Changing the price after the fact!

amother

Wed, Sep 29 2021, 10:46 pm

My 19 year old daughter wanted to get a facial for her acne. She had never done it before. She got the name of a woman who does facials, and she had the treatment on erev YT. They made up that my daughter would Zelle her the money after YT.

Tonight, my daughter tried sending the money, but for some reason it didn't work, so she asked me for help. I started helping her and when she told me the facial cost $200, I said, "What? That is crazy! $200 for a facial? why did you go to her?"

She started stammering, that when she asked her how much it would be, the lady told her $70. But after the fact, she said it was $200.

She showed me the text exchange where she asked the lady how much a facial costs and the lady answered $70.
I wasn't understanding how the price suddenly jumped. So I told my daughter to ask for clarification, since she had said it would be $70. (BH she had the text to prove it!)
The lady answered, "You needed more, my love. It really was 230, but I am only charging you $200"

My husband and I were very upset that the lady raised her price without telling my daughter up front. My daughter was mortified and preferred to pay it rather than make a fight about it. I told my daughter that there is no fight. It's simply not fair what she did. My daughter asked her for a $70 treatment and without getting her consent, the lady (supposedly) gave her a $230 treatment.

My daughter couldn't handle standing up for herself, but we coached her to text the lady that they had agreed to a $70 facial and she never authorized a $230 dollar treatment. The lady answered back "ok. No stress. Money comes and goes." And just like that, it went from $200 back to $70.

I'm just so disturbed that a woman would try to take advantage of a young girl like that. Had my daughter not needed help with the Zelle, I likely would have never heard about it.

justforfun87

Wed, Sep 29 2021, 10:48 pm

People like that are terrible.

southernbubby

Wed, Sep 29 2021, 10:50 pm

Obviously you should find someone else. Sounds really crooked.

nicole81

Wed, Sep 29 2021, 10:51 pm

Please leave a review of the service on Google or Yelp.

lucky14

Wed, Sep 29 2021, 10:51 pm

Wow. Good thing the money did not go through!

amother

Wed, Sep 29 2021, 10:56 pm

nicole81 wrote:

Please leave a review of the service on Google or Yelp.

Good idea.

amother

Snowflake

Wed, Sep 29 2021, 11:18 pm

it sounds very unfair what she did.

But just pointing out that a 19 yr old is old enough to make the decision whether she'd like to just pay the $$ (assuming she's using her own money) or go fight for her rights. Unless she asks for advice/ help doing that.

dena613

Wed, Sep 29 2021, 11:21 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Good idea.

Ask a shailah before doing so if provided was Jewish

amother

Ecru

Wed, Sep 29 2021, 11:24 pm

amother [ Snowflake ] wrote:

Some kids are late bloomers, and some never got guidance on how to act in this specific situation or they are more timid and need a little push to speak up. It’s ok.

abaker

Wed, Sep 29 2021, 11:25 pm

I find this even more disturbing if the provider was a frum jew. I would def ask a rav how to deal with it so she can't trick anymore vulnerable young (or old) people into overpaying for a service.

Crookshanks

Wed, Sep 29 2021, 11:35 pm

I just read this halacha in R' Zilbersteins book. It's assur to raise prices after telling someone what it would originally be. (Unless you asked them in the middle if they want to switch to a higher priced service).

ra_mom

Wed, Sep 29 2021, 11:49 pm

Despicable. You were right to coach your dd on how to handle the situation and hopefully she'll have this experience in her arsenal in the future.

amother

Thu, Sep 30 2021, 12:05 am

dena613 wrote:

Ask a shailah before doing so if provided was Jewish

The lady was not Jewish.

amother

Thu, Sep 30 2021, 12:09 am

ra_mom wrote:

Despicable. You were right to coach your dd on how to handle the situation and hopefully she'll have this experience in her arsenal in the future.

Thanks. That's exactly what I was trying to do. She was just afraid of being confrontational, and I was trying to teach her that this is not a fair way to run a business, and there is nothing wrong with speaking up.

