As tax refund season quickly approaches, we thought it may be helpful to paint a picture of our deposit system and how it operates.

At Lighthouse Tattoo we take deposits for all appointments, not only to insure that prospective clients are serious, but in the unfortunate case where rescheduling may be necessary it motivates the client to let us know as soon as possible. We reserve the right to keep a deposit for any reason if an appointment is rescheduled with less than 48 hours notice. Why is this time constraint necessary? Our artists reserve that appointment time to the exclusion of all other clients, we ask that anyone who needs to reschedule give us enough notice so that the artist can book someone into the vacated time slot. If this isn’t possible due to the circumstances, we expect that our clientele will understand the forfeited deposit goes to pay the artist at least a portion of what they would have made for doing the scheduled tattoo, allowing them to provide for their financial needs and responsibilities.

First-time clients who last-minute reschedule may be required to pay in full for their tattoo in order to reschedule. We do this in order to impress upon our clients the need for prompt communication and honestly, in order to provide for those individuals who are so poor at money management that this sort of thing is the only solution.

It’s at this point that we should mention that we personally feel that the current deposit system is a courtesy, we would absolutely be justified to take a more substantial up-front deposit, say 50%, or even more, especially on larger-scale work like sleeves or backpieces.

Some general rules for those interested in scheduling an appointment at Lighthouse Tattoo:

1. Please don’t leave us a deposit unless you’re serious about getting a tattoo and financially responsible enough to follow through with it. We don’t offer refunds for any reason short of amputation of the body part to be tattooed or the death of the client. ‘We don’t want the tattoo anymore’ isn’t a good excuse. But it is hilarious.

2. Please let us know as soon as possible if you need to reschedule. Failure to do so could result in the forfeiture of your deposit. If we call to confirm your appointment and you tell us you aren’t going to be able to make it, you have waited too long. We do confirmation calls for our busiest artists in order to prevent the loss of revenue last-minute reschedules can cause. If we call and you don’t answer or respond to a voicemail, email, or call us back if you have a missed call from us (which is a lot of ways to keep in touch), you may lose your spot in line and your deposit.

3. If you forfeit your deposit, for any reason, and wish to ever be tattooed at Lighthouse Tattoo again: be nice. Keeping the deposit isn’t a punishment, it’s a means of providing partial compensation for an artist who would otherwise miss out entirely. It’s also a way to continue the relationship with the client.

4. For those people who feel the need to call and ask for your deposit back because you lost your job or need to pay your cell phone bill: Don’t. Just don’t. The answer is no. Simply put, if you don’t want us to have your money don’t give it to us. Additionally, we have heard every excuse imaginable for needing a deposit back. The answer is and always will be ‘no’, unless the client has recently suffered an amputation of the body part to be tattooed or has died. We have actually had both of those things happen at some point and we have refunded those deposits promptly, with our condolences.

5. If you can give us more than 48 hours notice, we will gladly reschedule your appointment at no additional cost. and as always, any deposit is deducted from the overall cost of the tattoo.