ComplaintsforHolistic Harmony, Holistic Wellness Center

• Initial Complaint

  11/29/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Purchased $100 Gift Certificate on 8/16/21.On 10/18/21 business posted to their ******** page saying they would not be accepting new clients(no knowledge of this post until 11/29/21). On 11/29/21 went to schedule my wife a massage in person because they will not answer phone. Refused to schedule her even though gift certificate was purchased before 10/18/21. Went and got gift certificate to show it has no restrictions on use or time frame. Owner Rochelle then said she could schedule her for March of 2022. Told her at this point I feel like I'm getting the run around and would just like a refund. Owner Rochelle refused to give me a refund. Filed a complaint with ******* **** *********** Police Department.

  Business response

  12/13/2021

  December 5, 2021

  Dear *** ******* *******, 
  

  Thank you for the letter concerning *** ***** ********. I am aware that I need to respond to this situation. Below will be my statement to be used, if necessary, on your website. Please also find the attached police report regarding this matter and how it was handled. This man was completely irrational and unreasonable to deal with. He was very loud and disruptive to my business that morning. 
  

  My statement: On August 16, 2021, this customer bought a $100 gift card for his wife with the intentions of it being used for a massage, although we offer MANY services and products that the gift cards can be used for. 
  

  On Monday, November 29, 2021, the above referenced customer came into my place of business at 10:30am fired up and angry right from the start claiming he and his wife had been trying for several times to contact us by phone and that we never answer. I find this very hard to believe since we have dedicated, paid receptionists at the front desk to answer the phone 45-50 hours every week Monday-Saturday. We had no prior knowledge of them trying to contact us and we never received any other form of communication like an e-mail, ******** message, voicemail or them stopping in any sooner. 

  He proceeded to try and make an appointment for his wife. At the time he purchased his gift card, we were accepting new clients but on October 18th, 2021, our company made a 
  decision (which we made public knowledge on our social media page) to put a temporary halt on accepting new massage clients until we can hire another therapist or until our schedules lighten up to accept new clients again. Since June 4, 2020 when we re-opened after the pandemic shut down, we have been operating four months out in advance. Currently there is a major shortage of massage therapists in the state of PA, so our appointments are in high demand. We are also extremely reputable, with excellent, well-seasoned therapist which also add to our schedules being so busy. We informed him of this, which took him to an even angrier state of mind. He said he was leaving to get his gift card and that he would be back in 10 minutes and wanted a full refund. 

  Once he returned, I tried to talk to him and explain that our gift cards never expire (legally they can't) and that if they wanted to just hold on to it until we are taking new clients again, once we hire extra help, then they can use it for a massage, but until then I also gave him other options of using it for all of our other services/products that we offer which are available now if they wanted to use it right away. He was still very dissatisfied with these options. So even though we were not taking new clients, I tried to please him by offering him an appointment for a massage (which is the ONLY thing he wanted to use the gift card for). The soonest available appointment spot that I could offer him was in March of 2022. He did not want to wait that long for a massage. But just like any other established practice, new patients often wait several weeks or months for an appointment. I also told him of our cancellation list that could possibly allow for an appointment sooner but at this point, he was only focused on getting his money back. I calmly told him that unfortunately we do not refund gift cards, which is also a very common practice across most businesses (all gift card sales are final and are non refundable or redeemable for cash is a common phrase most businesses follow when it comes to gift cards). I feel that as a business, I offered him everything that I possibly could, even the service he was mainly wanting and because it was not as soon as he thought it should be, he became unreasonable to please. Just because someone receives a gift card for any business does not entitle them to come in and be so demanding on what they want and when they feel they should have it. Yes, this customer is correct in his statement of saying that our gift cards do not show to have any restrictions on use or time frame. That means it can be used at any time for anything and does not expire. But we are a service business, and we operate by appointments only. It does not mean that he's entitled to have it on demand the day he walks in. Not sure how he feels like he's getting the "run around" when this was our very first encounter and I offered him everything I could to try and please him. 

  The customer became very upset and said he was going to file a complaint with our local PD. A few minutes after he left, I got a phone call from the police (magically our phones were working, and WE ANSWERED)! I explained the whole situation to the police. They told me that I did nothing wrong, that I offered him everything and more to try and satisfy him and that I was not obligated to lose out on any money just because he did not want to wait that long for an appointment. They said if all businesses refunded gift cards, every business would be out of business. The cop even gave the analogy of this: If you have a gift card for ******** and you stop in to use it on one specific item and they don't have it on the shelf that day, they will not give you money back for the gift card. They will simply tell you to use it on something else in the store or hang on to it and come back when the item is available again. That is exactly how I handled the situation in my business. 

  I don't feel that I'm obligated to give this customer his money back since he purchased it and I'm offering him what he wanted. And since he came in with such an attitude from the start, he caused a great deal of disruption to my business that morning. I got myself 40 minutes behind with my client I was to be working on, so therefore, lost out on $30 by giving her a discounted appointment since she was not able to have her full session just because I had to deal with this unruly customer and the police over this matter. If I were to give him his money back, I would also lose out on approximately $10 in credit card fees for each transaction of the purchase and the refund. I also had to pay $15 to obtain the police report to send in with this letter. So, all in all, I would lose $155 all because of this man's impatience and uncooperativeness. The police were on my side and said I should not have to lose that money over a matter like this. Since the shutdown, I rely on gift card money to get me through month to month with expenses until I can recover what I had to sacrifice during that time. All businesses are suffering, especially small businesses. All are weathering being short staffed as well. When we are short staffed and in high demand, it has a ripple effect and causes appointment schedules to be pushed out more than normal and cause longer than normal wait times, just like any industry is witnessing these days. This man needs to realize this and be more understanding. 

  So, I stand behind the sale of my gift card to him and will still honor it if he would ever come back for services or products to use it. He may also re-gift it to someone else if he doesn't plan to utilize it. I do not feel that it is my duty to refund him when I am not morally, ethically, or legally doing anything wrong. I am not refusing him service or telling him he cannot use it so there is no reason he cannot book an appointment for his intended use and use up his gift card that he purchased. 

  I have owned and operated my own business since February 2007. I have always maintained an excellent reputation and rapport with all my clients/customers and never had any incidences such as this. I still honor gift cards to this day that were sold in my first days of business, all but 15 years ago, even though the money for those has long been spent. When a gift card is bought, I do not guarantee that it will be able to be used on a specific day or week that the client has in mind or demands. Sometimes gift cards are never redeemed. I cannot go back and call 15 years' worth of unused gift cards to inform them we are temporarily not taking new clients at this time. That's just absurd for this man to be so upset that we did not inform him of our decision to put a halt to our massage clients for a short time. Although, by posting it on Facebook, he just didn't see it. But that is a chance the client would take when they are ready to redeem their card and we as a business will make every effort to accommodate to the best of our ability to please the customer. And that is what we did in this situation. 

  I hope this explanation helps to better understand my side of the situation. If you need anymore information on the matter, please don't hesitate to contact me. 
  

  Sincerely, 
  

  Richelle G*****,

  Owner 
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