terrible massage experience

[***GabbiBabe***]

As a massage therapist myself, I love going for massages to relax and was really looking forward to going today to unwind as I have a stressful week on. Instead I left the salon feeling emotional stressed and sick. I just cannot understand how salons could operate with such poor client care.

 

[Megan Turner]

Poor you. What happened that was so awful?

 

[Carlos Guitierres]

The room was freezing. I got only one small towel which only covered my middle so I was exposed for all of the massage. I asked for another towel and said that the room was cold, but she didnt put on any heater (one of my hands went numb from the cold and tension!). The bed was a beauty therapy one which kept swinging to the side, especially when I was trying to climb up on it. The massage technique varied between light tickling strokes (cant stand being tickled) to vigorous fast very painful moves then all of a sudden back to tickling. Also the therapist's nails were much too long for doing massages. I don't mean to be ranting, but I was sooooo disappointed, I ran out of there as fast as I could.

 

[b8ee1]

I think you should tell them and complain.

 

[Zallarion]

I agree with Supersub. This is a dreadful experience for you, and, if the couch was as dodgy as you say it was, potentially a health and safety issue! Don't let someone else have to suffer - also, long nails are a no-no and the management should be made aware of this.

 

[onederful2nite]

I agree with Jabba...the manager should be informed...staff should not get away with such lousy client care and service...don't put up with it.

 

[Michalek1983]

sounds like a beauty therapist or nail tech dabbling in massage.

 

[GSD]

You should ask the manager of the salon to show you the qualifications of this therapist. She sounds positively clueless. I wouldn't be surprised if she has no qualifications whatsoever. Imagine all the people who are being put off massage thanks to her.

 

[Devin]

my thoughts exactly.

beauty therapists are trained in mainly beauty therapy, and massage is an ad-on. don't get me wrong - some are fabulous at massage, but most are not. as advised, i would complain about the lack of service given, and pehaps go to a massage specialist as opposed to a beauty specialist next time.


take care
saffron

 

[ytoneyedwardss]

Actually it was a beauty salon and she was the owner!!!! All her certificates were up on the wall. It was an aromatherapy massage voucher which was given to me as a gift. I agree with you Saffron, and would normally not go to beauty salons as I had a bad experience in another salon before. I'm sure there are lots of beauty therapists here who are also excellent at massage too!

 

[Brianna J]

star_dust - did she ask how the pressure was during the massage etc? I'm astounded that she is the manager - or maybe she just hasn't done massage in a while or something...it's such a let down to get a horrible massage isn't it

 

[Amandalee (rawr.betch)]

If you feel uncomfortable write a letter. I did this many years ago and my money was refunded.

 

[yasmin]

This is what struck me when returning to this thread today. I had a client at the weekend who said he had had previous massages at salons/health clubs but they weren't very good.

Luckily, he gave me a try because he was desperate (and I mean desperate for a massage, not that he was so desperate that he turned to me as a last resort! ), but how many people have a bad experience like this one, decide massage is rubbish, and never try it again?

 

[Shanmugam]

star_dust, I am new to the forum and i have been really knocked over with some of the things I have read, I have been giving massages since 1996 and have always looked forward to receiving a good massage, but there always techniques that you develop your self which you never receive back, I am shocked you left it so long before you left, it was obviously so far away from your expectations or was you giving her the benefit of doubt.

hope you get your relaxing massage soon

 

[Shalene]

It is amazing how many people come up with this sort of problem. I'm currently looking at doing a beauty course to add some other strings to my bow, but massage is always my first love. Speaking to one of the tutors at my local college recently she said that the massage they cover on the beauty courses is nowhere near what we cover on other training, it is just to give them a taster and the skills to do one. I fail to see how spending a bit of a term doing massage compares with our specific qualifications which take the best part of a year to complete....

 

[Karim Nassef]

Well when I trained I had to do my Swedish massage with the beauty therapists because the holistic therapy course was scheduled when I had arranged to work. OK so the routine was different, but not by much, and we had to provide a "commercially acceptable" massage so we were observed.

When the beauty therapists did their aromatherapy massages, the massage routine was what we had been taught for the holistic aromatherapy massage because it was the same tutor who taught it. The difference was the Level 3 Beauties weren't taught blending: they were expected to use already blended oils (in one case I blended oils for one of them to use on their client!).

So I don't think being a beauty therapist is a good excuse for not delivering a good massage.

 

[Goldie6669]

Agree with you 100% there Chris, whoever is providing the massage should do it to the best of their ability and at the very least check with the client that the touch used in the massage is acceptable. I, personally, check at reasonable intervals with the client during the massage as to whether pressure etc is ok for them.

Perhaps the OP had someone who had not massaged for a while and was a bit rusty. At the very least you should contact the salon and let them know how dissapointed you were with the treatment you recieved - if they don't have feedback how can they improve their service....

 

[Araz]

Sorry to hear that your massage experience wasn't a good one. I had a massage to check out the local competiton who did hot stone massage. The massage was given by the owner. It was fast and she used her thumbs a lot. When she worked on my legs it really hurt she didn't check that the pressure was ok and of course I wimped out on saying anything. It wasn't the worst but by no means the best massage.

I think sometimes the problem is that some beauty therapists (not all) don't like doing massage and don't have much passion for it. I worked in a spa with beauty therapists and they would rather do anything else than give a massage.

I always do my best to make my clients feel comfortable. I cover them with a very large towel and if they feel cold will cover them with an additional fleece blanket and turn on an extra heater.

 

[Chris Spectre]

Hey everyone, I agree completely and do intend to write in and complain - I just wanted to wait a day or two to calm down first to make sure I wasn't over-reacting. I did ask myself if maybe my standards were too high, but all of your replies assure me that the client care wasn't up to scratch.
I practice my own technique regularly on someone who will give me honest and critical feedback!!!
At the beginning of the massage she asked did I want a superficial treatment or deep massage and I said deep as I cannot stand a superficial ticklish massage, but deep to me should not mean 'painful'.
I just didn't relax at all, and the room wasn't conducive to relaxation - white tiles, white wall, white bed, no personal touches, no warmth or relaxing effect!

 

[smm6196]

oohhhh! sounds like a not very good experience, poor you. Tickling in massage, you can get that free from someone you know well! Sounds like she couldn't be bothered. I would actually go back in and say you didn't enjoy the experience or write to her as mentioned. If she is the salon owner she should be concerned with her reputation and try and put things right.