I would contact the salon rigth away and tell them of the problem and that you are not happy.  15 bonds in 8 days is alot imo, you should take them back and get them to put them back in for you and tell them of the hair's condition.

x

I too am puzzled about the hair's condition. Did you see the Great lengths tags on the hair before it was installed? I would recommend contacting the company to make sure the hair was really from Great Lengths. If it's not I would sue for false advertising.

As for your losing bonds I seem to hear from some people who lose lots of bonds with the GL system and some that lose only 2-3 in their entire wear. It's weird how different they can be. It may have something to do with the skill of the stylist. Did you make sure she was Great Lengths certified? It is to my understanding that to install GL hair you are supposed to go through their classes. If she didn't, chances are she has a friend who did go through the class buying the hair for her (if in fact it is real GL hair).

Call and ask questions and demand that something be done. For $2,000 your hair should be *perfect*

For $2,000 the stylist should have prep'd the hair before as well.  Did she?  That is a lot of hard earned money for you to spend on something that seems to have lasted less than 2 weeks!  When you go back to your extensionist be sure to have available the strands that you have lost, a record of how you have cared for the hair (how many washings, what products/heat tool have been used on the hair).  You should at a minimum get the strands re-installed at no additional charge and get recommendations for remedies for the dryness and tangling of the hair to get it back to the condition it was in at the time of installation.

Funnily enough I was reading a post on another message board where someone was saying they offered extensions that last 6 months onwards. I'm always very dubious about this. Evidently they are 'organic' and 'coated with a treatment' to make them last.

Skibumps, you have lost way more hair in a short space of time than you should. I agree with everyone else that you must go back and have a word with your extensionist. Something somewhere isn't ringing true. Ugh I hate these people that give the rest of us a bad name. Someone only has to have one bad experience with extensions and they have a fixed attitude for life. 

Shame. 

I think that the Great Lengths site might even have a listing of all their certified salons.

 Before you contact the company directly, gather all your information about the salon, name of the hairdresser, saved receipts, telephone conversations, pictures, basically everything including dates of the phone conversations, appointments, etc.

 I'm so sorry that happened to you and your friend. Please keep us posted with further updates!

When it comes to money, especially the amount of money that extensions can cost, one bad experience can be too many.  If you have a bad experience with a service that costs, let's say about $75-$100 we may complain and demand satifaction, then again sometimes we just decide to try another provider the next time.  In my opinion, when you are charging thousands of dollars for a service and/or product you should be prepared to stand behind it.  Hopefully this will be the case here.

     I will not get extensions installed by a professional again unless I have personal knowledge of the character and business ethics of the service provider.  I was out $1,000 once for extensions that lasted 2 weeks (fell out, tangled) from a provider that avoided my calls for assistance.

I had them in for two weeks...then decided to dye them because they were a bit too much lighter than my own hair...so I took all of them out (took about an hour or so, but no extra residue in my hair)...left them out for a few days, then put them back in after dying them to a color that is almost exactly my color...I've had them in (same ones I used the first time, so I can reuse, which is a good thing too) for another week, and they are great...I was really careful about palcement this time, and planned it out, am currently wearing a high ponytail, and no one would ever know...plan for the length of the tape and then you are set

I'm already looking forward to my next install...I think I'm going to go a bit curlier...one of my girls (I teach the 9th grade) told me a few days ago that I should try curlier...not that I listen to them all that much but I've been thinking about it anyways...and with extensions, it would be a lot easier

