Subj : Southland couple feel let down by tattoo parlour
To   : All
From : News Person
Date : Tue Apr 09 2024 10:14 am

Dan wanted his new tattoo - his ta moko - to reflect who he is, including his
Maori connections, his son Lachie, his partner Kayla, and a beloved friend.

"The meeting of two souls - me and Kayla . and my friend Cody who passed away
from brain cancer."

So it hit Dan hard when he didn't get what he expected from the tattoo
parlour, Zealand Tattoo in Queenstown. The tattooists wanted more money and
more time to finish the job.

Busy lives, special weekend
They're a busy couple - Dan works long hours as a mechanic, and he's training
as a volunteer for Fire and Emergency.

Kayla juggles parenting Lachie with keeping her own dog grooming business
going.

They live in Gore and it's rare they get away, so they leapt at the chance
when their parents offered a voucher for a weekend break in Queenstown.

They'd both planned to get tattoos, but short of time and money, they had
strict criteria about getting the work done in a single session, and,
sticking to budget.

Kayla found a studio, but it couldn't take them both, so she found Zealand
Tattoo for Dan, and the reviews looked great.

"I was like, 'wow these people really want to get this done for Dan'."

She discussed the budget with manager Zane Swanston by email.

As with many studios, there was no definitive quote, but Kayla agreed to a
deposit of $100 and bought a voucher for $1000, saying a few hundred dollars
more on the day was the most they could afford.

"I feel like I stressed the budget multiple times and was under the
impression Dan was going to walk out with the complete tattoo."

Dan gets bad news
Once there though, Dan says he was persuaded to top up the voucher to $1400
in total, which he thought was the total cost to complete the tattoo.

But about two hours later, he was told that's all he was getting for his
money, even though the tattoo was unfinished.

"And I said `uh .. don't think so. It's not $1400 worth, it's absolutely
not'. I asked him what it cost to finish, and he said '2.5 to 3.2
[thousand]'."

Confused, Dan left and rang Kayla.

"I was like `what?' I was in disbelief. So I was like, `absolutely not - go
back in'."

But when Dan went back to Zealand, "he said either come back and pay more or
you won't get your money".

So, Dan's tattoo was unfinished, for $1400, and Kayla's was finished on the
day - for $300 less.

Kayla says, "I was so gutted for Dan".

"It was something that was so special for him, for someone to disregard that.
And that's pissed me off."

What does a tattoo cost?
We know that tattoo prices will vary, so we checked with a few studios. Most
said $1000 to $1500 would pay for a finished, filled-in shoulder ta moko
depending on size.

Kayla felt Zealand Tattoo had misled them, and that the customer care was
terrible. Other clients of Zealand Tattoo were also critical.

Courtney Daniel says she was originally quoted $400, but asked to pay $750,
adding that she doesn't like the result.

Elliot Chan says he was told he'd only get a "bubble-gum sticker" for his
$500 coupon gift card and told that he could "cry about it if he liked".

He stuck to $500 and got 45 minutes of work done.

More bad reviews
And on Zealand's Facebook site, Kayla found more bad reviews. When she added
hers though, she says she was blocked, so she then emailed the company.

"We sent that two days after the session, and that's coming up three months
ago, and we've not heard anything."

But when Swanston was notified that Kayla was going to the Disputes Tribunal,
she says she got an email offering her a $500 refund, no apology, but a claim
that the price had been agreed.

Not so, Kayla reckons, and with no apology offered, she came to Fair Go.

Finally - a result
There was no three months' wait for Fair Go though. Zane replied the same
day, with another - confidential - offer, also saying that it was a
misunderstanding.

But Kayla and Dan thought that what was missing was an apology and
accountability.

"I'd have loved to hear him say `I'm going to change the way I run my
business'," says Kayla.

With no change in sight, they're accepting the money and are speaking out,
warning others to be very wary of pricing with Zealand Tattoo.

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