On Friday, August 26, 2022, I visited Nail Lab located in Matteson, Illinois, the nail tech that did my nails seemed rushed. Once she finished my nails, two of them did not match in color (two nails that I had done in a different color from the rest of my nails). When I pointed this out to her, she tried to justify the non-matching nails by saying that was just how the powder comes out of jar because of the crystal and shiny color. I asked her to redo the one nail to match the others. She hastily redid the nail. The nail technician finished up my service, and then I paid, tipped both my pedicurist and manicurist, and left the establishment.
Fast forward to Wednesday, August 31, 2022, only five days after the application, I started to notice the dip powder product recede from my cuticles. Since I have been getting dip powder applied to my nails, at any given nail salon, I have always been told that it will last for two weeks or more and is better and more durable than no chip polish. The owner of Nail Lab said no different, stating that the dip powder was better for my nails and would last at least two weeks. This was not the case with this particular application. Instead, by Thursday, September 1, 2022, just six days after the application, it looked like I needed a complete fill-in for my nails. One of my nails had also chipped. On Saturday, September 4, 2022 I went into the salon to show the owner, who goes by the name "Ron", that my nails had receded, explaining to him that they started doing so by Wednesday, only five days after receiving the service, and asked him if he could do something to repair my nails so they at least look like I had a fresh manicure. My nails looked like I needed a complete fill in already and it was not even close to the two weeks that the product is supposed to last. I also showed "Ron" the chipped nail. "Ron" looked at my nails and, without any attention to what I had told him about the product receding, lifted my hand and used his finger to start chipping away the polish from another of my nails-a totally different nail from the one I told him had chipped. He then told me that he would fix those two nails, referring to the one I showed him that had chipped and the one he decided to manually chip away on his own. My reasoning for coming back in was not for him to fix two chipped nails, one of which he took upon his own to chip polish off of, but to show him that the dip powder application that was done was not up to par and that the product obviously did not hold up to his claim that it would last two weeks.
"Ron" then started overtalking me, telling me that he would not redo my nails, my nails were fast and that he would only fix the two nails. At that point, "Ron" whose name as listed with the Illinois Secretary of State Business Services is Yuanrui Li (and for further reference, there is also a Hongliang Xu listed as being associated with Nail Lab) and also owns a Nail Lab located in Oak Lawn, had become disrespectful in his demeanor, becoming loud in tone and tuning out what I was saying. He completely ignored the fact that, as a customer, I had paid for a service/product that did not stand up to his and its claim. Mr. Li refused to acknowledge that my nails needed a full fill-in and it had not been close to two weeks since one of his employees in his establishment had rendered the service which, again, does not hold to the claim that the product should last for two weeks.
At this point, other patrons as well as employees had started to pause and look, which seemed to make Mr. Li even more agitated and irate in tone.
It was apparent that Mr. Li was not going to honor his claim about the service and the product that his establishment offers. Instead, he became disrespectful and dismissive. I expressed to Mr. Li, that, as the owner of the establishment, he should be able to offer more to compensate for his false claim and shoddy service and product. Instead, Mr. Li laughed in my face and refused to admit that he had basically taken my money and did a disservice to me. Mr. Li's disrespect for me as a customer was appalling.
It seems Mr. Li is okay with establish his business and making money off of predominantly black clientele, but he has an issue with that same clientele when he is made aware that his products and services are not holding up to his claim. Mr. Li took no accountability as a business owner. I was definitely swindled by Mr. Li. He has no true respect or value for the clientele he primarily serves. Instead, his Nail Lab establishment has a drive-through mentality of getting as many customers in and out throughout the day with the hopes they do not notice the sub-par products being used on them.
My experience was awful and I hope no one else has to experience Mr. Li's ill-mannered, unprofessional, and unaccountable mentality.
I could not let this incident go unnoted. read more