What bad experiences....

[lilmountaingrrl]

I was just wondering what types of bad experiences have you had at a salon that has caused you to decide to never give that particular store business again? If you have a bad experience at a salon, and are on the line between leaving and staying, what is the one thing that the salon could do to make you give them a second chance?

[sunbunny]

I stopped going to a salon because they didn't clean the eyewear, and they didn't clean the standup after I got out and my husband got in. I still have visits left there, and I won't ever use them. Hubby might, but he'll be taking his own goggles and he better wear his flipflops while he's in the booth.

[Bonnie]

Yeah, I think cleanliness and general upkeep is the main thing. I probably went to half a dozen different places when I lived in LA and I remember one I went to ONCE not far from my apartment; I would never go past the reception area in a place like that now.

[boobrandt]

Rude staff members turn me off!

[jayell79]

not changing the lamps! I've had the worst time w/ salons doing that.

[tr0nado]

Staff members that never seem to be at the front desk, or pretend you don't exist. And having burnt out bulbs in beds and doing nothing about it. Not cleaning beds / standup booths properly (a lick and a promise)...That's a surefire way for a salon to dig its own grave.
In years past, I went to a salon that had all the eye protection in a big jar with sanitizer and ppl (customers) just put the eyewear back in the jar when finished tanning. Ewwww!
I can see why some want to furnish their own eye protection.

[lilmountaingrrl]

I think that poor customer service is a big red flag for me when it comes to salons-- if the staff acts snooty and rude to the customers, and seem like they'd rather be anywhere else but working at the salon I take that as a sign that I might not be happy tanning there. Now if things are not clean, and bulbs are not changed, Adios!!!! I can at least look past an employee's bad attitude by thinking maybe they are just having a bad day, but if the whole salon is in general disrepair, then I figure that it's a place I dont need to be going.....

[lilmountaingrrl]

those comments you both made about the eye protection (Sunbunny and trOnado) gave me the heebie jeebies! EEEEEEEEK. I am so glad that I dont use communal eyewear. I never had really thought about it before, but ewwwwwwwww...... I'll happily spend $$ on my own pair to avoid using the communal eyewear jar.

[BrownJen]

My worst experience is salons not changing the bulbs. I've been to salons where the beds I was using at the time had bulbs burnt out. I'll never go back to those places again.

[nikptbo]

i cant believe a salon would let a bulb be burnt out... i so refuse to tan in a bed with a bulb out, if theres a burnt out bulb what does that say about the life on the rest of the lamps?

[sunbunny]

Quote:
On 2003-06-22 19:29, nikptbo wrote:
i cant believe a salon would let a bulb be burnt out... i so refuse to tan in a bed with a bulb out, if theres a burnt out bulb what does that say about the life on the rest of the lamps?


I agree. We tanned at one salon where the lamps were burning out. I mentioned that the bed had 4 lamps out and was assured they'd be changed. Two weeks later I was put in the same bed, and the lamps were still out. Needless to say, that's when I started looking around for another salon. We only tan in the booth at the salon with the eyewear issue.

[nikptbo]

man im glad i tan at a salon that opened like 3 mths ago with all new beds/lamps

[sherlynn 01]

I tan at a salon that has just open and i know that the bulbs are new.I love my salon and are salon owener isgreat.

[UV_Goddess]

I stopped tanning at a local salon when the OWNER wanted to put me in a bed for 20 min. the first time (I'm a skin type 3A), told me that ALL lotions work the same (even the bronzers), and also said that she had never seen anyone with a "golden" tan before....by the way, this owner is also certified!! Has the certificate posted right in the window!

[lilmountaingrrl]

UV-Goddess, that is awful! It sounds like the salon owner doesnt know anything about tanning! That's too bad that you had to tan at a place that was run by someone who didnt really know what they were talking about. Hopefully the salon you go to now is much, much better!

[linn]

My worst experiences were with the eyewear and cleaning the beds. I always brought my own eyewear and cleaned the bed before and after I tanned. I saw a special on primetime and it made me sick!

