For Valentine’s Day weekend 2011, I surprised my girlfriend by taking her to Savannah, GA. To further enhance the trip, I decided to pamper my girlfriend by purchasing a $265.00 V-Day package at Savannah Day Spa. The package included: a small bouquet of roses, facial, massage, pedicure/manicure. Since I live in the Charlotte, NC area, I placed the reservation over the phone with a receptionist named Joey. Joey suggested I place the purchase on a gift card. I agreed, since I thought it was a method to ensure they get paid for such a busy weekend. Joey sent me an email to which I authorized him to debit my credit card $301.00 which included a $35.00 tip and $1.00 processing fee. The reservation itself was broken into two appointments due to scheduling conflicts, one appointment on Saturday for the massage and facial, and the manicure and pedicure to follow on Sunday. Upon arriving 10 minutes early on Saturday, Joey and another receptionist named Jennifer greeted us, then offered my girlfriend a questionnaire about allergies to fill out and return to them.
ISSUE #1
As it turns out, my girlfriend experiences horrible breakouts when her skin is exposed to any kind of oil including jojoba oil or detoxifying oil. So instead of the full facial, much to the dismay of the noticeably irritated esthetician named Megan, we then had to do an “Express” facial. I have never made a reservation to a spa before in my life and was completely oblivious to the idea there might be allergy issues. It was never brought to my attention during the reservation process.
ISSUE #2
An “Express” facial is less expensive than a normal facial. Since I paid through a gift card based on Joey’s suggestion, I could no longer receive a reimbursement back to my credit card for the difference in services. Both Jennifer and Joey suggested I used the balance to buy their spa products. Naturally, I pushed for a refund to my credit card. They said they were unable to do that, yet suggested they would address the problem when I returned on Sunday.
Sunday, I came back to pick up my girlfriend after her manicure/pedicure. My girlfriend informs me Cathy, the person who performed the manicure/pedicure was a licensed cosmetologist not a licensed nail technician. The only reason my girlfriend knew was that my girlfriend was both a licensed cosmetologist and licensed nail technician in NC. Cathy admitted to my girlfriend she was inexperienced doing nails when my girlfriend noticed she was making several mistakes. Cathy went on to tell my girlfriend the spa had asked her to do nails due to overbooking. I asked my girlfriend to rate the quality of her nails and manicure/pedicure experience on a 1-10 scale. In her professional licensed opinion, she gave a score of 3.
ISSUE #3
Savannah Day Spa allows unqualified employees to render services without the required licensing by the state of Georgia while demanding a premium price.
I readdressed Jennifer about refunding the money I did not agree to spend on the difference between the normal facial and the “Express” facial. She called her boss named Celeste and handed me the phone. Celeste, the owner of Savannah Day Spa, acted concerned and gave me her cell phone number so I could go outside and talk to her in private. We discussed the situation to where Celeste agreed to call me back the next day. I never told Celeste about Cathy posing as a nail technician since my girlfriend had yet to explain her manicure experience to me. To say the least, I was looking forward to Celeste’s phone call on Monday.
ISSUE #4
Celeste never called. When I reached her through a text message, she told me she had tried to call, but my voicemail didn’t work. What? So I called both phone numbers she could have called to reach me. Both voice mails worked perfectly and my cell phone logged the call. Bottom line, Celeste took the easy way out just like the rest of her juvenile employees.
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