Salons and barbers

Your card machine and your energy bill, checked for free

For independent hair, beauty and barber businesses. Find out what taking a card really costs you, and whether your energy is on the right rate, without a sales call.

Check your card rate Send a statement instead

What we can do for you

Three things, all free.

Card fee checker

Two numbers from one monthly statement give you your real card rate: everything the provider and the terminal cost you, as a share of what you took. It takes a minute and nothing is stored.

Check your rate →

Card statement checked for you

Send one statement and a chartered accountant reads it: your real rate, which charges make it up, what the terminal is costing, and whether it is worth acting on. If you are already on a good rate, we will say so.

Send a statement →

Energy

Send an electricity or gas bill and a consultant tells you your all-in cost per kWh, how it compares with the market, and when your renewal window opens, so you never roll onto out-of-contract rates.

Check an energy bill →

Where the money goes

Card fees grow with you, quietly

Every cut, colour and treatment goes through the card machine, so a rate that is a little high costs more each year you get busier. Most rates are set when the account opens and never looked at again.

The terminal is often a separate contract

Card machines are frequently on their own lease, with its own term, that keeps running after you have changed rate or even provider. It is worth knowing when yours ends and what it costs to leave.

Energy renewals pass without anyone noticing

Lighting, hairdryers, tongs and hot water all day add up. Missing a renewal date usually means rolling onto a much higher out-of-contract rate.

Where this started

Our founder’s own clinic had been on a card rate set when the account opened and never revisited. Reading the statement properly and moving it saved about £6,000 a year. That was a clinic, not a salon, and your own saving depends on your rate, card mix and takings. It may be nothing, and we will tell you if so.

Questions

What does it cost?: Nothing. If a check shows you could pay less and you choose to switch to a provider we work with, that provider pays us a commission. You never pay us, and you are free to take the findings anywhere.
Who is behind this?: SupplyIndex, which started by doing exactly this for independent clinics. It is run by Peter Langdon, a chartered accountant who co-owns an independent clinic in Maidenhead.
Will I be pushed to switch?: No. You get the numbers in writing. Often the best result is a better rate from the provider you already have, and sometimes the answer is that you are on a good deal already.