Just wanted to vent....

So...I just wanted to vent a little, here's the story:

I had a client sent to me by word of mouth via email from a friend. Let's call her Beth. Beth contacted me via email about her daughter's wedding. They were looking for something to do for the bachelorette party, wanted to pamper the bride but didn't want to spend alot of money, but understood these services weren't cheap. Soooo....I spent about 1-2 hours coming up with 3 perfect options, researching the products and developing a very unique and special package just for her party and emailed her back, ranging in price from $40 - $100.

Beth email's me back afterwards and says,

Couple questions for you. I think the girls are just going to create their own spa day at the house. My daughter was thinking of keeping with a fall theme and wanting to do pumpkin facials with a recipe she found online. I think it has ingredients like pumpkin, honey, milk. Maybe cider and brown sugar. My concern is that the bride has very sensitive skin and gets cysts easily. Would this be a safe facial to use (so close to the wedding)? If not what would you recommend they use for her facial? Can you recommend a fall foot soak/scrub? I hope you don't mind me picking your brain.

(WHAT!!) My reply:

I would NOT recommend doing a facial on her with those ingredients. Most people have sensitivities to natural ingredients on the skin in that concentration. Products are developed with those things in them in safe concentrations after tons of testing in a lab. I would definitely NOT do that type of facial right before her wedding, it’s very likely she will break out, I have seen it happen in many clients. How about I order a scrub & mask for you to use? I carry professional products in my spa and you can look up the product info at www.blahblahskincare.com . They are pretty reasonably priced between $15 – $30 depending on what your interested in. I also have facial/skincare kits here at my spa, if you would like to look at those as well. If you like something, let me know and I will get you a price and order it for you.

Beth's Reply:

Well what do you suggest, they want something safe for all of them to use, and she would like to have a pumpkin themed party. Do I also have any suggestions for a foot treat?

My Reply: (After 1-2 hours research)

I gave her 2 different options of a hydrating mask, gentle scrub, very good moisturizer all between $17-20 each and a pumpkin scrub/moisturizer for the foot treatment also same price range.

Beth's Reply:

It looks like the girls are going to stay away from facials, but i really appreciate all your help and all the information you shared. I don't think we will be ordering anything.

Wow...grrrrrrr......:D Not a problem for me but i just felt like sharing to see if anybody had any other "drive you crazy" client stories to share.

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Comment by Brigitte McDonald on December 15, 2012 at 7:25am: Wow Natalie! Great idea, I will definitely use that next time. Even thinking about using that type of discount in other types of situations as we'll. Thanks for the advice :)

Comment by Shelley Hancock on September 22, 2012 at 7:47am: Cindy...luv your attitude...you always make lemonade out of sour lemons!!!

I bet if we all got together we could spend a whole day just telling stories like this one! You will learn to see em' coming and speed right past em'.

Comment by Claire Barnes on September 20, 2012 at 9:02am: Agree completely with Cindy's comment. Use your hard work to your advantage now. Next time somebody asks you for something like this again, you will just product what you already have. She asked you for all of this for a reason and that reason is to propel you into producing some new 'Spa Party Menu' leaflets. Think of this as a learning curve. There is always somebody out there willing to suck the life out of you and squeeze as much info from you as possible. And 'yes' In answer to your question: Do we have any other "Drive you crazy" client stories to share? Yes, I do and I am sure most people on here have also. But, now I see them coming and avoid them at all costs! ;)

Comment by Brigitte McDonald on September 19, 2012 at 6:12am: @ Cindy

AGREED!! lol..

Comment by Cindy Greenwood on September 19, 2012 at 5:41am: LOL! you should send her a bill for your consulting fee! ( jk)

People like that are not "clients".

I am thinking since you have already done the work in putting something together, maybe you can go ahead and tweak it and put it up on your regular menu..."Spa Party Menu" or something. I saw a place that did this with different options and it looked very nice. They usually look for mini-services, but I worked for a higher end spa where we did full priced services.

Gotta make lemonade from those lemons!