happy thursday.

[swingchickie]

hoop sales continue to roll in. fun! and once again, i got an order for a hoop i don't have listed on my site. this time it's the HulaWeen, the glow-in-the-dark one i only bring out in the fall. whaddaya know.

the tix for my house concert with mark erelli are starting to sell... if for some reason i missed getting you the info, and you'd like to come, post here and i'll send you the details.

and my observations of the day:
good customer service: my dentist called me personally yesterday to see how i was feeling after all the work i ahd done on monday. she's so nice. they sent me home with a little "goodie bag" containing a bottle of water and a packet of advil... then she called to check in. i just love my dentist.

bad customer service: i finally heard back from the spa company about my awful customer service experience on our cruise. they're refunding me the $50 i was overcharged for the massage itself, but refuse to acknowledge that the other spa employees lied to me about specials when i first went to book it. grrrrrrrr.

Comments

I think I missed something...

[katehaney.livejournal.com]

You referred to a crappy experience with the spa, but I don't remember getting the details. ??

Re: I think I missed something...

[swingchickie.livejournal.com]

oh shoot, i didn't post about it? well, here's the super-long e-mail i sent to the service manager who handles complaints:

--------------------------------
Hello Nicky -

Thank you for providing your contact information. Per our conversation last week, I am writing to let you know about a frustrating experience I had with some of the Steiner staff on a recent Royal Caribbean cruise. We were on the March 23-28 sailing of the Navigator of the Seas.

When my boyfriend and I planned our trip, we decided that we would not get off the ship in Belize, but would instead book a massage for that day. Having been on a cruise once before (with a different line), we recalled that the spa had announced discounted specials for the days we were in port… and with money being tight, we wanted to take advantage of the savings. When we first got on the Navigator, we immediately went to the spa to make our appointments. There were two female Steiner employees working the front desk; I did not get their names, but the woman who booked the massage for us was Asian... This was how it went:

Me: hi, we're interested in booking two massages.
Employee: for what day?
Me: we're interested in something during the day we're in port in Belize… Will you be having any specials that day?
Employee: No.
Me: but on other cruises, the spa offers specials during port days because business is slow.
Employee: No. We are offering discounts for today only, if you'd like a massage today.
Me: *looking at the spa services menu* So, you won't have any specials on our port days?
Employee: No.

Having been told several times by this employee that the spa didn't do port-day specials, and having promised my boyfriend that I would get us massages as an early birthday gift for him, I booked a couple's massage for our Belize port day. I asked the employee how much it would cost if we extended the massage to 75 minutes. The other employee at the desk, a blonde woman, replied that it would be $330. Certainly that was a lot more than the $230 or so I had expected to spend via a special, but it was a gift so I agreed.

a little commentary here: as i typed this e-mail, it really hit me just how much i agreed to pay for a massage on the ship. *choke* i guess that's what vacation does to you.

continued in the next comment...

Re: I think I missed something...

[swingchickie.livejournal.com]

continued...


The next evening, our Cruise Compass (newsletter) arrived at our stateroom, giving us pointers for our first port day in Cozumel. As I checked the newsletter, I noticed that the spa was advertising Cozumel port-day specials! The listing said that you could choose any 2 spa treatments from a list for $99. This is what I had planned to book when we arrived on the ship, and the spa desk employee had told me didn't exist. I was confused. I called the spa and asked again about specials when the ship was in Belize:

Me: hi, I see in the Cruise Compass that you're advertising a special for today. Will you be doing something similar when we're in Belize tomorrow?

Employee: No, not likely.
Me: So, those specials were only for today? You won't have anything like this tomorrow?
Employee: No.

Just hours later, we got our next Cruise Compass… And there was a full-page ad for the spa, advertising specials for the Belize port day! (Pick any 3 items from a menu for $109.) I can't believe that the spa didn't know ahead of time that their bookings were light, and decided at the last minute to design and place a full-page ad in the Cruise Compass. They knew that they'd be offering specials, but didn't want to admit it so they could make $330 from me instead of $218. Even better, we could not cancel our massage and book the special, because we were told we'd be charged for 50% of the massage if we cancelled less than 24 hours beforehand.

Adding insult to injury, during our massage, one of the masseuses (Vincent) asked how much we had been quoted for the 75-minute massage. "$330," I told him. "No," he replied, "this massage is $380. I had to ask you because sometimes there is miscommunication regarding prices." I was fuming. I didn't feel there was anything I could do -- we were already on the tables and oiled up, and I didn't feel like there was anyone I could discuss this with. The front desk staff had lied to me twice about their services… and now either they misquoted me the price of our massage (I would have never booked it if I had been quoted $380), or the masseuses were trying to get additional money from us. We finished the massage, and my boyfriend and I decided to address the issue with Royal Caribbean directly in the hopes that we would be treated fairly… and we were then referred to you.

So, my question is: are Steiner employees encouraged to misrepresent prices and services in order to get more money from customers? At the very least, are all of the staff on commission, which would possibly lead to this devious behavior? The correct thing to tell me on that very first day would have been, "we usually do spa specials on port days if our schedule is light; check your Cruise Compass the night before, and then call us to book your treatments." Instead I was lied to multiple times by your staff, and ended up paying roughly $200 more than I would have if I had been allowed to book what I originally requested. And as an aside, another couple we met on the ship told us that they had a similar experience with the same staff… so this was not an isolated incident.

My receipt numbers are XXXXXX and XXXXXX, if you would like to look into this. I would appreciate a response from you by this Wednesday, otherwise I will be contacting some consumer rights groups to alert them to the issue.

Thank you, and I look forward to your response.

good lord!

[katehaney.livejournal.com]

Quelle Ripoffe!

F'r serious: that's bad. Really, really bad.

On the good side (teeny tiny good side): I don't think the $330 for 75 minutes each is that outrageous. My regular masseuse in Boston was $105, I think for 90 minutes (cheaper here in Western Mass, no surprise)... and I would expect cruises to be significantly more expensive.

$218 would've been a bargain. One that you deserved to get, of course.

Lyin' liars. :grrrr:

Re: good lord!

[swingchickie.livejournal.com]

yep. except, as i told jack: "i love you, but i don't need to get a massage in the same room as you if it's going to save me $100 or more".

[notshakespeare.livejournal.com]

Google finds your old menu.

http://www.tailspinhoops.com/pb/wp_96f90610/wp_96f90610.html

[swingchickie.livejournal.com]

oh my god, that's 2 years old! how do i erplace that???

[notshakespeare.livejournal.com]

Replace the old page with a redirect to your main page.

[pennycuts.livejournal.com]

Man after reading that it somehow seems like a scam huh?

I had a bad pedicure at the spa this past weekend. It cost me $95, she soaked my feet for 3 min, seriously, pulled one out did about 3 min of filing and then took my other foot did the same.. it was a spa pedicure so she did the rest but what's the point if the filing is not done ? The underside of my feet looked exactly the same way when i left, my toes were pretty tho. Not to mention i tried to talk to her but she was just in a bad mood and not very friendly at all.
On the way out of her pedicure my friend heard the girl say "i hate doing pedicures at the end of the day".

I emailed the resort, they CALLED me back with a whole lot of sorries but the reason she file my feet was because my heels were cracked. (apparently)she said she was sorry the girl never took the time to tellme that.
so i had the teachers at the school check them and apparently no cracks.

she also said sorry for the comment i heard but apparently it was not her.

This morning i've emailed them again about it AGAIN, now i'm angry over her trying to cover up her lazyness for not doing my feet.