It's been several weeks, but this experience is worth sharing in a bad way. I'd had four facials at Aria. Obviously, I was happy with their aestheticians. However, my last visit was such a train wreck I have to write them off. I had spoken to the receptionist (of course) when making the appointment and told her I wasn't sure whether I wanted the same facial I'd had before. She asked me if I wanted some time to consult with the aesthetician beforehand. I said, yes, that sounded good.
Although I now live 45 minutes from Aria, I called ahead that morning to make sure I had the best route from where I live now. and showed up on time.
When I arrived, I sat down with the aesthetician, who ten minutes later--after telling me to some basic skin dos and don'ts--was ready to send me on my way. I was flabbergasted. I'm having a facial, I told her. I had also said the same thing to the receptionist when I made the appointment (of course) and that morning on the phone (turns out it was the same receptionist) and when I walked in.
Bad enough, right? Not quite. To make matters worse, the receptionist treated me like so much dirt. Dialing her manager but asking me three times in increasingly withering tones, "So, you want something for free?" I told her each time calmly that I didn't want any such thing, but did want to express my frustration and disappointment. She couldn't provide me with his working hours or a phone number besides the salon's.
I tried reasoning with her; asking her why I would want to have a ten-minute initial consult when I had had several facials there. We had discussed this when I made the appointment, and I had described to her how my skin had changed since the last.
Anyway, each time she attempted her manager, huffing disgustedly, she was interrupted by another phone call, which she took, which had me standing around feeling crestfallen and foolish for another 20 minutes (with a bad of my cosmetics which she'd recommended I bring to show the facialist (but which there was definitely no time for).
Meanwhile I was wondering what I would do with a wasted day and no chance of getting a facial until the following weekend anywhere else. I asksed if she could possibly look up a phone number for me online, since my iPhone was being fixed. Nope, we're not allowed to do that, she said.
The last straw was when she insinuated that I didn't really live as far away as I was saying I did (since I used to live in Durham).
THE PITS! Plus, at least one of the aestheticians I liked has left.
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