What To Do About Bad Hair Extension Reviews On Internet

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Question

Dear Karen,

I have a client that I did extensions for and she's been complaining a lot about everything. I have been doing extensions for years and have many happy customers who know I have a high work ethic and integrity.

Anyway, I was searching around on the web to find out if anyone else has gone through the same thing she claims to have experienced.  I found her postings all over the Internet. She put a direct link to my website and posted a lot of untruthful, hurtful things.

I should have known she would be a "troubled" client because she's called several times complaining about her previous hairdresser her did her extensions before I did them. She sends me about 3 e-mails a day with complaints. I have gone above and beyond to offer a solution for her.

I am very hurt by this and my morale is very low as a result. I know that I have to remember that all of my extension clients have been very happy.  However, I would hate to lose any future business due to her posting links to my website and commenting how awful my work is.

I think it is beneficial for people to see the possible disadvantages of hair extensions, but I don't think it is fair to have a link to my website posted on the web, which she has done.    I am so sad and worried about this and is causing undue stress. I feel like it could hurt my future business, I get a lot of clients from the Internet.  Should I post responses to hers?

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Please have a heart and help me if you can. I am a good person and I would not provide a bad service to anyone on purpose.

Sincerely,

Lori

Answer

Dear Lori,

Unfortunately there are always two sides to every story.   You might approach this problem several different ways.  Listed below are some possible suggestions:

1.  Contact the unhappy customer and tell her you  want her to be completely happy with your work.  Find out what she needs to be completely happy. If it's is possible for you to satisfy her, considering doing so.  If you're able to completely satisfy her, ask her to post the results on the Internet letting people know that you are an honorable business person who tries hard to please your customers.

Will this work?  Possibly.  But it might not.  Sometimes there are customers who are not happy no matter how hard you try.  What she feels she need to be completely happy may not be possible.  Only you can make that call after talking with her.

2.  Post a polite response listing all the ways you've tried to satisfy the client.  PR experts are divided on whether it's best to post a reply or not.  Some believe that there is no such thing as bad PR.  Others believe that it's important to just ignore untrue or nasty posts.  Unfortunately they happen to many people and businesses on the Web.

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3.  If you're talking about just one negative post and you sincerely feel you tried your best to satisfy her, then maybe it's best to chalk it up to business experience and try to just ignore it.  Most hair consumers understand that you can't please all the people all the time.

Encourage your happy clients to post positive experiences about your work to counter the negative posting.  If there are a majority of good posts the existence of one negative post will most likely not hurt you in any way.

4.  Learn from this difficult customer and trust your gut moving forward.  Seasoned hairstylists understand they can't always work with all clients all of the time.  If you have a client who seems troubled you may want to seriously consider not providing them with hair extension services. Or you may want to set really clear expectations of what your extension services cover and what they don't.

5.  The results of hair extension services can be subjective.  What a client believes those services should include and what a stylist believes may be very different.  This is why it's very important for hair stylists to set clear guidelines.  Some stylists ask extension clients to sign a contract which stipulates the details of the services that are provided.

6.  Discuss the matter with other stylists who do hair extensions and ask them how they handle difficult customers and negative feedback.  They may have some suggestions you can use for this current situation with your difficult customer.

Regards,

Karen Shelton

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