StyleSeat - Salon Appointments Reviews

by @JoshuaLeeHair

Having issues with incorrect reporting and running promotions. Email support takes forever and when they do email they don’t answer the specific questions I asked. It sounds automated. I have had several customers before the holidays asking if the site is being updated or something because of glitches that happen during booking. Texting me to confirm their booking went thru. They did not give any warning about their site overall and their new look. My business manager was afraid maybe a hacker had taken the site hostage to collect clients information. So when I emailed them regarding this issue, along with other questions. One of the questions was answered and that was their was indeed a new logo which is a lion that displays when loading. They said in the email the story behind this would be told in the new year! Ha thanks for the heads up. As a company you should see how this is frustrating. I honestly think the old layout was more professional looking. And the new layout with dark black lines around my profile pic and reviews looks very cheap and unprofessional. Bring back the old interface.

by Nessas Thang

I have only used StyleSeat twice and both were disasters. I booked an appointment the first time for a sew in style. The first red flag should have been when they never even responded to my text with questions beforehand. Once I was seated, the stylist questioned how I made my payment. I thought that was awkward. But she went on to say this app takes too much of her money, and she recommends her clients pay by cash app or zelle. She literally refunded my money, had me pay by cash app. If it hasn’t been so late in the day, and I’d already screwed up by bringing the wrong hair, I would have left. This appeared very shady, as if she was trying to cut out the middle man. She’s based near Plano, TX. The second person was guilty of false advertising. She actually canceled my appointment because she claimed I was misinformed on her prices. That was not the case. After much back and forth by texts, I just chose to delete StyleSeat and block her. I did not appreciate that she still managed to contact me trying to plead her case. It really bordered on harassment. StyleSeat is pure trash. I actually miss the old days of going in person and paying cash. This stylist is based in far southern Dallas.

by Bubblesthekeke

never get StyleSeat unless you know the stylist personally and have met them. The stylist are also a problem with StyleSeat.

This company is terrible and it doesn’t help the costumers at all, StyleSeat is a complete scam in my opinion. Charging customers a $1 for an appointment is outrages and auto setting a tip for $30 is stupid. My main concern is the entire system. Their should be videos on how to do everything but it’s not. No phone number for customer service which i believe to be very unprofessional and then stylists themselves are very disorganized. Why are y’all allowing Stylist to set up without them adding a Address or Phone number to reach them at. Once again very unprofessional, i feel like i wasted my time with StyleSeat. I’ve emailed dozens of time and i get no response and i made sure to not only use my phone and Devices when I tried to cancel my appointment and it did not work. The set up is very crazy. at first I just went out to reschedule my appointment but when I tried to do that it would not let me and then there was no button for the cancellation. When i read the hat to do i did just that but StyleSeat is just not working. I made sure to click everywhere and nothing work besides the payment option it’s clear StyleSeat just wants my money, i’m considering taking legal action because i can point out multiple law breaking issues. This is not the last time you’ll will be hearing from me.

by Kristinfell

*********ATTENTION!!!!!!****** think long and hard and do your research before joining this company!!!!!! I don’t even know where to start. It is not near impossible to get in contact to fix a problem, it is just impossible! Which was THE number determining factor of me switching services. How on earth after being around for so long, do they have zero support when needing to talk to someone other than email????? I don’t get it. Especially when their competitors do.
I unsubscribed last month to finally make a switch. This past week i had an oops on my part and missed a day if transferring times of appts. I’m lucky my first client was so understanding of my mistake. I tried to contact this app to see what i can do to just see my books to make sure i wasn’t missing any other days. No one responded or be found! So today i get an email saying i have an appt. but won’t say what just the time. i thought i could quickly check and unsubscribe right away without having to pay a whole month I’m not using. Nope it’s pending in my back account.
No customer care to call. They have a phone number on my bank statement from previous withdrawals with this app so my bank gave me that phone number. Which just goes to a recording of a different company....
If you’re on the fence about joining or switching, don’t join and definitely switch! Far better services that offer so much more and they are cheaper! And have all the support you need :)

