2.5 stars.
I joined…read morethis branch as I was moving around the corner for a few months, and this location is actually part of the chain, vs. the ken location that only lets you tan there, and not at any other tanning shops, b/c its a franchised location. Granted, after buying lotion which they hold for you, I haven't actually tanned at any other locations, so I can't really make any sort of comparison.
When i first joined, there was some sort of promotion going on, which worked out to be about 74 p/minute. Now, I'm coming from NYC, where I have unlimited tanning for $85 USD/month, so I tan about 4x/week, for about ten minutes each time (blah blah skin cancer, yes i'm going to get it, my mom got it, so i may as well be tan while i'm getting it.). I was at least hoping the beds were stronger here, so tanning less often would still make me darker, especially when they upcharged me the lotion, saying it would double my tanning effects (my salon in NYC provides 5 different levels of lotion free, in every room). I knew that wouldn't actually be the case, but I don't ever tan sans lotion, and it wasn't really worth buying some online when the pricing was about the same (unless coming from the states, but that whole VAT nightmare + shipping is something I despise in itself and would avoid at all costs).
Now tanning here was fine, albeit i still looked albino, even when tanning 4x/week. I informed them of this, and of course they didn't seem to understand me.
Now where things got frustrating is when they asked if I wanted to buy more minutes, that they had a new fabulous deal going on, and that I was running out of minutes (which in itself was suspicious). I bought another 60 minutes, for what turned out to be 64 pounds. Hm...that works out to over 1 pound a minute, much more than they told me it would be. After tanning and growing increasingly annoyed that their math simply is not correct, I asked on my way out what I paid last time, as clearly 64 pounds for 60 minutes is over a pound a minute. Long story short, the girl kept spouting off different equations, to which both my boyfriend and i were like 'wtf..' and eventually I gave up, and planned to bring it up again, but doubted they'd be refunding me my money anyway.
My boyfriend then asked another day, same girl though, unfortunately, and again her wacky math made no sense. Yes, if you pay 64 pounds for 60 minutes of tanning, it is over 1 pound a minute (she kept claiming it was around 80p/minute).
All in all, those minutes have too disappeared rapidly, and they've tried to upsell me again, to which I of course said no way in hell.
Coupled with the fact that the service is HORRIBLE. They are all very nice, but literally they will be shooting the shit, talking about the WEATHER with someone on their way out, rather than checking you in, when you're blocking the door and want to get on with it already. It makes no sense. no matter what, checking in here is the most drawn out process in the history of time, and what point is the finger print scanner if it doesnt identify you?? my fingerprint IDs me in NYC, i type in my own phone number, then put what tanning method i want to use, how many minutes, etc. Once I actually saw the girl counting out what month June was on her fingers, in front of me, when giving my birthdate.
Plus, they can NEVER find my lotion lately, and give me "spares" which are nearly empty to use, with other customers names on them...so I suspect mine is being used as a "spare" as well. Save your money, buy some st. tropez - you'll be 50x tanner, not albino, and not have to deal with being ripped off or ripping your own hair out in frustration.
