A Heartbroken Response to a Client's Review

Well, Friends, this has been a long ten days for me... as ten days ago we received our first two bad reviews from clients. After reaching out, and team meetings, we are at a loss of words, we do not understand what lead to this. Our only thought is that we must continue to communicate and ask lots of questions when we are working with clients. Here are the review(s) [one is currently off of Yelp but we would like to address it anyhow] and our responses. Please know that we are a group of local San Luis Obipso girls, we love people, we adore love stories, and our only goal when working with bridesmaids, brides, mothers of the bride, and mothers of the groom, is for you to be happy, love yourself more, see something in the mirror that reminds you how truly unique and beautiful YOU are. And please, if you have any questions, call me (805-234-7436), email me, message me. We do take this review very seriously.

Current review on Yelp:

From Jackie Fernandez, bride's Sister-in-law:

The hairstylists are very inexperienced. They did hair and makeup for my sister-in-laws wedding party. Our hair did not turn out as expected as the hairstylists obviously did not know what they were doing. They didn't come prepared and had to borrow hair product from us. Afterwards, we all had to fix our own hair before the wedding.

Of course this broke my heart... my private email to Jackie was:

Hi Jackie, I just saw the review you posted. It makes me so sad. When you felt like you were getting upset with your hair, I immediately jumped in to help you. And once I had finished with your hair you said it was great, and so did Suzie. If you had told me that you were not satisfied I would have kept working with your hair, no problem, it's always 1000% my goal to create a style that my clients love, and I thought we had achieved that for you. I am so sorry that you felt this way- I really wish you would have given me the chance to fix the issue. I'm not sure what other hair you are referring to in the review, we stayed and did not leave until everyone had confirmed that they were happy. Again, we would have stayed longer. I really wish I would have known. Also I know that someone brought out their oil, however we didn't need to use the oil, as we have several spray oils that also are heat protectors and work great- like the one I used on your hair to relax the curls. Unfortunately, because we did not know how unhappy you were we did not have the chance to fix the problems. Please know that we really would have fixed them. It is our policy to stay until a client is happy, and we thought you all were. Unfortunately your review could really hurt my business- I would really appreciate it if we could email privately to resolve the situation. And I would really appreciate if you would remove your review. Again, I am so sorry that you were unhappy. I really thought when you left you were happy because I asked you and you told me you were- With deepest apologies, Courtney

I have to say, that in 5 years, this is the first I have heard of clients being unhappy with our services. Looking back at my life, and all the choices I could have made, all the businesses I could have chosen, I chose hair and makeup, specializing in wedding hair and makeup for a reason. It is my passion. It is the most special day in your life, other than the day your children are born. However weddings differ because you actually have the chance to look beautiful, wear beautiful clothes, pick beautiful accessories; where when you have a baby, that day is not about your hair and makeup- it's about your new beautiful child! So wedding hair and makeup is my passion, my teams passion, and our specialty. We have developed unique techniques in setting hair and layering products that help styles stay in place through ceremony, pictures, cocktails, and dancing.

After contacting Jackie and receiving no response, I emailed the bride. I wanted to apologize, to gather information, and to be able to figure out what went wrong so that I could keep this situation from happening again.

My email to the bride:

Hi Suzie,

I hope this email finds you enjoying your honeymoon, and soaking up the glorious sun in Hawaii.

I hate to bother you on your honeymoon, but this is a matter that I feel very strongly about, and I believe it is time sensitive. So if you could please take ten minutes, and read this I would so appreciate it.

I'm not sure where to begin right now- Since Sunday, and reading the reviews that your sister and sister-in-law left for me, I have been feeling very sick. I keep going over in my head every last detail of the morning of your wedding. Their reviews could possibly be very damaging to my business. I am going to try to address each of their concerns to you. I reached out to Jackie, but she did not respond to me, and a couple hours later your sister's review popped up.

