Deceptive Pricing and Bad Service
When I am on vacation I treat myself to manicures. Something I do at home only for special occasions. So it is a real treat for me. I picked up a brochure from the Andre Pascal Salon. Now Andre Pascal is apparently considered to be a pretty big deal. The brochure reads, "The most prestigious In San Miguel de Allende offers its guest all the services in a totally professional, with more 30 years of experience in Europe, USA and Mexico" their sentence structure, not mine. The price listed for a manicure was $200 pesos. A little pricey for San Miguel but my last one had been not so good and the previous one great but in a little shop where the tables were upstairs on a landing and it was about 900 degrees. It cost $110 pesos. When I got to the salon I always pay first so I don't have to dig in my wallet after I've just had my nails done. They told me the price was 250 pesos. I responded that the price on their brochure listed it as 200 pesos. The response was just that it was not, it was 250. I responded that that was a pretty big jump in prices and that their brochure was out of date and misleading and that it was not a very good business practice. The woman just nodded. Frankly I would have left because it annoyed me so much but I had a full day ahead of me and didn't want to scurry around to find another place.
So, frankly I was expecting more from the décor as the level of sophistication and sheer beauty in design in San Miguel is astounding. And the prices are high by Mexican standards. It was pretty basic plastic stuff in the room where I received my manicure. The finger bowl was plastic. This was like the cheapie walk in places in the Mission in San Francisco. Even my little salon in Chico, CA uses a pretty glass bowl. The young woman who was doing my nails might be a very nice person but with me she was not personable. I've had many small sweet conversations with the people here with my tiny bit of Spanish! I was not offered a glass of water. The chair I was sitting in was uncomfortable. I saw pillows stacked on a chair in the corner that I'm guessing were for that purpose and was going to ask for one but by the time I saw them she had started on my nails. She was chewing gum. And I mean CHEWING. Sorry, but you do not chew gum like a sailor in a professional setting. During the course of my manicure she snipped my cuticle too short and it bled. She had to get a little piece of paper to stick to it. Never apologized. I'm guessing she was embarrassed or afraid I would make a fuss so I had sympathy and let it go. However later when she wiped down my nails with polish remover I jumped about two feet in the air because it burned! I asked to her get some water to wash it off, which she did. My favorite part of the manicure is the hand massage. This young woman does NOT know how to give a hand massage. Frankly it was the worst I have EVER had. Two seconds of rubbing lotion onto my hand. No massage.
All of this happened yesterday and already today I see two end tips have little chips in them. It was a just ok manicure and it was a bad experience. I would like to add however, that the young man who made the appointment for me when I walked in was charming and helpful. It is too bad that the rest of my experience was the opposite. read more
