Don’t book a pedicure. I can’t comment on any other treatments they could be ok, just not a pedicure. (This was my original review)
I am adding this….My sister and I booked luxury pedicures together as a treat. Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding and what appeared to be staffing issues, we were told we couldn't have
treatments side by side, that could...
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Don’t book a pedicure. I can’t comment on any other treatments they could be ok, just not a pedicure. (This was my original review)
I am adding this….My sister and I booked luxury pedicures together as a treat. Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding and what appeared to be staffing issues, we were told we couldn't have
treatments side by side, that could have been my own misunderstanding at the time of booking. That was disappointing, but it wasn't the main problem.
I watched my sister's treatment before deciding whether to go ahead with mine. After around 25 minutes, very little had actually been done other than filing her toenails. I even mouthed to my sister, "This doesn't seem very luxury."
The treatment consisted of a brief foot soak, a scrub, minimal nail filing and a quick pass over the heels with a small electric file. There was no proper cuticle work, no thorough hard skin removal, no relaxing foot and lower leg massage, and certainly nothing that resembled the luxury pedicure we had booked.
Partway through, another member of staff, Emma, took over painting my sister's nails, explaining that the younger therapist "wasn't good at painting." That was concerning in itself, but to be fair we were told Emma would paint our nails because of this. Although the therapist doing our nails also didn't know what HEMA was, despite using gel products. As someone who has a HEMA allergy, this immediately raised red flags from the start, it made me so anxious because my allergy is so bad, I tried to ring my husband for reassurance. We had even brought our own HEMA-free products just in case, which was fortunate as she admitted she didn't understand the products she was using. For someone described as a USA-trained technician, that was very worrying.
Having watched the standard of my sister's treatment (certainly not luxury) I decided not to have my own pedicure.
The most disappointing part came later that evening. At around 6.30 pm, the owner telephoned me at home in what I can only describe as an aggressive and abusive manner because I put a basic 1 star review saying I wouldn’t recommend a pedicure, I hadn’t put anything more or elaborated. Within that aggressive phone call I was told the business is "5-star" and that I was the problem and I wasn’t wanted as a client anyway. Also
during that phone call, the owner claimed my sister had only received a mini pedicure, not a luxury one, so I had no right to expect it to have been one.
However, after checking with my sister, she had in fact been charged £45 for the luxury pedicure that we originally booked. You cannot tell a customer they only received a basic treatment while charging them for a luxury service.
My sister paid simply to avoid confrontation, despite not receiving what was advertised.
A salon owner should never telephone a customer at home to berate them for leaving honest feedback. That call turned what would have been a disappointing experience into a completely unacceptable one.
For clarity, a luxury pedicure should typically include:
A relaxing foot soak.
Thorough cuticle work.
Complete nail shaping and care.
Proper hard skin removal.
Exfoliation.
A relaxing foot and lower leg massage.
Professional polish or gel application.
That is the standard offered by many reputable salons and what customers reasonably expect when booking and paying for a luxury treatment.
We chose this salon because it was closer to home than the salons we usually travel to. Unfortunately, it did not meet even basic expectations, and after the owner's behaviour, I certainly won't be returning. My original review was one star. Following the phone call, if I could give less than one star, I would.
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