Firstly, I'm very sorry that your sister and sister-in-law were unhappy with our services; and again, I am going over and over in my head trying to figure it out. In my 5 years of doing wedding hair and makeup, we have never had a bad review by a client or had bad feedback from a client- as after each wedding I send out an email requesting feedback in order to grow and continue to better our services.

I hope you could feel in our communications (59 texts, at least 10 emails, and numerous phone calls) how passionate I am about my business and my clients. My friends would tell you that I am constantly unavailable, or late to meet them for girls night, because I am making sure that I am meeting my client's needs, I am answering their emails, phone calls, keeping up with my kit, staying up to date with the latest hair and makeup trends, etc. My first priority, other than family, is my business and my clients.

My team and I arrived on time, cheerful, with an extensive arsenal of tools and products- everything we need and more- to give you all the best possible hair and makeup experience. When we arrived we immediately set up a work area in a way that would work for plugs, lighting, and elbow room. I had created a specific schedule, with 30 minutes of cushion time for each artist. We were incredibly prepared for your morning. And we were looking forward to spending that time with you and your ladies.

I am going to go step by step and client by client and share my thoughts with you.

As you know, our services are based on timeline, so in order to keep with the timeline in our contract, I requested everyone who had curly hair, and who wanted their hair curled differently to have their hair straightened, so that we could immediately begin creating the contracted styles. Danna, who we really enjoyed working with, had straightened her hair. But after my artist had finished her style, Danna said that she didn't like a wave, that had been left by her straightening, that was visible in her hairstyle, even after she had told my stylist that she liked the shape (where the wave was). It is our policy to have a client check and ok every step of the hair and makeup process. Which my artist working with Danna did, and Danna okayed the area where the wave was, and my artist moved on. After the style was complete, Danna requested we undo the entire style, and re-straighten what Danna had originally straightened. And we were so happy to do this for her, because it is important for all of our clients to be happy. So we did. And it was not a problem. And Danna then confirmed she was happy with her hair. I truly hope she was happy, as that was how we left things, and Danna was a pleasure to work with and very sweet. This did use up some of our emergency time, but that is why I always plan for emergency time, just in case.

As you know, when we were doing your bridal preview, you mentioned to me that your mom had never been happy with her hair when it had been done before. The morning of your wedding, when your mom was getting her hair done, I asked you, every time she said something in Spanish, if she was happy, and if she was liking her hair. You assured me she did. And when my artist working with her was done, you assured me she liked it. I really hope she did, you mom was also a pleasure to work with, and when we parted, I was told that she really liked her hair.

For your mother in law- as you know she was not on the original contract. Another bridesmaid was, and when the bridesmaid was no longer able to be at her appointment, as the contract states “If client cannot make their appointment, with pre-approval 10 days prior to the date of services, their deposit may be applied to another individual in the same timeslot.”, we applied her services amount to lashes for all your bridesmaids. Then when your mother in law decided to get her hair done, we switched it back, and I was more than happy to do this for you, and accommodate you, no problem. Throughout the process of doing your mother in laws hair, she assured my artist that she was happy with her hair, and my artist finished her hair, she told my artist that she really liked her style. Again, when she left, we were under the impression that she really liked her hair, and I hope she did. She was also a pleasure to work with.

Next was your sister-in-law Jackie's hair. This is the review she left:

The hairstylists are very inexperienced. They did hair and makeup for my sister-in-laws wedding party. Our hair did not turn out as expected as the hairstylists obviously did not know what they were doing. They didn't come prepared and had to borrow hair product from us. Afterwards, we all had to fix our own hair before the wedding.

