These aren't accidents. They're business models. Here's how software vendors extract money you didn't expect to spend—and how to see it coming.
1. Per-user pricing
£25/month looks reasonable. Then you read the small print: per user.
Five stylists, a receptionist, yourself. Seven users. That's £175/month now. Hire someone? Add £25. Give your Saturday cover access? Another £25. Suddenly that cheap software costs more than your phone bill, electric, and internet combined.
The maths: Eight staff at £30/user = £2,880/year. Just for software.
Ask: "What's the actual monthly cost with all my staff? What happens when I hire?"
2. The feature paywall
Base package: diary and till. Online booking? Professional tier. SMS reminders? Premium. Decent reporting? Enterprise.
You sign up thinking you're getting software. You're getting a stripped-down demo that charges extra for everything useful.
Usually paywalled:
- Online booking
- Appointment reminders
- Marketing tools
- Proper reporting
- Commission tracking
- Multiple locations
Ask: "List every feature that costs extra. Then tell me the real monthly price with everything I'll need."
3. SMS charges
Reminders cut no-shows. Everyone agrees. What they don't mention: you're paying per message.
Rates range from 5p to 15p. Send 400 reminders a month? That's either £20 or £60. Every month. The difference over a year is £480 you didn't budget for.
The sneaky bit: Some systems charge for replies too. Client texts back "yes"—that's another 8p. Charged to you, not them.
Ask: "What's the SMS rate? Are replies included or charged separately?"
4. Data hostage
Two years in. Three thousand clients. Client notes, patch test records, appointment history. All in their system.
Now you want to leave.
Export fee: £300. Format: some proprietary nonsense no other system can read. Time limit: seven days after cancellation, then it's gone.
We've talked to salon owners who lost years of records because they couldn't get their own data out. Years.
Ask: "Can I export everything—clients, notes, formulas, history? What format? What does it cost? How long do I have after cancelling?"
5. Auto-renewal traps
Month eleven. You've decided not to renew.
Too late. Contract auto-renewed two months ago. You're locked in for another year. This was in clause 14.3, which you didn't read, because nobody reads those.
The nasty version: Cancellation requires written notice. By post. To a specific address. Sixty days before renewal. Email doesn't count. Wrong address doesn't count. One day late doesn't count.
Ask: "Does this auto-renew? When's the cancellation deadline? How exactly do I cancel when I want to?"
6. Setup fees
Monthly price looks fine. Then the invoice arrives: £500 for implementation.
Cloud software is supposed to be log-in-and-go. If they're charging £500 to set it up, either it's genuinely complicated (bad sign) or they're just taking your money (also bad sign).
Other costs that appear after you've committed:
- Data migration—getting your existing clients in
- Training—sometimes per person, sometimes per hour
- Required hardware—their specific tablet, their card reader
- "Activation"—which is a made-up fee for nothing
Ask: "What's the complete cost to get started? Every fee. Training, setup, hardware, migration. All of it."
7. Price creep
Year one: £50/month. Year two: £58/month. Year three: £67/month. Clause 8.2 allows "reasonable annual increases." What's reasonable? Whatever they feel like.
By now you're stuck. Your data's in their system. Switching means export fees and migration hassle. They know this. That's the whole point.
The playbook: Get you in cheap. Raise prices once you're dependent. Repeat annually.
Ask: "Will my price go up? Is there a cap? How much notice do I get?"
Before you sign
- Get real numbers. Total monthly cost with your actual staff count and the features you'll use. In writing.
- Test the export. During the trial, export your data. See what comes out. If it's useless, that's your answer.
- Read the leaving parts. Auto-renewal. Cancellation. Price increases. Data access after you're gone. This is where they hide things.
- Ask how you'd leave. "If I cancel next year, what happens?" The answer tells you whether they're confident or controlling.
- Search for horror stories. "[Name] data export" or "[Name] cancellation" brings up what they don't put in the brochure.
What this tells you
None of these gotchas are mistakes. They're how the business works. Confusion is profitable. Lock-in is profitable. Leaving being difficult is profitable.
Good software doesn't need any of this. It keeps customers by being good. Not by making it painful to go.