Is this a bizarre policy or nah?

January 30, 2023 6:19 PM

Hair people of Metafilter! The salon I go to has recently announced a number of new policies and honestly I've been a little taken aback by them. I'm trying to get a sense of whether these changes are happening throughout the industry or whether it's just my particular spot.

(With all of the necessary caveats that this is the most first-world of problems and if I don't want to spend money I can simply choose not to do so, etc. etc.)

My hair salon has always had a policy of charging 50% for cancellations less than 48 hours in advance, and 100% for no-call no-show. Now, however, they're charging 100% for cancellations within 48 hours, and also charging 50% of the service cost if you cancel at any time at all. Appointments book months in advance, so like..."any time" could really be any time. Is this something that is starting to be standard practice?

This change comes along with a hike in all service prices, and also a number of new itemized charges -- all of which is completely understandable, but I'm just saying, it's not like they're doing this to avoid hiking prices.

Obviously I am all about these folks getting paid and not getting stiffed by flakes. Small businesses have been utterly fucked, and if this is just how salons need to operate now, with the hit they obviously took from COVID restrictions, etc., then I just need to live with that.

However, I'm also not a huge fan of the ownership of this place (I followed my beloved stylist here, and otherwise I would not have chosen it). They have a history of making kind of bizarre decisions about the business so I'm ... skeptical, a bit.

Overall, I'd prefer not to leave my stylist, and especially not if this is all just the New Normal and I'm just going to run into the same measures everywhere else. But I'm a bit concerned that this is actually just kind of a bad/maybe desperate move by the salon (it wouldn't be the first).

Thoughts from the stylists, barbers, and hair enthusiasts of MeFi?

posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (40 answers total)

I would not be at all cool with having to pay 50% of the cost of the appointment if I cancelled it e.g. three months out, if they're busy enough that someone would snag that spot in a heartbeat.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 6:24 PM on January 30, 2023 [51 favorites]

50% cancellation at any time is bullshit. They'd have to be the fairy godmother from Cinderella herself.
posted by praemunire at 6:26 PM on January 30, 2023 [40 favorites]

This is a terrible policy - because it's going to result in some customers who either have COVID or have some other viral infection (influenza etc) coming in and infecting the staff/other customers to avoid getting hit with the cancellation fee.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 6:27 PM on January 30, 2023 [66 favorites]

That's crazy, why do they even have your credit card on file? I would call them up and ask if with this new policy they're ok that you come in with the flu or someone bring a snotty kid who is coughing all over the place, or a kid who has diarrhea and vomiting? (Just listing all the things my kid had in the last 2 weeks where I had to cancel appointments but definitely would have come in if they were to charge me.) Because that's what's going to happen.
posted by never.was.and.never.will.be. at 6:40 PM on January 30, 2023 [7 favorites]

Why do they even have your credit card on file?

Nobody said anything about that.
posted by NotLost at 6:57 PM on January 30, 2023

Is this one of those things where they announce a strict policy and end up only using it in discretion for specific customers as a way to deter and corral bad behavior?

Like if you're a reliable and regular customer and you have to cancel very occasionally, the stylist will waive the fee and say oh don't worry about it, you're fine, see you next week, but if you're a total nightmare client canceling left and right and up and down the salon will charge you and just say hey it's our standard policy, this applies to everyone, not just you?

I'm thinking it might be, because if they don't have a credit card on file, they can't actually enforce it.
posted by mochapickle at 7:09 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: They do absolutely have peoples’ credit cards on file for the previous, no-call no-show policy.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 7:15 PM on January 30, 2023 [9 favorites]

Yes, bizzare. But if you want to stay with your beloved stylist I guess you'll have to accept it and game the system as best you can, e.g., by not booking too far in advance. Also:

Hair people of Metafilter!
Now coming to a theater near you.
posted by mono blanco at 7:21 PM on January 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

No, this is wild. I looked at the policies of the salons I go to and their cancellation policies range from 100% for cancellations within 24 hours to "hey if you flake out all the time we will drop you as a customer". None of them have any penalty for cancelling more than 24 hours out because, like your salon, these are busy places where cancellations get picked up in like five seconds flat.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 7:31 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]

This would be a hard no for me, though I agree we all need to be doing a lot to help small businesses survive. In this case I'd probably reach out to the stylist separately and say "The policy doesn't work for me, but is there a way for us to keep working together?" And see what she says.