Unfortunately, I do not know the details about what initially happened between the artist I had working on Jackie's hair. I do know that the artist I had working on her hair is a licensed cosmetologist, and has worked with me for over a year, has reviews mentioning her by name and praising her talents, and I have multiple more emails and texts about her from very happy clients she has worked with, calling her “phenomenal,” “awesome,” “personable,” “sweet,” “positive,” “kind,” and more. So, I wish I knew exactly what happened, but I don't. I only know that your sister-in-law is the first to have a problem with my artist, and I truly don't know why. This artist who was working with Jackie has also done my hair for events. She is talented and a hard worker, which is why she is on my team. Again, however, I am very sorry for Jackie's feelings. As soon as Jackie decided she didn't want to work with my artist and left her chair, I excused myself from working with you, and as the team leader, I went to fix the problem. I chatted with Jackie, as I believe you saw, and asked Jackie to show me the inspiration picture she had selected. The inspiration photo was a photo of Megan Fox, who has a dramatically different hair texture than Jackie. I explained this to Jackie that we can create a very similar style, but it would not be identical, which I have never promised we can create identical styles (from my website: “We also excel in adapting your inspiration photos into a personalized look that will work for your hair type..” And from my Yelp: “together we will create a style that is 1) possible for your hair type...”) Jackie told me that my artist was, to paraphrase, being rough with her hair, and I then asked Jackie if she had a sensitive head, and she said she did. I apologized on behalf of my artist, but again, after countless reviews and feedback from clients, and having this artist do my own hair, I think that because Jackie has a very sensitive scalp, and also very coarse, thick and long hair, and her desired style of vintage waves (which are created by working with the hair to shape it into those waves after curling) the combo was a lot for her sensitive head. But again, I really do apologize for this, and I wish I knew exactly what had happened. After that however, I took her into the bathroom, and with you there, worked with her hair and formed those waves for her. As I was working with Jackie's hair, I kept asking for feedback from her, and she became more positive, and did tell me that she had liked what I had done. You were standing right next to us- and you agreed you liked the style. At that time, I believed that Jackie was happy with her hair. It was a very beautiful style, and one of my personal favorites (I had my bridesmaids wear their hair like this for my own wedding). So unfortunately, I am not sure what Our hair did not turn out as expected is in reference to, as her hair look was based on that inspiration photo, and looked very close to that inspiration photo, and she verbally confirmed to me that she was happy with it. Again, we did exactly what my website states we will, we adapted the vintage style waves from a photo of Megan Fox (sleek, shiny) onto Jackie. Of course it is not going to look identical as Jackie's hair is coarse and thick, but it was an adaption to Jackie's hair, and again, she verbally confirmed she was happy with the style. However I really do apologize that she was actually unhappy. I really wish I would have known so that I could have fixed the problem. However, without knowing, there was no way for me to fix the problem.

As for her saying that my team is inexperienced, the four of us there on the day of your wedding had a total of 15 accumulated years of hair and makeup experience. I think that we were shocked by Jackie's reaction, and it was especially hard for my artist to “get back on her feet” after that display of frustration toward her. And when it comes to unsatisfied clients, we are inexperienced in that field, as we have never had a client react that way to us ever before. But, I was so happy to finish Jackie's hair, as it was my goal for her to be happy and love her style.

When she says we had to “had to borrow hair product from us” I am not sure what she is referring to exactly. I believe there was a mention of argan oil and if we had any. We use a spray oil in our kit. This is because when you use an oil that you rub onto the hair with your hands, your hands then get oily, and then you either have to work with oily hands, which is dangerous because an iron could slip out of your grip, or we have to then run to the bathroom and wash our hands to get the excess oil off. Therefore, we have two different spray oils, one with heat protection, and one without. I believe that your sister suggested my artist use her oil instead of ours, and my artist did. It was not because we were not prepared, I believe it was suggested/requested by Jackie or your sister, so my artist complied with the suggestion/request. However when I finished Jackie's hair, I used my spray oil, which relaxed her curls into waves, and added the shine to finish the look. Again, I really wish I knew when Jackie left that she was unhappy. After she had her makeup done, I asked her again if there was anything else I could do for her (as it is my policy to ask this after every client's services are finished), and she told me that there was not. (Just for your information, our hair kit contained bobby-pins in every color, hair elastics in every color, setting pins, brushes, every type of styling comb on the shelf at the beauty supply, a selection of clips to hold hair, volumizing spray, dry shampoo volumizing spray, teasing/volumizing powder, oil heat protection/shine spray, strong hold heat protection spray, shine oil spray, setting hairspray, light hold hairspray, medium hold hairspray, strong hold hairspray, humidity resistant hairspray, and a few miscellaneous other products, together with flat irons, triple barrel curling irons, triple barrel wave irons, clampless irons, and curling irons of various sizes. We were actually very prepared for your special day).