First of all, I want to say how happy I am that I found this board.  I feel like I am so much more educated than I was even a wk ago.  I want to update you all on my dilemma.  I went back to the stylist that placed my extensions and told her what was going on, showed her some bonds I'd lost, and she saw firsthand the condition of my hair.  She agreed that my hair was very dry and coarse, and it was j st "flat."  She agreed there was just no volume to it and the overall quality of my hair was poor.  She also said that the amt of bonds I'm losing is not normal, but didn't seem as concerned about that as she said she can fix that.  She better since I spent so much money!  She called the GL rep and described my hair to her.  The rep told her to overnight my lost bonds to GL as they wanted to analyze my hair.  In the meantime, the stylist said she'd replace the bundles she'd placed (5) and would add an add'l 2 more since my hair has no volume at all and wouldn't charge me for it.  I was okay with that, esp when she told me that she would come in on her day off to do my hair since I can't take any more time off work to do this again (will take about 8 hrs).  However, I got a call from her later that day and she told me that she would be unable to put new extensions in until she heard back from GL and how they were going to compensate both of us.  She offered next Sat (2/4) to me, but then I got upset again because now I have to wait another wk and a half w/ this crappy hair.  I've had it 2 wks now and I've not enjoyed my hair and now I have to wait some more to get it corrected.  But what choice do I have? She will do the prep as well this time, as I had to do my own prep the first time.  However, I washed 4x with Pureology Clarifying Shampoo (ok per her) and didn't put any product in my hair.  After I blow dried my hair, I flat ironed it (also per her).  She didn't say that my hair wasn't prepped correctly, and I feel that as the professional, if there was any doubt in her mind, she should not have gone forward with placing the extensions.  At any rate, I met w/ her again today, as I'd lost more bonds in 8 hrs and realized I wasn't going to be able to do next Sat due to a prior commitment.  Then she tells me that she won't be able to put in the other 2 add'l bundles since I didn't pay for those to begin with, but would only charge me for the hair, not the labor.  That just didn't sit right w/ me.  First of all, I found out that the bundles of hair only cost $40-48.  She charges $125 but that does include labor.  But do the math....I got 5 bundles placed.  Lets say (for easy math) that the bundles cost $50.  With only 5 bundles, that's only $250!!  Add labor to that-maybe $500?  That's still only $750!!!  I paid $1500, plus a $300 tip!  I confronted her today about the cost---someone made approx $700 off me!  Then she tells me that she gets nothing off doing extensions!!!  I told her she makes a nice tip off everyone getting extensions, and someone is still making a huge profit!!  She told me that when she took the GL class, they were told that if they charge less than $1500, they could lose their certification.  Does anyone know if this is true?  I know other GL certified salons charge slightly less ($1200) so don't know how they could do that and not lose their certification!  She said that GL told the class that they must charge a large amt to separate GL from the other types of extensions out there.  In fact, she said that someone said they should charge not less than $3000!!!  I strongly feel that since I paid so much money for a product that was supposed to be nice, soft, silky, "tangle free," and last 6+ months if I take care of them, GL should refund my money 100%!  But instead, now I have to pay add'l money for 2 more bundles.  At the very least, GL should cover the cost of those 2 extra bundles.  I don't know that my stylist will provide me with the GL rep or an address for GL, as there is NO info on the official GL website.  You simply cannot contact them.  So, if anyone out there has a # or contact for me, I'd really appreciate it.  I want to report them to the BBB, or at the very least dispute the charges on my credit card.  I have a feeling that GL won't make any attempt to make this right.  My bonds continue to fall out at a rate of 5-6/day, and my hair is just stringy and see through and doesn't tangle---it knots.  It's horrible. I dread brushing it because it's just one big giant knot.  Please, I'm begging anyone who can help me or may have any ideas to please let me know.  I don't want GL to get away w/ this. 

Also, for the person who asked, I live in Denver.  We have a very dry climate out here.  I condition my hair, but have to be careful because my own hair is very fine and of course my GL hair doesn't respond to any conditioner.  Also, what are socaps?  Oh, and for the person who asked how my stylist placed the GL extensions--she used the warm fusion with the GL machine.  The bonds are very different.  Some are flat, some are thick and round, some are hard, some are soft, most are peeling and showing white stuff so it looks like I have dandruff.  And I can literally slide the bonds out myself.  They just slide down my hair. 

At this point, I think your best option is to take her to court.  You should be able to file a claim in small claims court there.  For small claims court, you don't need an attorney, the filing fee is small (usually less than $50), and you can ask for all your money back.  If you have to go to another salon to have the problems with your hair corrected, you can claim that as damages as well.

It's a breach of contract case.  Bring any copies of care instructions, advertisements, etc with you.  You can even print out the GL website.

It sounds like your extensionist is either completely stupid, or completely crooked, but you shouldn't let her get away with charging you more to fix your extensions.

Skibumps I am sorry you are having so many difficulties.  I did 3 rounds of GL's before vowing to never go back.

First off I have not heard about charging less than 1500.00 for them because the 3rd time mine were suppose to be 1200.00. 

The first time I had the cold fusion and they fell out like mad and were awful as they took my own hair with them.  I had to put something in the 2nd time and used the heat fusion GL's.  The bonds should be relatively uniform.  And if they are soft something is not right. 

One thing I learned quickly with them is that you really should not brush more than once a day and very lightly at that.  The other trick is to keep your hands out of your hair!  Hard to do for me at least.

