Me and two of my co-worker friends received gift certificates for the lavish 6-hr pampering packages. We were excited to all go together and have a relaxing and well-deserved "ladies spa day"....
I had to make the appointment probably almost a month out to find a Saturday that Irena (the owner) would have enough staff to accommodate the three of us in one day. No problem, the day I booked our appointment was also the ONLY day this month my friends & I could all meet up as well with our busy schedules.
I arrived first and there was a young man behind the reception area looking confused. I explained to him I had made an appointment for the three of us for the 6-hr packages. He said he was new & apologized while he looked for the forms for us to fill out. Then Irena came to the desk to inform me that just a few minutes before I arrived her aesthetician had just called out sick on her & that she would not be able to fully provide all three of us with the original package services. She said that we could swap out some options or get credit to return another day for the missing services. She started to try to explain our alternative options but was really only making it very confusing. She started to go to her laptop, then didn't get on it & would start talking, then stop & start writing something down, then stop & bring me to the brochure, but couldn't find what she was looking for, so would go back to writing & using the calculator to get some numbers that the services cost for credit, trying to go back to the brochure then saying "the prices were not right & the new brochures hadn't come in yet", and all this back & forth was getting me dizzy so I told her I thought that would be fine, but wanted to wait for the other ladies to decide what we would do. I had to tell her to stop & wait for the others more then twice, that they would be here very shortly.
When my friends arrived a few minutes later, they were also disappointed to hear the update but were trying to be very nice about it & I thought we all were trying very hard to be flexible with Irena. So after probably close to 30 minutes of negotiating who gets what, when & where we find out there are only male massage therapists today. Aggghhh! I am a regular spa attendee, but do not like men to massage me (personal preference) & one of my friends also was not comfortable with a male masseuse. Irena mentioned that "I did not specify a female & that the men are excellent & do a great job, but if I felt uncomfortable I could reschedule". When I asked if we could reschedule Irena said it would not be possible to reschedule the three of us again on a Saturday for our packages. I said "Like forever? Even if we make it for a month from now?!" She said no "because it is so hard with them being a small spa to accommodate so many people at once". I get it, I really do, but she should have just said that when I made the appointment for us a month ago.
So one of my friends and me decided to just leave & reschedule another day (separately) for our services. We insisted that our other friend stay and get all of the services for herself instead, since she NEVER gets time to herself with her busy schedule. Walking out my friend & I were very disappointed, not just in the fact we woke up so early on our day off to get there, or we had been trying to schedule this day for the three of us since December, but the way Irena was then starting to get annoyed that we were going to come back another day. She was annoyed because "she had booked her staff for all day services with us & therefore would be missing out on business if we left". I then (calmly) reminded her while I could empathize with her being left short-handed (no one can help when they get sick, it happens), it wasn't our fault she doesn't have a back up person. AND the fact is that these gift certificates were purchased last December so she has already gotten paid for them well in advance regardless if we ever come back???
Honestly, I have never had such an unorganized, bad first impression of a spa in my life...free or not I still may not ever return here to redeem this certificate. Mind you our Boss spent BIG money on these packages for us! (he's so wonderful!) I mean like $$$, they are a very expensive spa. I just finished reading the other Yelper reviews and all the other negative comments & horrible services experienced here. SMH...some things just aren't worth the aggravation in life...even if they are free. read more