.......... Continuation from google
Eni attended with your son on 12 May 2024 and our policy clearly states DO NOT apply any products onto your hair but you are welcome to bring any products you use for application during or after a service. This was deliberately and completely ignored and was the first thing we noticed and advised on straightaway along with the length of his hair. This was mentioned on his first visit as stylists had to swap midway for competition. It is to our discretion whether we are able to or should go ahead with a service depending on hair types in which your son’s is of mixed hair texture ranging from 3a-4c (please research) making it difficult to grasp ESPECIALLY if short - we cannot account for what has happened to his hair in time he has not come for a service at the salon but at that present moment, the stylist he was assigned to could not capture it hence the alternative solution to attend the following week at the latest availability 19 May 2024 - 2pm. Both date and time was confirmed with ENI on the day and advised a message would be sent for reference which we did so this is a clear miscommunication between yourselves. - please note it is impossible to book an appointment without a time and date confirmation (this again is incorrect information and misleading coming from yourself as this was confirmed before he left our premises).
We have NEVER stated that our stylists are all of the same level of expertise and frankly we’re not aware of any that does. Each stylist specialises in different services. This is comm
on practice in Afro-caribbean salons and we made arrangements for this to be executed with a stylist that specialises in short hair. With this, we continued to advise you to allow his hair to grow more but you were very persistent and determined to have it done. - this frustration was also expressed by your partner.
PLEASE NOTE - we continuously stood firm on the possibility of not being able to do his hair due to the length as this may cause significant discomfort for a child and ENI was content with this, he was understanding and actually very calm. It was not until he took a phone call from yourself that his tone changed and insisted how this was possible as his hair was done before with no issue (A year ago). It appears there was a back and forth in which ENI shared his frustrations with us regarding your sons hair being left alone naturally - staff were in witness to this however it is a civil matter but also brings a lot of context and explains your latter behaviour. We were very confused as recall on the first visit, your son expressed he loved wearing his hair natural and in its original form. As we all know, kiddies are EXTREMELY vocal so it does feel as though we are speaking on 2 different children and experiences here. Your son and ENI expressed ‘Mum does not like dealing with this in the mornings’ which we do completely understand and is a part reason why we are here to professionally aid in hair management/protective styles however it is very important parents take into consideration how children feel about wearing their hair and not what makes life easier for yourself. We will always try our best to achieve the services requested but when it comes to our kiddies we DO NOT FORCE or push them to the extent of tears or pain and will only execute a style both suitable and manageable for the CHILD.
19 May 2024 - .
This was the first time we had a proper encounter with you. We must say you were extremely rude, entitled and obnoxious and really attempted intimidation towards the stylist. We feel this was due to the frustrations of rescheduling from the previous week or could be other reasons. You are correct one stylist as your assigned one only was in the salon, it was a Sunday and there are holidays and day offs staff take so this does not in any way reflect our level of busy as still are and were that day evidently.
We do apologise for the wait you experienced. Our salon timings vary and more times or less we ask clients to spare the day as there could be delays in the salon i.e Previous clients running late, different volumes and hair types within the Afro-Caribbean community, hair length and change of style, services, train delays the list goes on which could result in extra service time. 99.9% of our clients have the understanding about this and if we are delayed most certainly we let clients know and apologies in advance as these things are out of our control so to acknowledge and reiterate apologies in the delay for getting your son started.
In regards to your Parking, the roadworks and getting to us we’d suggest you take this up with Southampton City Council who can best advise on rates and how long these delays take - we can confidently confirm this has had NO affect on our business or clientele - this also reflects why we couldn’t get you in sooner as we get that busy, gratefully.
The stylist assigned was management so it would be self sabotage to have treated your son in the way you have alleged. She explained cornrows would not suffice as his hair was short so will try a box braid to see if this will hold and go from there which she did and was okay to continue. She asked if you had a durag to help settle the hair once complete as SHORT so would stick up - you responded yes. Shortly after and with extreme attitude, you mentioned you need to adjust your parking as waited and it was expensive so if there was an alternative place. The stylist provided you with a car park location seconds away walk and right opposite from the Salon (Salisbury Street) in which you then left to do, you confidently as per first occasion left your son under our care to handle this.
