I'll probably get slammed here as AON has a very loyal following. And the following is thanks to the owner, Brandon Bond. Brandon is arguably one of the most talented artists working today. I've been on his calender three times now and thanks to a job lay off, a divorce, and medical issues, I've had to cancel all three times. But I still want some of his work. He is amazing. And to be fair, most of his artists are equally amazing. I've talked with Brandon several times through email and he seems like a great guy. Now I'll get to my bad experience with AON.
I decided to lose my tattoo virginity at AON based on the recommendation of a friend. I drove almost six hours to be there and was stoked to do it. I won't name names but the artist they gave me (I didn't know to ask for a particular artist) was one of the lesser known guys. I met with him on the first day and showed him some reference materials and told him where I wanted the piece. I asked him if he charged by the hour or by the piece and he told me it was by the hour at $100/hour. I was cool with that. He told me to come back the next day and he would get it on me.
When I walked in the next day he immediately put his hand out and said ""$700."" I was kinda surprised and told him that I had only budgeted $600. He seemed very annoyed and told me to come back in a couple of hours and he would have something drawn up for $600. Since I wasn't local and had already eaten, I sat in the lobby for almost two hours. Finally he comes out with a new drawing and demands $600 right away. I was kinda put off by this because I expected to pay when the work was done based on how long it took him. But he made it clear I had to give him the money up front. So I did.
I got in the chair and he literally worked for about 30 minutes and then stopped to go smoke and make a phone call. He was gone for almost 30 minutes. He came back and worked another 15 minutes or so and then took another break. Long story short, he kept me in the chair for six hours but he only actually worked on me for about three hours. The rest of the time, he was outside smoking and talking on the phone.
The work is beautiful. It was exactly what I wanted. And at the time I didn't really know better. But since then I've gone on to get a lot more work in other shops and not once have I paid upfront and been ripped off like that. Basically I paid for six hours and got three hours. I guess he thought since I had no tattoos and was a noob, he could take me. And take me, he did.
What's the old saying, caveat emptor?
I still think they have some amazing artists and Brandon is amazing too. But that incident left a really bad taste in my mouth and because of it, I will only go back to get tattooed by Brandon.
Pros: Awesome artists, great counter staff
Cons: One bad artist
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