Ok, after giving my loyalty to the Scruples Salon out in Woodbridge, I’ve had enough.
I’ve ignored the fact that many times I’ve been treated like nothing more than an inconvenience. I hate it when hairdressers run in between clients, or stop & talk to their staff or other clients while working on me & Albert, my hairdresser & part owner, does this ALL the time. There was even a time or two when he went to talk on the phone, right in the middle of my cut.
You can’t teach people how to respect people, either they do or they don’t.
While Scruples staff is nice on the outside, many times they have disrespected me as a regular customer & I can tell that they are just faking it a lot of the time.
In fact the only staff member there who I never felt faked it was Fabio, but he wasn’t my hairdresser, he was my son’s.
I feel ALL customers should be treated with love & respect, not just regular ones.
While I don’t spend a lot every time I go because I don’t have a lot to spend on a regular basis, there are times when I do spend a lot, & I always recommend them to people, & my ex started going there, as well as my son.
I’m also very consistent in going there & consistency is HUGE when it comes to a business holding onto a customer.
I will mention that Albert did give me $5 off his haircut & 15% off Aveda hair care products, & I mention this because I know if he ever reads it, THIS will be his so called proof that he gave me things no one else ever got, or that “yes”, he treated me with respect.
Well respect goes beyond a small discount, it’s how the customer feels they are treated overall, NOT about the money & do you want to know why I put up with this shit so often? Yes, because of this small discount. Yes, I guess I did short change myself. I’m worth way more than $5 off.
My gripe here is primarily about Sandra, Albert’s sister & while Albert has treated me rudely at times too, on this date he had nothing to do with what happened, so I want to make that clear.
Over time I have always felt like they only care about money & not really about the person they are servicing. In fact if you are a new customer, they treat you like gold just to keep you, so it may not be something you notice right off the bat.
Sandra (Albert’s sister) is the head esthetician & part owner with her brother Albert.
She is always late, & I mean always.
I’ve bit the bullet & accepted this fact because she is good at what she does, but on October 12th, 2007, that was the last straw for me.
Yes Albert will keep me waiting too & god forbid I’m late, he’ll start on another client no problem.
One time he made me wait 1 1/2 hrs. because I was 15 minutes late, but if I am there on time or early, do you think I ever get out of there early or on time? LOL, nope.
So on this particular day (Friday), I arrive about 10 minutes late driving like a maniac to get there.
I’m driving all the way from Brampton to Woodbridge which doesn’t take 5 minutes because I wasn’t taking the 497.
While Sandra said hello to me when I walked in, she was standing at the computer talking to a customer. It took me a while to figure out she had just serviced this woman & was slowly (I mean slowly) booking her next appointment.
I sit patiently waiting even though I’m starting to get teed off. How long does it take to book an appointment?
I’ve learned at times that because the customer comes last, I even have to call to see if she’s even going to be on time because one could walk in & still wait 30 minutes just for her.
So I never show up on time anymore because I learned my lesson a while ago. So, I figured when I was 10 minutes late, she should be all finished & waiting for me, but I still rushed, because I didn’t want to be rude & keep her waiting.
One time I fell asleep while she was doing my son’s eyebrows (I was next) & she was late of course, & when she opened the door, she barked at me because I didn’t get up fast enough for her. Well I barked back that SHE was the one who was late & keeping me waiting. How dare she!
So back to this story…
The next thing I know, she walks out of the room with this woman & her friend or sister, & doesn’t even say to me, “sorry, I have to do something really quick, do you mind waiting?”
I’m like, what the hell, where is she going?
After another few minutes of waiting, I go look outside the room to see her talking to Albert.
She sees me open the door giving her a look like “come on, I’m waiting.” She still doesn’t come back into the room.
Then I go to the washroom thinking she will be in any minute.
I finish, come out & she’s not there, she’s not even talking to Albert anymore.
Now I’m really pissed, & I was in a great mood when I arrived. I was her last appointment & should have been in & out of there in 15 minutes tops.
I go up to the front & see her behind the cash doing god knows what. I stand there all pissed waiting for her to look up.
Nope, she’s too busy looking in a drawer which I’m sure could have been handled after she looked after me.
So, finally I give up.
I go get my purse & tell Albert I’m leaving.
I get to the front just as she is just coming out from behind the front desk. I tell her I can’t wait.
She’s like, “well I’m done now if you want me to do you, otherwise another time is okay.”
So it’s clear she could care less whether I even stay or not. This pisses me off even more.
I told her I didn’t like the fact that you just left the room, didn’t say a word, then you are talking to Albert, etc.
The next several words went right over my head because all I heard were excuses & NO APOLOGY.
I was prepared to go back with her & once again bite the bullet if she had been respectful enough to apologize for just leaving me sitting there with no word, but her clear disrespect for me was now very very evident.
She knows I have to drive all the way from Brampton to see her & I’ve driven from Mississauga (which is further) just to see her. No matter where I’ve moved or they have moved, I’ve been very loyal.
Not to rush to judgement, I waited a few days to see if Sandra would have the common courtesy to call me & apologize for her behaviour, but I never heard from her again.
Her actions speak volumes about how she could care less if she loses me as a client AND, she lost my son as a client, Albert now lost me, the colour technician (see below) lost me, & Fabio lost my son.
Fabio, if you ever leave (I doubt he ever will), give us a call, Adrian would love to go back to you.
Highlight story…
Last time I had my highlights done, I had a problem with the colour technician & when I was in next I showed Albert & you could see he thought it looked like shit too, but his only response was, “talk to XXX” can’t remember his name now.
Albert didn’t follow up to see what was going to be done about it, etc., & the colour technician didn’t seem too thrilled that I was complaining whereas when he screwed up the very first time I saw him, he was all gunho about redoing his mistake, making it perfect etc. Remember, he wanted to keep me as a client, but once he thought he had me, I guess the quality or care was lackluster & this was after I thought he was great. In fact every time I’d see him he’d always be complaining about why I wasn’t coming in more often when he knew damm well I couldn’t.
So anyway, my point about all of this is that now I’m looking for people (doesn’t matter if you give me different locations) who can do the following:
1. Great hair. I’m willing to go no more than $70. This person really has to be great, as I’ve tried many in the past.
2. Colour technician – once again, is great, I do highlights & have to do colour to cover up my grey : )
3. Esthetician who’s great at eyebrow waxing. A lot can’t do great eyebrows.
And of course people/salon who really cares about their clients, NOT just the money.
Thanks a ton for any help you can give me.