I had my first and last appointment at that place. I was looking for a local place to do my gel nails (refill in this case) and I know that not all salons do that. I live in WInchester and decided to give them a try since they are so central. I had an appointment with Tran(g) this morning. First, to say that he was rude is to really say nothing: his attitude was as if I am encroaching in his home: after unsuccessfully attempting to start a small talk to break the ice, I just shut up - he was sitting there with his grim and unfriendly face and was giving me short ""yes"" and ""no"" answers in a very brush-offish tone.
I was then surprised that he was not going to do a bonder first (the whole foundation for the gel to keep as a whole) - and I asked him about it. He told me with irritation that each salon does it differently, that my nails are not the first ones he is doing and that he knows how it is done. Second, he only did one layer - again, to my surprise. I made a comment in a friendly tone to him about it (as if not making a big deal), and he brushed me off again. In the meantime, a lady in the chair next to me complained to her manicurist that the manicurist was shoving her hands into a UV machine to deeply, it was making her uncomfortable. There was a lot of unfriendly blubber in Vietnamese to all of this, and the lady finally had to make it clear that what her manicurist was doing was not making sense.
When my nails were ready for polish (and there was no hand massage, no lotion, no cuticle oil applied), he told me ""it's 25 dollars. gimme 5 dollar on top"". In a tone that did not presumed any room for negotiation! The way I felt I would have not given him a penny - but I was not ready to have a fight with him in public and he still had to do my manicure! I paid him and asked about the lotion - to which he said ""after, after"". When my manicure dried, he plopped a bottle of lotion in front of me. I said ""I guess, you don't do any hand massage, do you"" He walked off to clean his entrance door with a Windex saying as he was walking ""Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't"". I guess, I was the unlucky one who he didn't do it to!
When I was leaving, not only no one told me ""thank you"" or "" good bye"" or ""would you like to make another appointment"" - they all had their grim, stone faces, and Tran(g) was leaving the room all together, not even looking at me.
Needless, to say I WILL NEVER GO BACK. I will see how my nails are doing (I've never had it done this way and I really doubt they will survive the requisite for gel timing) - but it was a very, very unpleasant and unbecoming for Winchester experience. I am not sure yet regarding the quality of their work - but the rude treatment, unfriendly atmosphere and the luck of professionalism was overwhelming. Everyone I spoke to about it this morning encouraged me to leave a comment so people avoid repeating my experience.
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