by TanyaRenee5

I have been using this app since August 2016. It took some time to get adjusted to the way things work with them. And I started liking it, even started using them for deposits. BIG MISTAKE!!! I had to reach out to them recently about a deposit of mine and they took FOREVER to respond. There’s no phone number to call, if you email over the weekend, you can forget about even getting a response. With square, I can change my debit card information for deposits, and still be able to receive my deposit the same day. With this app, they hold on to the money. I understand it is for precautionary measures, but there should be a more convenient way of verifying changes so that way it doesn’t stop the process for business owners. I expressed this to them three times and told them how I would be leaving this app because of how inconvenient it is and they basically said ok. Yesterday they confirmed with me that my deposit was going to the account that I had just updated it to. This morning i checked and they sent it to the WRONG ACCOUNT!!! So now I won’t even see my money!!! (I changed accounts for a reason) I get that I’m not the only stylist utilizing this app, however, QUALITY CUSTOMER SERVICE goes a very long way and they lack it. So I refuse to keep paying $35 a month when I can’t even speak to a real person or get an quicker reply. I’m fed up, and I’m done!!! this app will not get my business any longer. I will be transitioning out.

by Alos2576

I had been with this app for 3 years or so with everything going great. There were times StyleSeat glitched up or had some problems but I can look over that. The problem I have is their customer service. It’s horrible. I had been looking at switching because this app sends out prompts to clients saying “put your credit card on file” or texts clients saying an “opening became available” but it’s not the right time frame for that client. Clients get confused because now they think they can get in earlier but really it was an opening just for a haircut not color and cut. BUT the past two days I’ve had to deal with their customer service and it’s awful. I needed my 1099 form which I never received. Simple request. Apparently not for them. For some reason after 3 years they had to “verify” my account and they held this over my head before the would provide me with my 1099. They said do this and do that THEN we’ll send your 1099 form. Honey, that’s not how this works. Because of this I CANCELLED this app. Let me tell you to cancel isn’t easy either. Long story short I’m so happy I left this app. Besides the monthly fee and all the little charges our clients get it’s ridiculous. It was a little nerve wracking to switch but I’m so happy I did. So, thank you this app for making me switch to another app!

by MadfanLaFemme

How do you take perfectly loyal monthly paying subscribing stylists of 10 years and then suddenly, with no notification, begin contacting our clientele we trusted you with and force them to enter their credit card info, directly charge them a $1 every time they book online, text them that they can book for an earlier slot if they pay this app a percentage of the cost posted next to stylists listed service cost (completely unsolicited and with no options to stop them from doing so) and then, when asked why, they answer it’s because it’s GOING to be a better service for the client in the near future? Not now. But in the future. Who does that? I have no idea who took over from the people that originally started this company but I seriously feel I’ve encountered the mob. I’m not joking. I’m worried for the security of my account, personal info and all 300 of my clients who we should have been able to trust them with. If I didn’t have to spend all my energy and time right now having to start over again and transition everything with a whole new company, I’d seriously like to sue the crap out of you. You are horrible people. And a horrible company. You don’t know anything about customer service, business ethics or basic human morals.

by Emichalhair

I’ve been using this app for over 7 years and it worked great. I used to highly recommend it to my co-workers. They have developed over the years to add a lot more features (yay!) which you could level up to use or elect not to. Then they started adding credit card processing as an elective feature, which was fine at first until my client were constantly being asked for their credit card numbers (even though I do not use style seat for credit card payments and have been reassured multiple times by their support staff that that prompt has been turned off). Most recently, they’ve added a .99 booking fee to the clients for booking with me, WITHOUT MY KNOWING. The result is that my clients are now calling and texting me instead of booking through this app (because we allllll know how common data breaches are these days...) so I ask, why am I paying for an online booking service when my clients no longer want to use it to book online?? Currently searching for alternatives and hoping this app will re-evaluate their options and plans. They used to offer a lot of freedom in using their system but have since forced their subscribers to fully adopt them in every area. I’m bummed and frustrated at this point.

