CONSUMER

Know your rights if a hair stylist gives you the unkindest cut; and learn what you can do to protect yourself when booking flights and holidays through a travel agent. It’s a snip!

Kevin Milne CONSUMER

What can you do if you get a terrible haircut or colour from a stylist? Can you get the job fixed by another salon and get the first salon to pay for it? When you visit a salon, you have the right under consumer law to expect the work to be carried out with a reasonable degree of skill and care. (This is the Consumer Guarantees Act.) Firstly, front up with your concerns. This can be while you’re still in the salon or after you’ve got home. It may be even days after your appointment.

Give the salon manager the opportunity to put your hair right, preferably by a more senior stylist. If it’s a small place and there’s no-one else to fix it, ask if they’ll pay to get it fixed elsewhere. They should do that.

If they won’t accept there’s anything wrong, you could take them to the Disputes Tribunal. But at that point it may be best to put it down to experience and change salons. The last salon I visited stated on the receipt that if I wasn’t “completely delighted” I could return within seven days and they’d take care of me. I was impressed. BAD HAIRDO? HERE’S HOW TO FIX IT

Do you have a question for Kevin? Email nzww@ bauermedia.co.nz (Subject line: Consumer) or post to: NZWW, Bauer Media, Private Bag 92512, Auckland 1036.

You’ve read warnings about losing money booking your holidays through dodgy travel agents, mainly online. That’s all very well, but how do you identify a dodgy travel agent? They don’t put a “Dodgy” sign on their front door or website. Yes, fair point. But there are a couple of commonsense rules to stick by. Firstly, use wellestablished, well-known travel companies, not just a name you’ve never heard of that appears to be offering the lowest fares. This particularly applies to online travel sites. I prefer to use companies based in New Zealand – it’s easier to sort out issues locally and even face-to-face. But I accept that if you’re travelling internationally, there are highly respected online sites.

The other rule is to check if the company you’re about to send your money to belongs to the Travel Agents Association of New Zealand (TAANZ). They state that anyone who books through a member is covered if the firm goes bust.

Of course, a rip-off merchant may tell you they are a member. They may have even concocted a fake sign. So if you have any doubts, contact TAANZ and check the agent out.