Owner is full of **** and Lies!!!!

I am writing to you to express my absolute disgust and disappointmentat the treatment I had received at one of your stores yesterday afternoon. Please forgive the lengthiness of this email.

I had taken my two little children aged 2 and 4 to have their haircut at Pravina's hairsalon. My boy who is 2 is a crabby child and I knew that he was going to kick up a fuss when getting his haircut. I have been a customer of Pravinas for over 15 years, and there have been plenty of times where I would be having my hair done whilst listening to a screaming child having their hair cur on the other end, so naturally I had taken my little one thinking, this will be ok as they handle kids like this all the time. There was a lady, a man and Pravina at the front desk when I entered, I had to wait a little while as they had to check if someone was available to assist me. The lady then told me it was ok and that there is someone available and took me to the back of the salon to get my boy ready for his haircut. She told me that they would need to wash his hair as they would not be able to cut it without it being washed. I told her that he is very fussy and he will start to scream because he is a difficult child, but she insisted so I took him to the area where they wash the clients hair and waited for the someone to help. This nice lady came up and started washing my boys hair, I asked her to please do it as fast as she can as he is difficult. She tried her best as he was already screaming.Once we were done with the wash I took him and we sat down to have the hair cut and my boy is still crying at this point. I was obviously aware of people looking at us because he is crying loudly. I asked the lady cutting his hair if they deal with difficult children like this all the time and she said "yes we have children screaming in here all the time".

My husband came to me and took over holding my boy whilst the lady cut his hair. When I got up to go to my 4 year old who was also having her hair cut, I noticed that the lady that had greated me at the reception desk as well as Pravina, were very aggitated at my boy crying. I walked over to my 4 year old and stood there watching her hair being dried.About 2 mins later the lady who was cutting my boys hair comes over to the station where I stood to get a hairdryer to blowdry my boys hair.Pravina walks up the the lady and in my presence tells her not to blowdry his hair as he will cry more and other clients are getting very upset. I was very thrown by this. I thought to myself that she totally disregarded me and did not have common courtousy to ask me as the mum and client if it was ok to not blowdry his hair as she thinks that he is being too noisy. I chose to not say anything to her as I am not the type to complain or make a scene.

Then the lady doing my daughters hair takes a hair iron to iron her hair. Before she started I stopped her and asked that she do a blowwave as I dont not like such intense heat on my daughers hair. This lady then went and spoke to another lady and comes back to me and tells me that they will not be able to cut the hair without ironing it and further more they had asked my husband and he said that it was fine. How completely standoffish, irrespective of whether or not my husband agreed to the hair being ironed, I stopped them, asking that they not do it before it was even started and i explained why and they now giving me an attitude telling me what I just have to accept. I have had my hair cut a million times and I know that hair can undoubtedly be cut without having it be ironed first. Again I just kept quite and let it be, all the while thinking this is the worst service. I just want to pay and get out of this salon. I took a seat just behind the station where my daugher was having her hair cut. At this point, my husband took my boy out the salon. The lady who was at the front desk on my arrival walks pass me and asks if id like something to drink. I looked up and said no thank you, she could see the frustration in my face and so she asked me what was wrong. I didnt want to get into anything, so I said that nothing was wrong. she walked away and a few seconds later walks to me and says "if there is a problem then you should talk". So I decided ok, yes I will tell you what the problem is. I proceeded, very calmly, to speak about how I noticed that they were getting very annoyed with my boy crying and I asked her if they are not accustomed to these situations. I then told her how upset I was that Pravina dirsregarded me as the client and gave an order to her staff without checking with me. she told me that clients were getting upset and basically tried to make any excuse she could. Pravina walks pass and overhears the conversation and asks the lady what the matter was, the lady asked me to explain to Pravina.Again I started telling her what upset me. still in a very calm manner, possibly the only person that would have heard what it was about, was the lady sitting next to me, having her hair done. I again asked if they are not accustomed to having children crying and she says yes they have children crying all the time, I asked so why then did she tell the lady not to blowdry his hair, and I also mentioned their demeanour when he started crying. she tells me " my white clients were getting upset".

My word, I could not believe that she was now telling me she was placing priority and emphasis on her white clients. I asked her what she meant, she then starts to raise her voice saying that this is the only salon in Durban that cuts childrens hair. to which I responded by saying, if you are saying that you cut childrens hair then you should be able to deal with a situation where the child is being difficult and crying and not show frustration and be rude to a client. Further more if they were not a salon that dealt with crying children, the moment I said that he is difficult and will cry to have his hair washed, they should have advised me right away that they are unable to cut his hair as they do not want to upset the "white clients" as Pravina so eloquently put it. Pravina then got very upset with me she got up and points her finger at me and yells at me saying " listen here, I own this place and you can get lost". I was floored, i could not beleive the utter disrespect she had for a client in her salon. I asked her to repeat herself and she again told me that I should get lost. I was disgusted.She walked away and stood at the front desk and proceeded to complain about me to the man and the lady. I still sat there trying to just compose myself as my daugher still had to finish her hair. I looked over and see that she is still talking about so rudely. I called my husband and asked him to come back to the salon , I hadnt told him what had occured, but he heard from my voice that I was upset so he came back and spoke to Pravina and asked what the matter was. She now starts complaining about me to my husband. I get up, still very calmly and went to my husband and tried telling him what had happened. I was thrown again when Pravina starts yelling at me and stops me from speaking. She tells me that she is working for 40 years and I am young and this is why I am complaining for no reason. She then tells me, that Ibwas the one being rude to her and " it is not my problem that you are having a bad day". I could not belive her audacity. I had now had enough and then raised my voice at her, I told her that I will not tolerate her speaking to me so rudely and disrespectfully. I told her that I was the client and that this is not the way she should be speaking to her clients. I then told my husband how rudely she spoke to me by telling me to get lost. My husband asked me to take the kids and go out the store. Before leaving the store I asked my husband to just make payment and not bother. when I had left the store my husband asked Pravina what had occured and she refused to explain to him, she just kept talking about her working for over 40 years. he then asks Pravina if she spoke to me rudely and said that I should "get lost" and Pravina responds by saying that she had never told me that! This alone speaks volumes for this womans character! my husband said to her that he will speak to me to get the whole story and will be laying a complaint to pavilion management. Pravina then said that she didnt mean for a problem to be caused and walked away. The man at the front desk just looks at my husband and shrugs his shoulders and says" I dont know what happened" then says "dont worry you dont have to pay". This was obviously not about the money but the treatment that I received at this Salon.

I have worked in customer services for years, the company that I worked for had prided itself on it excellent customer service. I as the customer have a right to complain about bad service. Irrespective of whether I was a difficult client or not a complaint should be taken seriously, and steps taken to rectify it and apologise to the client. Pravina on the other hand chosen to be rude and defensive. Instead of me as a client raising my voice at her she was raising her voice at me. she was loud, arrogant and completely disrespectful. I am so livid at the way Pravina treated me both as a client and as a humanbeing. Telling me that she owns the salon shows that she feels that she can speak to a client anyway she likes as she has many other clients and just the one is insignificant. Word of mouth is a powerful thing. After this incident i have read up on other bad service reviews with this salon and Pravina. This whole experience has left a bitter taste in my mouth. We frequent this mall, and I have never been so insulted or disrespected than I had been yesterday. I would rather drive a further distance to go to another mall where a paying client can get good service and is treated with respect.Suffice to say that after 15 years of supporting pravinas, I will never ever step foot in her establishment ever again.