Absolute Indigo? Absolute RUBBISH! My experience of this place was weird, rude, stressful and just plain CRAZY! I bought a Living Social voucher for a 1 hr. massage at Absolute and called the number to make an appt; it was a mobile. Someone picked up, but it was dead silent. I thought maybe I had the wrong number, so I quickly stated my purpose and asked if this was Absolute Indigo. What followed was a torrent of heavily accented, aggressive gibberish that I could not decipher, save for " dot co uk- dot co uk". I gathered that she wanted me to go to her website, so I asked if she wanted me to book online, to which she replied "book online-book online" and then hung up on me as fast as she possibly could. The lady's telephone manner was appalling. In an instant, I already felt unwelcome, and I hadn't done anything but try to book an appt. Whatever, I was still looking forward to my massage. I went to the "dot co uk" and saw that you could book in via a 3rd party appt software called Salonium. This service was easy to use. It showed there were 4 available slots the next day: 10, 11, 2 and 3. I chose 11. My name, mobile number and email were in the system now and my appt was booked. My "specialist" was to be Tatiana Stebel-Nowakowska. I arrived for my 11am appt at 10:38, so I could have enough time to relax and fill out any consent forms without cutting into my treatment time. When I realised that the dodgy looking store front at 41 Montrose Terrace was Absolute Indigo, I understood why there were no photos of the shop online. I took a few photos myself and uploaded them for your viewing pleasure. The shop was completely closed up, blinds shut. In fact, it was such a dark hole, I actually walked past it on my way to finding the place. I knew that this wasn't going to be a luxury spa, but I did expect that Tatiana or someone would be there to greet me, but no one was. If it's a one-woman business, and she was going to be with a client, or not there, she could've text'd, emailed or left a note on the door. As you can see from the photos, there are childish paper signs sellotaped to the windows. My favourite, a handwritten scrawl "Give a job massage therapist" posted on A4 copy paper. I don't expect every salon to be glossy. I don't mind funky or low-key, but I do think a place offering body/beauty/holistic treatments should try to be fresh, tidy and welcoming. With no sign of Tatiana, I waited on the pavement. No place to sit, so I just paced back and forth from the front of Abs Indigo to the grotty Edi Denture Clinic next door. It was hot, noisy, builder's dust everywhere from construction going on, and now I had to use the toilet. 10:55 I call Tatiana. No answer. 11:01 I call Tatiana, no answer. I never receive the txt msg Salonium promised. I check my email, nothing. I call Tatiana one more time and she HANGS UP THE PHONE WITHOUT ANSWERING! I call L Social and request a refund immediately. L Social won't issue a refund w/o contacting the merchant. They called Tatiana and magically got through. She tells them that my appt. was for 12, not 11. I KNEW this was not true, because I had to carefully coordinate around a dentist appt. + school run; the 11-12 slot was the only one I could do that day. Besides, 12 pm was not even an option on the booking form when I booked. I told L Social all this, but they said that they could not issue a refund if the merchant was willing to honour the voucher, and they would not take responsibility for what they saw as a dispute between the merchant and the client over scheduling. So, my choices were to take the 12 o'clock appointment Tatiana claimed I made, or lose the money I had already spent on the voucher. After making arrangements to accommodate this waste of time, I found a café nearby and waited until 12. At 12, I arrived once again at Absolutely Fabulous, I mean Absolutely Abysmal. The door was now unlocked, but no one in sight. I let myself in, sat down on a dingy sofa in the mess of a knackered front reception area. I wait 5 minutes, then gently call "hello? Hello?" Tatiana's head appears out from the door of the dark room in the back of the shop. She just glares at me, wild eyed. I ask, "Are you ready for the appointment?" "No!No!Come back next week!" she says as she makes sweeping gestures towards the road outside, shooing me away. "I have an appointment", I say. "No!No!No appointment! Come back next week!" "I've already come back, I have an appointment today", I say. "You can't have appointment today", she says. "Everybody know you can't make same-day appointment. People book me two weeks in advance". "I called you yesterday and you told me to go online to book and I did. There were 4 available slots today, I booked in for 1 of them." Again, she shouts at me to come back next week, all the while never coming out from behind her dark doorway in the back of her grim little shop. I leave, call L Social and was finally issued a refund. read more

