fading color and GOLD

If they used a toner, it was probably the toner fading out. If you are having a problem with gold, i would reccommend using a purple shampoo that is made to combat gold tones. This should work for you.

we didn't use toner.  I did ask about it when I bought color at Sally's, the woman there was guessing it may have been the shampoo and that it was too harsh

I colored again yesterday, this time using a different brand of color.  the color came out great, but again my roots are a tad on the gold side.  I used lightest ash brown and my roots are a golden brown.  it doesn't look horrible the gold sort of blends

If your natural hair colour is on the warm side your colour will pull warm/warmer tones, to counteract this and your wanting a cooler tone to your hair, either use a natural base or and ash base. Some shampoo's can strip your colour, Head and Shoulders (not the colour care one) is a good example. There are a few other reason's this could happen, the colour was not left on long enough to penetrate deep into the cuticle and or your hair is a little porous, grabbing onto the colour like a sponge the fading out quickly. A good porosity balancer applied before coloring can help with this problem.