by Ghostcincinnati

Around 7 years ago when StyleSeat started it was good .. it was a little glitchy but it was fair and it was functional and it made my booking life way easier.. fast forward to the last couple months. Without a warning they started charging my clients a dollar on top of me already paying $35 monthly and they take 3% from checkouts. So that being said I told them I’d rather them not take a dollar from my clients because I’m already paying the fee .. they said this isn’t an option and they were doing what other booking sites do (ive yet to see if that’s true but Im looking today on my day off). So after deciding after all these years of me promoting their app because I have a very successful business they would at least consider how unfair this is .. they refused and now they are making all the people check out automatically when some people just pay me cash or use Venmo ... they are making it very difficult for me and my business and I feel trapped because all my clients info is in here and allllll my future appts .. also .. StyleSeat IS STILL SUPER GLITCHY!!! Like the worst app I have on my phone so thanks a lot this app for treating ur clients like crap because ur greedy

by Cs630

My stylist chooses to use Style Seat. I’ve never loved the functionality - I often make two appointments at a time for my mom and myself, and I don’t like the home screen setup when you have an existing appointment and want to make a new appointment. Now I’m really unhappy with the $1/booking situation and I’m even more unhappy that the only way to use StyleSeat is to give this app my credit card information. No PayPal or Apple Pay option? And the “booking fee” goes to Style Seat to “improve user experience” - I haven’t seen much functionality improvement on the customer side in the years I’ve been using StyleSeat. Maybe it’s for the ongoing security updates they will need to protect all of our now-required credit card info?

Plus, my card will be automatically charged for my mom’s appointment, and I can’t remove my credit card info without cancelling her appointment. She doesn’t even own a cell phone, so she can’t use StyleSeat herself.

I like the convenience of being able to make or change appointments without bothering my stylist, but the surprise new credit card requirement is awful. My stylist will allow me to book via text, but now he will be losing the usefulness of StyleSeat . This is a poor business model.

by Claire3513

The stylist, Natalie, rescheduled my appointment for 45 min later than the original scheduled time (okay, fine), but then we had wait an additional
30 minutes for her after we arrived. Due to this, I chose not to tip her. She then tipped herself through the this app app (how and why does she have the ability to do that!?) I took this as an expensive lesson to not return to her for service and not use StyleSeat to book future appointments. I wanted to leave a review to alert future customers but there wasn’t a link to leave reviews, so I thought surely I’d receive an email to do so. I forgot about the incident until I received an email reminder to rebook so I thought I must have missed the review email, but when I searched my inbox I found no such thing. I emailed this app’s customer support and they said I didn’t receive the email because I wasn’t subscribed to emails and then subscribed me without permission. When I responded to express my concern with their policies, the return I received was just as unhelpful (actually said they were sorry they can’t help me, the time to leave a review has passed). I will not be using StyleSeat in the future and would not recommend.

by Roberta Frost

You are risking your time and sanity booking appointments with StyleSeat. 90% of the stylists I contact with StyleSeat a) don't even know they are on StyleSeat (their children or friend set it up for them) b) don't know how to properly use StyleSeat or c) will not even show up to your appointment and ignore your phone calls and text messages. I contacted style seat about this and they said they are working on quality control but they are not. StyleSeat has had this issue since day one and it hasn't gotten any better. In the very least they can allow users to rate stylists so people know who is good and who isn't. Use StyleSeat to find stylists but do not book through StyleSeat . Call them, find out if they are legit and book appointment over the phone. Pay them up front, not through style seat.

2022 Update: was looking for a specific natural style and got my money swindled and times wasted again. StyleSeat automatically charged me for an appt the stylist cancelled last minute. The stylist said they didn’t receive the money. Style seat says only she can refund me. She says she can’t because she doesn’t know how it works and didn’t get the money. Called my bank to report fraud.

by The1Kendall

Update: this app now charges clients $1.00 to book online. They made this change without informing stylists or professionals. This is unacceptable.