In your absence, your son became irritable and the stylist straightaway noticed so took extra caution. However, your son kept moving to the edge of the chair which immediately showed signs of discomfort and sign for us to stop. On multiple occasions the stylist tried to figure out what it was and asked your son to sit back so that his hair could be completed but he was not vocal and just looked extremely uncomfortable. A break was given in which she said to him she will come back to try again but can’t finish if he isn’t still, all of this was done and said in a kind and child friendly manner. She even offered him a cold drink and popcorn to ease him. Upon her return she asked if he wanted to continue, the answer was no. The stylist at this point completely stopped the service and awaited your return. A phone call was made to Aja (Owner) following this decision for permission to stop the service and this was granted. When you returned your son came straight to you showing clearly did not want hair to be done. You explained to the stylist maybe because you were gone he wouldn’t sit still but if we could try again. Your son repeatedly said to you that he did not want to continue and you tried to force this on the stylist in which she refused to not only complete but also cause herself discomfort in bending trying to do your son's hair at the edge of the seat, it simply would not work - this is not a way to carry out a service for anyone and your priority was to ensure you would not deal with his hair hence the forcing, not his care or that of our staff. It was approaching our Sunday close time of 3pm and our stylist was no longer available to attempt continuation and terminated the service. You were clearly unhappy and began to enquire about the deposit payment being returned.
At no point did a conversation of gossip occur to your son or about your son. The stylist spoke clearly and calmly to you at all times especially when it could have escalated facing your rudeness. At NO point did the stylist shout at your son. At NO point did the stylist physically abuse your son.
Due to this attempt of damaging report we will most certainly and proactively work on showing potential mothers and fathers how highly we value their children and how important their clientele means to us especially those of African Caribbean and mixed heritage. There is already not near enough salons within Southampton who specialises in this hair type and we understand the lengths parents go through to understand and maintain their children’s hair so for you to try and discourage parents who need our services and advice in an area which lacks this is absolutely dangerous to children of colour and their parents. Again to future clients of the kiddies we absolutely adore rest assured your little munchkins are safe with us to the extent that 90% of parents leave their children in our care (at first visit) whilst getting on with errands in the town centre or simply having some ‘me time’ at our local coffee shops or restaurants. This is only possible due to the confidence and open atmosphere we provide. Please note during children services we encourage child friendly programs and actively do not engage or encourage adult conversation with clients during children services because we understand little ears are very impressionable and only spread positivity and encouragement to our kids.
We have 24/7 CCTV camera recording with voice audio and so in regards to the HORRENDOUS accusations you have made, please contact local authorities to correctly report in which we will gladly cooperate and provide evidence to justify this. We will not be threatened in such a manner and find this act extremely evil in spirit.
In regards to your deposit which seems to have been the rise of your issue on that day, it clearly states on our website deposits are non-refundable. We have only made exceptions during the winter and cold season where we understand people can come down with the flu to protect our clients and our staff to then happily reschedule. It would be against our policy to refund you the £10 as explained to you the service started (we reached just below the halfway mark). We take deposit payments to avoid loss of income and in your case we would not have been able to book in another client to cover the loss from yours.
We reached out to ENI as being the one we actually liaise with and have contact details for with regards to your son’s appointment and that he has shown better understanding of his hair - as you stormed off. Contact via message form was made which for verbatim is available to explain the matter and that you’d be welcome to return once his hair has grown more as we could not reach him through the phone. With your aid ENI called us Tuesday 21 May to inquire on how to raise a formal complaint and did not wish to discus this matter via call but rather just make a formal complaint. The stylist in question advised timeframe of 3-5 working days for a response and not 5 days. We were happy to have a conversation on that first phone call but you had already made up your mind that you did not want to speak on the situation but would rather formally complain. Please note again we are an independent small black owned business and don’t have the staff or capacity to instantly respond to emails, dms or messages hence why in our original message to Eni we asked for a phone call conversation in which was declined. It is evidence from your statements that you had no intentions of wanting an in house resolution but would rather try and tarnish our image.
We genuinely feel that YOU (mother) is the problem in this whole situation as your arrogance and entitlement spoke volumes. It seems you were unhappy for other reasons and decided to take it out on ourselves. Please be aware that we have warned our neighbouring salons about this as we do not want them to have the same horrible experience from a parent who clearly has no care for what their child wants regarding their hair and feels they are more knowledgeable in Afro-Caribbean hair than the actual professionals with extremely problematic behaviour. One thing we do not tolerate in our place of work is being made to feel uncomfortable, uneasy and this is exactly how you have made our staff feel which is so strange considering we have only had pleasant encounters with ENI.
