Our First Negative Google Review
It happens to the best of us. Check out our first negative Google review from August 24, 2020 and how we responded…
Client Review from: Sapna M. on August 24, 2020
I would give this a NEGATIVE rating if I could. Spoke to women named Danielle P, on the phone. She sounded very professional and sweet. However, not the actual case. When I booked an appointment for a 1 hour session, she never disclosed that when i arrive for the first time she would deduct time from our session to answer questions I had, or fill out her paperwork..... So our one hour session turned into 45 min session. Also, she took a call from her BF while working, adjusting her chair, fixing her settings. so her 45 minutes wasn't even 45 minutes. Regardless of all that, i still paid 92 dollars and told her I was unhappy with the cut time. I made another appointment and told her that I want her to use a timer/alarm. She said no, and came up with a lame excuse. She cheats people from there time and is a very money hungry person. I didnt get a good vibe from the start and I would NEVER recommend her to anyone going fwd. Needless to say, she lost a client...
also side note : she bruised my face and did not do a professional job. She basically, zaps one hair at a time and looks at it and then goes to the next wasting your time and money. A professional does a few hairs at a time and then plucks multiple hairs that are zapped. So if your willing to get cheated.... she's the person to go to. Good luck.
Our Reply
I was taken aback upon reading your review. My name is Danielle Penn and, as you are aware, I am also the owner and operator of Electrolysis Beauty Lounge. I will begin immediately by informing you that I am more than happy to return the money of any unsatisfied customer, so I have refunded your $92 for your electrolysis session.
When booking an appointment, our confirmation email asks that you arrive 15 minutes before your appointment so you can complete your health history assessment & your Covid-19 attestation forms, else you can complete them in advance and bring them with you to your appointment. Unfortunately, you arrived at the start of your scheduled time and filling out your forms ate into your scheduled session.
Yes, you were billed for the full hour, and when you expressed your concerns with only getting 45 minutes of work, you were informed of our policies and that future appointments would make up for it because I always go over 5-10 minutes for my clients. Since I had plans after your session, and given our Covid-19 infection control standards, I need to leave time after each client to disinfect the room at least twice. Therefore, I was not in a position to extend your appointment on that day as it was already 8:45pm. You seemed to understand, and my notion was reinforced when you immediately booked a follow-up appointment before leaving our studio.
@bruising – Bruising, while uncommon, is a potential side effect of electrolysis. As soon as I saw the broken capillary at the start of your session, I informed you and immediately began taking extra precautions moving forward which was to lower my settings and slow my process; both of which are standard for clients who are prone to adverse effects like bruising, excessive swelling and/or hyperpigmentation.
@adjusting setting during a session – It is also best practice for an electrologist to adjust settings during an appointment to not only accommodate for adverse effects, but for varying skin conditions like dehydration from one area to the next, varying hair patterns and densities from one hair to the next, and distorted follicles caused by previously used hair removal methods like waxing, laser & excessive tweezing, to name a few. This is particularly common under the chin area. When an electrologist lowers setting beneath the ideal threshold for specific hair & skin characteristics, the hair is less likely to be extracted the first try, thus why it’s important to pulse then check before moving on at a more expeditious pace as one would for a client with more consistent hair & skin conditions.
@seat height adjustments during a session – This too is another important best practice. It not only allows electrologists to adjust in order to accommodate for c-patterned hairs and distorted follicles, but it also ensures the safety of the electrologist. Good ergonomics is important to ensure the longevity of an electrologist’s career and should be just as important as their client’s safety and comfort.
@phone call – I thought the phone call might be an emergency given the previous 3 texts I felt come through on my watch, so I accepted the HANDS-FREE call to see if everything was ok. Given the current climate of our country, I would think we all have a little bit more room to allow people to be human, especially when it does not deny a client from being serviced and since I was running late bc my last client of the day was late to arrive.
