I went to this spa yesterday for a hot stone massage (Saturday August 6 at 2PM). However, the masseuse giving me the massage instead decided to give me the massage SHE wanted to give, instead of the one I paid for (According to my receipt, her name was Chona). I waited overnight before writing this to calm down somewhat at the absolute piss-poor massage I received.
Instead of the hot stone stone massage, for the first hour, instead I got almost non-stop pain and repeated requests for the masseuse to 'relax and stop tensing up., with muscle work that seemed more akin to deep tissue or athletic massage than hot stone. Despite repeated expressions of pain, she consistently refused to use less pressure, stating 'it has to hurt or it won't get better'. And then going back to telling me to relax and stop tensing, despite the fact that tensing up is an involuntary muscle reaction to being in pain.
I booked the massage to relax after a fairly stressful few weeks at work. The masseuse instead decided that no, I may have wanted to relax, but what I NEEDED was painful body work for the vast majority of the massage. Hot stones were BARELY used, perhaps 10 min. of the first hour.
It took me getting up off the table after one final order from her to 'relax 'and me threatening to walk out before she (slightly) reduced the pressure to a tolerable level and actually started using the stones more frequently. By that point, the back work was done (and on which she seemed to spend a minimal amount of time, again focusing on trying to release points in my legs- which I might add, were NEVER brought up as a problem by me when she asked if I had anywhere she wanted to focus- she simply decided on her own to spend about half an hour on them).
To use an analogy, if she was waitress at a restaurant, it was like if I had ordered a hamburger as some comfort food, and instead she decided to give me a kale salad instead because 'it's better for me'.
I didn't come in for athletic massage. I didn't come in for agony. I came in to relax. The amsseuse only started actually using the stones more frequently (AFTER all the back work as long done, I might add) AFTER I got up and threatened to leave. Her arguments for her side' I want you to get better!' and 'I can give you a hot stone massage, but it won't help you, it's not what you want, it's just going to relax you a little'.Yes, I wanted it to relax me a little. I booked the massage and paid $130 because I WANTED to relax,
I understand that pain happens in massage, that to get rid of knots etc, there's some pain and discomfort involved. I've had massages before and I get that. But there's a difference between tolerable levels of pain and what I got yesterday. I was clearly in MASSIVE pain from her work, and she refused to lighten the pressure until I went with the nuclear' I'm leaving' option.
In short, while the masseuse *might* be an excellent athletic or therapeutic worker, she had NO BUSINESS giving a hot stone massage, and she needs to learn to listen from client feedback, instead of just doing what she wanted to do anyways. read more