On Friday 10/26/2018 I scheduled appts for myself and my daughter for Monday 10/29/2018. Over the weekend I developed severe leg and knee pain. First thing Monday morning I called my Doctor's office and attempted to make an appt with my doctor. The only time I could be seen by the doctor that day was at 2pm or 3 pm. I then called Elements to try and reschedule my massage for later (should the doctor approve that) I was told it would cost 70 dollars to reschedule my appt. I was not attempting to reschedule my daughter's appointment, just mine due to sudden onset unexplained leg pain. I was VERY clear that I was trying to see my doctor for the leg pain and as I had NO injury I no idea what the cause was. They insisted that I keep the appointment and have the massage or pay the $70. I was not comfortable and I did talk about it with the massage therapist. I was VERY CLEAR with the receptionist and the massage therapist that I was NOT comfortable with this. This is something any TRAINED massage therapist should have known not to do, and no reputable spa would have required that this massage happen until there had been a medical evaluation, which I was NOT given the opportunity to do. I later learned that there IS a policy where I could have rescheduled for later that day, and in fact there were openings that I could have changed to that same afternoon AFTER I had seen my doctor. And had the doctor said it wasn't a good idea to have the massage the manager could have canceled that appointment for medical reasons. I was NOT given that opportunity, nor even told that it was a possibility, and they put me at risk despite having other options available that were NOT offered to me. We were shown back to our rooms at 10 min AFTER 2 though we arrived at 1:45, as directed. The actual massage ended when my masseuse left the room at 2:50, and my daughter was walked out soon after with her masseuse commenting that they had started later than mine had. Essentially I paid for 2 people to have an hour long massage each when what we actually were given were 40 min massages each. When we finished and paid we were asked if we would be tipping, and I said yes, 15% (Percent NOT Dollars), as I understand that to be the customary tip, and did not yet know the extent to which they had misled me, though I was annoyed at the shortened time of the sessions. When I looked at my credit card statement I was VERY upset that they had overcharged me. I was charged 15 EACH for tips for 2 $69.00 massages. The math doesn't add up, The TIME didn't add up, and they did not care if this massage caused harm to my condition or not. I said several times that I was unsure about having that leg worked on because I didn't know what was causing the pain an inability to bend or fully straighten my leg or go up and down stairs or curbs without a pain level of about 7 or 8. I actually was very unhappy with the service when we left and just chalked it up to the fact that we had requested an appt with the advertised discount when we scheduled and "you get what you pay for" I guess and they didn't much care if we were happy or not. What pushed it over the edge was the fact that they had overcharged my credit card, significantly over what I had authorized and expected. When I called about this, and also told the manager about all the other issues we had with this the response was that the manager the manager granted to return the $10 that was charged for a scented option (we were told it was a 'small fee, it was actually $10 additional). That was to address the fact that they overcharged for TIPS, so not only did the therapists get more tip than they were granted, it was for a significantly shorter time than was stipulated. Several employees have confirmed that an Hour massage is 50 min, we were given 40 min each, very overcharged, and I also had my health concern dismissed by people who should have known better. The compensation offered for having our massages BOTH short was an offer to extend our NEXT massages by 30 min. Of course that would be added to a massage I would have to pay for to get that 'reimbursement'. I declined because they do NOT care at all about customers and I am NEVER authorizing anyone from this company to place a charge on my credit card ever again. Who would give a company a second chance to make fraudulent charges to their credit card and to be treated badly AGAIN?
***Update:
I spoke with one of the owners today, and he was very nice and very understanding. He expressed that none of what we dealt with was within the standard of care that they train their employees to give, and seemed genuinely concerned and asked that I go through it with him so that they can address it with the employees involved. He also refunded the charges. I am very thankful that it was taken seriously, finally, and that he did seem to recognize that the final straw and insult was when the manager expected me to purchase another session for her to add 30 min to it. read more
