Riccardo Maggiore Salon

Review: The conduct I was subjected to at Riccardo Maggiore Hair Salon is by far the worst experience I ever had with a hairdresser in my life. I came to the salon to have my hair coloured and cut. I brought a picture to show the stylist the base colour I wanted with a few highlights but she was impatient saying that she did not have time to listen to me because she had other customers. No wonder that the colour came out much too dark. Regardless, I agreed to pay the full price of $397 (cut $130, colour $250, tax $17) on the premise she would re-do the colour. That was a big mistake, a few days later the stylist put a strong product on my hair, which absolutely wrecked it. It was damaged and miscoloured with an orange glow on the top and grey/green shades on the bottom. The stylist said to wait a week and she would fix it for me. My scalp was itching and I used several expensive conditioning treatments but my hair still feels completely dead. The salon manager was difficult when I called into the salon and said she'd call me when she'd spoken to the stylist. She never called back so I went to the salon again and spoke to the owner. The owner wanted me to talk outside the salon to hide my complaint from his customers but I refused and asked him for a solution to the damage on my hair. I couldn't believe it when a male stylist came towards me, grabbed my hair behind my right ear and said you are an evil little person, grabbed my shoulders and pushed me out of the salon and locked the doors behind me! Afterwards I wrote an e-mail to the manager about taking the case further and she called me back, accused me of extortion and said they would only agree to pay me back $50. $50 does not nearly match the fortune I spent in the salon, nor does it compensate the damage on my hair and scalp let alone the emotional distress I have been through having had my hair discolored and wrecked and afterwards being misled, humiliated and assaulted for complaining about it.Desired Settlement: I want to pursue a refund of $200 for the colour ($250 minus $50 I was refunded). I also wrote a review on [redacted] about what happened but the manager commented on it making several false claims against me. I want the manager to remove her comment to my review on [redacted].

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted],

We dedicated much time and energy on the phone and in person trying to satisfy this client. The colorist that worked on the customer is seasoned colorist with over 15 years of experience. After 18 years of running the salon I never had any issues like this before. We pride ourselves in offering excellent customer service. In fact, we have won customer service awards for the three years in a row.

Even before booking her appointment the client spoke to our receptionist numerous times, inquiring about pricing. She also asked if she didn’t like it could she get her money back. The receptionist explained that if she was not happy we would redo the services. On her first visit the colorist completed an extensive consultation. During which the client explained that she had not had color for two years hence the bleached blond tips on her ends. She also showed her an ID picture of what she wanted her hair to look like. Initially the client explained she wanted the color in the picture but she wanted it redder. Then while the colorist was applying color the client said she did not want it red. The colorist spoke with the client, discarded the formula, and mixed another color. After the client decided that she wanted it lighter so we made it lighter. After this visit the client and the colorist received many compliments on the color. However, the client was still unsure about the color and wanted it redone. According to our policy we asked her to let her hair rest and come back to re-do her color. It did not matter that we gave her the color for which she asked. If she was not happy we would try to satisfy her. She came in for a second visit, again she seemed unsure about what she wanted. After numerous changes and a treatment, the client was still not happy.

The client said the colorist was impatient and didn’t have time for her. That is certainly not true. The colorist spent 3 1/2 hours with her the first day and the total visit was 4 ½ hour long. Her second visit was a total of 3 hours long. The colorist took her time, constantly speaking with her and working on solely her for 2 ½ hours. Even after all the color services, discounts, complimentary services, the client still wanted her hair colored again. Once I explained to her that we could not continue to change her hair color without damaging her hair, she stated that it was damaged. (When I looked at her hair it was not damaged) Even while claiming that her hair was damaged, she still wanted us to further re-do her color.

We offered this client a discount right from the beginning. We also gave her complimentary customized hair and scalp treatments (valued at $75 each). When the client refused to pay for a blow dry that she asked for we threw that in too. We re-did her hair numerous times. We also gave her a $50 refund which she agreed to accept and now she is rescinding on that agreement and is asking for more. In total we have given her much more than $200. We went above and beyond customer service protocol even if it cost us more than what she paid. Each time the client changed her mind about her hair, we tried to please her, and we did not think about the cost to us till now. No matter our efforts the client continues to try to discredit us and damage our reputation. This experience with this client has been and continues to be extremely distressful to the colorist, the other employees involved, to the owner and to myself. We strongly believe that there is nothing we could have done or can do to please her. We have tried it all.

Please confirm receipt of this email.

Sincerely,

Manager

Riccardo Maggiore Salon

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

I stick with what I stated in my previous complaint. I wonder how a colorist with that many years of experience could choose to put a product on my hair that damaged and miscoloured it so severely. I acknowledge that she tried to change the colour from when she made it too dark in the first place but I would have obviously been better off not having had the damaging re-do. But having chosen such an expensive salon, I wanted to have the colour like I asked for instead of several tones darker. The $50 refund does not cover the damage on my hair and emotional distress I have been through after the treatment and assault by the male stylist in the salon. I attach the picture ID of the colour I asked for in the first place, the picture of the colour that came out much too dark so you can see why I asked for a re-do, and the final result of the damage.

Sincerely,

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Sincerely,