I’ve used this app since it was free, and I haven’t seen much improvement in the service since I’ve been paying for it. Their server was down last Saturday making it unusable. Any stylist knows how highly inconvenient this is. Their latest scheme is to find new ways to take money from stylists with the Premium Requests and the “advanced marketing;” if you use their payment system, they will take part of your profits. They regularly text my clients asking them for their credit card information, which is not how I like to roll with existing clients. (I appreciate that it’s required for new clients to book online, as a form of no-show protection.). Overall, I appreciate the things it does to make my life as a stylist easier, like appointment reminders and online booking, but I’m beginning to think my life might be better without it. Most this app users are independent stylists, and we like to be in control. Don’t take that control away, this app.

by Desty130

I have been using StyleSeat for at least 6+ years. In the beginning clients along with myself loved StyleSeat ! It was so user friendly and helped out a lot. As the years have gone by- especially once they started charging a high monthly fee of $35- the glitches started and constant updating. Now they have a feature where clients HAVE to put in a credit card in order to book. In the past this was always an option and the stylist had control to keep it on or not. I am finding this very frustrating & clients cards are getting "auto checked out" when they have always been cash & check customers. With the amount of data breaches I don't blame anyone for not wanting to store their card in a system. StyleSeat is constantly changing and it's difficult for myself and clients to keep up with. I never know the exact protocol. Also, it's near impossible to get a sincere response from their customer service. There still is no customer service phone number listed anywhere- simply email. When I do send emails most the time I get an auto response back and very generic directions or steps forward. This is especially frustrating dealing with payments. If you asked me 4 years ago how I like StyleSeat I would have had nothing but great things to say! Moving forward now I'm hoping to find something more reliable and hopefully not so expensive. Look else where before you sign up for this app

by Liftedstrandsbymorcia

I have been using this app for eight years!! The honeymoon years were great when there was no monthly fee and my clients weren’t charged to booked. After the monthly fee for stylists was set everything about the quality seemed to change. My issue isn’t the monthly fee but it seemed to give this app a false sense of permission to control my appointments. I’m aware that there is a commission based type booking option but why would I pay this app for the work I do. Especially if I’m not getting business friendly performance from it. I’ve tried adjusting the premium pricing but it keeps resurfacing. I’ve turned off the auto-checkout and my clients have also but it is still set when my clients book. And it can’t be removed. I don’t accept normally payments thru this app because there’s another 3% fee on top of the monthly fee I pay and the $1 for booking that my clients pay. But the auto-checkout forces me to accept payment thru this app and receive a payout minus their cut. And at least 5 times out of the week I try to access my calendar and I literally get a blank screen for extended periods of time. Sometimes i cannot even tell my client what their total is because I’m looking at a blank white screen! I’ve tried resetting StyleSeat and I even bought a new phone. I’m at my wits end and ready to switch to another booking application. StyleSeat slows me down in checking out clients and it makes me look unprofessional and unorganized in front of my clients.

by Getit19

I don’t know if there is a way to screen these stylists. 4/5 that I went to had terrible attitudes. Maybe this is not universal…maybe just in my city so take my review with a grain of salt. This last stylist literally waited an hour be4 my appointment to cancel but I showed up before I saw her cancellation…no explanation, message or phone call. Then when I arrive I am treated like trash as I try to find out which stylist I am seeing in a crowed shop. My hair turned out ok…her assistant basically did all the work. When I finally did get in her chair, she kept claiming I wasn’t keeping my head straight. Then after the appointment says she doesn’t take payments through StyleSeat in an attempt to embarrass me in front of the whole shop. I can’t make this up. One of the WORST experiences I’ve ever encountered. I don’t know if there is a way to screen these stylists to make sure they actually want to take the appointments. I did not feel that the service or hairstyle was worth $85. It a shame because she could have had a loyal and repeat customer.

