I scheduled a 4pm Friday appointment for my daughter. Rawan contacted me the day prior and asked to reschedule the appointment, and we agreed to a 10:30 am Saturday appointment time.
We arrived at the office building shortly before 10:30am, but the doors were locked. There was no call panel to gain entry. We had to wait until someone exiting the building opened the door, so we could go inside. We called Rawan once inside, because her business was not listed on a lobby panel. She told us to go up to the third floor. As we were entering the elevator, two other people arrived and couldn't get into the building. We let them in, and because they looked to be about the same age as my daughter, asked if they were looking for the piercing studio, and they followed us up to the third floor. We knocked on Rawan's studio door, but we could tell the light was turned off, so then we sat in the waiting room.
Rawan arrived carrying what looked like shopping bags of supplies. By this point it was 10:54am. My daughter said, "I saw her pull up in the parking lot and get out of her car," so Rowan clearly wasn't already in the building or wasn't running late with another client. After a short conversation with the other two people in the room, Rawan asked if we were her 10:30 appointment and led us into her studio. She NEVER apologized for being very late.
She showed my daughter the jewelry options which started at $50 a piece for surgical steel and titanium starting at $100 a piece for basic stud flatbacks! If you know anything about jewelry, then you understand that she's charging a 5x-plus mark-up. This did not include the price of the piercing. She also said that surgical steel contains nickel, but she failed to state that it is tightly bound and considered hypoallergenic for most people and unlikely to cause allergic reactions. Folks, surgical steel is used for medical instruments and implanted in the human body. It's perfectly safe to use for a piercing stud that will be in the lobe for six weeks. Rawan went straight for the extremely bloated up-sale. An honest and seasoned piercer, will educate clients and ask questions, not attempt to rip-off clients. Further, she didn't have any options in gold surgical steel, only silver, which means titanium was the only option. At this point, I told her the rates were too inflated, and significantly more than other piercers. Her website doesn't work, and I mistakingly assumed her rates were in alignment with other piercers. Her response was, "When people come to me, they know what they're getting." How is that possible, when a business doesn't post their rates?
Despite the fact that she was 24 minutes late to the appointment after being the one to reschedule it in the first place, not apologizing for being late and wasting a client's time, and being dishonest about pricing, Rawan refused to refund the $25 downpayment for the appointment. My strong recommendation is to avoid this business. I've had several piercings in my life, including body piercings, and I'm familiar with the practice. This piercer is unprofessional and dishonest. There are better piercers in the area. I as able to make an appointment with another piercer in Columbia the same day, and the total price was $96. The placement was perfect, and the experience was lovely. We tipped them very generously. read more