In celebration of beauty salons being open since the pandemic shut down I decided to treat myself.
I booked a microdermabrasion facial at
La Chic Why did I choose them? In my attempt to support small businesses this was my main decider on which salon to go to. Plus the profile picture was a black model.
If I am scoring salons on their performance the areas I would consider are receptionist, initial welcome, treatment and price. So with these in mind I'll discuss my subjective experience.
When I phoned to book the appointment the male receptionist was very abrupt and even went as far as to lecture me on what I 'should' have before my appointment. The word should is like a red flag to me so immediate I did not feel comfortable. He hadn't even found out anything about my enquiry before he started his demands. Plus his treatment knowledge seemed to be zero, but as the treatment had already been paid I persevered.
On arriving at the salon the welcome was Luke-warm, the door was opened for me but no greeting, smile or enquiry of who I was. I was given my Covid19 consultation sheet to fill out [well done them!], but no consultation about my expectations of the treatment, which in turn meant no suggestion of a treatment plan.
As a prospective client the point of only booking one treatment is to decide if I like the treatment and the salon before I commit to a course of treatments.
The treatment was good. The therapist knew what she was doing. In fact you know when you can feel that someone is a nice person this lady felt like that, but with no introduction I don't even know her name.
Sadly a treatment that I thought should take at least 30 minutes was completed within 18 minutes. On saying that the results were still good. She announced that the treatment was finished and left the room.
This left me feeling as if I was an inconvenience. There was no mention about skin care advice, suggestions of products to use or follow up treatment. I thought the whole point was to introduce new clients to the salon and get them to come back.
As a therapist I have to confess I have been guilty of similar behaviour. My excuse is that I had a busy salon and needed to move on to the next client. By no means was this salon busy, but I suppose we all have our off days. Plus on their website they have glowing testimonials [these are dated back to 2013]. Maybe I just went on the wrong day or perhaps wrong year and complacency has set in.
With salons re-opening after the lock-down I would suggest client care has to be at the top of the list to get repeat business flowing again.
I asked for a leaflet. The treatment list is comprehensive and prices are reasonable. The female receptionist informed me that because of the lock down they hadn't put in all the treatments they were planning which included glycolic acid peels and microblading.
Would I return to this salon? Only if I was desperate for a treatment that I needed to be done quickly, but not as a relaxing spa experience - no O would not go back.
Scoring out of 5 for each area I discussd.
Receptionist/Telephone enquiries 2 - only because of the woman I met there. If it was the man it would have been a zero
Welcome 3
Treatment 4.5
Price 5
Total score 14.5/20