I would not wash except for every third day and used dry shampoo where I was oily. 

There is no way they should stay in for 6 months, ever, and a responsible installer would have told you that 3 months is MAX for them.  I went almost 6, I can't remember the exact time, and it was a huge mistake.

I would do a bunch more research here on the various install methods.  I now have in wefts done by the fabulous Rae here in Chicago and they are just so much better I can't even discribe.  The wefts take a bit of getting use to but other wise I love them!!

Good luck.  I kept after GL until I got a response.  I would not give up on this. 

That is just sickening!  I wouldn't pay that woman another cent.  By the time she is able to work you in you will need an entire new install.  You may be happier with the hair out than having to deal with the tangling and knotting!

Yep, if I were you, I would get all my "evidence", including any eye witnesses and forget getting them fixed...at least by her.  Chalk it up to experience, then prepare to fight.  I wouldn't let that woman near my hair again.  The bonds should be very uniform, the fact that they are not is showing at least a lack of experiene and knowledge or sloppy work by the stylist.  Fine charge for the hair...but she should not charge for the labor...SHE can take up her issues with GL directly not charge you! 

Maybe I am just jaded, but what's to say that she charges you for all of this then gets some kind of refund from GL and doesn't pass it on to you?  At least if she is out the $$ herself she is more likely to persue the issue.  She should take care of your issues as a matter of customer service.  It sounds like as busy as she is, she may not think that it matters whether you are unhappy or not...people are still walking through the door, she may have morphed into having $$ for eyes and that is all she can see.  You just never know... 

Wow.  I'm so sorry to hear about such an awful experience.  Who owns the salon?  Have you approached them?  If GL and the extensionist won't handle the problem, I suggest you request a meeting with the salon owner(s) and fill them in.  Ask them if their reputation means anything to them and what they plan to do to make this right.  If you do not get satisfaction, I would contact a local newspaper or morning talk show...perhaps they would be interested in a "consumer interest" story about the business practices of a local salon....you may get some action after that...

However, I would not let that stylist touch my hair again...best of luck to you!

Ski bumps

let me see if i can help sort through some of this with u

the cost of the hair and installation- some stylist break it down and some like myself, do a charge of the whole process, my cost include hair, shells, application, blending haircut and style and my gift to client is shampoo and conditoner a real nice brush, pick and lunch-

If a client looses more then 20 strands the first two weeks, OR has any problems i fix at NO charge. That is just me.

For the stylist to say she doesnt make any money doing extensions, is so not true, what u are paying for,(at least with me) is my expertise, artistic ability and knowledge of placement, and cut and my training of after care. I am a  liscensed professional and have earned the right to charge for my work. I am sure the stylist you went to would agree she has the same right to charge for her work. Placement is everything, check out the msg - scraggly ends by KURLZ- she too had poor placement by a place that way overcharged her.

For her to say she would not charge u and then turn around and change her mind is not right or ethicial. I certainly would call her on it, ( i like the tip idea) and DO NOT Sign any more papers. She should back her work like u say- reputation and word of mouth is everything.

Did u pay for services in cash? Credit card?

Appointments- As a very busy stylist, if a client had a problem i would get them in as soon as i could, i wouldnt put them off, nor would i drop everything to accomadate their sched, we would have to work together to get a time and date that would work for both. There have been times i would come in for a client on a day off.

As it was stated in other posts and i will repeat it again,

Extensions has become very popualr and everyone has gotten on the band wagon wanting to DO extensions and the main reason is for the money. Just because someone learns how to do extensions, doesnt mean they know how to properly install and remove and care for the client. My goal for all my clients is to give them hair, and keep the integrity of their hair in tact and healthy so they do not HAVE to wear extensions the rest of their lives, i love it when they want them out and their hair is longer and healthier then when we first installed them.

My attitude is treat others the way i would like to be treated as a client, person, friend and human being. Unfortunately, not all stylist practice this and fall under the stylist or folks that just see green.

when a stylist in my salon wants to learn extensions i ask them why. If they say i want to make the money like u do, i have told them this-

If your goal is money driven, you will not be blessed with clients, it just plain and simple wont happen, you have to have the right attitude and then you will get the clients you are supposed to have.

i hope this stylist certainly backs herself and pulls through for u. I would reccommend you go to her, have a heart to heart talk with her very calmly and see if she would work with u to make u happy.

good luck, i wish u were in so cal, i would certainly take care of you and your hair dreams....

