"How to Lose a potential Long-Term Customer in 40min"
- Unprofessional lead hairdresser, blaming her junior colleague for mistakes which were due to language barriers
- Rushing the haircut session, and making the customer feel harassed

After retaining a long-term Korean hairdresser in Melbourne for the last 5 years, I had moved here recently and thought to try out Brisbane's Koogi based on some of the recommendations on this website. I called up 5 hours prior to check if they wanted my name but the male barber spoke in broken English that it was ok to just turn up.
Living outside of the city, I actually booked a paid-underground parking spot in the city for 2 hours, thinking that this would be adequate. Arriving at Koogi's, I was greeted by two Korean Barbers: a female (who was probably the lead/senior barber for the PM session) and a male barber. They were both working on prior customers but told me that is was ok to wait.

In the space of 30min, 2 new female customers turned up who apparently had prior booking. As the previous cases were finished (another 30min had now elapsed), the female dresser told her junior colleague to start on the two customers who arrived after me as they had prior bookings.
I was fairly disgruntled and alarmed at this stage as 1) My paid parking would have run out in another hour, still with two cases to go ahead of me; and 2) I was specifically told in the morning that I did not need to book. I approached the lead hairdresser with my complaints and she was skeptical and unhelpful. She also seemed to blame her junior dresser in front of all remaining customers because it was apparently he who took the phone call. Luckily, one of the customers with prior booking took pity on me and was willing to let me go before hand.

I was worked on by the junior male hairdresser. During my own hair cut, on two seperate occasions, the female hairdresser would speak down to her colleague "How much longer do you need for his haircut?", with implications that other customers were waiting. Clearly, the resulting speed with which my barber worked on could only be viewed in light of her chastisement. Although my barber maintained his professionalism the entire time, I felt as if my session had been hurried to simply get me out the door. Another point to note is that during this haircut, other barbers/workers in the complex was leaving - perhaps they could have been kept back for 30min to work on remaining customers?

So overall, I cannot recommend Koogi due to my experience. The fault does not lie with the male junior who made a mistake due to language barrier, but with the female senior/lead dresser who made this saga unsavoury and unprofessional.