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I was rather worried after reading the other two reviews about what my massage was going to entail today. I had a living social voucher and called the number as instructed and had the same manic lady screaming at me in broken english to "book on website.. dot co dot uk".. tho she didn't hang up on me until I could confirm that I should book online at absoluteindigo.co.uk which I did.. the booking process being quite straight forward. Tho I also TEXT her to confirm the TIME and DATE. All I got in reply was "confirm"... well, at least I had it in writing in case she tried to give me the runaround! I had booked for a bamboo massage (just because I had no idea what it was so was curious) but I got a phone call to say the guy who does the bamboo wasn't available for the time I'd booked and would I like a Swedish or Lomi Lomi instead? After ascertaining what the difference was, I decided on the lomi lomi... Good option as it turns out after consulting Mason & Tanya who have both had massages here on LS vouchers. I showed up pretty much bang on 2 for my appointment, no forms to fill out.. I took a seat on the couch for a couple of minutes while Aruna got the room ready. Without going on for wayy too long, I actually really enjoyed my massage. I thought Aruna did a really good job. The overhead florescent light made it quite hard to completely relax.. the other woman (I assume Tatiana?) had a bit of a yelling bout on the phone outside the door which didn't help and Aruna's next client arrived early, so she (Tatiana) knocked on the door and Aruna had to excuse himself. Not sure why she couldn't have just told them he was in a session etc. So all in all, Aruna & the lomi lomi massage = great. Overall atmosphere and crazy screaming lady = not so much. Oh yea, be prepared to get nekkid for the full lomi lomi experience. Tho there is no pressure if that's not your thang..~ read more

I booked a hot stone massage at Absolute Indigo over the weekend (I was looking for a Sunday appointment) and I have to say it was the most disappointing (and strange!) massage appointment I have ever had! From the outside I actually wondered if I was about to unwittingly walk into some kind of seedy brothel - the 'salon' was very run-down with hand-written notes taped to the windows and the blinds all shut. The therapist I had did not specialist in hot stone massages - he used a single hot stone for a tiny part of the massage and informed me afterwards that he needed to buy more stones so he could work on the tense areas more effectively. While he was a very sweet guy I felt that, as I'd specifically booked a hot stone massage I would have expected to have someone properly qualified to provide the treatment. The whole experience just had something very strange about it, and I left feeling very disappointed. Safe to say, I'll not be returning. read more

Also concerned after reading previous reviews, I was hesitant to redeem my voucher. I did so anyway and hoped for the best. Silly of me! On arrival I was told to sit on the sofa which had some unidentifiable objects stuck to it. No hello or will be with you soon. Eventually the previous customer came out of the treatment room, with a smile so I thought this shouldn't be so bad. I was ushered in, with minimum communication and told 'toilet, clothes' as she pointed to the loo and clothes hooks. I had to ask if OK keep my pants on - she nodded. I then got onto the treatment table and waited until she came back in. It felt like half a gallon of oil was slathered over me. No questions on what I wanted or any injuries I have. The massage ensued. The massage was OK but she went out during it to answer the phone - no 'excuse me' or anything. Then came the hot stones. I thought one was going to burn through my back but as she had left me alone by going into the other room I couldn't ask for a reprieve. Eventually she returned and turned me over to massage the front with another gallon of oil. Again this was just OK but again she left me mid strokes to see the next customer into the waiting area. When she finally finished my massage she said 'I give you 5 minutes'. As I was about to get up (with nothing on but my pants and copious amounts of oil), she brought the next customer in to use the toilet which is located within the treatment area. No knocking on door or 'excuse me'. Once the customer had used the toilet (without a light), I managed to get up and wipe some oil off and get dressed. As I was brushing my now greasy hair (due to the oils), she came in and rushed me out, pointing to the clock. That was it. No goodbye, see you again. Nothing but oil. Overall not an experience I would care to repeat. Customer service and communication is poor. I'm not quite sure on the cleanliness and it is all a bit shabby. A shower is a must straight after! read more

