ATLAS let me schedule a whole head color appointment(double process Vivids) for a 4-hr block with…read moreAutumn, with no online or in-person consultation required. Unusual, but cool, maybe they're super confident in their ability! I book it.
That morning, I called and let them know I would be late since we drove from pretty far, and was ultimately ~30 mins late *and was told that was not a problem*...
BECAUSE they had decided they wouldn't be doing anything much to my hair today anyway. I was told they needed ~6hrs to because 3.5 HOURS wasn't "enough time to do ANY kind of lightening."
Being flexible and just wanting change, I offered to lower my expectations by so, so much. Yet we still had over 3hrs at the time, but the service I lowered my request to was listed online as a service that would only take 2.5hrs(which meant we had an extra 45mins....) I was only offered a partial "micro-highlight" in only just my bangs, or "hair treatments."
I let them know I was devastated, and excused myself to the restroom to quietly cry. Not everyone gets the chance to reschedule, or has the resilience for the major disappointment of "scheduling a whole head color and being told that basically nothing about your hair will get changed when you show up to that appointment." As condolence, I got an old "pride" goodie bag with three stickers, a coupon, and a hair tie. I offered to tip her for the time she waited for me while I was late. They were gracious and waived the fee for cancelling the appointment since nothing would be done to me anyway.
**They had no way of knowing the trauma and hope that went into this, until I told her I was about to cry. When someone is aware they will soon be losing their hair, each experience becomes more meaningful while you still have it.**
I have been to another local level salon and had my whole head balayage/highlighted, cut, and styled in 3 hours, with more complicated formulations needed from previous color, at that time, than we were dealing with on my hair today.
When I entered the car sobbing and looking exactly the same, my partner went in to give them back their pity goodie bag. He told them that this was extremely disappointing, and had wasted our long drive time and gas, and taken away from his father/daughter time as well as from my personal time, which should have been able to happen concurrently.
The person he spoke with(who was not Autumn nor the owner) parroted back that it "wasn't enough time"(without knowing I offered to lower my expectations significantly to things that would have definitely been doable in 3hrs.) This person offered to reschedule me with the OWNER of the salon, since Autumn(who was now somehow miraculously working on another client, in a time slot I had already reserved? Odd timing but not my business) wasn't able to meet our needs.
The time slot reserved by their own receptionist in the confirmation email that was sent immediately? ... Only 4hrs long.
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ATLAS team, if you're reading this, please consider a requisite consultation online or in person to prevent this kind of heartbreak and disappointment for future clients. I'm not sure what else to suggest but this was truly devastating in ways that you can't understand.