My stylist has done stuff like cut my hair in my backyard (during the height of Covid), and also super undercharge me (at a salon where she hates the management). For the undercharge, which I did not ask for, I just decided to venmo her the balance I would have paid as an extra-large tip. Works for me, because above all things I want to prioritize my relationship with her over my relationship with the salon.
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:34 PM on January 30, 2023 [10 favorites]

Before you leave I think it’s worth telling your stylist you may need to leave specifically because of this policy—maybe they’ll be able to assure you they won’t enforce this policy against you?
posted by kapers at 8:52 PM on January 30, 2023 [9 favorites]

Financial mismanagement that they're trying to make up for in silly ways? Even the most absolute strict meanie salons near me let you cancel without penalty outside 24 hours.
posted by kingdead at 9:10 PM on January 30, 2023

There’s an Aveda salon near me that does this and you don’t even find out about it until you’re halfway through their elaborate online booking system. I’m not okay with it so backed right on out. People are crazy. I would go back to Covid-cutting my hair before I’d subject myself to a hostile practice like that. But no need, I have a lovely woman who runs a single-chair salon with no “policies” at all and I treat her very well. There’s more than one way to run a business
posted by HotToddy at 9:47 PM on January 30, 2023 [4 favorites]

No, this is very weird and excessive. But the most common boundary for cancellation fees is 48 hours. Before that? That's a BIZARRE business practice. Complain directly to the owner and tell them that it's untenable. If it's "discretionary" for just some random PITA clients, that's also bullshit because it can be used against you with no recourse. And then privately talk to your stylist to see what kind of workarounds are possible.

(Requiring a card on file is definitely standard now for modern salons. Though I mean no shade to the proudly not-modern salons in my neighborhood!)
posted by desuetude at 9:52 PM on January 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

This is a ridiculous policy and do not cast it in the light of supporting a small business. Where I live, business owners who feel free to create policies like this are doing very well indeed. My patronage of the small businesses in my town for a good and fair product IS supporting them. Supporting small business is not charity, it's choosing local over corporate, but it's still a fair exchange.
Let's remember that customers are NOT only wealthy people with the noblesse oblige to support small businesses beyond what they're getting in exchange.
Am I, a very Not Rich person, supposed to feel guilty for balking at taking $100 from my kids' mouth to give my salon owner when I cancel in plenty of time for them to reschedule? What about my own need to support myself? If this is not an easy bit of expendable money for me, does that mean I, a non-rich person, can literally never budget for a nice treat, but have to just always go to Supercuts because what if, you know, life happens and I have to reschedule my damn hair appointment?
Normalizing excessive penalties and other kinds of padding is not just a kindness to small business owners, it also starts to exclude people without the means to do so from anything other than the cheapest mass market stuff. We laborers (and struggling small business owners) need things to be fair when we're consumers too.
(Just yesterday the guy who came to fix something on my house, a small business owner, literally laughed at me, a mere employee of someone, and said "You know, I make in the six figures now, so I'll give you a little bit of a discount.")
posted by rainy day girl at 11:27 PM on January 30, 2023 [5 favorites]

The salon I use changed its cancellation policies very recently, but it's not as draconian as this. The reason for the change was that they have been getting a lot more cancellations and a lot more late cancellations than before Covid. So I expect there's a good reason they want to be stricter, but not a good reason to be as strict as they are being.
posted by plonkee at 12:55 AM on January 31, 2023

I never support people passing on the cost of doing business to the customer. These are things that have always been an issue with scheduling humans -- things come up, and people have to change their plans. Too bad, so sad. Sure, I sympathize with the uncertainty this must create for hairstylists/therapists/etc., but that is a huge part of any job like that, an accepted risk.

I simply do not put up with cancellation fees, and will drop someone like a hot potato the second they try to strong-arm me into paying for services I did not receive.
posted by asimplemouse at 3:20 AM on January 31, 2023 [7 favorites]

I go to a small salon that's just a married couple, and they've always been very flexible about rescheduling in the decade I've been going in.