As for your sister Elizabeth's review:

“An overall bad experience. I had my hair and makeup done. My makeup came out okay but I could have done something similar myself. I was very disappointed with my hairstyle. The team did attempt to accommodate each of us. However, there is a huge difference between listening to someone's concerns and actually doing something about it.”

I am not sure why it was an overall bad experience- as things happened, we took them in stride and happily dealt with them and fixed them. From Danna deciding after her style was completed that she had not straightened her hair enough -no problem even though that was her straightening job- we took the style out, re-straightened it- and restyled it; to Jackie's hair- I truly believed that she was happy with her hair after I had finished it. I'm not sure what else was an overall bad experience. As for Elizabeth's makeup, she provided my artist with an inspiration makeup pic, and my artist created that look for Elizabeth. If Elizabeth had wanted a makeup style that she could not create at home, she could have chosen a different inspiration picture. Again, however, I am sorry she was unhappy with this service. The makeup artist working with Elizabeth also has had only praise in the 3 years she has worked with me; and again, many of our reviews mention her by name and sing her praises. There was no way for my makeup artist to know that Elizabeth was not happy with her look because Elizabeth told my makeup artist and she verbally confirmed to me that she was happy with her makeup. I am sorry she was not, I wish I had known as we would have absolutely continued to work with Elizabeth.

When it was Elizabeth's hair appointment, she wanted the same style as you- the bride. I mentioned that in 5 years of doing bridal hair and makeup we had not had a bridesmaid have the exact same style as the bride, and that typically the bride's hair stands out. I believe your response was for her to (paraphrased) do whatever she wanted- but you both then chatted about a very pretty ponytail style, and she then decided on that style instead. Technically speaking, the ponytail had a piece left out and swept back over the style, and was teased considerable at the crown. It also had hair wrapped around the ponytail as a pretty finishing detail. My artist, with Elizabeth's direction, created this style for Elizabeth. Together they frequently went to the bathroom to check every angle. Elizabeth directed my artist how much teasing at the crown she wanted, and continued to “direct” the style. And that is how we like to work for the most part, we like out client's to tell us exactly what they want, and confirm after each step that they like it and we can move on to the next step in the style. And I watched my artist do this with Elizabeth. When the style was mostly completed, just the finishing touches needed to be finessed, Elizabeth decided that she wanted the ponytail to have more volume. No problem- my stylist them re-curled the ponytail as directed/requested by Elizabeth in smaller curls. My artist was more than happy to do this. Elizabeth then decided that she wanted to ponytail to be even fuller. So my artist teased the ponytail to make it look fuller. At some point in the conversation, Elizabeth mentioned (paraphrased) that she wished she would have remembered her extensions to make the style fuller. At this point my artist and Elizabeth, at Elizabeth's request for even more volume in the ponytail, decided together to try a different technique to make the style look fuller. At this time we were well over Elizabeth's allotted appointment time, but again, it is our goal for each client to be happy, and we were more than happy to stay and keep working with Elizabeth. My artist then used a pinning technique to make the ponytail fuller, and then we wrapped hair around the pins for a finishing touch. At that time I was also helping my artist with Elizabeth. Elizabeth then asked me to smooth the top of her hair. Smoothing this part of the hair was a step that would have had to have been done well before the end- and it was a step, approving the shape and height of the tease and placement of the ponytail, that had already been approved by Elizabeth, and it was now not possible to smooth that area. The inspiration photo was wispy and romantic, and that was how Elizabeth and my artist had initially styled it. At this point everyone was leaving, Elizabeth said it was fine. My artist had spent a lot of time working with Elizabeth, had created the initial ponytail to Elizabeth's specifications, and then Elizabeth kept having my artist alter and change and add to it. I am so very sorry that Elizabeth did not like her hairstyle, however she did pick the hairstyle, she did approve every step in the bathroom, with a hand-mirror checking it from all sides, and we did our best to accommodate her. I fully believe that we were capable of creating a style she would have loved, as we have done with hundred’s of other clients, but that in the end she did not like the hair style she chose. It pains me to say that- but I cannot think of any other option we had with her. We created her inspiration style with her direction, she then requested we change it, she directed the changes, and then she was unhappy with the result. I am so sorry that she was unhappy I really am, but based on her review, I cannot learn from or grow from that review, other than to think that she ended up not loving the style she picked for herself. I feel like this situation is like hiring a painter to paint your house. You pick out the color of the house and the trim, and the painter follows the directions, and paints your house the color your picked, and the trim the color your picked. If you end up not liking the house color, is it the painter's fault? Does the painter deserve a bad review? As for Elizabeth saying “there is a huge difference between listening to someone's concerns and actually doing something about it” I am not sure after spending an extra 30+ minutes on her hair, (and Danna's and Jackie's) what more we could have done, as we had run over the timeline (due to restyling Danna's hair, the extra time it took for Jackie's hair, and then the extra time for Elizabeth's hair). Again, we were happy to have stayed longer, but at that point, I don't think the “painter” deserves the review that was left.