[lilmountaingrrl]

Linn, my old salon that i went to made us clean the beds before and after we used them.... now whenever i go anywhere i try and wipe the bed down before i use it and after, even if they say they do it for us! I just bought some new eyewear, too.... i didnt want to keep buying the wink-ease, so i bought a cute little pair of sunglobes (in a pretty aqua blue color).

[prolineceo]

I stopped my salon because the beds were ancient home models. The staff was rude...and they did not have many beds...and no upgrades.

[prolineceo]

Oh... I forgot...I was new to tanning and I told the owner that I was only getting tan on one side. I asked if I could turn over. She said I would brak her bed. FINE....so I asked for some advice on how to even out...she just shrugged her shoulders.

[BrownJen]

anyone else?

[ladyboss]

Back in the beginning of the summer I went to the local hair salon cause they had put in a brand new tanning bed......well they stuck it in a big closet (no ventilation) there was just one of those stand up light poles so it was really dark and no fan. She had an old shag rug on the floor that felt really nasty when you had to stand on it it was so gross and when I was going in I asked her if the bed was cleaned and she said "Oh, no I forgot" and handed me the stuff to clean it! OMG it was the nastiest experience I've ever had, needless to say I haven't been back since and her monthly package is $65.00 ! I wouldn't tan there for free

[white2dark]

One place that I went actually had the wires from the bed hanging down, not clean at all. It was so gross. I was just trying out a new place (gym) it was closer. But forget that I would rather drive farther than to be in that place. People like that should not have tanning salons

[never2tan]

Well I don't want to offend smokers per se, but I hate walking into a salon that is little more than a cloud of cigarette smoke and seeing the person behind the counter doing the chain smoking. Also, when an accident happens like an acrylic breaking and having the "owner" ask you to replace it when it had so many hairline cracks to begin with. Being put in units with burned out lamps, getting steered towards a unit I don't want to use because it has been inactive and not making money. I also don't like it when owners tell me how little money they are making on a particular day and hearing how they are thinking of raising their prices to make up for it. Those are a few Ihave experienced that have convinced me to leave a salon and not return. I left the one with more than a month's membership because it just wasn't worth it!

[crazy44]

Wow never2 you sure have had a lot of bad experiences. Sorry to hear that. You are suppose to enjoy your tanning time. Hope you get to at some point. Nice salons are out there.

[Scott]

Burnt out bulbs are the worst! I went to a salon tonight that had burnt out bulbs, I mean that just screams "we dont change our bulbs and we dont care!"

[BrownJen]

Quote:
On 2003-09-26 22:04, Scott wrote:
Burnt out bulbs are the worst! I went to a salon tonight that had burnt out bulbs, I mean that just screams "we dont change our bulbs and we dont care!"

I've tanned at a salon that had two bulbs burnt out in the bed I tanned in. Needless to say, that was my first and last visit to that place.

[CincyFan]

I remember I went to a salon about 10 years ago and because I was so young I didn't realize how wrong this was but...

When client would come out of the room I remember some of them saying to the front desk person, "Oh, I cleaned out for you" and the counter person sending the next person in without cleaning it themselves. They left the sanitizer in the rooms so I would always clean my bed before and after, but I would never tell them it was clean because of that. I mean it's not like they supplied extra towels in the room for cleaning. So those people were using their own sweaty, lotioned towels to clean the beds. GROSS! Now as I look back I'm glad I was smart enough at 15 to clean out the bed before I got in.

[wildchild4u]

dirtyness and rudeness

[sarah29]

bulbs go out, it happens. sometimes it's the starters (orange ends indicate this), the bulb took a crap on them before their time or the bulb rotates just enough that they don't turn on. if they don't care then that's one thing but i don't think that a burned out bulb screams anything necessarily or that it's a reasonable reason to leave an otherwise decent salon.

