I took my 10 year old son to the Sport Clips Haircuts of Fleming Island this evening and have never witnessed such horrible service for any type of business interaction in my life. I got an uneasy feeling when I heard my son's stylist argue with her previous client and state that she was getting frustrated and hadn't had anything to eat all day. She argued that she had cut his hair "three times already" and that "he had to get better at communication" because she wasn’t going to cut it again.
After finishing with the previous gentleman she began to walk us back to her chair at which time I attempted to show her pictures of his previous haircut. My son was extremely happy with his previous haircut that was done at a different salon and I wanted to give her a visual of how it looked immediately after it was last cut. The stylist was extremely rude to me, and questioned why we could not just tell her what we were looking to do; stating "wasn't someone present for the cut?"
I explained that his haircut one-month prior was his first shorter hairstyle, that he had had long hair all his life, and that the cut was new to both of us. I was attempting to show her the pictures so she could visually see what we were looking to accomplish with the haircut she was going to perform. She again showed no interest in reviewing the pictures and even made condescending comments about how wrong his previous cut was including a part that was "way to high" and that "you can never tell how a cut should be done by looking at a picture."
The stylist continued to question our requested cut style and asked 5 to 6 times about his "high" desired hair part. When my son finally became frustrated since both he and I indicated how he wanted it cut and asked "do you have a problem with my part?" she quickly accused him of being "spoiled" and then stated that he needed to learn how to "respect his elders, especially the one holding the clippers and cutting his hair."
After hearing that comment I wanted to leave, however I felt trapped and was afraid of what she might do if we attempted to leave since she had already began to shave his head with the clippers. The cut continued to unfold and appeared nothing like the pictures that I attempted to show her just moments before and was not a faded style as the pictures would have indicated. Afraid to voice his concerns, my son instead vacated the chair and asked for me to leave with him before his cut got worse.
She again angrily accused him of being spoiled and started to argue with a 10 year old boy. She continued to berate him at which time I let her know that she was out of line for speaking to not only a customer like that but a child like she had. Another customer who was waiting for a haircut in the lobby entered the floor area and also expressed how inappropriate her entire interaction with my son was and left the building in support of my son. I indicated that we would also be leaving and I offered to pay for the cut, even though we were completely dissatisfied. The stylist continued to make my son and I feel like we were in the wrong, making judgmental and inappropriate comments of how his cut was before. She finally cowered down behind the register and asked us to just leave while carrying on that she "had never had this happen, and that his cut was ugly and messed up before"
I know that people have bad days and that there maybe underlying reasons for one's behavior, however this stylist behavior was completely unacceptable and warrants some accountability. I will be sharing my experience at this Sports Clips with everyone I know and will ask that they avoid doing business with them. I will also be sharing my experience with corporate and local management.