Drop the attitude. Pick up the service

by Texus

This is a letter I just wrote to Michael Portman and Jayson Rapaport - owners of Bird's:

First, lemme say I'm glad Bird's opened up the Lamar location. Your people do a damn site better job than chain barbershops such as Supercuts ever will, and you're a refreshing twist on old school haircutting, especially for men. Bravo.

Today I called the Lamar store asked how backed up they were. They said the wait was about an hour. I said fine, can you write me in, and they did. I showed up on time and waited another 40 minutes. On leaving I spoke with the person running the desk, and suggested, politely and without rancor, that when they see anyone waiting will be subject to a wait greater than a half hour or so they might consider approaching that person and advising them that it will be a significantly longer wait before Bird's can cut his/her hair.

This suggestion is based on the supposition that the customer's time is valuable, and that courtesy to the people who support your business is a classier move than screwing them out of their time and then taking their money.

The person I spoke to listened, and responded to the effect that sometimes things are a little hard to predict.

I would suggest to you that this is not the best response. A better response would be along the lines of We're sorry. We realize you were penciled in for approximately 40 minutes before you actually got your haircut, and we apologize for the delay. We appreciate your business and we know your time is important to you.

Tell me something. If you called up your own establishment and they told you it was busy but they'd be able to get to you in an hour, and you showed up as agreed and then waited forty more minutes, and then when you mentioned this was a problem and politely offered a solution to it and the staffer didn't even as much as apologize for the inconvenience, would you return to your own business again? No? Too big a bite out of your day for a haircut? A little too much attitude? If you, the owner or manager wouldn't, why should I?

Is arrogance part of your business plan? Man. Did you achieve whatever success you have by letting people steal your time like that?

Please, consider a more customer courteous approach toward scheduling. If you loosely schedule someone and things change, hey, I get it. Things happen. Like the three stylists who walked out, not to return, when I walked in and sat down. This was no mystery to your scheduling staff.

But don't give me a haircut and then give me another one. I only want one (1) haircut.

Thanks for listening.

David Lanham

• Pros: Good haircuts
• Cons: Get an advanced degree while you wait

Hip and trendy - poor business concept

by SoATXgirl

The first time I got my hair cut at Birds I was really excited because I was paired up with Lindsey who is a wonderful stylist. I wanted desperately to get back in with her. The problem- you can't make an appt with a particular stylist so you basically have to stalk them, figure out their work schedule, try to coordinate your schedule with their schedule, and if you plan accordingly you could call an hour ahead and get your name placed on a "waiting list." After much frustration, I was not able to get back in with Lindsey. I ended up with someone other woman. This lady seemed totally distracted. As soon as I got in my car I had one of those, "Oh no, I just had a really bad haircut" moments. I went back to have her fix it but still didn't like the outcome. When I went to another stylist a month or two later she pointed out to me that my hair was a whole 2 inches longer on one side of my head than the other. Nice.

Let's just say that I've chosen to spend $15 extra for peace of mind.

• Pros: Free beer, hipster-esque
• Cons: Hipster-esque, can't make an appointment

I only go for Stacy P.

by courtney8008

I have spent 6 years in Austin getting $65 haircuts at Maximum FX (formerly on the drag, now in SOCO). My hair stylist there never left me disappointed, but she left my wallet emtpy. One day, I decided to try Stacy, since she was a friend of a friend. I went in with my fingers crossed, hoping and praying the entire time that I was not going to regret this decision for the next 5 weeks. Bird's was pretty new at the time and I was absolutely certain that no one could even come close to my top dollar salon. I was so wrong. I have not been back to the other salon since. I won't go to anyone but Stacy and every time I leave her chair and walk out the door, I feel ready to take on the world. I always get complimented on my hair. Stacy is a genius, a real artist, and should get paid more for what she does.

• Pros: evening appts.

2nd the cold service

by breakfasttaco

Really disappointed on the customer service, my stylist was talking more to the person sitting next to me than paying attention to cutting my hair. I felt like a sheep getting sheared, the lady doing the cutting was not happy to be cutting this head of hair. Got the feeling that if you're not wearing vans and covered in tattoos, you're not the clientele they're looking to serve.