As far as you and your style is concerned, It was such a pleasure getting to spend your morning with you. You looked so beautiful when you left. I hope you loved your look. I hope that when you told me you loved it, that you felt beautiful, and you felt like a bride you meant it. I hope your day was perfect, and you have wonderful wedding memories from that day.

As a final review of our work, we made every attempt to communicate with your ladies, to work with them in creating a style they loved. With all of the questions we ask, directions we took, and times we had your ladies check and approve their hair and makeup process, I'm not sure how our in-depth communications with them ended up with two negative reviews. Unfortunately there are only so many things in our power to control, and I believe that the issues in Jackie's and Elizabeth's reviews were either misunderstandings that I hope I have cleared up, or things that were unfortunately out of our control. If you have any questions about the above, I would really appreciate feedback. I really hope that you encourage your sister and sister-in-law to take down their reviews. I would appreciate that so much, so that my business's reputation is not tainted.

I wish you a beautiful, dreamy and perfect honeymoon-

Very Sincerely, and Apologetically,

Courtney

The brides response:

Courtney,

I found your email ill-timed and disrespectful as you knew I was on my honeymoon and we no longer had outstanding business to take care of.

I, as well as my sister and sister in law, were your customers and are entitled to our opinions and honestly, shame on you for asking me to encourage them to take down their reviews.

If there is no outstanding business left between us, which I believe there is not, I would greatly appreciate you not contacting me again.

Thank you, Suzie Fernandez

Truly, for me having worked for 5 years in this industry, I have never had an experience like this. Yelp actually encourages business owners to connect and communicate with unhappy clients: “we always recommend trying to resolve issues through private messaging first. If you feel a public comment is necessary, present your case as simply and politely as possible, and do not attack the reviewer under any circumstances. Remember that potential customers will be reading your comment and you want to leave them with a positive impression of your business.” -From Yelp

In conclusion, my team and I make every effort to communicate with our clients while they are in our chair. I can't put my finger on what went wrong with this wedding- after hundreds of happy clients- but it is important to us. And we will continue to ask questions, and develop methods and techniques that will help us create a style inspired by your “dream photo” and keep it in place throughout your event.

Trying to keep my Sparkle Shining, even though my spirit feels broken,

Courtney Angelina