It's definitely not common, but sometimes one of my disabilities is badly flaring, or maybe there's inclement weather and transit isn't available.

They simply resell the appointment, and particularly in bad weather they expect cancellations. And sometimes the salon is closed to accommodate what they need, and my appointment changes.

I would prefer to be dropped as a client than to be hit with fees for, essentially, being a human person.
posted by champers at 3:45 AM on January 31, 2023 [2 favorites]

My one-woman salon did recently need to change up her cancellation policy but the new one is not *nearly* this intense. Really it was more just “I need to start actually enforcing the policy I already had.” So my best guess is this may be part of a general shift but your salon is going way, way overboard.
posted by Stacey at 4:14 AM on January 31, 2023

That's a little extreme. My salon requires us to have a credit card on file and has a policy of a 50 percent charge for no-shows, cancellations within 24 hours of a 1-hour service, and cancellations within 48 hours of any service that takes more than an hour. It seems pretty reasonable to me.

However, I also have the feeling that they might be flexible on that if you called because you were sick AND had a longstanding relationship with the stylist.

Caveats: high cost of living area, very in-demand stylists, city culture that tends toward flaky
posted by purple_bird at 8:28 AM on January 31, 2023

Yes that charge for cancelling way in advance is just bullshit. And there is a huge difference between 24 and 48 hours when it comes to cancelling before an appointment. It's really important to be able to cancel if you are sick or your kids are sick!

Definitely sound out your stylist about this. Maybe they can make an exception to this policy or maybe they are seeing people outside the salon. I'm currently seeing a stylist who never went back to her salon when it re-opened from the pandemic closure. I feel safer at the space she has rented and I tip extra to compensate for what it must be costing her to do so.
posted by BibiRose at 8:46 AM on January 31, 2023

time for a new salon, period/polka dot: these people are deranged
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 9:04 AM on January 31, 2023

I wonder who came up with this and whether they're getting pushbacks.

It's an extremely draconian cancellation policy and it's not as if they are super-exclusive 3-month-waitingly kind of place that can justify having such a policy.
posted by kschang at 9:11 AM on January 31, 2023

That is absolutely not the norm. I go to the premier salon in my area and they are so in demand that on the one occasion I've had to cancel (giving less than 24 hours' notice), they've immediately been able to fill the slot. I've also needed an appointment at short notice and been fitted in where someone's cancelled.

If you have to book a couple of months ahead, there's no predicting what might happen in the interim, so such a draconian cancellation policy looks more like a way of bilking the customers rather than covering actual lost client costs.
posted by essexjan at 9:24 AM on January 31, 2023

Response by poster: Oh, wow, OK. Well it is good to know that my initial reaction wasn't off-base!

I would call them up and ask if with this new policy they're ok that you come in with the flu or someone bring a snotty kid who is coughing all over the place, or a kid who has diarrhea and vomiting?

I did follow up with the salon about their policy for illness and they said the following:

In the event that you are sick and/or showing symptoms and decide to come in for your scheduled appointment, we reserve the right to refuse service in order to avoid the possible risk to our team and/or families. If rescheduling your appointment is required there will be a cancellation fee of full service.

So uh, yeah..."if you cancel in advance, pay up; if you show up anyway, go home and pay up." Basically, making an appointment with this place costs $200 minimum, no matter whether it happens or not. Guess I'm going to be finding a new salon.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:34 AM on January 31, 2023 [20 favorites]

Your update? That is truly absurd. That's just...not a sane policy, by any stretch of the imagination.
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:24 AM on January 31, 2023 [8 favorites]

Before your update I was going to chime in and say that I agree with everyone and think you should leave this salon and be kind but totally candid with your stylist about why, but now, after your update, that doesn't feel like enough and I honestly want to dedicate my life to forcing this salon to close. Outrageous.
posted by superfluousm at 10:36 AM on January 31, 2023 [11 favorites]

