I purchased a full spa day gift certificate for $285 for Christmas from Elite Retreat Spa in Downtown Kennesaw. You have 6 months to redeem and it's supposed to include lunch and hair/massage/mani/pedi. The plan was I would purchase one for my mother-in-law as well so my wife and her would go together on Mother's Day. Well, 2020 hit and the world shut down for a global pandemic. I called multiple times over a few of months to see what options were available and would get an answering machine that said it was full. At first, I didn't think it was that unusual to not hear anything from this type of business but every other business we interact with was able to freeze memberships, had wonderful and courteous customer service despite unprecedented times. Around October, I called again. To my surprise, someone answered and then quickly informed me that they were shut down for a few months and that they would not be honoring my gift certificate because 6 months had passed. When I requested a manager, they stated they would honor the mani/pedi part of the gift certificate for only 30 more days but would not honor the full spa day I had already paid for. I explained that the gift certificate was for my wife, not transferable, and that she was suffering from Covid pneumonia. It was not safe for her or any of their clients or staff for her to render those services. That week she ended up in the hospital for 10 days due to lack of oxygen from the lung damage. This recovery was not easy and weakened her lungs, heart and immune system. She was also still testing positive for Covid and in and out of doctor's offices/hospitals. The Monday after thanksgiving I called back and asked if, since she was still so sick, we could gift the certificate to someone else. The manager said she was shocked that I even called back because she had already extended it 30 days and she then stopped returning all calls/text messages. My family and I discussed if we should let this go and just suck this up to us helping a small business during a pan
more