Pregnancy Massage - disappointed with lack of customer service

[Sholmes]

hi everyone

just thought i'd tell you about an experience i had. last friday i had my first appointment booked for a massage at a well known massage place in Bondi called Deep Holistic Therapies. i rec'd a call that afternoon (only a couple of hours before the appointment was scheduled) to say the therapist was sick and would i be able to come in a half hour later so another therapist could do the massage. that was fine and the massage was good so i booked another one for today at 5pm. i received a call at 12.30 today to say that the very same therapist was again sick and could i come in even earlier as the other therapist would not work back.

as you can imagine, i was really annoyed. i was really looking forward to the massage as my back has been aching all week (i'm 34 weeks pregnant). i told this other therapist that no, i couldn't come earlier because i'm at work and that there was a problem with my first appointment as well. she wasn't particularly apologetic so i said, you know what? forget about today's appointment, i won't be back again!

with any massage or beauty service, if you cancel with less than 24 hours notice you are charged up to a 50% cancellation fee! shame it doesn't work both ways.

since when did the client's schedule have to work around the service providers? with the hormones that are running through my body right now, i could not have been more upset about the cancellation.

[giggles]

I don't think they have any right to charge you a cancellation fee if the appoinmtment you originally made was not convenient for them!

I would follow up.......having said that though, at 34 weeks pregnant, you are probably too tired to worry.

Sorry you missed your massage.........go and soak in a nice bath and realx :)

[JenNT]

I can imagine your frustration but sometimes situations like this do arise. I had a Hairdressing and Beauty Salon and yes because of forward bookings being made and Staff being sick this happens. I don't know what else they could've done other than be a bit more apologetic.You think about it,they have staff booked and someone is sick, so you get offered any spare appointments which probably wouldn't be many.We had to double up staff ie xyz person has 2 people coming at say 10am because abc is off sick,.....its very hard to schedule everyone and make everyone happy at the same time.I often think if i did own a salon again I would probably employ a floater...make them have no forward appointments so they can fill the gaps:thumbsup:

I also have to say that there is nothing worse when you are stressed as an employer trying to find a suitable solution and then have a client say they aren't coming back,she is probably having having a bad enough day too and probably doesn't need for her business to put down on a public forum,maybe taking the name out of your post would be better.

hope your day gets better!

[SassyMummy]

IMO, the professional thing to do would be to apologise profusely and then try to arrange a re-schedule and offer you a free beauty service as an apology gift. Nothing massive and expensive (like a facial or whatever), but something simple like a basic hand-massage or a buff and polish (nails) or an eyebrow wax. Something that says to the customer, "Yes, we do care about you and we appreciate your business."

At least, that's what we were taught was a polite thing to do when I was doing my Certificate in Beauty and even again in my make-up certificate course. My teacher was a wonderfully sweet woman though, so perhaps how she does it is not the regular practice. People are so into making money these days, that they forget that they NEED to treat their customers well in order to maintain good business.

My teacher always taught us that if we did a good job, one person would find out. If we did a bad job...just about everyone the angry client knew would find out! And...considering you told us all the name of place, I'm sure she's right!

[Grizabella]

I'd be p****d too! And I wouldn't go back either if the woman didn't sound like she particularly cared. In customer service (ANY customer service) no matter what kind of day you are having, it is unprofessional to let it come accross in the way you treat your customers.

On another note, if you are looking for a good massage, go and see a Bowen Therapist. I see one over here in Perth and it is fantastic. My therapist is qualified to specialise in pregnant women and babies too. She teaches the midwives here at King Edward Memorial Hospital. Bowen Therapy is a more involved but less invasive form of deep tissue massage and spinal readjustment. I think I lived at mine throughout my pregnancy, I was working 38hr weeks at a pub til my 34th week, so if she made me feel better, you can believe how good it is!!

Sorry about the rambling!LOL:ecomcity: