Ext. Contracts

Do you mean a waiver?
I've often wondered about that.
It's sort of a double edged sowrd...
On one hand you protect yourself from liability if a client is at fault...
On the other hand it says your not able to stand behind your work!
I think it would depend on the situation..ie the client took down(or someone else) her own extensions and created damage-this would most likely applt to fusion.
Just my opinion,
Gna

Good point Bridget!
The whole HH thing is a touchy subject!
If the hair was bad who's to say they didn't maintain it well. However if it was truly sh**ty hair
I would reinstall new...So yes that would be a refund but without money exchanging hands.
Are there any HH companies who guarantee their quality? I'm considering EP because licenses get a discount(not sure how much though...they havent responde to my email)
????Hmmmmm????

Gna

Miamigirl
What Bridget and I are referring to is whether we as professionals should use contracts.
Regardless, if I'm in the wrong... I always stand behind my work. It's integrity and ethics! I don't want anyone pissed off at me and bash my work. Don't wanna be that girl...who shall remane namless!
Eurolocs...Barf! That's not an option now that I've joined this board and learned better alternatives!

Gna

Bridget & Gina,

There is nothing wrong with a contract to protect yourself as a stylist. Especially when it comes to extensions. There are a lot of inconsiderate people out there that will make an appointment with you and then not show up or cancel last minute, and expect to get their deposit back. So, yes get a deposit and have it in writing that if they do not show up for the appointment or are more that 20min late they forfeit the deposit. Extensions take hours and your time is valuable. Also in the contract add that you cannot quarentee that the quality of human hair will be the same everytime. You should ask your hair distributor about there refund policy. I know some will replace the hair if it is defective. But they will not replace it if it has been colored/permed or altered in any way. I llike your ideas on the take down process added in the contract as well. I am going to add that to mine, because people do just rip them out of there own head and then try and blame it on the extensionist and that scares me. Also people sometimes do not remember everything you tell them about caring for extensions, so it is good to give them an aftercare sheet with the contract.

Having a contract is the professional thing to do, it doesn't mean your a bad extensionist and you need a contract to back up shoddy work. Some people will go out of there way to get things for free, like saying you f**ked up their hair. Most extensionists do make people sign contracts, mostly to make sure the client shows up for the appointment. There is nothing wrong with protecting yourself and your business.

Very good points. I totally agree with everything you said JulieJetson! Nobody wants to eat $200 for hair if they change their minds. Plus, maintenance is a big/HUGE factor if you want your extensions to last.
Longerthanlong, I do know of some salons that make you sign a waiver for color. Everyone's heads take differently to the chemicals in the color, and if you're on medication you could have a bad reaction... who's at fault then? That's why there's a waiver. Not every client is honest about previous colors, or what med's they're on.. ect. As a proffessional working in this industry I do believe you need to protect yourself too. I don't look at it as a red flag.

Does anyone know the mfg's warranty on the Bohyme?

You need the "NON-REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT" in writing. The contract is to protect the stylist if the client doesn't show up. I have learned my lesson by not taking deposits and not having them sign a no refunds contract. With the contract you know they are going to show up, without it is very easy for them to stiff you and then demand they get there deposit back. As far as being sued if something goes wrong, then that is what liability insurance is for. Being a chair/booth renter in NY by law I have to have liability insurace, but I still make people sign a contract for extensions. It also is a good way to keep the scammers and a**holes at bay.

I have no idea what the Hairlocs or GL's contracts look like nor do I use those methods. But it does seem like they make you sign your hair away.

But there is nothing wrong with having an agreement between the stylist and client. My contract states that I am not responsible for your hair if you leave your extensions in for longer than 3months. Which I don't think that is taking away someones rights, its an agreement between two people. Contracts don't have to be evil.

longerthanlong wrote: i think ur making a mistake--espcially if youre a beginner to this--askingpeople sign a contract. it wont protect you in any way if it doesnt have "no refunds" or "no legal action", and that would rase a red flag to me. what if i, as a client, brought you a contract to sign that said youd pay me damages if you messed up my hair and that i could sue you? (that last comment is for the birds) First of all, I'm not ashamed to admit that I am a beginner at this extension thing (my expirence has been with sew in's and bonded wefts). I started this thread out of curiousity about the waivers/contracts associated with hair extensions. I never said that I was going to run out and put a contract together and make people sign away there lives. Contracts don't have to be Evil!

