A ‘mortified’ mum has told how a barber gave her son an ‘absolutely awful’ haircut then shouted at her when she asked for her money back.

Carley Dormer, 31, had taken her son Mason, nine, for a £12 pre-lockdown haircut at Pitsea Turkish Barbers, in Basildon, Essex, on Tuesday. Her partner Aaron Russell, 31, also regularly visits the barbers, and had a cut at the same time.

The mum-of-one said her son was left with a ‘bowl cut’ like Jim Carrey’s in the 1994 film Dumb and Dumber – and claimed that the barber made it more wonky when she asked him to neaten it out.

She said: ‘My partner had already had his hair done, and they had done a fantastic job, as always. My son was sat in a chair a few seats down at the same time having his done, so I went over to see how it was going.

‘I had told the barber we just wanted the usual doing on my son’s hair, as it was the same guy who has done his hair before. But his hair looked really odd – it looked like it had had a chunk taken out of it at the front, and it was really uneven.

‘I asked my partner to go and quietly have a word and ask them politely to even it out. The guy said he would fix it – but then when he finished off it was still really slanted.’

Carley claims another customer in the barbershop also agreed that the haircut wasn’t straight. But she said the babrer ‘huffed and puffed’ before trying to straighten it, which actually made it worse.

She went on: ‘I tried to politely ask if we could just get our money back for my son’s haircut, as I wasn’t happy with it. Then he yelled at us, “How about you just don’t come back anymore?”

‘He was so argumentative. It was bizarre. We were perfectly happy to pay for my partner’s haircut as we didn’t have any problem with that.

‘I understand they are under a lot of pressure at the moment, but we’re paying them for a service which hadn’t been done properly.’

Mason was described as being a ‘little bit distraught’ over the style

Carley added: ‘[Mason] is just getting to the age where appearance is really important to him, and he was a little bit distraught, worrying that kids at school were going to take the mick out of him.

‘I’d be devastated if that was me or my partner – he wants the latest, most modern haircut, not something like that. He ended up crying as the barber just made it worse after we told him twice to try and straighten it out. It was a really bad experience, overall.’

Carley was eventually given a refund by another member of staff, but said she left without an apology. She was fortunately then offered a free haircut by barber Steven Gomma, of Goodycuts, after he saw a Facebook post about her experience.

The manager of Pitsea Turkish Barbers said that Carley is welcome to come back in the future if she chooses.

The man, who would give his name only as Ali, said: ‘We employ only the best barbers who are professional and certified in the industry. I do not believe there was anything wrong with the haircut.

‘The lady made the child distressed by shouting and being aggressive to my staff.. The child was happy with the haircut, however his mother was adamant she wanted her money back.

‘I know it’s a tough time for us all, however if she really wanted a free haircut she could have asked and we would have helped her, because we understand that we are in unusual and challenging times. We gave her a refund and she is more than welcome back if she chooses to come.’