When I first moved to Astoria, this place was my go-to. It was three blocks from my apartment, the mani/pedi prices were great --it quickly became part of my Saturday morning routine. I knew to get there early though because the wait can be excruciating.
Then, I discovered gel manicures. I got my first one elsewhere when I was visiting a friend out-of-state, and loved it. A few months later, I was going on vacation, so I decided to get a gel manicure before leaving at J'aime, so I didn't have a chipping disaster while I was away.
BIG MISTAKE. HUGE. The gel starting lifting in the airport the very next morning. I tried to ignore it, and thought filling in those areas with clear polish would do the trick ---by day three my guaranteed-to-last-two-weeks gel manicure was completely gone, leaving my hands looking ridiculous for the rest of my trip.
I blamed it on myself, and moved on. I still continued going to J'aime for regular polish. This past April, I was going to my friend's Bridal shower out-of-state and again thought, let's try a gel manicure. AND AGAIN, I got it on a Friday night, and by Sunday, it was lifted. Totally lifted, and it left my nails broken. Again, I thought it was me. I must be doing something wrong, the chemistry of my finger nails must be hostile, I should wear gloves at all times --something. So, I researched it online, and no, nothing about it was my fault. Old polish and poor/careless application seemed to be the culprit.
So, I went to J'aime on Monday evening after work, and explained the situation quite nicely to the manager, and asked for store credit or a refund. At first, she seemed confused, and then she accused me of flat-out lying to her. She told me that I was lying about the evening in which the services were provided... and then told me that she didn't believe that my nails were long just three days before ... that part didn't totally make sense to me, but whatever. I corrected her on both accounts in the most diplomatic way possible.
Then, I waited there for 20 minutes while she spoke to the owner on the phone. Finally, I was reluctantly given store credit for the gel, but she decided that I couldn't be reimbursed for the full amount because she didn't "truly" believe my story. At that point, I didn't even care about the money, it was the principle. Don't call your loyal clients liars.
I haven't been back since, and I've learned from my friends in the area that a lot of people have stopped going there because J'aime's prices have skyrocketed.
In other news, I got a gel manicure last weekend elsewhere, and it looks great, and hasn't chipped once. read more