Hair Salon lost earring claim

Hi, I am a hair salon owner. I received a call from a new client who was in our salon only one time that she lost an 8 thousand dollars earring while one of our stylists was brushing her hair. She is claiming that she "felt" the earring pop-out and told the stylist. Now she wants to file a claim against the salon.
I spoke to the stylists and looked at the camera footage, you can see that while the stylist was performing the service the client randomly checked the ear and realized she had no earring.

At that moment the entire salon started a search for the expansive earring with no success. From the camera, you can not see any flying objects from the brushing stroke. (the earring was pretty big). We kept searching after she left and instruct the cleaning person to be careful and search deeply. We have a sign on the front desk that advises to take off earrings before receiving the service. I invited the client to come to the salon and look at the camera footage in order to show that we are super willing to help as much as we can and don't deserve a claim, but they never show up!

I feel that our salon has no liability and would like to know what is the best way to communicate with this client that is not even worth it to file any claim to avoid problems.
Should I ignore them and then act I should I prepare somehow? Thanks a lot!

Sounds like a scam in the making to me. I would, for the moment, ignore them. You may wish to send notice to your insurance company, depending on the requirements of your policy.

How you communicate with a disgruntled client is a customer service issue, not a legal issue. You should, however, put your insurance carrier on notice of what happened.

naiadex said:

Should I ignore them and then act I should I prepare somehow? Thanks a lot!

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If you have an insurance policy to cover such eventualities, discuss your options with your insurance agent.

Otherwise, unless she sues you, there's nothing you should say.

If you are sued, report it to your insurer.

No insurance, you should discuss the actual lawsuit, (if you are sued) hire a lawyer.

Generally your salon isn't responsible for what someone loses, but keep that to yourself.

Thanks for your answers. I had forgotten to mention that from the footage I could see that she had the earring before she sat down on the chair.. but then again she could have hidden it some how if she wanted to act a scam. By the way, our insurance only covers injuries.

naiadex said:

By the way, our insurance only covers injuries.

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It might be time to discuss such limited coverage with your insurance agent.

There are many pitfalls in life that could ruin you financially.

Insurance is one way to protect yourself and your assets.

Never discuss anything with someone threatening to sue you.

If they contact you, tell them to speak to your lawyer.

You need to make sure you have a lawyer on retainer to represent you.

By the way, you have no way of knowing IF the earrings are worth .80¢, $8.00, $800.00, or even $8,000.

army judge said:

By the way, you have no way of knowing IF the earrings are worth .80¢, $8.00, $800.00, or even $8,000.

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...or even 5 equal payments of $29.95 on the TV shopping channel.


(But wait! they'll pay the first payment for you, leaving you with only FOUR payments...)

Customer wore expensive earrings despite the sign to remove them.
Customer felt the earring come out and immediately searched.
Customer left without the earring?

Yes... It seems a scam. I would ignore contact until served something requiring a response.

naiadex said:

By the way, our insurance only covers injuries.

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Maybe. But since most insurance consumers know nothing about their insurance I would be happy to review your policy and explain it to you if you'd care to provide a copy. See the "upload a file" option at the bottom of your next post.

naiadex said:

Hi, I am a hair salon owner. I received a call from a new client who was in our salon only one time that she lost an 8 thousand dollars earring while one of our stylists was brushing her hair. She is claiming that she "felt" the earring pop-out and told the stylist. Now she wants to file a claim against the salon.

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I have no doubt that this is a scam. Who in their right mind would wear earrings that presumably costing $16K when they have their hair done? Earrings are sold in pairs, right? And she felt the earring pop-out. I am a man and don't wear pierced earrings but my father manufactured high end jewelry for over 50 years and I know all about pierced earrings.

To pop-out it would be a post or stud earring. Post earrings use keepers on the back of the ear to secure it in place. Those keepers in expensive earrings lock onto the post and require an action to release them. Or the keeper screws onto the post. They don't fall off. Cheep earrings use a friction keeper to secure the post. They can work there way off if hit by a come or by normal dangling allowing the earring to fall out of the ear.

There are other types of pierced earring findings that are called bails. Bails can be locking bails or nothing but a hook shaped wire. A bail earring would not pop-out. It has to be lifted out of the ear.

naiadex said:

I spoke to the stylists and looked at the camera footage, you can see that while the stylist was performing the service the client randomly checked the ear and realized she had no earring.

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Did she check both ears or only one ear? Was she wearing only one earring when she arrived? Did she show you the mate to the earring or is she claiming she was only wearing one earring?

naiadex said:

At that moment the entire salon started a search for the expansive earring with no success. From the camera, you can not see any flying objects from the brushing stroke. (the earring was pretty big). We kept searching after she left and instruct the cleaning person to be careful and search deeply

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So where did the pretty big earring go, into the atmosphere? It just disappeared? It wasn't on the floor, in the chair, caught in a brush, in the smock? You didn't find it because your client was concealing it. If she was so concerned that she keep checking, she would have removed it instead of checking on it.

Then she leaves without finding the earring. Think about that. You lose an $8K earring that should be found in proximity of where she was served but leaves. Would you not call the police to file a report? Who took my earring?

My advice to you is to ignore any contact she makes unless and until you are sued. I don't think that will happen.

welkin said:

My advice to you is to ignore any contact she makes unless and until you are sued.

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Agree. However, Naiadex, do not fail to report this to your liability insurance company. If you have liability insurance that covers this kind of allegation (like Cosmetologist's Professional Liability) your insurance contract requires reporting it otherwise you prejudice the insurer's right to investigate. That could give you serious problems if you get sued months later.

It's also a possibility that this an attempt at an insurance fraud on the part of the client on her insurance company and she was setting the stage for a lost earring (assuming it was expensive and that it was insured).