I rarely ever give one-star reviews. (I've been Yelping for about 15 years, been Elite for 13, and I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt. I always round up my review rating stars. Check out my stats). But in this case, Splashie is lucky to get one star from me.
I'm in the market for a reasonable priced nail salon. It has to be clean but needn't be fancy. Being unemployed, I can't afford to spend $50+ on acrylic fills every 6 weeks, but having decent hands is important to me so I budget for regular care. My kid in the States and I both were researching nearby nail salons that had good reviews and reasonable prices when my kid sent me the link to Splashie, telling me to check it out.
Their website had an extensive menu of services and very reasonable prices listed. Their Yelp reviews were, for the most part, great. And the salon is in walking distance from me! I thought I hit the jackpot here! I called to make an appointment for an acrylic fill for Friday and the woman asked if I could come in today. Right away, that should have given me pause. But, ok, my hands were a mess, I could rush through my morning appointments and make it there in the afternoon. Sure, I'll be there at 3pm!
Rushing through Costco and home and walking my dog, I was practically running to make my appointment on time, but jazzed to be getting my hands done (as usual, I waited too long and they were a mess). The salon was inside a building where there are multiple small businesses; Splashie's site was at the rear of the inner courtyard, with lots of neon signs on the front glass wall (you can't miss it! The signs are SO bright). The salon was tiny but clean, with bright yellow walls and nail and pedi stations all close to each other. The size of two walk-in closets. Jam-packed with polishes on the walls and supplies. Cluttered. But it appeared clean, so I didn't care.
A woman asked me to sit at the front nail station and asked what I needed. I said I had an appointment for an acrylic fill. She puts a basket of nail color swatches down and I ask, are these for gel polishes? Because I never get gel (it's always more expensive than regular nail polish). She said yes, just assuming I wanted gel. I said no, it costs more, right? I then asked the price and she said it cost $50 for fill with gel. I said oh, that's too much for me, I'll just get regular polish, and can she confirm the price for me? (Their website clearly says acrylic fill with regular polish cost $30). She said it would be $45. What? That's a big discrepancy from their website's listed price! With tax and tip, it'd be close to $60! I mentioned the big discrepancy in price listed from the website and she said oh no, that's an OLD website, with OLD prices. And she looked at me like I was CRAZY for even mentioning this.
I don't know about you, but this kind of thing just reeks of shadiness to me. That, or extreme negligence about your business and/or not caring at all about your clients' who are on budgets or your own business reputation. Is this a bait-and-switch ruse, just to get people in the door? I don't get it. All I know is, I don't like surprises when it comes to money. I mentioned that she might consider updating the prices listed on the website and she said, oh no, repeating that it's just an old website, and seriously, she acted like I was really out of place for even suggesting this be updated.
Needless to say, I left promptly, and I have no intention of ever returning.
Am I wrong for thinking a business' advertised prices are their actual prices?
BEWARE of this place, and know in advance that their website DOES NOT provide accurate pricing for any of their services, and they don't care that it's inaccurate. read more