[never2tan]

I enjoy my current salon. They clean each unit after use then reset them for the next customer. The salon I referred to was the very first salon I went to, and after ownership of the business changed hands, things went downhill. I had made mention of the place in another thread that the owner was a sun guru...lived and breathed tanning, and guaranteed me I could tan when I was convinced I couldn't. When it was time for an upgrade he would say he was putting me in a new unit for a period of time, and I was indeed getting tan. Then the twinkies took over and proceeded to screw things up. It got so bad that when I left my buddy was trying to exercise a performance clause in the purchase contract saying that if business dropped off or anything he could take control. It hasn't happened though, so I will not be going back there.

[BrownJen]

Quote:
On 2003-09-26 23:47, sarah29 wrote:
bulbs go out, it happens. sometimes it's the starters (orange ends indicate this), the bulb took a crap on them before their time or the bulb rotates just enough that they don't turn on. if they don't care then that's one thing but i don't think that a burned out bulb screams anything necessarily or that it's a reasonable reason to leave an otherwise decent salon.

This salon was far from decent.

[xxsunnichickixx]

I'm thinking about going to a different salon because of an experience I had today. Well I went tanning for 15 minutes and I've been at this salon TONS of times and always get charged 3 dollars a session but today a grouchy old woman was working today and she said how much do you usually get charged and I said 3 dollars and she snaps back who has charged u that?!? and I told her the owner and she's like you're lying it's always been 4 dollars and I told her how I went there tons of times and it's been only 3. She rolls her eyes and says whatever and when she goes to give me my change, she's like make sure you count it and I did and for a little trick she slipped an extra 5 dollars in to see if I would like steal it or something and I told her she gave me too much and she's like YEA and grabs it out of my hand and I was thinking omg this lady is sooo rude!! She thought I was a liar and was gonna take money, I don't think I ever wanna go there again!!

[diane5529]

Wow, sunni!!! I would definitely tell the owner about her! That's absolutely rude!! And if the owner didn't get rid of her, I would change salons. I hate rude employees.

[never2tan]

At the very least the owner should keep a list of preferred customers that receive a disounted tanning price! I would definitely have a chat with them and if doesn't work out, find a new salon. But if the problem can be worked out easily, why go through the BS of breaking in a new salon?

[Sc0tt]

BURNT OUT BULBS! 3 BULBS were burnt out in my bed. That P-OED me sooo bad. i will never return to that salon, it was my last visit. I only visit one salon now becaue I know they always have new bulbs.

[Val]

I've never had a problem at my salon I think it's great! No on smokes inside. Never had a bulb out. It's spotless. Every time I go in the trash is empty.

[crazy44]

4ever, Lots of people know you tan at my salon, So make sure they know your not talking about mine. Please. Thanks.

[Mr.Tan]

I went tanning at Planet Beach because I like to see what the salon have near me I waited like 15 minutes for someone to come out to the desk while the girl who works there knows a lot but I mean I herd on the phone "Jimmy what then what happened" I was like if any of my employese did that I would like have a heart attack. Also I would of give like 3 free sessions.

[BrownJen]

anyone else?

[volboi85]

I have only tanned at the salon I now work at, but it is funny... We have a list of policies in the back and they are remedies to the pet peeves of the owner when she went to other salons. Most of what you all have listed are discussed... so I don't really have any stories, but most of those things would make me quit going there.

[ladyboss]

I posted about this experience about a month ago - I still have nightmares it was a nail salon that had some beds in the back - the rooms were beyond filthy the beds had never been maintained never even warmed up the owners knew NOTHING about tanning - when we asked for eye protection they said we didn't need it cause the bed had facial tanners Big Sign Posted on the Wall "Absolutely No Tanning Lotions in the Bed" The beds themselves were very dirty, I don't even know how they aren't shut down. It truly was a Tanners Worst Nightmare!

[PSUaddyb]

oh my ladyboss! i would have ran for cover lol

[Kissedbythesun]

Constantly forgetting to turn my bed on.