Maggie Rants [and Raves]

Reading the Fine Print

by Maggie Franklin | July 19, 2013 | Bookmark +

When I decided to experiment with online booking, I was wary. Letting other people book services for me has never proven to go smoothly in the past and that was in salons with a professional receptionist, so letting clients book their own appointments seemed like a sure path to disaster.

Nevertheless, I bit the bullet and gave it a shot. Once I found an online booking service that actually met my — apparently ridiculous — needs, I broke my wrist. Which put my entire book on hold for a couple of months. But ever since getting back to work and going live with the system, things have gone remarkably well. Toowell — says the girl who thinks Murphy’s Law is an actual law of physics.

Actually, things have worked out very well. But here lately I have run into a couple of the problems I’d anticipated in the beginning. Basically, people aren’t reading the fine print. I mean, it’s not even that fine. It’s just all the descriptive text on the service menu that follows “Acrylic fill $30.”

You know, all the important stuff like how long it’s going to take. And the fact that an “acrylic fill” doesn’t include nail art. Or that a “polish change” does not apply to gel polish. Or that the price for rock star nails is the base price and additional colors/elements will cost more.

So for the last few weeks, when I’ve been looking forward to the traditional summer slump to begin, instead, I have been swamped with last-minute requests for full sets before people leave on vacations or get married — who waits till two days before her wedding to book her nail appointment?! — and dealing with an appointment book filled with services booked by clients who didn’t choose “fill with nail art” who want nail art, or chose “polish change — traditional polish only, no gel-polish” when they wear gel-polish. Or who look at me like I’ve sprouted an extra head when their rock star set that uses six different colors costs more than the base price listed on the menu which comes with a clearly worded warning that the base price is the base price and includes one color.

So anyway, this week has been filled with doing lots of tweaking to my online service menu as I run into these little obstacles. I’m still overwhelmingly impressed with my online booking experience — I just wish people bothered to read the descriptions before they book.

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