My husband surprised me with a trip to Napa to celebrate my 40th and our wedding anniversary, as part of the surprise he scheduled a spa day for us at Spa Terra. We were booked for couples services for body scrubs and wraps followed up with a couples massage. Both the scrub and wrap were nice, the pricey massage was mediocre at best. I had booked for a theraputic massage, as I always do and I agree that elbows are often a requirement to break up problem areas but launching into that within the first 2 minutes made for a distinctly unpleasant experience. The premises themselves are lovely but the changeroom is on the small side so when I came out there was no choice but to walk through a noxious cloud of heavy perfume as a squealing group of women dominated the entire vanity and sprayed each other with perfume, they then continued to do each other's hair and make-up and trade clothes for what appeared to be a night out in Vegas, not Napa. Seems a very basic thing that spas these days have signage about perfumes - not this one. But trust me this was a walk in the park compared to what came next.
About half an hour after we left my legs developed a terrible rash that was red, inflamed and itchy. By the time we got back to our B&B my legs were disgusting and I was so glad I had worn pants that day..........turns out that's all I could wear for the next few weeks which was so disappointing given that I had packed a number of cute dresses and shorts that I was looking forward to wearing. The owner of the B&B suggested an antihistimine in case it was an allergy and I tried that, there was no change whatsoever. We were only in Napa from the 19th until the 23rd of September and our spa visit was on the 21st, good thing I packed 2 pairs of pants. As soon as we got home I contacted the spa to explain what had happened and detailed our treatments as well as the fact that I had spent some time in the steam room and the Jacuzzi. I sent pictures of the rash as it was on the 24th and 25th, so 3 days later, I was very surprised when I was forwarded to the spa's insurance company almost immediately.
Spa Terra and their insurance company wanted medical evidence that I didn't have an allergy (I have never had an allergy nor a reaction like this in my life and I've been in dozens of spas virtually around the world.). They wanted me to release my medical file and arrange to see a specialist in Calgary to be allergy tested because according to them, "if you have an allergy we are not responsible". I was unable to get into my doctor until the week after we got back and by then the rash had cleared up - so there was no point in going to show her nothing. In order to see an allergist I am on a waitlist for 10 months so they can test me for allergies to the known ingredients in the spa treatments..........and shall we just speculate on the contents of the Jacuzzi? IF it comes back that I have an allergy to something in the treament, then they claim no responsibility as it is a pre-existing condition - which I highly doubt given that the primary ingredients are orange and honey in the scrub and the wrap - both of which I consume often. If the results are that I have no allergies that still doesnt rule out the Jacuzzi.
The Spa and insurance company have closed the file pending reciept of medical evidence from me...essentially they want me to provide the evidence that they are not liable for what happened.
Please do yourself a favour - stay away, there are much better options in Napa, unless that is you find the idea of paying hundreds of dollars for an ugly itchy rash. read more