, secondly, if they're seen not to put packing your bags and serving you at break neck speed, then their manager will tell them off for not helping and thirdly because they think it's what we want or in some cases demand.

For me it feels rushed, I feel like I'm suspected of shop lifting. I like to browse. I may pick up several items to compare and then decide which one or two I would like to purchase. I might like to pack my own bags as I don't want potatoes put on top of bread or meat in with fruit or one item per plastic bag as I've actually brought my own bags with me.

Quite often though it is assumed you don't actually know what you want or what you are doing so they assume what you want and take over leading you down an avenue to purchase something you don't actually want or need. I don't speak any other language other than English and I'm pretty much in awe of people who do speak other languages, but often things get lost in translation or people just don't listen and it's difficult to get them to stop and work out what you are actually asking for without shouting at them to stop and listen.

But what irritates me the most is when I go into a relatively empty store, have dealt with most of the above and as I put something back on a rail or a shelf, before my hand has even left the object, the staff are right by your side, tidying it and lining it back up with perfection, making you feel like you're just an inconvenience and all it makes me want to do is leave the store and ruffle their window display as I exit.

Change is a big issue also for me as in no one ever has any and they think it's ok just to give you the receipt, since the introduction of VAT in January, unless the total is a round number, I'm no longer using cash and am paying by card, as I estimate I can save 2-3 dirhams a day which can add up to quite a considerable saving every year.

In Dubai there are 3 coins.

1 dirham

50 fils

25 fils

Prices are not set where it is possible to give exact change so a lot of rounding is done, if you pay by bank card you'll be deducted the 67 fils, if you pay by cash, they'll take 50 fils and let you off the rest.

Although sometimes if the total is 10.67 and you give them 11 dhs, you'll not get the change.

The cash machine dispenses large notes in denominations of 100, 200, 500 and 1000, yet the shops rarely have change for you. I was turned away from Boots trying to buy an 11 dhs packet of sanitary pads in an emergency and due to the fact I was using a UK bank card at the time I'd withdrawn 1000 dhs to save on costs and it came out the machine in 1 note. 

They will often force customers to use a bank card for small purchases, which is ok for me as I have a local card, but for a tourist, the charges can often cost more than the product.

A lot of companies are now charging VAT on products and services purchased prior to it's introduction earlier this month and it's causing a lot of arguments. We purchased a service agreement for Peter's car last year, there are 3 services left. At the time of purchase they were aware that VAT would be introduced, yet they waited until January 1st to ask for payment on all remaining services. Now in my mind that is not acceptable. It may be correct, but large organisations should in the name of good customer service, absorb these costs for their customers and only charge the VAT on newly purchased services. They're also trying to do it with gym memberships, purchased last year. Many companies have also taken the opportunity to increase their prices. At the car wash I was informed the price increase was due to the added 5% VAT, but in December the cost was 25 dirhams, now it is 36.75 dirhams, meaning a price increase of 10 dirhams for the same service, yet they're trying to tell me it's only gone up because of the added VAT.

I was denied access to speak with the manager at the garage, I called head office who informed me I had to speak to the manager, I called customer services who informed me I had to speak with the manager and despite telling them both no one made any effort on the desk to ask the manager to speak to me, they just then quoted the law about VAT at me on a loop till eventually I was forced to pay it as the garage refused to hand my car back to me until I did.

That is poor customer service and we will not be renewing the service agreement with them.

Do you have experiences with poor customer service? Does it always take longer to resolve an issue than it should? Is it the same where ever you are in the world?