Ella & Oz Salon

Dear HH,
Thank you for your feedback. Although we sincerely try to provide exceptional service, we are certainly open to learning how to do things even better.

I am sorry you found my communication lacking. I reached out to you via email after consulting with the stylist who initially provided your color service and all of the other people at the salon who attempted to find solutions to your concerns. I had numerous discussions with each of the people you spoke with at the salon before reaching out to you. I contacted you as soon as I was able to. As I mentioned in my previous email to you, I had tested positive for COVID during that time and found it difficult to do much at all for a while.

It seems important to point out that within minutes of sitting in the stylist’s chair you were detailing to the stylist how to perform the service you were about to receive. You were adamant that your stylist not include foils. You attempted to dictate how long products used during your service should process. Your “directions” continued throughout your service. You eventually allowed a few foils to be added. According to employees in the salon while you were there, you spoke most glowingly about the areas of your hair where foils had been used. Other than that, the stylist attempted to provide your service within the constraints you put on them.

After receiving your initial service, several employees of the salon who were present told me that you stated out loud both in the chair and at the front desk how very pleased you were with the results and “loved” the color of your hair. At the same time, you complained about your haircut, so the receptionist removed the charge for the haircut. After leaving the salon, you decided you were not satisfied with the color and returned the next morning waiting at the front door for the salon to open. You told the receptionist you wanted your hair lightened further. Unfortunately, there were no openings that day, so we offered an appointment as soon as we were able to get you in. Instead of taking that follow up appointment, you opted to go to a second salon to have your color “corrected” by a “color specialist”. Unfortunately, you were not happy with the results of that appointment either and again returned to Ella & Oz.

During your 3rd visit you shared some photos with the receptionist and other employees you claimed to have shown the stylist who initially provided your hair service. You sent those same photos to me and stated those photos were from Yelp reviews for the salon. I spoke with stylist you initially saw at the salon, who told me that you used Google while in the chair to find photos which represented the color you were looking for. They did not recall you showing them photos from our Yelp reviews as you claimed in your email response to me.

You agreed to see Kim within a couple of days of your 3rd visit to Ella & Oz. Kim was instructed to conduct a strand test before agreeing to perform any further color correction services to make sure your hair was strong enough to accept further processing. Because of the multiple services you had recently received, you were advised further lightening should be delayed for a bit. Instead of waiting, you opted to have an all over color applied, which Kim provided at no cost to you.

In my email to you following your initial service, I told you we would not charge you for a follow up corrective service. This is in spite of you having a “corrective service” performed at a second salon because you were not willing to wait a few days for us to be able to get you in.

Our takeaway from this experience is to continue to work with our stylists to improve clarity with clients regarding what results can be expected and to be more firm about what a stylist will and will not be able to accomplish. We are certainly not above criticism and understand we can always learn from our experiences. With that, we thank you for the opportunity to become better at what we do.

In conclusion, we are pleased you found the end result of our services acceptable and hope you find another salon more suitable to your needs, unlike ours or the salon you left an equally scathing review of a year or so ago.

Hi Lucia,
Thank you for posting a review. I have tried to find your account in our database without success.

First, I want to apologize you were not satisfied with the results of your service. I'm not sure which stylist you saw at the salon, but all of our stylists at the end of February had at least 8 years of experience in color and cuts. Although rare, there can be occasions when a client is not entirely satisfied after leaving the salon.

Our policy is to provide a free correctional appointment if a client is not entirely satisfied with the service received. Our stylists typically provide this information to clients before they leave the salon. Of course, we need to be notified of a client's dissatisfaction within a reasonable period of time after they receive a service. We have been pretty flexible in the past, allowing up to a week to pass and still provide a free correctional service.

Assuming I understand, you are stating that the roots were showing at the end of your service. We would have been more than happy to have seen you after your service had you let us know.

We would love to have you come back. Although we cannot offer a complete correctional service this long after the service was provided, I would like to offer a discount on your next service as a way to demonstrate our sincerity.

Best regards,
Tim, owner

Hello A.R.,
I apologize for the quality of service you feel you received. And, I apologize for taking so long to respond to your comments. I actually wrote a response, set it aside to talk to the employees who were involved, and neglected to put it online.

I appreciate your willingness to provide feedback. We try to provide high quality service always. But, it appears in your case we did not. The front desk person meant to call you back as she said she would. Unfortunately, during that time we were a bit short-staffed and she missed your name on her list of clients to call back. I also apologize for what you perceived as a sassy attitude. I've not experienced that sort of attitude with the team member in question, but since I was not present when you called, I am not able to comment intelligently about what you experienced.

I can tell you we have discussed your situation at length in-house and have tried to implement small changes in an attempt to minimize the possibility of this happening again.

In the event you ever want to come back, we would welcome you. And, you are always welcome to reach out to me personally to discuss further.
Best regards,
Tim, owner

Hello Lewis,
I'm not sure how I missed your review. Please see my response to your concerns below. I hope this is helpful.

Hello Lewis,
I am responding to your letter dated 4/22/19. Thank you for taking time to reach out to me. I am disappointed you were not satisfied with the service you received. I have tried to summarize the issues you brought up in your letter with my responses following each issue. I encourage you to review my responses and let me know if you have any questions.

In your letter, you raised the following points.

1. Your appointment was rescheduled due to a "personal matter..."
Response: After reviewing your letter I spoke with Coral, who you were scheduled with for your appointment, the person working at the front desk who communicated with you by phone and was here during your visit, and with Alia, who provided your service. According to Coral, she asked Katherine at the front desk to contact you because she was running late with a difficult service being provided to another client. Coral asked Katherine to call you not because of a personal matter, but because she was confident she would not be able to complete the service being provided to the other client in time to see you at the scheduled time. As you noted, Katherine offered to make another appointment for you with Coral on another day. Given your availability she instead scheduled you at the time of your original service with Alia.
Alia has been a stylist for about 7 years. She has considerably more experience than Coral has. Alia is new to our salon. She previously worked at a high end salon in downtown Seattle where at least half of her clients were men. She came highly recommended. Just an FYI, I typically get my hair cut by a specific stylist at E&O. That stylist was not available today so I had Alia cut my hair. She did an excellent job.

2. You claim to have received a "subpar" cut.
Response: Since you do not elaborate what you found lacking with your cut, it is difficult to respond specifically. However, our policy is that if you find a service to be less than acceptable, you are always welcome to come back to have any changes made you feel are necessary. These changes can be made by the stylist who provided your service, or another at your request. I encourage you to call the front desk if you would like to schedule a follow up appointment.

3. You state you paid $45 instead of $40, which you commonly pay.
Response: This was our error. Because of Alia's experience, her price point is higher than Coral's. However, because your initial appointment was with Coral you should have been charged $40.
Let me know if you would like me to send a refund or if you prefer a credit toward your next service.

4. You somehow concluded your appointment was changed because an older client wanted a service at the same time.
Response: I will state without hesitation this did not happen. We simply do not function on that premise. I have owned this salon for 9 years and to the best of my knowledge we have never done something like this. Our interest is in building long term relationships with clients regardless of age, gender, or any other personal attribute. I apologize you felt like this, but I am confident this was a misunderstanding of the situation.

5. You felt our employees were less than honest and forthright.
Response: Again, it appears this is a misunderstanding, for which I apologize. I am not aware of any of my employees who would intentionally mislead a client.

I hope this addresses all of your concerns.

Please let me know if you have any questions and let us know how you would like to handle the $5.00.

Regards,
Tim