by CRKT1

I’ve been a long time user of this site. But it DOES NOT protect its merchants! It’s common practice in the beauty industry to have a late cancel no show policy in place. They don’t follow through with ensuring it’s properly enforced. Even with the updates not allowing clients to use prepaid cards you still wind up getting screwed if your actually able to collect a payment all the client has to do is dispute with the bank. It’s insane because there is an agreement between client and merchant that has to be checked off before an appointment is confirmed. Shouldn’t that be binding? After paying a hefty monthly fee for a service the last thing I want to be doing is fighting a dispute through a third party company who does nothing to protect you. We have no direct contact with the bank so we aren’t actually sure what information is being sent. It’s also pretty frustrating not being able to collect a deposit for services through the site. I’ve had to begin using an outside payment system to ensure payment is received for services as I can’t rely on this app. This service is supposed to act as an assistant. It’s supposed to provide convenience the payment system is everything BUT that.

by TBDLG

I really struggle going to a new town and finding hairstylists for natural hair. Especially in smaller, less diversified places. My best shot was to go to bigger cities which is too much of a drive. StyleSeat has helped me find hidden gem stylists that were practically down the street, and even going out of town, I can book a stylist before I get there, but is close to my destination! This has been a game changer. Please be aware that it is still a struggle to find natural stylists that aren’t far away, and StyleSeat is not perfect when it comes to categorizing stylists. I have also had issues where I decide to pay in cash, I turn off the autopay function then end up getting double charged. A bug I hope they fix without stylist intervention. I get uncomfortable leaving without paying since StyleSeat charges after the appointment is over, but the autopay works XD! Fortunately the stylists have been understanding, but it is definitely something to keep your eye on. I can appreciate the respect and protections that StyleSeat gives stylists. I also greatly appreciate how it puts them on the map, particularly in the natural hair industry, where they are already hard to find.

by M.hadi23

I love this app and the flexibility of 24/7 access to allow clients to book at all times especially when you’re receptionist is on vacation or you’re on the move and not in the salon to see scheduling. There are glitches too often on my behalf as a stylist and with my clients I’d rate 10 stars if I could and if the glitches weren’t as frequent and often. My phone is updated with the current software as well as my app and it still takes minutes to load sometimes as well as not always getting notifications in a timely manner amongst other issues and on my clients behalf they’ve told me they’d try to schedule for a day when I’d have no one booked and it’ll only show evening appointments or no appointments at all and I haven’t altered my schedule but then they’ll go back on in an hour or a day and slots are available. But aside from the weird glitches no other app is as convenient as this app has been for me thus far.

by Kburks

I am a native New Yorker who has spent a lot of time in the American South. Unfortunately, as I move a lot, my hair is too often a casualty. I am happy to have found a hair care specialist in Seattle who listens, and is responsive to the needs and concerns of their customers. Many stylist I have come across treat my hair like weave hair, which makes for pretty hair that isn’t necessarily healthy (I.e., bone straightening natural hair, which in my case leads to damage.)

I came in for a visit a few weeks ago to talk about my hair type, needs and concerns. When I came back later for style, she remembered all of our conversation. While I have never used any of the products that ELLEtique carries (several different lines and types), I am happy say that I left with my hair feeling and looking amazingly healthy.

