Client stiffs hair salon when it's time to pay

Hairdresser Shannon Gould said the woman is a con artist. She sat in the salon chair for nearly three hours making conversation.

"With her whole demeanor, I never saw it coming," Gould said.

With a little cut and color, Gould takes pride in giving her clients a newfound confidence.

"I love making people feel beautiful about themselves inside and out," Gould said.

At 4 p.m. Thursday, Gould welcomed a new customer named Sarah into her chair at Pace Setters Salon, off Garrison Street and West Sixth Avenue in Lakewood.

"She was so nice. So nice. She's was someone. I was like wow, I just moved here -- we could be friends," Gould said.

After the three-hour detailed highlight service and haircut, Gould walked the woman up front to pay.

"I walked her up to the front and she swipes her card," Gould said. "Well the card declined, and it declined again."

Gould said customers' cards have been declined before and didn't think much of it. Most find other ways to pay -- something this woman told her she was going to do.

"She said you know what, let me just run out to my car. I'm going to leave everything right here. And I will be right back," Gould said.

The woman even left collateral at the front of the store -- her purse and credit card. But as the minutes ticked by, it became clear she wasn't coming back.

"When we looked in the purse, ultimately it was completely empty," Gould said.

The credit card was in a man's name, and according to Chase Bank, the account had been closed.

"It's just betrayal. That's the purest form of it. I just feel violated," Gould said.

While Gould will likely never collect on the nearly $200, she wants this woman caught before someone else gets burned.

"It's hurtful, it's time consuming. I would just hate for it to happen to someone else out there," Gould said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Lakewood Police Department.