10

Peter Mark Response

Peter Mark Response to Peter Mark Experience blog post.

Firstly, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who commented on the last post, and all the lovely people on Twitter who gave me huge support and encouragement last night when I first issued the post. It was so reassuring to know that people have experienced things like this before and that you understood my situation and how upset I am.

Peter Mark Head Office just rang.

I am “allowed” go in for an assessment of the cut, then they will see if they think I should get it fixed or as I requested a refund. So basically, if they think the cuts ok I get nothing, even though it’s not what I wanted! As for the colour, it’s too long ago and sure most of their clients would be getting ready to rebook in for another colour treatment, sure it’s nearly 8 weeks ago!!!

As I will never trust any member of PM’s team near me with a scissors, the only thing I would want from Peter Mark is my money back to go towards fixing my hair colour & cut at an alternative hairdressers of my choice.

To say that there was tension on the line is putting it mildly. I believe that I would never have heard from them again if it wasn’t for my blog.  When I asked why my call was never returned, the subject was changed pretty rapidly.

Now, it’s decision time. Do I want to go in for an assessment with a top stylist in their Dundrum branch? Do I want to go through the humiliation of it all & possibly for nothing if they deem my cut ok, even though as the customer I am not happy.

Hmmmmmmmmm, what do you reckon ladies? I would love to hear your feedback and I will then go with the majority decision. Apart from the embarassment I have nothing to loose!!!

Mwah

11

Peter Mark Experience

For me personally finding a good hairdresser has never been an easy task. To me my hair is a huge part of my appearance and I take huge pride in it.

During the summer, I went from my natural shiny brunette barnett to a golden blonde highlighted look. I <3 ‘d it. However, being so dark meant major roots every few weeks.

Blondey Lee

After maintaining the look for a couple of months I realised I missed my soft, shiny natural colour and made the decision to go au natural again. I decided to wait till after my holidays to do this so that the colour didn’t fade in the sun. First Saturday back I booked in…

After changing my appointment time at the request of the receptionist when I called so that my hairdresser could do my cut & colour, I was fairly annoyed when I was handed over to someone else, how and ever, I said nothing. It was mentioned in passing that I was going to need a “pre-colour”, at no point was a cost discussed. However, I was pretty happy with the end results;  and apart from the die leaving stains around my hairline.

Lovely chocolate brown colour, “check”, super shine “check”, ends trimmed, “check”. I went to pay and instead of costing the price quoted when I made my appointment, approx €70, the bill was €98. I was shocked at the jump but didn’t cause a fuss and paid it.

That night I went to my friend’s hens so here is the photo evidence, please excuse the bunny ears & dickie bow, LOL

Glossy Shiny Brown

The colour and shine lasted from 7 to 10 days. I was devastated. My glossy, shiny hair was gone and I was left with a dry, coarse head of straw! Ok slight exaggeration! I rang the hairdressers and spoke with the hairdresser; I even drove to the salon on my lunch break to show her. She told me it hadn’t faded at all and suggested I buy a Kerastase treatment, so I spent another €30 on that.

That night I washed my hair, put the treatment in, slept with it in & washed it out in the morning. My hair felt slightly softer but no major improvement. I immediately regretted the purchase and wished I’d gone for my usual Aveda Damage Remedy.

I was getting more & more upset at the colour & condition of my hair but I didn’t know what to do, I’d already showed my hairdresser, what else was there.

Hair getting lighter

Then the time came for a hair cut. I was secretly hoping the hairdresser would see the lack of colour in my hair & the auburnie colour I am left with and offer to fix it….. However, I was not expecting the comments that came! She was actually shocked herself at the colour, I could tell & when I pushed her a bit about it, looking for her help… She told me I should use a home die!!!!!!! Well, if I’d done that in the first place, I would be at least €120 better off! The cheek, I couldn’t understand it. I wonder are Peter Marks aware of their staff actually recommending this to clients.

So now, on to the cut. Following a chat with some of the girlies on Twitter, I decided to go back to a graduated bob, similar to Alexandra Bourke’s look on her X Factor performance a few weeks ago. This would have also been to have a lot of the split ends and dryness cut out. The result: I currently have a pretty standard bob with absolutely no shape. It’s so hard to control & style that I am currently trying to decide where to go to have both my colour & cut fixed.

Current Hair - No Flash

Current Hair - With Flash

I was away for 5 days after the cut so as soon as I landed back in the country; I nipped into the hairdressers to speak to them. My hairdresser was off sick so I decided to just leave.