S

TanglesRC--I may just fly out to SoCal which was my original plan anyway.  I ended up going to this girl because she was friends with my friend, and she seemed very knowlegeable.  We saw her getting extensions put in and it seemed neat, and they looked great.  Plus we figured that since she knew my friend, chances of her screwing us over were smaller.  I just wish I'd found this board before I got the extensions placed.

Sesame617---the other thing we were told to do with GL is to finger comb our hair!  That is typed up in our homecare instruction sheet.  I'm finding out though that brushing all the time isn't good and neither is finger combing.  Most of my bonds are coming out when I brush, and several have also come out when I take a rubberband (not a regular rubberband, but a ponytail rubberband) out of my hair. 

This is such a terrible horrible situation for you to be in....I dont have any great advice and I highly doubt that you/they are gonna come to a resolution that is going to be fair or satisfactory to you. And unfortunately...even if they do make it somewhat right...you are going to continue to pay big bucks for GL....for maintenance and so on and so forth. It doesnt sound to me like she is a very competent or experienced extensionist...and I dont have a clue about what kind of crap hair they have installed on your head. I think its outrageous that they mark up the hair like that...and that REALLY puts me off about GL. Along with many of their marketing tactics and things they say or mislead people about.

My suggestion to you....you and your girlfriend should buy yourself some wefts of Bohyme (excellent quality for the money) or some Elite remy from shrinkies.net and some pro-tac bonding strips....start doing each others hair. You will save yourslves TONS of money. The bonding strips are so very simple to do....after you get used to doing that, then if you want to try out a individual strand install....buy some pretipped hair(or tip your own) and some shrinkies and a wand...or some proshells....or even the preglued keratin tipped hair from yourhairshop...and you can do a similar to GL installation yourself!

I wish you all the luck in trying to get this resolved!

Skibumps, first I will tell you that I am a Certified Great Lengths installer and reading that she only paid 48.00 for a bundle is not correct. That is not the price of a GL bundle. I have never had a client have the kind of problems you described. GL is a great company and I and my clients love the hair. You need to contact GL or at least a certified salon.

Keri

Club Salon--this salon I went to is GL certified as is the stylist.  I truly believe that I did receive a bad batch of hair as my friend got her extensions 3 days before me--same color hair--#2---and her hair is beautiful.  The stylist got extensions 1 wk before both of us did, and her hair is great.  We all have the same hair and mine is the only one that looks horrible.  My friend thought it might be me not using the styling tools correctly and so she did my hair one day and saw for herself that it wasn't me.  I am following the homecare instructions I rec'd, using the anti-tap.  I brush my hair as instructed.  I am doing everything by the book.  Even the stylist agreed that my hair was unhealthy and very coarse and dry and definitely different from hers and my friend's hair.  Remembering the install, I remember looking at the hair and thinking that it didn't look as shiny and silky as my friends or my stylists hair (we saw hers being done).  She had a lot of difficulty with tangling as she was putting the bonds in.  Of course I didn't think anything of it because I just didn't.  In retrospect, I realize the hair wasn't right.  The stylist also was in agreement that she had more problems with putting in my extensions than other clients.  I have attempted to get in touch with GL, but there is no way.  There is no link, form, or phone # on their website in which you can contact them.  I have asked for the local rep's name and I've not been given it.  GL supposedly wanted my hair for analysis and my stylist supposedly sent it in, but still no word from GL.  In fact, I spoke to my stylist today who said she called and was told that they didn't have any answers but would call when they did.  I finally got the owner of the salon involved (or my stylist did).  He called me yesterday and we connected today.  He was only told (so he says) that I was losing bonds.  When I told him the rest of the story, he seemed surprised and said he would personally be in touch with GL and get back to me.  We'll see.

As for the bundles of hair, you mention that they aren't $48.  Are they more?  She said they are $125 including labor, and w/o labor, they are $40-48.  However, I have been told so many things, that I don't know what to believe.  Is she lying to me and trying to hide something, or is she really clueless?  Since you are a GL certified stylist, do you know if GL tells their classes that they can't charge less than $1500 or they'll lose their certification?  There are other certified salons here that do charge less, and they haven't lost their certification.......Please let me know. 

that is the most disgusting treatment i have ever heard of.

so unprofessional and uncaring. i am sorry you were treated so poorly. They should take a long hard look at how they treat people.