Ken Wilkerson, OwnerElectric Beach – Lake Mary, FL |
Jennifer Pair, OwnerThe Tannery – Fresno, CA |
Brandon Scott, Co-OwnerX-Treme Tan – Cedar Park, TX |
Apparently, those wacky tanners are at it again doing what they do best – causing drama at salons across the country!
You love your tanners, but let’s face it – their antics can range from silly to downright bizarre. And just when you think you’ve seen it all, they manage to do something that completely boggles your mind! Perhaps it’s all part of the excitement that comes with owning and operating a tanning salon. To share the fun, ist Magazine asked tanning pros to relate their funny “client experiences” … and we received some interesting responses.
Customer from Hell
Every salon owner has dealt with an unruly customer; but Brandon Scott, co-owner of X-Treme Tan in Cedar Park, TX, came face-to-face with the worst one ever … and it took four months to finally free himself – and X-Treme Tan – of her wrath.
“Oh my God!” Brandon exclaimed. “Our salon had been open for three months, and this woman kept coming in and we could never find her name in our computer system. Each time this happened, I gave her a free upgrade session until I discovered that she had been giving us a different name each time she came to tan. I politely told her that we would no longer give her upgrades and she demanded a refund – when we refused and explained our policy, she went completely crazy in our lobby. We called the police to make her leave and, for the next three months, she left horrible and untrue reviews of our salon on different consumer websites. Finally, we offered to give her a refund if she deleted her comments, and she did.”
Brandon’s experience with the “Customer from Hell” taught him just how quickly things can escalate with an angry patron. Today, he and co-owner David Ross are glad to have put the whole incident behind them. “One time, I suggested asking her back and giving her another chance to see what X-Treme Tan is really all about,” Brandon said. “Just the look on David’s face was enough to change my mind.”
Splish-Splash!
Jennifer Pair has had a few irate clients at The Tannery in Fresno, CA; but none as angry as one particular woman who ended up getting hotter than the offers she tried to redeem.
“We offered a Groupon deal for 60 percent off all sessions and limited it to two coupons per customer,” said Jennifer. “Apparently, one woman purchased 15 or 20 of these coupons and planned to use them all for herself. After her first two visits, our staff informed her that ➔ she couldn’t use the rest and she became so upset, she threw her bottle of soda into the fountain in our lobby and refused to leave! I was at home with a migraine headache, so I sent my dad, Ken Testa, over to the salon to sort out the situation. He listened to this woman complain for more than 30 minutes and, at the end of it all, told her that he understood how she felt. That was all it took to get her to calm down and leave.”
Jennifer says she and her staff learned a very valuable lesson from that experience. “People just want to be heard and understood,” she said. “Now, we’re not so quick to just cite our policy and tell people ‘no’ – even if we don’t comply with their demands, we still take the time to listen to their concerns. That’s usually all it takes.”
Lovely Lobby Ladies
In the 15 years Ken Wilkerson has owned Electric Beach in Lake Mary, FL, he thought he’d seen it all. But, when two European ladies stopped by his salon one summer day, this “been-there, done-that” business owner was in for one more surprise.
“During the summer, we get an influx of tanners who are visiting on vacation, especially if it’s a rainy day and there’s nothing going on at the beach,” said Wilkerson. “One day, two women came in wanting sessions in our booths, and their accents were obviously European. I sold them their sessions and a bottle of lotion, directing them to our stand-ups which are located in the lobby. The booths have attached dressing rooms, but both women proceeded to strip off their clothes right there in the lobby and applied lotion to each other’s backs before walking into the booths. To be honest, the whole thing was all very innocent – it was obvious they came from a country where nudity is more accepted – but my lobby full of customers was quite surprised!”
Ken says that the majority of his clients took the impromptu peep-show in stride. “Most of the women just rolled their eyes or giggled a little, and the one male tanner who was there gave me a high-five as he walked out the door,” he said.
Wow!
It seems that operating a tanning salon can be anything but routine. Instead, it appears that the craziest things can happen during business hours … and usually do! It’s always a pleasure to hear wacky tanner stories from salon pros all across the country. If you’d like to share some of the silly, odd or ridiculous things your clients have done, give us a call … we’d love to hear about it.