After the Bank Holiday wkend last week, I was more & more distraught. I didn’t know what to do so last Tuesday morning, first thing; I picked up the phone and rang the Peter Marks Head Office. I spoke to the receptionist about my experience and she told me someone from customer service would be in touch, I had made it particularly clear I didn’t want to speak to anyone in my branch of the salon. I waited until after 4pm and I called back after not hearing anything. A few minutes later, a lady from my branch called, she was very defensive about my complaints and told me that it was too long after the colour was put in my hair to do anything. When I explained I had called in very soon after the colour was done, she dismissed it. She offered for me to go into the salon to see her for a chat and I refused point blank, I have no intention of ever stepping foot in that salon again. She even had the odessity to ask me what shampoo I use (Herbal Essence & Pantene btw) and blame that!!! She lacked any customer service and just infuriated an already angry customer.

The same lady rang back after a few minutes; she then told me that I had my colour done before my holiday and it was MY fault the colour had faded from the sun. I had to laugh, since when did she know my diary!!!! The absolute cheek of her. I was in shock. She offered me a cut in the Dundrum branch to fix the cut. I refused. I would never ever enter a Peter Mark’s salon. Not even for a blow dry because as far as I’m concerned, they’d probably mess that up too.

At the end of the conversation she told me that she would talk to Head Office again. My blood was boiling, I had no intention of waiting for Head Office to call me, I was calling them. Well, I tried, the lady was conveniently unavailable. I left a message.

The next morning my phone was having some issues and I did miss a call from this lady. I rang back on Wednesday afternoon and left a message and at this point on Sunday evening, I am still waiting for my call to be returned…. I have a feeling it might be a long wait……….

Has anyone else had a similar experience with Peter Marks? Can anyone recommend a good hairdressers in South Dublin? I am considering returning to Fusion in Dun Laoghaire. Watch this space!!!

Mwah

2

Lastminute.com Update

For those of you who are familiar with my previous post on Lastminute.com; Lastminutecom Rant I thought I should give you a bit of an update. Following some tweets the Marketing Manager of Lastminute.com contacted me via Twitter.

I was given his email address so I informed him of my experience, sent screenshots of the errors I was getting and sent him the link to my blog post.

Below is the reply I received with the explanation:

Hi Lee,

I’m really sorry to hear about your experience on our website, perhaps I can offer an explanation.

We are currently in the process of migrating our website here in Ireland to a newer global platform as part of the lastminute.com group. The issue you experienced from LM1 to LM2 - caused a redirection to the UK version of the lastminute.com website - where pricing and buying paths are now UK and in £Sterling.

Issue number 2, is regarding the lack of availability for your chosen hotel - which was a special rate we had negotiated with Travel Lodge - with carrying a global supply of over 80,000 hotels from different systems, a break in connection was identified for this particular deal. This is being rectified as all of lastminute.com are moving to a single transaction inventory over the coming months.

Both of these issues have been identified and assigned a priority bug reference for fixing.

All of this in no way excuses the poor service and experience you’ve encountered, again I can’t apologise enough and completely understand your frustration.

As a token of goodwill, I’d love to offer you free night hotel stay anywhere in Ireland - just let me know the location and date and I’ll get you hooked up with somewhere nice.

Regarding your reply tweet on our Top Secret Hotels, these are special negotiated rates where we have discounted rates up to 45% off branded hotels - which are an excellent way of booking 4* & 5* hotels for a fraction of the cost.

Some background information on our operation in Dublin, we are a tightly knit 6 person team who are enthusiastic and passionate about our company, as such we acknowledge some aspects where we don’t perform as well as we’d like to - so your feedback is appreciated.

If there’s anything else I can help with, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanks,

Barry

barry hand
marketing manager

I told Mr Hand that I would post an updated entry to show the response.

I believe nowadays with the power of the Internet & the popularity of Twitter growing it is a really good idea for Companies to be on there. I didn’t write my post for any other reason than to share my experience.

Thank you Barry for your explanation. I wish more Companies where more proactive with their online awareness.

Mwah

5

Lastminute.com Rant

I am so sick of hearing ads on the radio, ezine sponsored links, everything to do with www.lastminute.com…

My issue started a couple of weeks ago when I did a quick search to check prices for an over night stay in Belfast. I found a great deal for €69 Room Only in Travelodge Belfast. As it was the Sunday of a Bank Holiday I thought this was a great deal and jumped at the chance of booking it, however when I clicked continue, a horrible red text popped up & said, “You know a good deal when you see one – this hotel is so popular it’s sold out of that room type. But don’t give up yet! There are more options below so please try again.”

How annoying, it said search results were of available hotels and rates…

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