I had set up an afternoon session at this studio to celebrate my birthday on June 8th and had chosen the 1pm time. I was so excited to do this ever since my sister sent me an IG reel of the place. I had invited 6 people and when my sister and I got there, the place was closed. I thought "No big deal. It's just closed to the public since it's a private party." One of my guests had found the owner's number and called her.
Apparently, she'd thought the session was at 4pm. She said she was 10 mins from the studio because they had dropped something off in Casa Grande. When I called her, she told me the same thing. Not too long after I got off the phone, she sent me the following text:
Her: Sorry we're late. We had an emergency come up this morning causing us to go to casa grande. We thought the class was at 4, but that was my confusion.
We're almost at the studio, but if you're on a time crunch we can reschedule for another day. If you still want to do it today, we will need about 25 mins to set up. Let me know what works for you.
Me: Still going to do it. A couple of us are on a time crunch, but we're going to do it. However, I'd like a discount now. Please text when you're set up. We're all waiting in a car in the parking lot.
Her: Unfortunately we won't be able to make it in time for the class, so I'm going to have to cancel it. We will have remain closed for today due to my family emergency.
I'll refund your deposit, thank you for your time and sorry for the inconvenience. I hope you understand I have a few urgent matters to take care of today.
Me: How soon am I going to get the refund?
Her: You should receive it within the next 48 hours. If you do not, let me know. Thank you.
I would've considered rescheduling when she owned up to her scheduling mistake. Clearly, she didn't read our emails and scheduled it wrong. Okay, fine. But when I say we still want to do the activity and ask for a discount, all of a sudden there's a "family emergency" and she has to cancel--WHEN SHE'S THE ONE WHO ASKED IF WE STILL WANTED TO DO IT? I call bullshit. When me and my other friend talked to her, there was no mention of a family emergency. Which makes me think if my session really had been scheduled for 4pm, it would've been fine. Maybe. Or she still might've cancelled without notifying me beforehand.
Sorry for the inconvenience? It truly was. It was inconvenient for one of my friends who was coming from Litchfield Park. It was inconvenient for another friend who's a Southwest Airlines flight attendant and had to practically jump through hoops to change her schedule to a later shift so she could participate. And it was inconvenient because we all showed up--and stood there in the fucking hot sun at her studio--trying to figure out what the hell happened.
I appreciate the refund of my deposit, but my first impression of this local business was my last impression. I don't plan on rescheduling and actually found a better place to try out in Tempe in the near future. read more