Finally, enough time has passed that I can write a review that's factual instead of fueled with…read morerage. Alright, not a good start to a review for a massage spot, aye?
For my birthday, my boyfriend bought me a massage certificate for 90 minutes. It was a special online rate and the system assigned me to a massage therapist. With the gift certificate in hand, I headed over. I took the afternoon off from work and decided that this was really the day to treat myself.
Fast forward to 45 minutes of sitting awkwardly in a cramped hallway with no one around. When I told one of the employees, who had just finished a massage, that I had been waiting for a while, she checked the schedule. And bam! There I was, scheduled for the time 45 minutes long passed. Unsure what to do, the employee gave me a phone number to my massage therapist, encouraging me to call her and see what the delay was. The woman who answered the phone swiftly and abruptly informed me that she does not work there - nor has she worked there for quite a while. And there I sat... utterly adrift, wasting my birthday on a massage that was not to be.
The employee wasn't sure what to do and mentioned that she had to leave, and therefore, I too had to leave. Just as I started to gather my things, the owner came in with her dog. Upon hearing what had happened, the owner informed me that this was a glitch in their system that they had experienced before, and that she did not believe she had time to fit me in.
I'll admit it - between the tension of sitting in that little hallway, and all of the unsatisfactory responses I had received up until this point, I couldn't help myself and I started to cry. I ask for a refund for the massage certificate, agreeing that I would leave as long as I could get the refund. At this point, the owner's demeanor changed. She rearranged her schedule (which, she assured me she had come in to do paperwork and that it wasn't much trouble) and said that she could fit me in. I countered, saying that I just wanted to leave and forget that this happened, as long as my boyfriend's card could be refunded. The owner countered with phrases like "please let me do this for you" while mixing it in with the guilt of having her modify her schedule for me.
I reluctantly consented. The massage was okay - ultimately, not really my style - and it was incredibly hard to relax when I still felt this overwhelming desire to run the hell away. Her dog was in the room with us - and it appears that it suffered from gastrointestinal distress. When the owner booted the dog out for the noise they were making, it was only a few minutes before another massage therapist let the dog back in.
When the massage was over - less than 60 minutes later - she took the full value of my 90 minute massage certificate. Strangely, she left the dog behind while I dressed, so I had a dog standing my the door, eagerly awaiting me to hurry up and allow it to get out. Oh, dog, I feel your pain.
A lot of things disappointed me about my experience.
I was furious that this glitch was a known problem that had not been fixed. Further, if this problem was known, it's disappointing that no one saw the schedule and could put two-and-two together. I regret redeeming the services - especially for significantly less time than I had intended. I do not know why a refund seemed so implausible. I do not know why, when I ask to leave, and have tears in my eyes, that it made the most sense to guilt me into staying. And most of all... I believe in the importance of community websites like Yelp. I rely on and trust the reviews that people post here. My boyfriend selected this location because of the overwhelmingly positive reviews. And yet, this experience is indelibly marked in my mind as the worst way to spend a birthday.
Maybe this business will work for you. Sadly, it failed me.