Cheers to long, healthy hair by way of transitioning from a customer to client.

by SemajBowens

I’ve been with this app since it was free. Not much changed to justify being forced to pay $35. Then recently they decided to start charging clients $1 per appointment that they book. They did not share this info with we the professionals until we started inquiring about rumors of this change. The way they went about it caused my clients to think that I was the one who made the change. They have implemented a “premium service” option that I choose not to take advantage of. I have a set schedule and new clients think they can just request any time if they don’t see an open appointment. I want to turn that feature off but I can’t. I feel like I’m getting a “shake down” from the mob or something. Not cool and they have lost a customer. Most of the professionals I know that are using this app are also looking for other options. I’m very disappointed. Please don’t hit me with the “reach out to us” response. All you are going to do is explain your reasons for the change but not offer me anything that will make me stay.

by Addicted2prettyy

So, I’ve been using this app for 5 years back when it was FREE for stylists. Then it evolved to where they started charging a 50% “finders fee”. Pretty much if a new client said they found you on this app, during checkout it they would take half of your money. Imagine doing a service for $300 and you only receive $150. Uh no! Because of this, I stopped using this app for a while then when I returned they started charging a monthly fee of $35. Wasn’t too thrilled about this, but I eventually paid it until I could find another place to schedule my clients.

Now, they’ve started this profile boost crap. Nobody asked for this. I didn’t ask to have my profile boosted to find new clients. It’s forcing you to pay for marketing they you don’t even opt in for. Basically, they’re back to charging the 50% “finder fee” but instead of take the money at checkout they take it up front as a deposit. Not exactly sure how it works, but when you see the amount at checkout it’s only 50% of the service. I’m done with this app. It’s not worth it at all.

by Sol Salon

From a professional standpoint they take your money every month for membership , charge you for all your credit card transactions but then can't contest any disputes that scamming clients file. I had a late cancellation policy in place with style-seat and even still they allowed the clients bank to give her her money back. What's the point of using this app when anyone could dispute and you end up losing money and giving a scammer a free hair service. Style-SEAT has done it to me various times with over $300 dollars even after to ask for you provide legitimate proof that the client is in the wrong. As a business owner what benefits do I get from a company that I have a to pay $35 a month to for a membership plus pay a fee for credit card transactions and then on top of that they can't contest unfair disputes on your behalf (with proof) even when your their more valuable client snd you created the cancellation policy with THEM! Honestly to any professional be careful with style-seat , if any client disputes they always win no matter what proof you show.

by Heemieheem

StyleSeat works best for only credit card paying customers, but what about teens who get there hair cut every week and don’t have credit cards. By using StyleSeat you risk a chance at ostracizing some of your clients and your customers feel unworthy and out of the loop for not knowing how to book an appointment with you unless they have a credit card. My appointments went from 200 a week to 50 a week in a short period because StyleSeat by its own doing keeps turning on the “credit card required to book this appointment” prompt. I can’t turn it off and customer support who you can only text, by the way. I have sent the numerous request to turn off the request for credit cards and they have done nothing in response. After using StyleSeat for a month I am now having to switch my customers over to a new app that seamlessly let you book an appointment with or without a credit card. That’s up to you. Don’t let this affect your money.

by Nail Industry

This would be a 5 Star if this single problem would be fixed. At the moment, there should be an option to not be contacted via Style Seat messages. You cannot reply through the application. I don't want to open a link on my phone(via text message) that takes me to the website, and makes me put all my login info in rather than just opening the this app app. Please make this an option in the future if you cannot make StyleSeat itself notify you(like any other app) and takes you straight to messages from the alert.

It would also be great if you brought the message icon to the front page upon opening the application, along with a noticeable number indicator of how many unread messages there are. These messages are typically urgent in this industry and it would be nice not to open the messages up (which you can only see if you hit the “more...” button) and have 10 unread messages. Thanks.

by Tripcrowd

I recently cut all off my hair off (14 inches) and had NO idea how much maintenance this style would require. I didn’t want to pay a salon every week nor spend hours in a salon on any given day. Desmond has been maintaining my cut and style since November! I get compliments daily and folks are extremely shocked when I inform them that I go to a barbershop. Desmond ensures that my lines are not too masculine and pays close attention to detail. I’m never waiting long- the convenience of making appointments and his early morning and late evening availability makes it accommodating for my busy schedule. Most importantly, Desmond is professional and it’s obvious he’s well respected by his clientele. I’ve never left his seat without looking like perfection- ladies definitely try him out!!!