I don't know if Mr Koenig is a good hypnotist. I never had the chance to find out. I called several hypnotists first thing Monday morning. Mr. Koenig was the first to return my call, within hours of my voice message. After speaking briefly with him, he asked if I was available on that Friday, as he'd had a cancellation. I was so ready to get started and said I would move an appointment I had. On Wednesday he called me to ask if it was possible to move our meeting up to 1:45 as that would work out much better for him. I agreed. Warwick is a 45 minute drive from my house. I got lost finding the building (drove past it and then gps gave confusing instructions) but had left extra time and still arrived at 1:44, flustered but on time! There is no receptionist, and I was unsure what to do despite watching a video on his website. So I sat. At 1:50, I knocked timidly on his office door, afraid he might still be with someone. At 2:00 I knocked more forcefully, At 2:05 I left, leaving a voice mail to let him know. At 2:20 Mr Koenig called to tell me he was sorry but since he didn't have a secretary, he'd failed to put my appointment in his calendar. I don't understand how. He was the one who arranged the appointment. He offered a free session but how could I trust someone to induce a state of hypnosis who had so little regard for showing up to an appointment he (not a secretary) made. A first appointment with a new client! People make mistakes, but in my book, this was huge and speaks to either being absent-minded or unprofessional, neither being characteristics I would want in a hypnotist. I've never been hypnotized before. I had a great deal of trepidation. Maybe if it had been a second or third meeting I could have laughed it off. How do I know that this isn't indicative of other aspects of his practice? I wasn't going to post a review but I felt obligated to share this experience with others
UPDATE: (APRIL 1, '20) Why am I updating my review after a year? Mr, Koenig continues to contact me asking me to change my review! My review is fair and objective. I have written nearly 200 Yelp reviews and I have never been badgered to change my review! I reported exactly what happened and I explained why I lost confidence in his professional behavior. I believe this is valuable information to share with the Yelp audience. Was it really the only time in thousands of interactions that he's erred? Who knows! How unlucky was I to be the sole recipient of his negligence. It's also frustrating that he has never once sincerely owned up to this error. He blamed it on not having a secretary and yet he was the one who contacted me throughout the week, scheduling the appointment and then revising it because it would be "better for him." As someone with advanced degrees in counseling and psychology, I am aware that a professional must make a commitment to establish trust and security with a first-time client. He failed to do that and failed to recognize the damage he did. Each time he contacts me, he blames me (most recently) for being unreasonable and a bully. This provides only further evidence of questionable professional behavior and honestly only makes me more sure that I am justified in my rating of him. Should I have taken him up on his offer for a free session? Would I have felt safe being hypnotized by someone who was unable to keep track of a commitment he made for himself? I lost all trust and faith in him. I am quite upset that he continues to contact me and attempts to manipulate me into revising my review. And quite frankly, I also think it's highly inappropriate that's he's recently edited his response to my review to include a promotion for his new online "Covid 19" services. Sorry, I won't back down. I have written a fair and honest review and I will notbe intimidated or embarrassed into recanting it.
UPDATE: (July 2020). In addition to everything stated in my previous remarks, it's important to let potential customers know that periodically I wake up to multiple notifications that Mr. Koenig has responded to my post. It's not a new message but a revision of the one he's already revised multiple times. This morning, for example, there were three notifications meaning he edited and re-edited his response to me three times. I've asked him to stop contacting me and while I haven't received an email since the last time I warned him that I would go to authorities if he continued to barrage me, these late night revisions feel very much like a continuation of his harassment. Why does he feel the need to continue to edit his reply over and over again? Again, I can not emphasize how happy I am that I did not enter a therapeutic relation with this man! read more