Rude rude rude!

steph861 · December 2014

novella1186 said:

I've been contacting every salon within a 25-mile radius of my venue and I'm pretty shocked at some of the responses I've been getting. I've been asking if they'll come to our hotel to do hair, or if we have to go to them, and what the prices are for doing bridesmaids' hair and some basic stuff like that.

Mind you, I send tons of emails every day at work so I know how to compose friendly, professional-sounding text, and I'm always careful to word my e-mails to potential vendors in a friendly way because of course I want them to want to work with me.

A few salons haven't even responded (more than a week later, and two weeks in some cases). I cut them some slack because it's the holidays so no big deal, but I have friends and family who are in jobs where they deal with clients and they all say that taking more than a few hours to respond to a client (or potential client) inquiry is kind of ridiculous.

One salon sent me an email that only said this: "We don't travel. You have to come to us. Minimum 5 bridesmaids."

Another one only had a facebook page and not a phone number or anything (because I don't think they have a business space; they only travel) so we ended up messaging back and forth a little bit yesterday. When I asked about the bridesmaids' hair she said "So you hired someone else to do your hair? Is this correct?" Which seemed a bit rude to me but ok. I replied with "I might do my own hair, but I haven't decided yet. I just want to wear it down, but I may need some help with it." Rather than saying something like "We'd be happy to do your hair as well," or "We can schedule a trial if you'd like" or anything positive, she simply quit messaging me and never answered my questions. I had mentioned to her that the bridesmaids may want make-up too, which I would also pay for, so if they did hair and make-up for just my bridesmaids they would be making upwards of $800, not including tip. WTF? It's like none of them want my money.

I haven't had this much trouble with any of the other vendors I've hired, and I've booked our venue, officiant, band, DJ, caterer, baker, florist, photographer, rentals, rehearsal dinner venue, hotel blocks, transportation, pretty much every single thing except hair. Everyone else I dealt with was so nice and so helpful (except for a few caterers, so I didn't even bother to schedule a tasting with them). The standard e-mail I get when I contact someone is "Congratulations on your engagement! We'd love to work with you. Blah blah blah answers to your questions, niceness, professionalism. Please let us know if you have any further questions! Thanks, full name." These responses from salons are so off-putting. I'm not going to give someone my money if they're rude to me.

Does anyone have a crazy vendor story, or has anyone else encountered rude vendors like this? Let's commiserate so I don't feel so alone in this rude nonsense lol

What the hellllllll. I so wish this had happened over the phone so you could have snarked at her.

"I assume you make all clients bring four other people to their regular, non-wedding hair appointments too? That's an interesting business model."

novella1186 · December 2014

steph861 said:

novella1186 said:

I've been contacting every salon within a 25-mile radius of my venue and I'm pretty shocked at some of the responses I've been getting. I've been asking if they'll come to our hotel to do hair, or if we have to go to them, and what the prices are for doing bridesmaids' hair and some basic stuff like that.

Mind you, I send tons of emails every day at work so I know how to compose friendly, professional-sounding text, and I'm always careful to word my e-mails to potential vendors in a friendly way because of course I want them to want to work with me.

A few salons haven't even responded (more than a week later, and two weeks in some cases). I cut them some slack because it's the holidays so no big deal, but I have friends and family who are in jobs where they deal with clients and they all say that taking more than a few hours to respond to a client (or potential client) inquiry is kind of ridiculous.

One salon sent me an email that only said this: "We don't travel. You have to come to us. Minimum 5 bridesmaids."

Another one only had a facebook page and not a phone number or anything (because I don't think they have a business space; they only travel) so we ended up messaging back and forth a little bit yesterday. When I asked about the bridesmaids' hair she said "So you hired someone else to do your hair? Is this correct?" Which seemed a bit rude to me but ok. I replied with "I might do my own hair, but I haven't decided yet. I just want to wear it down, but I may need some help with it." Rather than saying something like "We'd be happy to do your hair as well," or "We can schedule a trial if you'd like" or anything positive, she simply quit messaging me and never answered my questions. I had mentioned to her that the bridesmaids may want make-up too, which I would also pay for, so if they did hair and make-up for just my bridesmaids they would be making upwards of $800, not including tip. WTF? It's like none of them want my money.

