Surveillance video captures women skipping out on $260 nail salon bill
By Lauren Martinez
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LAS VEGAS (KVVU) — A Las Vegas nail salon said three women left without paying their bill, now they’re warning others to be aware.
On Wednesday, the owner of Lashes & Polished, a nail salon located off Sahara and Rainbow posted surveillance photos and video to their Facebook page of three women who had entered the salon earlier that afternoon.
Ebony Martin, a nail technician, worked on one of the two women who had their nails done. After two hours worth of services, the third woman said she would pay for the two.
“It’s kind of like it was planned like they talked about it or rehearsed it or something because one left then the other left,” Martin said.
Before she knew it, Martin saw the third woman leaving in a car outside.
“She said ‘Ok, I’m going to go outside real fast I have to go grab something out of the car.’ And me not thinking of it cause I’m doing my work as soon as I looked up she was out of the door and going inside of the car and the car was pulling off like she couldn’t even close the door before it pulled off,” Martin said.
Martin said she felt stuck and didn’t know what to do – nothing like that has ever happened in her three year career.
“I don’t have anything else other than this. I don’t have another income other than this you know what I’m saying so this is our bread and butter. If you don’t pay for your services we don’t get paid,” Martin said.
Martin said their team hopes to discuss a check-in process with their clients going forward so this doesn’t happen again.
The owner of The Nail Remedy, located off Craig Road and Decatur, has had a system in place for the last 10 years to prevent someone leaving without paying or no showing.
Misty Souvannasap said she’s used an online booking system that does require a deposit or a credit card on file.
“That is our labor, we’re laboring our time and effort to provide a service and a lot of our technicians are commission based if you leave out on a service at the end of the day the girls who worked hard end up not getting paid because that was their time,” Souvannasap said.
It’s a system Souvannasap said she thinks her technicians really because they know they will get paid.
“I think it’s the security I love the security of it and it pushes the people away that are going to run off by saying hey I don’t want to put in my credit card information and most the time those are not the clients we want to have,” Souvannasap said.
Security is what family run Autumn Hair and Nails Spa in North Las Vegas is all about. Salon manager, Autam Ceron, has a conceal carry with her for protection. And her husband at the salon has an open and carry.
“You know people come in here and you know they see ok we’re aware we’re secured and they don’t want to act funny,” Ceron said.
She operates under Covid policy so it is by appointments only, the door automatically locks, and there’s a security film on the windows to prevent anyone from looking inside.
“I just feel like I want to take control of my own security I mean if something happens and I have to call the cops like they’re not going to show up until 30 minutes an hour later they might not even show up,” Ceron said.
In 2018 a Las Vegas woman, Krystal Whipple, was accused of driving over and killing a nail salon manager after leaving without paying. She was sentenced to 10-25 years in prison. The bill she refused to pay was $35.
Ceron explained working as technician is exhausting. They often go throughout the day with little water and food so mentally they’re exhausted.
“Awareness like you just have to be aware of your surrounding be aware of your thoughts be aware of your situation and just think it’s just money,” Ceron said.
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