Blessing1

Thu, Sep 30 2021, 12:12 am

abaker wrote:

I find this even more disturbing if the provider was a frum jew. I would def ask a rav how to deal with it so she can't trick anymore vulnerable young (or old) people into overpaying for a service.

Why do you assume that the provider is jewish?

amother

Periwinkle

Thu, Sep 30 2021, 12:27 am

Many facials have a set price for the basic facial.. many times the facialist will offer an additional mask or service if she feels it would be beneficial. However they'll tell u it costs additional. Didvthe facialist tell ur daughter she wants to do a treatment that costs separately

amother

Thu, Sep 30 2021, 12:31 am

Crookshanks wrote:

I actually once had a story years ago with a frum guy that I will never forget. The earpiece of my glasses snapped off. I went to a glasses store but the owner said he couldn't fix it. He recommended I go to a certain (frum) silversmith who fixes silver.

I went to the store and showed the owner my glasses. He told me he can fix it for $15. I agreed and he wrote out an invoice for that amount. He told me to come back in 20 minutes.

When I returned, there was a lady ahead of me waiting to pick up a silver kiddush cup. The man started wrapping it up and named a price. The lady objected that they had agreed on a different price She had the invoice to prove it. He responded that although he said it would cost x amount, he has to charge more because as he was fixing it, he noticed another dent. The lady started protesting that it was not right. They agreed on a price and it was not honest to change it. The guy got a little irritated, and, raising his voice said, "well what's the point of fixing this dent if you have another dent?!"

She continued saying that she didn't think it was fair, but the man didn't budge. Finally she just paid what he asked. What choice did she have?

I will admit that while I was watching this, I felt bad for the lady, but at the same time I was thinking that for sure he won't do the same shtick on me.

To my shock, as soon as the lady left the store, he said to me, "I hope you wont do to me what she did!"

I said, "what??"

He said that although he said he could fix it for $15, he has to charge $40. He started showing me that he planned to use a certain metal to connect the earpiece to the frame, but he realized it would not hold, so he had to use a stronger metal. And that costs more money.

I told him that I didn't think it was fair. It was an old pair of glasses, and I don't know if it made sense to spend $40 fixing it. But also, if he saw he couldn't do the job for the price we agreed on, he should have called me.

He started literally yelling at me that he fixed my glasses like new, and I gained a brand new pair of glasses. He said that if he would have called me, obviously I would have told him to fix it.

He was holding onto my glasses and wouldn't give it, so in the end I paid the money. I was so disgusted with his dishonest way of dealing with people.

PS, the glasses broke in the same place 2 months later.

amother

Thu, Sep 30 2021, 12:36 am

amother [ Periwinkle ] wrote:

No. She never gave my daughter a different price.

My daughter is very trusting and her "dan lekaf zechus" is that the lady may have assumed my daughter understood that this is how she runs her business, meaning if she thinks the person needs more than a basic facial, she will just do it. She was also uncomfortable with confronting her because the lady was "so nice to me!"

I explained to my daughter that even if she felt my daughter needed more, it is her responsibility to be up front and tell her how much it would be. She cant just do it and then tell her after the fact that it costs more.

amother

Butterscotch

Thu, Sep 30 2021, 1:30 am

So disgusting, I have dealt with people like this and it is not ok in the slightest.

Please use this opportunity to realize that your daughter needs to work on being more confrontational and standing up for herself, so she doesn’t get taken advantage of in the future..

naturalmom5

Thu, Sep 30 2021, 1:53 am

This happened to me on a much larger scale
I went to Dr R for cataracts

My insurance covers basic lenses , he tried to talk me into better quality lenses for 2000
ten times I said no
The girl who works for him called me numerous times and I said no
He still put the lense in one eye
I said im not paying, he gave a sob story about that being the salaries of all the office staff for a week
My husb gave him a sob story that he doesnt have the $
He said we should collect it, but we never paid it

To this day, I have the cheap lense in one eye and expensive lense in other and I cant tell the difference