The Downside of Being Scrimpy: Getting Ripped Off By Someone Named Janice Avellano Cuento

I met Janice Avellano Cuento from Memory Lane in Tagaytay to do my bridal makeup. She did not introduce herself as an independent beauty consultant from Mary Kay and so I thought I'm going to just hire her as a freelance makeup artist. I didn’t want to book her through Memory Lane to cut the liaison costs and I must admit that it was the biggest mistake I’ve done in this whole wedding planning yet.(Disclaimer: She was distributing her calling card under the table.)

Regardless of the fact that she gave me a horrendous makeup, I booked her because of all the suppliers that I got, she was the only one that I met in person. Talk about coloring my eyebrows red, my eyes green, and my lips bloody red! I had to guide her as she was redoing my face just to give her another shot!

She asked me to give a downpayment of Php3,750 to book her for a January  event. But after paying, she gave me this kind of agreement:

(Please note that this agreement was created 2 weeks after I paid the down payment, right after I told her I want a refund)

"This agreement is subject to acceptance for bridal package( hair and make-up for 5 pax.)of (INSERT MY FULL NAME) on January 2013. This agreement will take effect the date upon payment of 50%(percent) reservation fee with the amount of P7500.00 (seven hundred pesos)

BEAUTY CONSULTANT AGREEMENT

1.    to present as your beauty consultant for your wedding, it is my responsibility to assure your satisfaction.

2.    I must maintain the highest standard of integrity, honesty and responsible to my duty, truthful and sincere manner to have the good relationship with the client.

3.    I can do the best what I can on your wedding day.

CLIENT AGREEMENT

1.    regularly conducting skin care by Mary Kay product(facial,body scrub, foot care and hand care)

2.    Client must require to avail the Mary Kay Product suitable for your skin type, recommended by beauty consultant. -WHY IS SHE REQUIRING ME TO BUY MARY KAY PRODUCTS?

3.    Before using the product assure your beauty consultant the proper instruction.

4.    reservation fee are not refundable, unless beauty consultant harmless from damage resulting from mis-presentation. - WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN?

5.    the package may be you want to change,suggested for the additional price,discount and time, you can inform your beauty consultant earlier for the status at anytime.

6.    you must inform your beauty consultant for time availability to conduct you skin care session. 

if your not agree for this agreement or if  you have want ta change,inform me before I will go to the notary public. we need to talk personally, we both need to sign for this agreement. I hope you understand for late the late rsponse.

      Thank you for nice consideration and God Bless..."

I researched well enough to discover that she patterned her contract from Mary Kay's beauty consultant application form. The only difference though was she added the " reservation fee are not refundable" clause.

I wanted to back out from the agreement and get a refund because 1) I didn't sign up for her Mary Kay services; 2) there was a long delay between me paying the down payment and her delivery of the contract and; 3)  the agreement contract contains very wrong grammars and unclear terms. I didn't want to push through with the business because she was hard to deal with. Instead, she told me it's going to be my loss anyway so we should just proceed.

I thought I could easily get my money back since she hasn't rendered any service yet, and my wedding won't be up until  next year but I was wrong---she replied to me once, and was insistent on not giving me a refund, even telling me that my wedding is still far out (like why am I pressuring her to live up to my expectations?). Take note, I didn't sign the contract so I didn't understand why she was implementing her non-refundable term.

As my supplier, of course I expected her to answer all my queries, send me a clear and concise contract, and clarify what services she'll be rendering. But apparently, she's already spent my down payment prior to performing her duties. That's probably the reason why her phone is  always out of coverage whenever I try to make a follow up. I even offered her to just send me back the Php 3k (Php750 short) in installment basis but still to no avail. I assumed she preferred to just burn bridges. 

So for future Tagaytay brides, be careful not to deal with this person. She is probably the worst and most unprofessional makeup artist you could possibly meet!

I forwarded the contract to Mary Kay Philippines and I was told that they're going to do something about it--not sure though what they did exactly since I haven't heard from them after that.

I also shared this experience with Memory Lane just so they won't be dealing with her again and I'm glad that they have found a better makeup artist to take her place.

What I learned: If there's one wedding aspect that I'd want to be frugal about, it's definitely not my make-up.

Damage done: Php 3,750