Oh, Bridget--your original question was whether anyone had used a contract or signed one.

I've been to three extensionists, and one had me sign a contract. And frankly, I would never sign that kind of contract again. It was exactly what Julie said--"you sign your hair away." I also heard of a salon that has you sign a contract that you have to keep going back to them for a minimum of a year. That's total insanity.

I would have no problem, however, signing a contract that said the deposit was due in advance and was nonrefundable. I'm not sure you need a contract to establish that though. If someone gives you, say, $500 for some hair, and you give them a receipt for it, that seems like a pretty clear transaction--they've actually purchased a product from you, and if they decide not to go through with it, you can just send them the hair or something. Again, I'm not sure a contract would be needed, but then again, I'm not an attorney!

:)

And two quotes I think are very valid as very as doing ethical business goes:

"Live together like brothers, but do business like strangers." -Arabic proverb

"In business transactions, sometimes there are conflicts that are the fault of one person's unethical behavior or negligence, and then sometimes there are simply disagreements between reasonable people. Any business contract must allow for disagreements between reasonable people." -my legal advisor (who just so happens to be my mother )

Longerthanlong: it -sounds- scary, yeah, but there's a reason behind it. There are some shady stylists out there, but there are also plenty of shady customers! I don't like to talk about this, because it sounds like I'm *****ing about people behind their back, but just to demonstrate how such a thing can happen:

I did loose extensions (synthetic pinchbraids) for a client. It took many hours of work, and looked good when I was finished. Her hair was very short around the nape and ears, so I told her she might lose a few braids, especially there. She seemed to be happy with the finished product. A week later I got an email from her saying, "By the way, six of the braids fell out. So I took out the rest." For comparison, a full head of pinchbraids involves nearly 100 braids. 6 is barely enough to make a difference.

So I thought to myself, "Well at least she's not demanding her money back." Little did I know- a week later I got a notice from my bank saying that she had put a stop payment on the check she paid me with. Thank god she didn't demand her deposit back, but still, the labor charge was quite a bit of money that I was out of, through no fault of my own. So I have an aneurysm, call my mom, and she advises me on the steps to start taking. I threatened her left, right, and center with legal action (all very civilly, of course- I don't like being rude), and eventually she agreed that taking the braids out was a stupid thing to do, but that if she didn't have the extensions anymore, she didn't want to have to pay for them either. Mind you, that is a fully valid statement- in her interests. She wasn't evil or greedy, just not considerate of my needs (specifically, my need to get paid for my work). So I eventually got her to agree to split the money. She returned half of it, in cash, and we haven't had contact since.

So: not my fault, but I still took a 25% loss and expended considerable effort getting it back. Not to mention that there are clients who don't listen to/follow the aftercare instructions and decide that something is wrong with your work or the hair. I'm sure every extensionist ever has had a "problem customer". In a way, it's good, because it makes us realize that we need to protect ourselves.

The steps I took started with defining what I would be willing to do to help a customer out. I'm not willing to give people refunds- mainly because I'm simply not financially solvent enough, but also because it's too easy for a client to give up on their hair and say, "Oh, something must be wrong, take it all out and give me my money back."

What I -do- have is a fix-it guarantee. If something goes wrong with a client's head, I will fix or re-do the extensions for free. I haven't defined this yet in terms of defective hair. I know the synth I use reasonably well, but human is still relatively new to me, so I dunno. I should define that eventually. And of course, if the client doesn't follow my aftercare instructions, doesn't contact me for help with the perceived problem, doesn't do the things I then recommend, or pursues a remedy other than one I have recommended...then I'm no longer responsible. 'Cause customers can do some silly things when they listen to friends who think they know how to do hair.

If you're interested in the details of my policy, they're on my website, partly under "Location" and in more detail under the aftercare pages for loose hair, braids, and dreads. Other stylists are also welcome to copy the wording, if you like it.

As far as colorists go; no, they don't have cusomter sign a contract, but they probably have a policy on file in case something happens, and/or business insurance. As a customer, it's your responsibility to ask if they have such a policy- similar to asking what a store's return policy is before buying clothes. Otherwise, you could try to sue them, but they could pull out their refund policy and say, "If you wanted to know our policy, you should have asked." In most states, as long as they tell you the business' policy when you ask them (that is, they're not secret about it), they can hold you to that policy without having you actually sign a contract. In short, if it concerns you, be sure to ask.

-Rae

(edited to fix spelling)


Edited by zapevaj