My salon makes me so angry!

[Mia2White]

Okay, those of you who read my posts when I first got on here know that I quit tanning in December because of aging/cancer fears. Well, I took the plunge and started tanning again on Monday. The person who was working there asked me if I usually start out at 8 or 10 minutes. "No," I told her, "I always start with just 5 minutes to be careful." She looks at me like I'm crazy, and says, "Okay, I'm going to start you in bed 5," alluding that this bed would be better to start with.

I go back the next day, and the same girl is working, and she doesn't ask me if I want to go up on the minutes or anything! She just looks at me and say, "Bed 4 is open." I go in to turn it on and it's on 15 minutes! I tanned for 7 minutes on this day. I return on Wednesday, same thing...no question on how I was tanning or anything, and again, the bed was set for 15 minutes, I tanned for 8 minutes.

Yesterday there was a different person working. She put me in a different bed. Of course it was set for 15 minutes. I had planned to tan for 10 minutes, but I noticed it seemed really hot, and assumed this bed had new bulbs. I got out at 8 minutes. I stopped at the desk to make an appointment, and I asked the girl, "Do you know if there are new bulbs in bed #3? It seemed really hot." She replied, "You know, I think they are, 'cuz I tanned in it today and I almost burned!" I'm thinking, "AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THIS BEFORE I WENT IN THERE?!?!?" It made me so mad, because I'm trying to be careful, and I almost burned.

Am I expecting too much? Shouldn't they be paying attention to the needs of the customer? I knew better than to tan for 15 minutes so soon, but what if it was a beginner and they didn't know? All the salons I've been to around here are like this.

mia

[njchica]

no you are NOT expecting too much. I would ask to speak to the manager or owner to let them know what has been happening. If you were not an educated tanner WHO KNEW BETTER, you would have burned. I hate hearing stuff like this. And make sure to tell someone to put a note in your file to ALWAYS ASK how long you would like to tan for.

[BrownJen]

That's awful. My salon tells me when they put new bulbs in and they lower my tanning time if I haven't been tanning there in a while and am not as dark. It's too bad some salons don't do that on a regular basis because like you said, it's really bad for new tanners that don't know any better.

[SpaceCadet55]

I'm sorry! I'm glad that I've had really good experiences at my salon so far! I told them that I was new to tanning indoors and I've gotten alot of help and attention from them. I think it's just so hard to gauge because I know around me, there are TONS of salons. They're everywhere! Atleast one in almost every shopping center - so they're not all owned and operated by responsible or educated people.

[StarryEyes]

My salon is like that. They don't say when there's new bulbs so I usually have to figure it out on my own. They also assume I want to go full time everytime, so unless I say specifically what I want, they set me up for full.

[Mia2White]

Another thing that made me angry....I was looking for JA Melaplus, because a few people here on the board suggested it. Well, my salon didn't have a full-size, but had a sample of it, so I got that. I thought the packaging looked a little dusty, but chose to ignore it. WRONG thing to do!! I bet they've had that stuff ever since they started business (SEVERAL years)...the lotion smelled old, looked old. ARRGGHHHHH!!! I do need to talk to the owner. When I used to tan all the time, I went on my lunch hour and he was always there, and to be fair to him, he was more attentive to my tanning needs. Obviously he needs to spend more time training his employees.

Thanks for letting me vent!!

mia

[Tamar]

You have every right to complain, although it sounds like it may not do much good. Sounds like you need to hook them up with links to tanning websites (to learn!). What part of Texas are you in?

[Horan2622]

They have done the same thing to me. I am VERY fair and I told them 5 on a 20 min. max bed. The girl looked at me like I shouldn't be allowed to tan. But she finally put me in a BAD bed since I went So few minutes. That was about a year ago. Just recently I had been out of town, so when I went back to my salon it had been a long time. I am currently using a 11 minute max bed and so I told the girl go ahead and put me in for 6 minutes. She gave me the same weird look and so I told her that I haven't been tanning for a while and if I get burned It will take me forever to be able to tan again. She goes oh you'll be fine. So trying not to be rude I said oh are you sure. And she goes oh yea, and I told her that I wanted to be sure so go ahead and put me in for 6. Then she tells me again Oh you'll be fine. And hands me the key. I wound of using my cellphone timer to go 6 minutes. Got out and sat there for the rest of the five minutes in my clothes in the corner. Then when the bed went off I sat there for 2 minutes so she would think I had gone the full 11.

[Mia2White]

Tamar...I'm in the bustling metropolis of Waco. There are a lot of tanning salons here that have been around for quite some time, but none that I have been to seem very knowlegeable.

Shannon....what part of Texas are you in?

[Horan2622]

Lufkin

[sarah29]

all of your stories are horrible. where i work it is expected that you not burn people. in fact whenever people ask me how long they think they should go, i give them advice based on the bell curve but i always tell them they know their skin best and it is up to them a couple of times. most of the time they opt for the safer end. the people that work at these salons are stupid. don't they realize that if their customers burn, it is #1 bad for their skin and #2 that it takes them just that much longer to return to their business? i can tell you what those girls did not want to do was clean a bed that they probably just cleaned so soon before again. they are being lazy but you guys should keep looking. i know that where i work we are informed and burning a customer especially on our sole advice like that would be grounds to get fired....

[josie3s]

Ugh, NO you are not expecting too much! Though I know how you feel, I get that crap from one of the girls at my salon. Thank goodness the other people are more knowledgeable! I am a total newbie, and I DIDN'T know better the first time I dealt with this girl. Burned the living daylights out of my back. So now I know to just DEMAND the bed and the amount of time that I want. If she looks at my crazy, too bad. She's not getting my commission for anything, I wait til the good people are there to buy stuff.