Today, 25 April 2009, I went to Smartstyle's Wetumpka location to return or exchange a set of products purchased by my cousin for me. After seeing the receipt, and sending me away the night before upon arriving literally 2 minutes after closing time, I was told that no refund was possible, so I offered to exchange the items for a greater amount AND pay the difference in cash. Thew stylist agreed, and even assisted me in finding products appropriate for my hair. After searching through the salon for nearly 30 minutes, another stylist decided to take another look at my receipt and only then told me that they were neither able to exchange nor refund the items since they were purchased on a credit card.

The stylist remembered my cousin coming in for the original purchase, and even remembered that my cousin mentioned that the items were for me (her cousin living in India), and that both she and I were only in town for a few days for our grandmother's funeral. The stylist even called my grandmother's name. I feel truly blessed at how close knit this community is woven. Still, two stylists had the opportunity to explain to me that no refund or exchange was permitted, both having looked at the original receipt. They apologized profusely and explained repeatedly the specific process of exchanges and returns; their repetitiveness wasted much more of my time and only fostered further frustration on my part, leaving me less inclined to patronize your stores. Interestingly, my grandmother complained not long ago that the same stylist, at the same Wetumpka location, were unable to repeat the same haircut that she had once been given earlier, and so she, too, never returned to the store. Given the option to order, return and exchange products vie the Internet, this poor customer service provides further incentive to boycott your stores and encourage others to do the same. Word of mouth is golden here.