A woman who was invited to collaborate with a hair salon; offering her free services in exchange for exposure, but ended up paying for the “most expensive haircut” of her life.
TikTok user Amanda Wong posted a video of her story on Sept 10, noting that the salon reached out to her, offering a one-time hair colour treatment and trim for a shout-out social media post of the company.
https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda01wong/video/7141744584996031746?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7087128267904206337
She agreed to the offer, “Because how expensive can cutting your fringe be like, right?” she asked.
While at the salon, the hairstylist told her she needed to cut the ends of her hair because it was dry.
Ms Wong agreed, but she advised the woman not to cut too much because she wanted to keep the length.
After the cut, the woman offered her treatment, noting her hair was “damn dry.”
Ms Wong refused the additional service after finding out it was S$176. When she said she would just pay for the haircut, her bill reached S$88.
This shocked Ms Wong, who thought the bulk of the cost would come from the treatment and not really the haircut.
She felt embarrassed at the time and didn’t want to say anything until she left the salon.
Ms Wong initially thought her hair looked fine after stepping out of the salon.
However, her haircut started to look “really weird.” Even her co-workers noticed that her hair was uneven and choppy.
She sent photos of her haircut to her friends, who were equally shocked that she paid S$88 for such a service.
“She gave me a wolf cut, I think, but it was really not what I asked for,” she noted.
“The curtain bangs are so bad, like seriously,” Ms Wong added.
She then reached out to the salon to complain about her experience and was told that it was the director who handled her haircut.
The salon informed her that the director’s rates were high, meaning it was expensive to cut even bangs.
She noted that she never asked to be scheduled with the director, as the staff booked her appointment.
“If I knew her rates were $88, I wouldn’t even have gone for it,” said Ms Wong. Furthermore, the salon’s rates state that the haircut should have cost only S$18.
Ms Wong also asked if she paid for the wash and blow, but was told that the last two services were complimentary.
In the end, Ms Wong had to pay more to get her hair fixed. “Lesson learned. Always ask what is the additional cost before saying yes.”
Although many asked for the salon’s name, Ms Wong refused to expose the salon as she did not want to get into trouble.
Netizens agreed that customers nowadays need to be cautious when patronizing salons, as the cost of services could quickly pile up.
“Once they ask for something you didn’t ask for, it’s a red flag; almost all the beauty places have these tactics,” said TikTok user @levvl_33.
“Always ask for the price,” added a TikTok user. /TISG
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