@in it for the money – I started this business because there was a huge gap in an industry where I knew there was an opportunity to help women who suffer from hirsutism and other unwanted hair growth due to hormonal disorders like PCOS, transwomen who need help looking the way they feel, and men and women suffering from dark marks and bumps on their face caused by ingrown C & S-patterned hair. I have a successful full-time career in corporate banking technology from Mon-Fri. I do not wake up every day at 5:30am to service clients from 7-9am, then run to my corporate job by 9:30 am, and return again after hours to work until 9pm because I need the money. I LOVE what I do, and I get satisfaction seeing the joy on my client’s faces when they see the positive and permanent effects of electrolysis. I am also here to help build-up an industry that‘s suffering from a decrease in availability of practitioners during a time when laser hair removal is on the rise because it seems to be the only available option for people who want to reduce their unwanted hair regardless of the unadvertised, potential adverse effects it has (paradoxical hypertrichosis) and all the individuals deemed non-candidates because of the lack of suitable contrast between the complexion of their skin and color of their hair.
@timer – I informed you that I will not work with a timer but there was nothing forbidding you from setting your own if you felt it was necessary. Ironically, I felt your ask was odd timing (no pun intended) considering it was only requested after you tried to reschedule yesterday’s appointment till later in the week just hours before your originally scheduled time and I informed you I was fully booked. You then proceeded to cancel your appointment even though you were made aware of my 24-hr cancellation policy in the same confirmation email referenced earlier.
Everyone’s journey is unique. Some clients take longer than others, some harder than others and some more expensive than others but regardless of it all, we are proud our clients choose us to walk their journey with them. I’ve gained over 40 new clients since reopening on July 7, post the Covid-19 shutdown, and 26 of them have had at least 3 appointments in just seven short weeks. I think that says a lot about the way I run my business and the quality of my work.
I pride myself in being honest, fair and hardworking which is why your review caught me off guard. I am sorry you’re not happy with your experience at our studio and that you did not afford us the opportunity to honor our word. I hope you find an electrologist more suited to your needs so you too can accomplish your unwanted hair goals. We wish you all the best. Stay Safe
Sincerely
Danielle Penn, Owner and Operator – Electrolysis Beauty Lounge.
More insight into my work ethic available among former colleague recommendations at https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellepenn/ and among before & after pictures available on web presence pages.
And sometimes … that’s just the way the cookie crumbles but the silver lining … There is always a lesson to be learned and we will bring it with us into every electrolysis session.
Thank you to all our clients for supporting us and for choosing us to be your partner during your hair removal journey.
UPDATE: 10:45pm EST, August 25, 2020.
Oh, you thought this was over? Nope, not quite. Another series of unfortunate events occurred while I was working today. Seems Sapna M’s friend, Erin Hull, felt the need to also write a one-star Google review in her friend’s honor claiming I’m a fraud because Sapna M had not yet received her money back as my post claimed. Sapna M felt the need to then post another negative review on my YELP business page with similar accusations … SIGH.
Maybe Sapna M. doesn’t have any previous experiences with merchant issued refunds. When a customer/client makes a credit card purchase, the payment posts to the credit card immediately, but try to get that money back and it takes several days for the refund to process.
I have already dedicated an extensive number of hours to address this issue, trying to protect my brand from undue defamation. However, I find it necessary to clear up a few more loose threads and then I’m walking away from this very, very difficult business lesson:
I’ve already addressed the delay in the processing of her refund via the Square payment system, but to document poof of my actions, I have included a screenshot of the Square refund receipt issued at 11:19am EST as well as a screenshot of all Square credit card transactions for the day.
I am NOT in any way legally obligated to refund money for the service rendered to Sapna M. However, as a courtesy, I decided to refund her money for reasons specified in my earlier review reply; yet, since I did not get to her WhatsApp message demanding proof of my refund as soon as she sent it this evening, I must have somehow lied about everything … SMH. Well, as I mentioned in my earlier post, my calendar was booked solid this and every other evening this week so I didn’t get to it till late. By the time I saw I her message she and her friend had already posted their follow-up reviews.
As the owner and operator of a minority woman owned business, it is incredibly disappointing that another minority woman would go to these lengths to intentionally and maliciously defame my ethics and my brand. Discourse is natural as is the dissatisfaction of some clients/customers no matter how hard a business tries to please them, but it’s how we behave at times like these that truly define our character.
To reiterate, I have addressed this at length yet again to defend a business I worked hard to build and of which I am very proud. I can only hope this is enough to satisfy my prospective clients should they have any doubts in choosing me as their electrologist as a result of these unwarranted reviews.
Thank you for reading and goodnight. “When they go low, we go high”.
Cheers, DP.