I bought a kgbdeal for a £14 Swedish or Chinese cupping massage at Absolute Indigo, so I used it yesterday (a Saturday afternoon). As I walked in exactly on time, the lady there asked me who I was and said she would call the massage therapist who was taking me, as he wasn't there. Just over 5 minutes later he arrived and apologised for being a little late, so that wasn't a problem. Went into an area at the back of the shop where there was a curtain either side with a massage table behind each. Tiny area, literally just enough room to walk around the table. He confirmed that it was a Swedish massage he was giving me and asked if I just wanted the back and shoulders done, which I did. Then he left me to get undressed while he waited behind the curtain. He didn't ask any other questions, i.e. what areas I particularly wanted massaged, whether I had any injuries, if I had massage before, and he gave no instruction as to what clothing to remove etc, which I would expect. I also felt a little uncomfortable with the curtain (with small gaps at each side) as the only barrier to him as well as other massage therapists and clients walking past. I can imagine that it would be quite unsettling for someone who had not had massage before and did not know what to expect. When I was ready, I emphasized that it was mainly my shoulders that were extremely tense and tender and that I liked a deep tissue massage. He slathered far too much oil on, and actually had to remove some and began with what I thought was a warm up of the entire back, but then he seemed to repeat the same sequence of massage strokes several times. He told me to tell him if the pressure was too hard, but I assured him I like a firm massage. Nothing changed. He still had too much oil on, which meant he wasn't getting deep into the muscles. I resigned to the fact that this wasn't going to be the best massage, but with about ten minutes to go, I asked him to do my shoulders (which I had informed was my main area of tension) and I was told that yes he would do this at the end and it depends what massage school you go to as to what order they do the massage in. Yes, it felt very much like he was just following a basic pattern of moves and didn't tailor it at all to the individual. Don't get me wrong, it was still an OK relaxing massage, but I expected a bit more from a qualified massage therapist! However after speaking to Mason today who funnily enough also went to Absolute Indigo yesterday, it seems he had a better experience with a different masseur and a different type of massage, so maybe read his review also for another opinion and maybe a better option :) read more

Just had an unpleasant experience using a "living Social" coupon. I bought a voucher for a massage at Absolute Indigo on Montrose Terrace in Edinburgh. ~The woman who was giving the massage was really rude and didn't want to give me mine as a customer who would be paying cash came in just as I should have been taken. She suggested I come back another day (although I had phoned at least twice and emailed twice to book and confirm that it was ok to use the voucher on a Saturday). I just couldn't believe how rude and offhand she was so beware of this salon. She dismissed my comments and just turned her back on me. It's a long time since I was treated in such a horrible way. So much for a nice relaxing hot stone massage. I have had to contact Living Social to ask for a refund as there is no way I could go back to this place. read more

One line summary: terrible experience, will never return. Booked online, but didn't receive any confirmation of appointment. When I phoned a few days before appointment to confirm, i was immediately hung-up after being shouted at to "book online" - this did not bode well. On the day itself, the masseuse was the rudest, most unprofessional, incompetent I have ever experienced. No medical history taken and no questions about which areas I most needed massage. I had to ask her to refrain from throwing my legs up and down due to the pain on my hips. The masseuse did not speak unless to bark an order. The second part of the treatment was a hot stone massage, which I have enjoyed elsewhere. Here however, a few stones were thrown on my back and the masseuse left the room presumably to return to her texting (as when I arrived). I could hear her sighing loudly and muttering unpleasantly. When she returned, it was to continue to treat me more as a slab of meat on a butchers block. On finishing, she left the room, to leave me to dress. As I left there she was texting again, and completely ignored me. The following day I was in more pain than before I had the treatment. I have enjoyed numerous massages elsewhere which have alleviated pain, and never this experience. Maybe I was unfortunate and got the "crazy shorty lady" that other reviewer mentioned .. But I'm not going to take the chance of a repeat, strongly recommend to avoid!!! read more