George's Barber Shop — Local services in New York

Sat me quickly in the only open chair in the back by the ladder. The barber cutting my hair came rushing in, asked what I wanted. I have long hair in the center and just wanted my sides shaved to skin. He asked me if I wanted a fade, I said no.

He then proceeds to point at my long hair and asks me to do something with it... any other stylists, barber, even the Hair Cuttery would have just sprayed it down with water, combed, and clipped the hair back so they can get a clean line to shave, especially when the line already exists.

I had to tie my own hair up for him to shave the sides of my head. He then proceeds to attack my head with the electric razor with no precision, as if he had to leave the barber shop as soon as possible. I told him to please be careful of the long hair. He said he's got it.

When he finished up, of course there was a slight fade at the top. I told him I wanted all skin, he said he thought it was better with a fade. I made him fix that.

When I got home and untied my hair, chunks of it fell out from where he was sloppy with the razor. Of course, he had cut a huge patch of my long hair out. Never going back to George's. Unsure why they even have 4.9 considering the barber didn't even know how to spray, comb, and clip back some hair that was in the way.

*Replying to the owner's response:

I appreciate the offer for another cut... But I'm not going to risk my hair twice at your establishment. I have longer hair and am now missing a big chunk of it because of their barber. If the owner can magically regrow hair then maybe I'd consider.

I have also dug a little deeper into George's 3000+ 4.9 star google reviews. In hindsight, it seemed odd that a little barber shop would have that many reviews...especially good ones. Dig a bit and you'll find that the establishment has a history of forcing you to give 5 star reviews, even invading your personal space to press 5 stars on your phone themselves.

A suggestion to the owner - focus on giving good service, employ proficient staff, cutting hair isn't a race. Focus on your craft. Do good work. If you do worthy work, good reviews will follow.

Fishing and asking for 5 star reviews to boost your business through google will only work for so long before your shortcomings will come back to bite you.

PS. Your establishment is so incompetent that you spelled my name incorrectly when replying...

Want to know why George's has over 2,300 reviews and an average of 4.9 stars? Are they really leaps and bounds ahead of other barbers in the neighborhood (spoiler alert: they aren't). Read on.

Haircut was okay, though shorter than I'd asked for (and parts of it felt a bit rushed, I wish they'd taken a little more time with it).

My issue is with what happened after the haircut. I was asked to scan a QR code taped up next to the iPad when I went to pay. The QR code opened up their Google reviews page at which point my barber immediately reached over to my phone and tapped five stars and hit submit, before I had a chance to realize what was happening.

I understand wanting to get lots of positive reviews, I really do. And I understand why businesses incentivize people to leave five star reviews (offering future discounts, etc.)

But this was too far. This just felt shady. First off, don't touch another person's phone without asking. And definitely don't start inputting things on another person's phone. Imagine doing that to a stranger on the street. Wouldn't go well. And this was no different.

Also it's cheating the system. I didn't give them a five star rating, they tricked me into "giving" them a five star rating. And they pulled a fast one on me to do it. And clearly I'm not the only one. I'm guessing they've done this to hundreds (thousands?) of people.

So I've now fixed my rating to reflect what happened. Not a cool...

Worst haircut I ever received. I asked for a few inch trim all around, showed an example, and they proceeded to do something very different. When showing the example and explaining what I wanted, the man running the shop repeatedly suggested the barber cut "clean around the ear." Considering the example, description, and 40ish years of experience getting haircuts, I presumed he was suggesting that the hair surrounding the ear should be cut a little shorter, and maybe touched up with a clipper. But instead of a touch up, the barber took a 3mm clipper straight from my temple through to the middle of my ear (see picture). It's considerably shorter than my beard. Ironically the hair behind the ear was not "cleaned up" in the commonly understood meaning of the term. I'm a professional, not a middle schooler, and it's going to take at least a month for my hair to grow out enough to salvage with a close trim and the better part of a year until it can resemble what I asked for.

The barber who gave the cut was very friendly and good when not listening to the man who ran the shop - who I primarily blame and remarked upon completion that "I looked like a...