I was looking for a stylist, and Kayla offered the services I was looking for and overall had good…read morereviews. I have had good luck using Groupon in the past to find amazing service professionals-like my massage therapist (who I've gone to for 7 years because of Groupon), so I purchased a Groupon for a haircut and partial highlight. I went online and booked an appointment using the online scheduling tool. The only appointment slots available for the next few months were weekdays during the day, all times I'd be working. No issue, I selected one that was just over two weeks out on a Friday afternoon at 3:15pm, and requested vacation time from work to be able to be available for that time slot. The tool requires you to confirm your appointment online, and it speaks to being charged a cancellation fee if you cancel or modify your appointment with less than 24 hours notice. I'd speculate that feature is in place because people have canceled late or have been no calls no shows.
The day of my appointment arrived and I was really looking forward to it, because I really needed a haircut and highlights. At around 12:45pm, I received a text message stating that her child was sick and that she would have to cancel my 3:15pm appointment. While I was disappointed, I understand that things happen, and I asked if there was a way to reschedule on a weekend since I already was using vacation time. She stated that someone may need to cancel a slot the next morning at 9am, and if I would be available. I said yes, of course, let me know. I then waited to hear back. I followed up around 9:45pm that day, after not hearing anything. She got back to me around 7:45am the next day stating that she'd had a rough night with her sick child and that the person was keeping the appointment. I said, "Sorry to hear that you had a rough night. Okay, is there another time available to reschedule, please?" I didn't hear anything back again.
I waited a week to give her a chance to respond, in case something had happened, to follow up with her with the following feedback about my experience,
"Hi, since I didn't heard back, I hope nothing terrible happened with your child and that he/she is back to feeling better. I just wanted to take a moment to share with you my feedback on my experience with you. I had read that you had good reviews and was really looking forward to meeting you. Unfortunately you had to reschedule, and that's okay, it happens, I understand-it's not the end of the world. I am disappointed that there was no effort made to follow up on rebooking the appointment that you'd canceled last minute, especially after I'd mentioned that I'd taken vacation time from work to come see you. Thanks for considering my feedback."
I have received no response back (one might imagine if this was just a case where she forgot to text me back, etc, she might have responded that this was so unlike her, etc.) Maybe it's because I was a Groupon customer so she wasn't really interested in retaining my business as a client.
Unfortunately after 3 days of purchasing a Groupon, the best they will do is offer you an exchange for something else in the amount you paid, as long as you spend it before the original Groupon you purchased expires. I don't really purchase much from Groupon anymore, so I'm not quite sure what I'll do with the trade value they're offering, but I'll have to find something.
Anyway, form your own opinions about the professionalism of this particular individual, especially if you're considering trying her for the first time and/or using Groupon to do so.
