I called to schedule an appointment at the Baltimore spa for a facial. I had to leave a message for someone to call me back. The first call back, the representative couldn't hear me so she hung up and called back. We discussed the service that I wanted and scheduled it for the next day at 4:45. Perfect. I went on to ask about using my gift card that I registered on the Four Seasons website. I was advised the entire card number would be needed. As I looked at the website where I registered the card, some of the numbers are replaced by asterisks. Lacey (I believe that is her name) seemed unfamiliar with this registration process that I was referencing. After a bit of back and forth, (mainly because I didn't understand the purpose of registering the card if nobody can access the account number), Lacey put her manager on the phone. My apologies but her name escapes me. I asked her to explain to me the purpose of registering the card. I thought that if the card was registered, you no longer needed it. She advised I needed to call another company (GIVEX) in order to get the information for the card. I went on to explain to her that the person who gave me the card is now deceased so I don't know how the card was purchased. I explained there is no email address because it was not an online card that I had. It was an actual card that was given to me inside of a birthday card. I went on to say that this is very confusing. You register the card yet no one has access to it. In a true, I accept no responsibility for any of this fashion, she tells me "I will corporate know your views." I guess it is only me. No it is not because she did say when people come in without their cards, they think that we can access them and we cannot. Ok, so now I have called the spa. Gotten two calls back and now a fourth call is being made to GIVEX to get information on the gift card. All of this for $50!!! GIVEX informs me that due to their high call volumes, someone will call me back later today. I gave them my name and phone number. The gentleman tells me "Keep your phone lines open Tonya." Really? After waiting about two hours I called back because I thought they may close and my appointment is for tomorrow. This is phone call number 5 about this matter. The lady at GIVEX informs me that she cannot help me unless it was purchased online. Now I feel like I am getting the run around and my time is being wasted. I call the spa back. This is phone call number 6. After multiple transfers, there is nobody available to speak to me in the spa. I then ask for the corporate executive office where I can voice my complaint about all of the run around and I am told by Erica that I would first need to speak to the manager there. I asked for the hotel manager (Christian Stork) and I was transferred to Jim, Front Desk Manager. He is totally unfamiliar with what I am talking about and offered to try to help. I gave him the information he asked for and he advised he would call me back. Meanwhile, the spa calls me back. This is phone call number 7. I can hear her clearly but she cannot hear me. Clearly there is a short in their telephone. She hangs up and calls back. This is phone call number 8. She advises that I have to report the card lost on the website to get another card which will not help me with the appointment for tomorrow. Now wait a minute. Are you telling me on the 8th phone call that I have wasted my afternoon? She asked for the phone numbers that I was given to call because I am now irritated that I have called around only to be told that my calls were all in vain because the registration of the card is not in lieu of having the card. The registration of the card is simply if you loose it or it is stolen, you can have it replaced. That is very unclear, not just to me the consumer, but to your employees as well because nobody could explain that to me until phone call 8. Phone call 9 - Jim calls me back and clearly does not have a clue about this matter. While he professes to try to help me, I have now told this story to many times to to many people for a 60 minute facial and a chance to use a $50 gift card. This is more work than I truly wanted to do on this. At the end of the day, I guess Jim is still working on this and I guess I will go schedule an appointment at another spa. This truly is not what I expect from Four Seasons. I am underwhelmed. I will put it out to my social media following and Yelp for their knowledge and feedback because I truly feel like I was left holding the bag. At the very least, what I would have expected is, since I can show the registered gift card, apply it to my appointment tomorrow and cancel it out on the back end. There are ways to make the customer whole without the inconvenience.
Update: Jim, Front Desk Manager, called back to advise he had the website for me to access the entire number for the gift card. He texted me the website, and it was the same website I had received before that I had! read more