My worst mani pedi experience.
Long description ahead.
I am 37 weeks pregnant, struggling to reach my own toes and I let them get quite long at this point. I figured I'd have my nails professionally done before baby is born so I wouldn't have to worry about it for a while.
I made an appointment online the night before for a standard/regular mani pedi combo, showed up on time today. On the online form I chose "any technician" because this is my first time here.
There were several people being serviced when I stepped inside. A guy checked me in, told me I could grab a drink from the fridge, and called for someone to come start my pedi.
At first, it seemed like everything was fine. The girl that approached me acted flustered but was very nice. She did ask if the temperature of the jet water and towels were ok and made sure she got the color polish I wanted for my toes, which are included in a regular pedi.
The more I settled into the chair, the less attention I paid to the details of her work. There were videos on the tv screens there and I was texting my husband. I tried to just relax.
A couple of times when she was clipping my toenails, it felt painful but only for a moment. I didn't think much of it.
However, when she used a scrub on my foot, she used so much force it really hurt and I winced at the pain but she didn't say anything about my reaction. She repeated on the other foot. The hard scrub went all the way back beyond my heels to behind my ankles, which felt like my skin was being scrubbed off. As soon as she took my feet out of the water, she used a hot towel on them which soothed the pain.
Then I was surprised that she started applying polish right away. In my mind, it felt rushed but I figured she knew what she was doing. After helping me into my flip flops, she led me to the table for a mani.
I had already cut my own fingernails before this appointment so all she had to do was help remove some leftover bits of old polish I had and neaten up my cuticles a bit. During this time, the backs of my ankles stung really badly so I kept looking down at them. She inquired about it and I told her my skin was bleeding. Either she didn't hear me or didn't understand, I don't know. She didn't respond, just continued what she was doing. I shrugged it off.
She asked me 3 times what color I wanted for fingernails. I had to repeat that not only was it not included in the regular mani service description, I didn't want any color on my hands. She then told me, "ok then you are done".
I waited at the seat thinking the original guy who checked me in would come to take care of my payment but he didn't and this girl stood by the register. She didn't say anything but kept standing there so I went over to pay. She entered the wrong things in the card machine several times and fiddled with it a lot before it reflected what I thought were the correct services.
I paid and opted to leave an 18% tip because I thought that was customary.
Due to being super pregnant, I fell asleep as soon as I got home from the mani pedi for several hours. When I woke, I wanted to admire my nails. Unfortunately, the polish had "melted" or disintegrated and got all over my toes. My toenails were also a mess - they were clipped in random spots so that they all looked weirdly jagged, uneven, and had sharp edges. The backs of my heels still hurt and had raw bloody spots. Only my hands felt and looked fine.
Honestly, I was shocked at how my pedi turned out. I don't understand how anyone, especially someone in the industry, would think it's ok to let someone leave the salon in that condition. I definitely couldn't live with my feet in that condition so I removed the polish at home and spent so much effort getting around my pregnant belly to fix the botched-up clip job. It was so bad.
I absolutely hate confrontation so I'd rather not call to complain about this terrible service, but it would not be right to leave it unknown that this happened. I don't know the name of the girl who did my mani pedi but no matter what her situation is, this is an unacceptable result for what I paid for.
I am taking this as a cost loss and am so disappointed. I do not want to return to this place after today's experience. read more