We are extremely disappointed in yourself and especially ENI who we have had great experiences with and who would allow you to lie on your child in that manner. This poor taste in parenting advice is absolutely damaging to our reputation. Please note however, we are HIGHLY confident in our parent-children relationships we have built along, over and continue to in our years. We highly pride ourselves with the customer service we provide and will not accept this level of dishonesty.
We most certainly would not want you to return to our place of business and are very sad that it has come to this. If you wish to take this matter further regarding the abuse allegations made against us we will await to hear from a third party.
We wish you all the best and sending nothing but kindness your way.
______________________________
Full Response Below:
Hi Rosie,
It is a huge shame, distasteful and foul to see this review you have left us. This comes with extreme accusations, a damaging narrative in an attempt to dehumanise and devalue our business as an independent Afro-Caribbean Salon. In response we will address this accordingly as this attack of inconsistent, contradictory information and lies will not be accepted or tolerated as we continue to gracefully serve our community for the years we have been in Southampton. We are completely shocked to see that you confirm that you would go out of your way to spread false news. Equally we will go out of our way to protect our business and integrity from your appalling client misconduct.
We have years of experience with children and at a very high level - they are our most precious beings and have come to be our pride and joy in service dealing with them so we think it is disgusting you would try to insinuate that any one of our stylists would raise their voice at an adult client let alone a child, to the extent of physical abuse. It is a very nasty and horrible thing to accuse us of. It is not ethical, in our character or how our staff have maintained their roles and lengths of service.
For some background, Easter Sunday (April 2023) we experienced a racially motivated attack by a group of middle aged white individuals who physically and verbally attacked ourselves and a client at the salon. Without going into to much details (information can be found online and on ITV). Since then we have been working closely with young people aged from as young as your son’s age going up to secondary school students and college students within our community. We have prided ourselves with having a great relationship with young people and have never experienced or treated anyone’s child with such vile accusations you speak and this can be evident.
Firstly, we have not provided a consistent service to your family as ENI (father) only attended once on 04 May 2023 which was a great and lively interaction with a lively environment and we know from his account was a great experience hence the introduction of your son and by the recent attendance of 12 May 2023 & 19 May 2024 which is the subject of this matter. So to correct, you have not attended the salon for over or 2 years consistently - just 3 occasions, our records reflect this.
You mentioned the last time your son came for a service, he was treated like a KING which is a direct reflection of how we treat our kiddies, there’s no reason for this to have been different. You left him with us for the entirety and picked him up at the end as Eni also did the first time he had a service with us. That’s the level of confidence and how happy you were. We do not have any grievances against you or know you personally or even have the urge or want to do otherwise, for you to suggest such inhumane behaviour from ourselves. We have a professional relationship with your family and in no shape or form have any reason to treat your child in this horrible manner, this is absolutely unacceptable. We have never had a negative encounter with your family to even justify wanting to treat your precious boy in such a mean way. All our kiddies are welcomed with treats and the luxury of choosing a programme on TV to watch while they do their hair all in an attempt to make them feel at home, comfortable and relaxed. If as you allege children were being shouted at or abused at our salon, we will have been reported, charged and SHUTDOWN years ago. A flood of reviews to justify this will be available for the public to see and avoid us - there is not even one. This is an extremely low way to go about matters and you should be ashamed of this statement made knowing full well it is not a true account.
ENI attended with your son on 12 May 2024 and our policy clearly states DO NOT apply any products onto your hair but you are welcome to bring any products you use for application during or after a service. This was deliberately and completely ignored and was the first thing we noticed and advised on straightaway along with the length of his hair. This was mentioned on his first visit as stylists had to swap midway for competition. It is to our discretion whether we are able to or should go ahead with a service depending on hair types in which your son’s is of mixed hair texture ranging from 3a-4c (please research) making it difficult to grasp ESPECIALLY if short - we cannot account for what has happened to his hair in time he has not come for a service at the salon but at that present moment, the stylist he was assigned to could not capture it hence the alternative solution to attend the following week at the latest availability 19 May 2024 - 2pm. Both date and time was confirmed with ENI on the day and advised a message would be sent for reference which we did so this is a clear miscommunication between yourselves. - please note it is impossible to book an appointment without a time and date confirmation (this again is incorrect information and misleading coming from yourself as this was confirmed before he left our premises).