You should probably get your stylist's phone number or other form of contact information -- they are probably thinking of jumping ship too and starting their own business, or at least moving to another salon. This is a very money hungry and punitive small business owner.
posted by yueliang at 10:43 AM on January 31, 2023 [9 favorites]

Not only are these policies (specifically, the 50% for any cancellation and 100% if you're sick) unreasonable to clients, they're also reflective of a really inhumane and ableist environment. People who continue as clients will be coming in sick, exposing stylists and other clients to things like COVID, flu, and RSV. It's already hard enough to get people to quarantine appropriately when they have milder COVID symptoms, or don't realize their "cold" is actually RSV. These policies are going to cause real physical harm.
posted by theotherdurassister at 12:20 PM on January 31, 2023 [8 favorites]

Oh HELL no! I'm a therapist in an office with med providers and our cancellation policy isn't anything near that draconian! That goes beyond ableism into absurd.
posted by epj at 1:14 PM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]

Before your update, I was in agreement with what mochapickle said:
Is this one of those things where they announce a strict policy and end up only using it in discretion for specific customers as a way to deter and corral bad behavior?

Like if you're a reliable and regular customer and you have to cancel very occasionally, the stylist will waive the fee and say oh don't worry about it, you're fine, see you next week, but if you're a total nightmare client canceling left and right and up and down the salon will charge you and just say hey it's our standard policy, this applies to everyone, not just you?

but now, man. I'd talk to your stylist and see what they're thinking. Maybe they're going to move salons as well.
posted by ApathyGirl at 2:16 PM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]

IMHO, 50% for anytime advance notice outside of the industry-standard 24-48 hours is absurd and a deep cut in customer service/loyalty. Your update trends as even more absurd, and uncaring. I'd give feedback, get your stylist's contact information, and walk away to a competitor.

To be fair, I honestly don't think the new policies they instituted will last long. People will bail and they will either have to walk back the changes, or eventually go out of business.
posted by dubious_dude at 4:18 PM on January 31, 2023 [1 favorite]

Talk to your stylist and see if they'll see you in your home or theirs. Cause...no. Never heard anything so outrageous for a hair appointment.
posted by tiny frying pan at 4:34 PM on January 31, 2023

> It's an extremely draconian cancellation policy and it's not as if they are super-exclusive 3-month-waitingly kind of place that can justify having such a policy.

Those kind of places that could justify it don't have draconian policies like this, though because any opening gets snapped up IMMEDIATELY by someone on the waitlist!

(Non-famous salons don't have policies like this for the same reason. If you are attracting a sustainable level of clients, you don't need to blackmail them into never cancelling.)
posted by desuetude at 4:36 PM on January 31, 2023 [3 favorites]

I'd go the extra mile and ask them to remove your on-file credit card information as well, honestly.
posted by Aleyn at 6:26 PM on January 31, 2023 [10 favorites]

Definitely stop going there and ask them to remove your information. This is beyond absurd and a good way to lose clients.

(Also, can we not with the term 'first world problems'? I promise those of us in the third world ALSO have problems that are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.)
posted by Tamanna at 8:10 PM on January 31, 2023 [6 favorites]

Your update! These people are bonkers! I say get in with a different salon now before they all fill up with the mass exodus from this salon.
posted by HotToddy at 8:02 AM on February 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

While you are telling your stylist why you are leaving and removing your credit card from being on file, please also make a google review of this salon to let future customers know what they're getting into!
posted by cgg at 12:30 PM on February 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

I just quit my massage therapist, whom I loved, because of a policy change far less draconian than this one. But like this one, the policy meant it was a lot cheaper for people who are sick to come in for their treatments and hope no one notices, even if they get everyone sick, than it was for them to cancel and stay home. And I was not willing to put myself in an environment that unsafe, nor was I willing to contribute to putting my therapist and other staff in that environment. I told them exactly why I was leaving, and they offered to waive the cancellation fees, but only for me, so everyone else would still have been coming in sick all around me. I'm in the market for a new, safer massage therapy practice.
posted by decathecting at 9:21 PM on February 1, 2023 [3 favorites]

Just curious...what's their policy when they can't deliver a service, e.g., your stylist gets sick?
posted by she's not there at 2:23 AM on February 2, 2023 [2 favorites]