Though I have not visited or patronized this establishment, I have a complaint. I received a Bibi Salon gift certificate valued at $50 on Monday, February 14th that had an expiration date of Thursday, March 31st. To be honest, I completely forgot about the certificate and came across it on Monday, March 28th, just a few days before it expired. I immediately logged onto Bibi's website to discern what service I would like to have and proceeded to call to make an appointment for a Brown Sugar Pedicure ($60). To my dismay, I learned that Bibi Salon is closed from Sunday through Wednesday and I would have to wait until Thursday morning (the 31st) to make an appointment.
Bibi's opens at 10am so I waited until shortly after 11am today to call the salon and attempt to schedule an appointment. I explained to the courteous young lady on the phone, Soleil (sp?), that I held a gift certificate that was scheduled to expire today and my desire to schedule an appointment. Soleil explained that they were totally booked. I then asked if I could be squeezed in at all and Soleil asked if I could come in tomorrow (Friday, April 1st). I replied, "Yes, I can gladly come in tomorrow however will my gift certificate be honored despite its expiration date?" Soleil stated that she was not sure if it would be honored but that she would ask the owner and call me back within 20 minutes. I happily gave her my name and phone number, and thanked her for her assistance. Two hours later and still no call from Soleil.
At 1:15pm, I phoned the salon again. I stated my name and recounted the conversation from earlier. Soleil replied, "Oh yes, I have not had a chance to speak to the owner yet and that is why I have not called you back." Hmmm... I thought to myself, "It would have been nice of you to call me back within the 20 minutes to at least inform me of the difficulties she was having with reaching the owner, etc." Isn't that Customer Service 101? Anyway, I digress. I expressed my concern about the hour of the day and the likelihood that I would secure an appointment today or tomorrow for that matter as Soleil suggested. Soleil replied, "Hold on a moment. Let me see if I can ask someone else." I replied, "Not a problem; thank you." Soleil returned to the line and stated that my gift certificate was issued two months ago, that the salon is booked today, and that there are other promotions that "kick-in" tomorrow and therefore my gift certificate could not be honored tomorrow either. I asked from whom she was given this information and she said, "the owner." I thanked Soleil and hung up, unhappily so. Funny how the owner was now available to answer the question. (??) Didn't she just say she was going to ask someone else? Hmmm...
In my head, I recanted my conversation with her and thought to myself, "Two months?! I just received the gift certificate on February 14th, only six weeks ago!" Dissatisfied with the situation and still wanting to redeem my gift certificate for a Brown Sugar Pedicure, I phoned Soleil yet again. I said, "Hi Soleil, this is Miss Collins once again. I just wanted to say that the gift certificate was issued less than two months ago on February 14th to be exact and that I really don't want it to go to waste. Are you certain that there is no way I can be squeezed in this afternoon?" Salon told me that there are no more hair appointments available today. I quickly replied, "Oh, I don't want my hair done. I would like a Brown Sugar Pedicure." Soleil replied, "Oh, I thought you wanted your hair done. Let me see if there are any appointments. Mmmm...can you come it at 4pm?" I asked if she had any availability for a bit later, say around 5pm and Soleil replied, "Oh. The gift certificate is redeemable only for hair services." What? Is she serious? I searched the gift certificate for any fine print that dictated which services could be redeemed or applicable restrictions and there were none listed! I told Soleil, "I'm looking over the gift certificate now, front and back, and I don't see any restrictions or specifications for hair services only." She replied, "Yeah. It's only for hair services." I again thanked Soleil and hung up, shaking my head.
Here are my issues:
- The receptionist did not call me back in a timely fashion, and was not equipped to answer questions.
- The owner isn't available to answer customer inquiries and has not designated someone to answer any inquiries in her stead.
- The gift certificate, which I received from a fundraising luncheon, was flawed because it did not list exceptions to its redemption.
Overall, I'm not impressed with Bibi Salon. Their website suggests professionalism and sophistication; like they have themselves together! Too bad my first encounter with and impression of them is anything but. I'm about to call the Korean nail salon in The Bronx where they know my name and will pamper my feet for less than $30! read more