Monday, 15 November 2010

When Good Facialists Go Bad: Gennie Monteith

Me and Wahanda are firm friends.  They provide gloriously priced treatments via their excellent mobdeals, and I hand over my credit card details time and time again.  A short while ago, I paid £25 for a 90 minute custom facial with Gennie Monteith, a "bespoke facialist" who is described as "renound in her field".

Unfortunately, since buying the deal, I've been unable to get hold of Ms Monteith to book in my treatment.  I sent an email, and received no reply.  I called, no-one answered; I texted, no-one responded; I called again and found that her voicemail was full and I couldn't leave a message.  When I did eventually manage to leave a message, I didn't hear a peep back.

And sadly, I'm not alone in my bad experience - the reviews on her page on Wahanda are a mixed bag, with some people raving about the quality of the facial, and others complaining that Gennie Monteith didn't return their calls, failed to turn up, arrived late, or talked all the way through the facial.

I got in touch with Wahanda Customer Service today to be told that I would receive a refund - Ms Monteith has, apparently, sold too many vouchers and isn't really succeeding in booking many people in at all (or, indeed, phoning them back).  As always, I received a prompt reply from Wahanda, and my refund is on its way.

If you also bought into the Gennie Monteith facial deal for Mayfair, London - get in touch with Wahanda to get your money back by emailing customer.services [at] wahanda.com.  As for Gennie... this kind of unprofessional service pretty much guarantees that I'll be looking elsewhere for a bespoke facial, and dissuading friends from visiting her.

Did you buy one of these vouchers?  What was your experience?

8 comments:

  1. I feel a bit for Wahanda. I haven't bought a mobdeal yet (I wanted the fish pedicure but totally forgot about it) but it seems that a lot of the people who offer the services let them down. I've heard more negative comments about it than positive and I know that's to do with the providers and not Wahanda themselves. Seems that quite a few dodgy establishments thought it would be a great way to get some recognition but it seems to have backfired on them.

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  2. Poor you. It's not the first negative story I've heard of her.
    I'll give you a facial. Money can't buy my facials - now there's an offer!!

    :)

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  3. @Rhamnousia: Oh really? All of the mobdeal experiences I've had thus far have been pretty good - I think that when you pay such a tiny price, you can't expect a 5-star experience - but you can expect a 4 star experience at a very very good price.

    @Mrs Hirons: I think my falling asleep and snoring technique might put you off! :D

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  4. Is there anything worse than a bargain let down!? You're impressed with finding it, getting hold of it.. To be let down is so annoying! x

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  5. Damn, looks like they need to exercise more quality control in picking their partners :( but at least you're getting your money back!

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  6. I am really sorry about the bad experience. The team at Wahanda works hard to find partners who are going to maintain the quality that we expect for our customers but every once in a while we have a problem with a partner like the one we have had with Gennie Monteith.

    The good news It doesn't happen often. We work with thousands of suppliers (big and small) who offer hundreds of different kinds of treatments across the country and we currently have only 3 suppliers who are on our watch list.

    In each of these situations we have done everything we can to work with the partner to resolve the issue, and we will not work the supplier further until the issue is resolved. In the worst case, we will issue a credit to our customer even if it comes out of our pocket... its our commitment to stand by the customer.

    We care about our customer feedback and listen carefully to what you have to say and try to act on it. This is why we offer every customer a £5 voucher to write a review on their experience -- no one else does that. Usually we hear great things, but every once in a while we hear things that upset us. In those situations we listen and try to do everything we possibly can to fix them... its our commitment to creating the best site for health and beauty anywhere.

    Wahanda has grown entirely based on the good word and feedback of customers like you. I am sorry that on this occasion the experience was not what you expected but I hope that we have done everything we can to resolve the situation and I hope it doesn't put you off Wahanda in the future.

    very best
    Lopo Champalimaud

    CEO & Co-Founder
    Wahanda

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  7. I bought 3 deals on wahanda.One deal on o spa I got a refund for after 4 months of trying to book an appoinment.I also bought a deal with Gennie Monteith and I-skinmedix,both which I am now waiting for a refund for as I cant get through to them after months of trying.

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  8. I had a facial with Gennie the on Saturday afternoon. I booked this about 4 months ago. She was hard to reach but she did eventually get back to me. She was also running 30 min late when I arrived and talked through the first 30 min of the facial. and showed me the mobile number she had down for me was a missing a digit, so yeah. (Her phone is unreachable. Here's the number for the salon if you're still trying to reach her: 0207 734 6598.)

    But you know what? She was awesome.

    She really cared about your wellbeing. The chit chat, although slightly lengthy, was about your health, what you could eat to improve your skin, what products you're using and not once was she trying to sell me anything unlike other places where I've had facials. I hate being flogged Dermalogica products even though I've made it clear that I DON'T need another scrub, or mask etc...

    Today marks the second day after Gennie's facial and my skin is glowing and just oh so smooth. It feels awesome. She pinpointed all my issues (regulating sebum production, dry spots, oily areas, etc) and mixes up all the ingredients on the spot. I dozed off in between her massages and when I woke up halfway towards the end of my facial, I felt completely relaxed and sublime.

    So all in all, it was hard to get a hold of her but in the end, the trouble is definitely worth it for 2 hours of proper face work and pampering - especially at £25.

    p.s. On a different note, I've lost faith in Wahanda. I booked Kuno Tierra vouchers 5 months in advance (as there were no other availabilities) to take my friend out as a birthday treat. After countless attempts at trying to contact them over a period of 2 months before the treatment date to confirm what choices of treatments we wanted they have not returned our calls. We decided to head out there anyways on the day only to find out that the place has been liquidated and shut for over 3 months. What appalled me was that NOBODY bothered to contact me, either the spa itself or Wahanda. No to mention it was insanely embarrassing for my girl friend. For that disappointing experience alone, I'm no longer purchasing Wahanda deals anymore.

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