A teenage girl who did not pay for $770 of hair extensions pulled the same stunt at another business, making off with more than $800 of the luxury service last year.
The teen, who is known to police and who did not pay for the service at Loxy's hair salon in Ponsonby last month, told an elaborate story to get out of paying for hair extensions at Beauty Transformers on Dominion Rd last June.
In a Herald article yesterday, Loxy's owner Kate Jarrett spoke of the girl's three-hour treatment and a further two-and-a-half hours where she sat in the salon avoiding payment.
The article prompted the Dominion Rd business owner, Maeve Chea, to come forward about her own experience. She said her case was reported to police who referred it to Child, Youth and Family and the teen wrote an apology letter to her.
Ms Chea said the letter appeared to be an insufficient punishment for the teen.
"With no consequences she knows very well that with this system she can keep doing it, she's learned nothing."
The procedure at Ms Chea's salon took three hours and the girl spent another three hours 'waiting for her mum' and avoiding payment. Eventually she left her handbag at the salon and 'went to get her uncle' but never returned.