We have NEVER stated that our stylists are all of the same level of expertise and frankly we’re not aware of any that does. Each stylist specialises in different services. This is common practice in Afro-caribbean salons and we made arrangements for this to be executed with a stylist that specialises in short hair. With this, we continued to advise you to allow his hair to grow more but you were very persistent and determined to have it done. - this frustration was also expressed by your partner.
PLEASE NOTE - we continuously stood firm on the possibility of not being able to do his hair due to the length as this may cause significant discomfort for a child and ENI was content with this, he was understanding and actually very calm. It was not until he took a phone call from yourself that his tone changed and insisted how this was possible as his hair was done before with no issue (A year ago). It appears there was a back and forth in which ENI shared his frustrations with us regarding your sons hair being left alone naturally - staff were in witness to this however it is a civil matter but also brings a lot of context and explains your latter behaviour. We were very confused as recall on the first visit, your son expressed he loved wearing his hair natural and in its original form. As we all know, kiddies are EXTREMELY vocal so it does feel as though we are speaking on 2 different children and experiences here. Your son and ENI expressed ‘Mum does not like dealing with this in the mornings’ which we do completely understand and is a part reason why we are here to professionally aid in hair management/protective styles however it is very important parents take into consideration how children feel about wearing their hair and not what makes life easier for yourself. We will always try our best to achieve the services requested but when it comes to our kiddies we DO NOT FORCE or push them to the extent of tears or pain and will only execute a style both suitable and manageable for the CHILD.
19 May 2024 - .
This was the first time we had a proper encounter with you. We must say you were extremely rude, entitled and obnoxious and really attempted intimidation towards the stylist. We feel this was due to the frustrations of rescheduling from the previous week or could be other reasons. You are correct one stylist as your assigned one only was in the salon, it was a Sunday and there are holidays and day offs staff take so this does not in any way reflect our level of busy as still are and were that day evidently.
We do apologise for the wait you experienced. Our salon timings vary and more times or less we ask clients to spare the day as there could be delays in the salon i.e Previous clients running late, different volumes and hair types within the Afro-Caribbean community, hair length and change of style, services, train delays the list goes on which could result in extra service time. 99.9% of our clients have the understanding about this and if we are delayed most certainly we let clients know and apologies in advance as these things are out of our control so to acknowledge and reiterate apologies in the delay for getting your son started.
In regards to your Parking, the roadworks and getting to us we’d suggest you take this up with Southampton City Council who can best advise on rates and how long these delays take - we can confidently confirm this has had NO affect on our business or clientele - this also reflects why we couldn’t get you in sooner as we get that busy, gratefully.
The stylist assigned was management so it would be self sabotage to have treated your son in the way you have alleged. She explained cornrows would not suffice as his hair was short so will try a box braid to see if this will hold and go from there which she did and was okay to continue. She asked if you had a durag to help settle the hair once complete as SHORT so would stick up - you responded yes. Shortly after and with extreme attitude, you mentioned you need to adjust your parking as waited and it was expensive so if there was an alternative place. The stylist provided you with a car park location seconds away walk and right opposite from the Salon (Salisbury Street) in which you then left to do, you confidently as per first occasion left your son under our care to handle this.
In your absence, your son became irritable and the stylist straightaway noticed so took extra caution. However, your son kept moving to the edge of the chair which immediately showed signs of discomfort and sign for us to stop. On multiple occasions the stylist tried to figure out what it was and asked your son to sit back so that his hair could be completed but he was not vocal and just looked extremely uncomfortable. A break was given in which she said to him she will come back to try again but can’t finish if he isn’t still, all of this was done and said in a kind and child friendly manner. She even offered him a cold drink and popcorn to ease him. Upon her return she asked if he wanted to continue, the answer was no. The stylist at this point completely stopped the service and awaited your return. A phone call was made to Aja (Owner) following this decision for permission to stop the service and this was granted. When you returned your son came straight to you showing clearly did not want hair to be done. You explained to the stylist maybe because you were gone he wouldn’t sit still but if we could try again. Your son repeatedly said to you that he did not want to continue and you tried to force this on the stylist in which she refused to not only complete but also cause herself discomfort in bending trying to do your son's hair at the edge of the seat, it simply would not work - this is not a way to carry out a service for anyone and your priority was to ensure you would not deal with his hair hence the forcing, not his care or that of our staff. It was approaching our Sunday close time of 3pm and our stylist was no longer available to attempt continuation and terminated the service. You were clearly unhappy and began to enquire about the deposit payment being returned.