I haven't had this much trouble with any of the other vendors I've hired, and I've booked our venue, officiant, band, DJ, caterer, baker, florist, photographer, rentals, rehearsal dinner venue, hotel blocks, transportation, pretty much every single thing except hair. Everyone else I dealt with was so nice and so helpful (except for a few caterers, so I didn't even bother to schedule a tasting with them). The standard e-mail I get when I contact someone is "Congratulations on your engagement! We'd love to work with you. Blah blah blah answers to your questions, niceness, professionalism. Please let us know if you have any further questions! Thanks, full name." These responses from salons are so off-putting. I'm not going to give someone my money if they're rude to me.

Does anyone have a crazy vendor story, or has anyone else encountered rude vendors like this? Let's commiserate so I don't feel so alone in this rude nonsense lol

What the hellllllll. I so wish this had happened over the phone so you could have snarked at her.

"I assume you make all clients bring four other people to their regular, non-wedding hair appointments too? That's an interesting business model."

I thought the same thing. Like, we're coming to the salon, and it's just a hair appointment. Could I make an appointment there to get highlights, or would I need to bring a minimum of 4 friends? What difference does it makes how many girls there are? If there's only two then it'll take way less time and then can schedule some other client, so they're still making money.

velvethelicopters · December 2014

My Maid of Honor has been my best friend since we bonded over hatred of 6th grade keyboard teacher - we're both best defined as petite (now, she's 4'11"and I'm 5'1") so we couldn't sit with our backs again the chair AND feet flat on the floor - is my hair stylist. When I sent all my girls the spa info (I am paying for everything at the spa because I want them to enjoy the day also) to start considering what they'd like done hair/makeup wise, she promptly send me a rude email. "Emma, no! They are NOT touching your hair! I won't let them!" She's the only "vendor" I'd accept rude behavior from. We've been friends for 20+ years, we get to be rude to each other.

Other vendors (4 so far) who are rude get none of my hard earned money. I do not get it. You're in the service industry, why do you have no clue on being nice to your customers. Granted, I'm a passive aggressive snot, but the worst gown vendor got a letter pointing out I was in love with a stupidly expensive gown they had, but since they were so nasty, I whipped around and got a similar style gown from BHLDN for way less. I'd rather support a national chain than a rude local business.

hellohkb · December 2014

I would hate that. I had some vendors who never got back to me at all, including one venue that I was really interested in.

I contacted my dream makeup artist asking for rates and she got back to me within minutes- At 4am (I was up thinking about wedding stuff and i guess she was awake too). I would never expect such a timely response but it was nice. I couldn't book her because she was a 3 hour drive from her to me and I just couldn't afford the miles. But neverthnevertheless, I hope you're able to find a makeup artist/hair stylist who will just take your money!

sophhabobopha · December 2014

No vendor dealings as of yet. But what in the fuck? I can't believe a buisness would be so rude to someone WHO WANTS TO PAY THEM.

anjemon · December 2014

I've mostly been good. One of the cake makers I contacted didn't get back to me... but I never tried to contact them again either. I just let that ball drop for a couple of weeks.

I did have trouble with a photographer. She was really great in emails and at the meeting we did with my FI. A couple of weeks later I contacted her because I wanted to book her and received no response. So like 5 days later I send another email. Still no response, but I really liked her and her work so I kept trying. I called her a few days later and left a message and still no reply. I sent a third email basically being like "so I'm assuming no response means I keep looking" and she finally got back to me to let me know that she had already booked my date. Which was probably a good thing because I found another photographer who actually wants my business.

But I like to assume a professional can respond to my email with "sorry, I already booked your date" within 10 days. It's not a hard thing to do, I'm sure she has to do it frequently. And then I was annoyed because she fed me some line about being "out of town and having limited email" but she had been updating her business page on facebook. So she had enough internet to upload pictures, but not enough to send me two sentences and let me know to contact someone else.

But your search for a hairdresser is making me really happy I'm getting married in the same town as my regular salon. It'll be more expensive because they don't do weekends, but I really trust her and I like the work the salon does. Unfortunately I'm no good at helping to find one, because I found my regular hairdresser completely by luck.

Rude rude rude!

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