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AITAH for refusing a $100 cancellation fee over miscommunication?
"I booked a hairstylist about a month ago for a $120 service. That’s what I agreed to and planned for.
Communication was inconsistent, but I was never told anything about needing multiple sessions or that the real cost would be much higher. Then literally the night before my appointment (around 10 PM), she suddenly tells me I’d need multiple sessions costing $300–$500 each. That was the first time I ever heard any of that."
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People will charge you for anything and everything these days, cancellation fees, booking fees, consultation fees, a fee for the fee. And look, boundaries around time are legitimate. Stylists, photographers, freelancers of all kinds deserve to protect their schedule. A cancellation policy that's communicated upfront, agreed to at booking, and applied fairly? Completely reasonable. Nobody is arguing that.
But there is a limit. And the limit is this: you cannot change the terms of an agreement the night before it happens and then penalize the other person for not going along with it. That's not a cancellation fee. That's a consequence for someone else's lack of communication being redirected onto the one person who did nothing wrong.
The original service was $120. That's what was agreed to. That's what was budgeted for. Weeks of contact happened between booking and the appointment and at no point was any of this mentioned, not the multiple sessions, not the real price, not even a heads up that things might look different once she came in. Instead, a 10pm message the night before transformed a $120 appointment into a $300-$500 situation with zero warning and apparently zero apology.
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"I cancelled right away because I can’t afford that. Now she’s trying to charge me a $100 cancellation fee.
I told her I find it unprofessional that none of this was communicated earlier despite her defending herself saying she “tried to warn me”, we had been in contact for weeks and she just dropped the ball. You can’t just expect people to suddenly adjust to hundreds of dollars more the night before an appointment."
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And here's the detail that makes it even clearer: the stylist wasn't even offering to do the original service the next day. She was suggesting a consultation. A consultation that, according to her own page, costs $30. So the appointment that was cancelled wasn't even the original appointment anymore, it had already been changed unilaterally, by the stylist, into something else entirely.
The $100 cancellation fee isn't just unfair. It's for an appointment that no longer existed as originally booked.
Money doesn't grow on trees. Neither does the patience to be gaslit about who dropped the ball here.
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"Also, she wasn’t even saying she was still going to do the original service the next day… she said I would just come in for a consultation instead. But on her page, consultations are $30, so I don’t understand why I would be charged $100 for canceling something that turned into a consultation anyway.
Now I’m $100 out for something that wasn’t my fault, and money doesn’t grow on trees."
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If your hairstylist works in a shop, go to the manager or owner. Have all of your facts together, along with a timeline and any paperwork that you signed, and present the information calmly. Request all of your deposit back, as the charges and complexity of the service were not revealed to you until the last minute. The fact that your stylist called you at 10 at night to tell you about the extra charges is in of itself highly unprofessional. I would think that a shop owner would be very displeased that one of her stylists was taking advantage of her clients.
If your stylist works solo, and if you paid with a credit card, you may have recourse with the credit card company. Call them and find out if you can have the charges cancelled or challenged.
Good luck, I hope you can find a new stylist that you can trust.
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Your deposit is her true cancellation fee. Why else do deposits exist? Tell her she can send you to small claims for her 90$. Don’t waste more energy over 30$, block and move on.
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Did she charge your card already? If not remove the payment method or change the CCV.
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NTA. I hope there's no way you actually even think you are the a*shole!
You've already said you've blocked your card from the booking service so hopefully that stops it. If any money has been taken from your account, get a chargeback. You're in the right, she's not. Do not just let her steal your money.
The $30 you paid, is the cancellation fee, otherwise why would anyone pay a deposit! They're trying to scam you. I would even suggest you get a chargeback for the $30 because the service has changed, according to them and you paid for something else!
If this was me, I would report them to the booking page and whatever system certifies hairdressers (if that's possible).
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Hair dressers in many states are licensed. A complaint might help.
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I consider that to be fraud in the form of "bait and switch" which is illegal. Her notifying you too late to cancel without being charged the full $100 fee means you received no product or service for your original amount agreed upon through no failure of your own. I suggest calling the fraud department of your bank to cancel all payments to her. I would also call the fraud department of the police and local Better Buisness Bureau to alert them to her trying to pull "bait and switch" on unsuspecting customers to the tune of $200 to $300.
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You booked a partial highlight, that she said was a price, then tried to up it. Highlights only take a short amount of time. Go to a salon the next time.
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NTA. You are being con'ed.
The second the essential terms of the contract change, you are no longer bound by them.
You didn't even really cancel. You agreed to go to her salon, to give her $120, and to leave with a haircut. The second that was no longer what she was offering, that contract along with the reservation went out the window. -
I have never heard of stylist doing this. This is absurd! Call your bank/credit card company and dispute the charge. File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and your state Attorney General. Lastly, one star Google review. You should be refunded every cent you paid.
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Scam.
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I don’t think I’ve ever paid a deposit for a hair appointment.
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NTA- You have all the communication and receipts to prove the original booking was $120. Then she changed to cost the night before. I highly doubt it was a miscommunication, it seems deliberate on her part. I wonder how many people she has done this to?Screenshot everything in case she tries to delete any messages. Contact your bank/financial provider and tell them what is going on. Is there any way you can make the messages public? Facebook or other social media? To warn others.
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Dispute it with your bank and never call her again and leave bad reviews
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It was either a scam from the start, or they determined last minute that they don't like you and gave you the FU contractor rate. Maybe something came up for them and they couldn't commit to doing your appointment, so instead of cancelling they tried to suprise overcharge you in hopes that youd cancel and have to forfeit a deposit.
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