I'd rather sit out the top 40's at supercuts than go through this again.

Cool place cold service

by IrishAngelEM

So today I took my 8yr old son and his friend to Birds Barber Shop on S.Lamar. He was so excited to go to this really cool barber shop. We had checked it out online, and driven by it numerous times. It just seems like a neat place to get your hair cut. So we go in and get on the list, the orange haired girl at the counter says "thirty minute wait" we are ok with that, even though there are only 2 guys ahead of us, and about 5 more came in after we did. About 15 minutes goes by and the 2 guys ahead of us go and get their cuts. My son goes up and asked the girl where the restroom is, and proceeds to go and is out in about 3 minutes. While he is standing around the corner from the front counter looking at the cool stuff all over the place they take 3 of the guys that came in after us. I walk up to the orange haired young lady and ask her why she skipped right over my kid! She said " we are too busy to wait on kids to come out of the bathroom"! I told her that he was standing less than a foot from her and all she had to do was turn her head! And all she can say to me is that he should have been ready! At that point I was ready to walk out! But seeing the disappointment in my sons face, I could not do it. So we waited for another 20 minutes for him to get his hair cut. Finally he got his hair cut, and he asked the stylist if he was going to trim his bangs, as they are hanging in his face, to wit he replied, if you want to look like a dork then I will cut them! Needless to say my son now does not want his bangs trimmed! And hardly got a haircut at all! Needless to say we are very disappointed with the over all service we received at Birds and will never return. It was made very clear that they are not kid friendly!

• Pros: Good atmosphere
• Cons: poor service, not kid friendly

Bird's is too cool for School...Trendy without talent!!!

by Texassaint

I would not recommend Bird's to anyone who wants a haircut. If you are looking for a trendy location, with free beer and music and don't give a damn about how your hair turns out then this place is for you. My stylist walked away from my chair, WITH MY HAIR IN HER HAND, to tell a co-worker to change the radio channel. If a handful of hair didn't fall out then, a bunch did when she hacked through my hair like a machette. If that wasn't bad enough, she told me that she didn't think my suggestion for a haircut was good and did what SHE WANTED. After the cut she suggested I cut off all of my hair since I have to wear it in a ponytail for work. If I wanted an opinion I would have gone to a shrink, I just wanted my hair cut like I WANTED IT CUT. I was left with an uneven cut that took all of 5-8 minutes to do.

The Moral: Save the extra $15 and get your hair hacked up a Supercuts. At least you know what you a getting and not expecting something you won't get.

• Pros: Cool decor
• Cons: Horrible stylist who are more concerned with socialing than good cuts

Haircuts that help the Austin environmental vibe.

by ahaynes1

Birds is authentically Austin: impeccable product, fun, involved in the community, relaxed, cool, generous. Birds keeps Austin uniquely Austin.

Lousy salon

by Flambeaux

The haircut was okay, I got charged a lot more than my husband & he has a lot more hair. No one offered me a beer, (maybe it's only offered to men). My husband gets offered a beer there (we go seperately). Very product pushy, to the point of. "I really don't need this." Don't recommend if your a woman.

• Pros: none
• Cons: long wait, product pushy, over priced for the cut, no beer offered

Great people, beer, and cuts

by jebuspriced

All I can say is good haircut, great experience, beer of choice, and even though I am married, the prettiest girls around. I give it two thumbs up!!

• Pros: Everything!!
• Cons: wish I could have stayed longer

Awesome stylists and atmsphere

by kissmedeadly

I walked into Bird's with horrible, scraggly. frizzy, gross, wicked witch hair and walked out with the best haircut ever! I didn't even call ahead and was in Lindsey's chair in about ten minutes. I wasn't exactly sure what kind of cut I wanted, but had a vague idea. She gave me the guidance I needed and was very helpful. Before this, I hadn't had my hair professionally cut in like, 2 years because of bad experiences at other salons. I had such a good experience there, now I want to get my hair cut everyday! My husband had had his hair cut there twice before and I loved it so that's what gave me the nerve to go in the first place. I'm so glad that I did! Hooray Bird's!

• Pros: all the cool kids are doing it