I had been thinking about a Keratin treatment for my wavy/thin/frizzy hair for more than a year and scouring every Livingsocial and Groupon for a good introductory deal. (Who wants to spend $300 just to see if something works?) I had yet to bite the bullet because each salon was either too far away or had received bad reviews. Along comes Robert Arriaga. The Yelp reviews painted a rosy picture of someone who could help me finally control my mane, so I purchased the Livingsocial coupon for half off. \r
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I scheduled an appointment with Robert for a Saturday at the Crossroads location, because this is ony 10 blocks from my condo. I receive a call the day before my appointment asking me to come to the Leawood location because there had been a ""scheduling"" error. Turns out he never works in the Crossroads location on the weekends, so that was a bit misleading. To his credit, he did discount my haircut by half to compensate me for the additional drive.\r
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When I arrived at the salon, he was still finishing up the previous client. Another stylist washed my hair and sat me down, which was fine. Robert began the session by cutting my hair. Kind of. It hadn't been cut in 6 months as I was growing it out after a prevous disaster at another salon. My hair was full of split ends, I'll be the first to admit. He finishes the haircut in record time and moves on to the Keratin Complex. I was schedule for three hours for the entire haircut and treatment. I was out of there in two. He stopped my treatment multiple times to address questions from other stylists and to assist them with their consultations. He asked if I was going to come back in to have the wash-out completed and to purchase some product to maintain the Keratin. He said that he ""cannot guarantee that the treatment will work for people who do not have the wash-out and buy product."" This led me to believe that there would be a guarantee for me since I was partaking of the additional service. I was very incorrect. He hurried me out the door, not even bothering to finish up with the hairspray I had requested.\r
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Fast forward to the following Tuesday (three days after the initial appointment) If you've never had a Keratin treament, you cannot wash your hair for several days afterwards so I had not had any time to play with the cut myself. My hair was an oily, ragged mess from the chemicals and lack of washing. Once again, Robert was running late. I don't know where this customer service is, because I certainly didn't see it. The receptionist ended up washing my hair. He spent a little time blow-drying it and once again sent my on my way in a hurry. I don't know if this was because of my having used a coupon or just that he was stretched thin with the two salons.\r
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I was told not to rewash my hair for another day and a half, so I had still not been able to see how the cut would look with my styling efforts. I was absolutely livid when the cut looked the exact same as when I had first entered his salon. I still had split ends on almost every hair strand. I sent him an email describing my concerns in the hope that some resolution could be reached. He replied that he would call me the next day. He NEVER DID. I finally returned to the salon to return all of the product that I had purchased in an attempt to recoup some of my losses. He couldn't have been less concerned when I spoke to him during the return. He asked and I quote ""What do you want me to do?"" How about provide some sort of customer service??? Offer a repair cut? Something? I had tipped him generously for the full price of all services and feel like he took advantage of me. I will never go back to this salon.
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