Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  11/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  My wife received a gift card through her works HR wellness campaign to get a massage with an affiliated “SpaFinder.com” massage place. We knew we would be in Oxnard for our anniversary on the weekend of 11/3/23 and figured it would be fun to spend a day in Santa Barbara. We figured we would get a morning massage, walk around State St. and then hit lunch at our favorite restaurant Natural Cafe. Le Reve Organic Day Spa & Boutique came up in our google search so we decided to book there. There was never any mention about massage therapists, just that our time slot was booked for a couples massage. My wife received an email as we checked into our hotel that afternoon saying a man and a woman therapist had been assigned. My wife prefers two women, so we called and asked to speak to the manager. We said there might have been a miscommunication, and the manager said we were welcome to cancel. We politely asked if there was any way she could afford us a slight discount for the miscommunication, and she said no, and then encouraged us to cancel again. We replied that we could keep the spot and we would see them in the morning. The manager doubled down again and encouraged us to cancel, there were other clients who wanted the spot, but we insisted we would see them in the morning. It would have been ok if she politely declined the discount, it was an honest question after all about a miscommunication, but ultimately we felt unwelcome. But we went anyway, we figured how bad could a massage be??? When we arrived we were prompted to fill out contact information forms. We were asked about any allergies or surgeries which may impact the massage. We were surprised there was not an extensive medical form, like other massage places we have been to, which limits their liability. This seemed unorthodox. We stripped down and laid on the tables and had the massage. My wife told me that the massage therapist asked if there were any specific points shed like to hit, and my wife asked her to pay attention to lower back, because she had been in pain. I heard her halfway through the massage ask for attention back to her ask for attention there, as the massage therapist glossed over it as she was working her way down my wife, and the massage therapist spoke back to her telling her off, that she had a routine, and she couldn’t interrupt her flow. In the end she never hit those spots my wife has asked for, which was frustrating. My massage therapist barely applied pressure. I didn't want to interrupt him because I was waiting for him to go into full gear the entire time, and I was hoping he would pull some stress-releasing trick out of his sleeve. I was waiting for the massage to end the entire time. But I understand every massage cant be great, but I decided I would not leave a gratuity because I was unsatisfied and instead asked to speak to the manager about the experience. I noticed at the time that the license for Barbering and Cosmetology was posted, but there was no Massage license posted nor any posted sign about Human Trafficking which I have seen at other massage establishments. I wonder if the manager conspired with the massage therapists to sabotage the massages, otherwise how would they have been so terrible from such trained experts??? On Monday 11/6/23 at 10:25 I received a call from the manager. I told her about our experience, how I wanted to work something out with her. I told her we used a gift card from my wife's work and if there was some way to just refund us and we could write the whole thing off as a bad experience. She said her massage therapists had over 30 years of experience. She said that the male massage therapists who practiced on me was a trainer of massage, and there was no way that this could have happened. She said, verbatim, that I was lying. She said from the moment we asked about the discount from the communication “I knew YOU PEOPLE would try to shake me down”. I told her that I was not trying to shake her down, but find an amicable solution to this situation, but she doubled down and insinuated that I “go around and try to shake down other businesses too” and that I was a thief and a con artist. She berated me for the almost 10 minutes I was on the phone with her. She told me that if I tried to write a Yelp review about the experience she would reply the same thing, that I was a thief and a con artist and I made my livelihood shaking down other businesses. At the end I told her the conversation was over and I hung up. It was also terrible that she warned me against posting a Yelp review, and threatened me with retaliation.

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