At no point did a conversation of gossip occur to your son or about your son. The stylist spoke clearly and calmly to you at all times especially when it could have escalated facing your rudeness. At NO point did the stylist shout at your son. At NO point did the stylist physically abuse your son.
Due to this attempt of damaging report we will most certainly and proactively work on showing potential mothers and fathers how highly we value their children and how important their clientele means to us especially those of African Caribbean and mixed heritage. There is already not near enough salons within Southampton who specialises in this hair type and we understand the lengths parents go through to understand and maintain their children’s hair so for you to try and discourage parents who need our services and advice in an area which lacks this is absolutely dangerous to children of colour and their parents. Again to future clients of the kiddies we absolutely adore rest assured your little munchkins are safe with us to the extent that 90% of parents leave their children in our care (at first visit) whilst getting on with errands in the town centre or simply having some ‘me time’ at our local coffee shops or restaurants. This is only possible due to the confidence and open atmosphere we provide. Please note during children services we encourage child friendly programs and actively do not engage or encourage adult conversation with clients during children services because we understand little ears are very impressionable and only spread positivity and encouragement to our kids.
We have 24/7 CCTV camera recording with voice audio and so in regards to the HORRENDOUS accusations you have made, please contact local authorities to correctly report in which we will gladly cooperate and provide evidence to justify this. We will not be threatened in such a manner and find this act extremely evil in spirit.
In regards to your deposit which seems to have been the rise of your issue on that day, it clearly states on our website deposits are non-refundable. We have only made exceptions during the winter and cold season where we understand people can come down with the flu to protect our clients and our staff to then happily reschedule. It would be against our policy to refund you the £10 as explained to you the service started (we reached just below the halfway mark). We take deposit payments to avoid loss of income and in your case we would not have been able to book in another client to cover the loss from yours.
We reached out to ENI as being the one we actually liaise with and have contact details for with regards to your son’s appointment and that he has shown better understanding of his hair - as you stormed off. Contact via message form was made which for verbatim is available to explain the matter and that you’d be welcome to return once his hair has grown more as we could not reach him through the phone. With your aid ENI called us Tuesday 21 May to inquire on how to raise a formal complaint and did not wish to discus this matter via call but rather just make a formal complaint. The stylist in question advised timeframe of 3-5 working days for a response and not 5 days. We were happy to have a conversation on that first phone call but you had already made up your mind that you did not want to speak on the situation but would rather formally complain. Please note again we are an independent small black owned business and don’t have the staff or capacity to instantly respond to emails, dms or messages hence why in our original message to Eni we asked for a phone call conversation in which was declined. It is evidence from your statements that you had no intentions of wanting an in house resolution but would rather try and tarnish our image.
We genuinely feel that YOU (mother) is the problem in this whole situation as your arrogance and entitlement spoke volumes. It seems you were unhappy for other reasons and decided to take it out on ourselves. Please be aware that we have warned our neighbouring salons about this as we do not want them to have the same horrible experience from a parent who clearly has no care for what their child wants regarding their hair and feels they are more knowledgeable in Afro-Caribbean hair than the actual professionals with extremely problematic behaviour. One thing we do not tolerate in our place of work is being made to feel uncomfortable, uneasy and this is exactly how you have made our staff feel which is so strange considering we have only had pleasant encounters with ENI.
We are extremely disappointed in yourself and especially ENI who we have had great experiences with and who would allow you to lie on your child in that manner. This poor taste in parenting advice is absolutely damaging to our reputation. Please note however, we are HIGHLY confident in our parent-children relationships we have built along, over and continue to in our years. We highly pride ourselves with the customer service we provide and will not accept this level of dishonesty.
We most certainly would not want you to return to our place of business and are very sad that it has come to this. If you wish to take this matter further regarding the abuse allegations made against us we will await to hear from a third party.
We wish you all the best and sending nothing but kindness your way.
