"Where there's smoke, there's fire." After our experience, I checked Google reviews--in the last 3 months alone, at least two other negative reviews mention law enforcement involvement. This appears to be a pattern. Potential customers should look elsewhere.
My family had an extremely upsetting experience here. What should have been straightforward service ended with manager Claudia yelling profanities at my family, making false accusations, physically pushing my wife, and calling police. We left feeling misled, overcharged, and traumatized.
Undisclosed Fees and Deceptive Billing
20% Service Fee: Mandatory fee added to entire bill. Customers sign acknowledgement upon arrival, but it's not disclosed on their website or office beforehand. For stressed families who've taken off work and pulled kids from school, this feels exploitative.
Deceptive Billing: Website and forms state billing in 15-minute increments. Reality? Every time was rounded up to the nearest half hour. Staff verbally announced actual times (my daughter: 3hrs 45min, me: 1hr 15min), but the receipt showed rounded charges (4hrs, 1.5hrs). At $150/hour, these "rounding errors" added significant cost, directly contradicting their written policy.
Hidden Follow-up Charges: They advertise a 30-day lice-free guarantee requiring a follow-up appointment after 5 days. After paying $150/hour for treatment, the follow-up seemed included. Wrong--$20 per person, documented nowhere.
After-Hours Upcharging: We scheduled 9am Monday. Due to their mismanagement, our babysitter was still in treatment at 8pm. Manager tried charging $350/hour "after-hours" pricing for delays they caused.
Poor Scheduling and Management
Our Monday appointment became an 11-hour ordeal (for 4 people) due to terrible scheduling:
* Manager accepted a last-minute preschool appointment the night before, took multiple staff offsite during our time
* We waited hours with no treatment
* Walk-ins accepted despite scheduled appointments
* Result: scheduled customers pushed to evening, then hit with "emergency after-hours" rates
Clear priority: revenue extraction over customer service or respect for clients' time.
Unprofessional Manager Conduct
When I calmly questioned unexpected charges and delays, Claudia escalated dramatically:
* Became verbally aggressive, used profanity toward my family (including two young children)
* Made a scene, started recording with her phone
* Made unfounded accusations calling us racist and homophobic
* Physically pushed my wife while forcing us out
* Called police claiming harassment (never asked us to leave first) and made false assault accusations
* When police asked about her recording, she admitted she hadn't recorded anything
Police reviewed both sides and business security footage showing her aggressive behavior. We were not charged with anything.
Staff Miscommunication
Treatment staff member Alexa told us the most experienced person, Claudia, would perform our second check after returning from the preschool. When we asked Claudia about this, she angrily stated she "is the office manager and doesn't do treatments or checks" and berated Alexa in front of us. Later learned Claudia had performed treatments on other families from our preschool.
Important note: The treatment staff--particularly Alexa--were excellent. Thorough, professional, kind to our children, clearly skilled. Alexa was patient, communicative, went above and beyond. Staff doing actual lice removal deserve 5 stars. Unfortunately, manager's aggressive behavior and deceptive business practices overshadowed their good work entirely.
Summary
Between undisclosed fees, manipulative pricing, poor management, and the manager's unprofessional and aggressive behavior: AVOID this business if you care about your experience, time, and money. What should have been straightforward service became a multi-thousand-dollar ordeal ending with police involvement due to manager's conduct.
Families dealing with lice are already stressed--you deserve transparency in pricing, respect for your time, and professional treatment. We received none of these at Lice Knowing You, Mercer Island, WA. read more