Never again. I have struggled with this salon for a year now. I gave them a try with the Groupon special --$30 at the time for what is really a $45 milk and honey pedicure. Because I was local with an apartment in the building, the owner (who asked me at least half a dozen times where I lived) told me to come back and that whenEVER I came, she would give me the milk and honey for the
Groupon rate. Fair enough and smart, I thought, as why make a regular always print off a Groupon, or why make regulars pay 50% more than one timers, right?
So it is convenient, never need an appointment, not the cleanest place and the energy is low, low, low as you can tell the stylists are tired and sleeping between customers. But, hey, drop in for $30, fine, I could suck that up. And, finally, after all that time, the gal who does my pedicures is doing them the way I like them: no cutting, no cheese graters on the bottom of the feet, no scissors down deep on the big toes fostering ingrown toenails. So, we got there.
EXCEPT! That every single time I have gone back, the owner "forgets" her offer. Two weeks ago I reminded her, and she "oh yeah"ed me, and offered me the $30. I thought I was soooo nice, given a year had passed, so I told her let's make it $35. I want her to make money, and $35 for the milk and honey is a fair price.
So imagine my frustration today, when checking out, she tells me $45! I reminded her that we agreed on Groupon price and again, "Oh yeah". Then in Vietnamese or Korean (her name Kim), she tells the young woman that she had taken TOO LONG doing my pedicure and she wouldn't get a tip! IE, Kim was confiscating the girl's $10 and pocketing it herself! When I told her that was unacceptable, and pulled another $10 from my purse to give it to her "worker", she protested and said, "No, No. She take too long."
Crazy. Finally I am a happy customer and she punishes her employee for doing a good job? What the heck is that about? I shook my head, told the owner I was never coming back (and I will not unless it is to give her employee a larger tip for her year's worth of pedicures) and took the extra $10 over the the nail tech. If I'd have had a $20 handy, I'd have given the girl that. Lord only knows how much her boss (mother? Aunt?) is stealing from her. Just awful.
For a year I was constantly subjected to sales pitches and aggressive pushes for NuSkin products, or mani:pedi, or pink and whites, or whatever she thought she could get another $10 out of me for. Today, I observed the same high sales pressure on another woman in the store. First, an extra $5.00 for "longer lasting polish". The woman took it back and selected a polish that is included. Then, a push for using the NuSkin product (Kim's sister is a dealer, so beware getting sucked into that pyramid business). Again the woman politely said no. And then a push for the higher milk and honey pedicure. Finally the woman was so frustrated she simply said, "i am trying to stay in a budget this month. We just bought a house and I can only spend so much."
Good grief, why should anybody be made to feel pressure when they are going for what should be relaxing pedicure?
They shouldn't. My advice: do what she and I both did today -- Just say "No" to Lenox Nails. read more