to think that a refund isn’t enough.

[Thatstingslikemad]

I went to a well known spa for the day at Christmas. I am allergic to a very specific chemical, and wrote this on my medical form before I had a treatment. The lady did the treatment but then used a final product which contained the chemical, and it burnt me.
I spoke to the manager and they arranged a refund and some tea and cake, and I asked that the staff be trained to read the product labels and medical forms before doing a treatment.

I went back to the spa this weekend and EXACTLY the same thing happened but with a different treatment, except she used it to start the treatment and had slathered it on without even looking at my form. My skin is burning and I have itched all night. The manager was horrified and offered a refund of the treatment (which hadn’t taken place as she stopped immediately) and a free spa day but I’m not keen on returning now, as you can imagine!

What should I do?

I am allergic to citrus fruit and pineapple. If i go to a Spa i ask to read the labels myself.

I didn’t think they were going to use any products so I didn’t think I’d have to read any labels!!!

What are you hoping for above a refund?

I'm not sure why everyone is making this your fault! I would be kicking up an almighty stink. They were meant to check training etc and they didn't. It's only luck that you're not fatally allergic.

What do you want them to do?

Go raise awareness about what they've done; report them to the council. If they are a chain, escalate it above local level. If not, have another meeting and inform them that this time, you're making it public and reporting them to environmental health etc.

They are acting as though allergies don't matter - they do and people can die or be left with a completely different style of life. They need to realise it's not a joke, but I'm really against the whole "sue for injury every chance you get" attitude so I'm totally against it if you're just after money.

So you went back a second time. You'd almost think you did so in an effort to form a case against them to get money .

If it was me I would be wanting the spa to be visited by some sort of health and safety inspector and told to train their people better. There surely should be some sort of register of mistakes (or negligence) like this by companies?
Not looking out for patient allergies, and not taking note of the pre-treatment notes should surely be addressed in advance of the inevitable major incident.

YANBU - they are not taking those forms seriously what if they gave someone an anaphylactic shock??

I would phone up the manager and say that a refund is insufficient after her having reassured you in December that this situation would not arise again!!!

I would phone up the manager and say that a refund is insufficient after her having reassured you in December that this situation would not arise again!!!

But what exactly would be sufficient. If the op wants compensation then I suspect the offer of a free spa day is perfectly acceptable given that there was no serious repercussions. If however the op wants better training for the staff then surely a call to the spa head office/trading standards is in order

Ok I’ll write to head office. It’s a chain and I love going but the assurances of training have clearly been a waste of time.

What would environmental health do?

Tell you to stay out of there, if you're allergic to the products?

That’s the second snarky response from you greyhound.

Using the spa facilities doesn’t mean using the products, does it?

OP, I agree with your op, don't return. You can not trust them to maintain your safety - I am sure there are plenty of other nice spas that will take this more seriously. No idea why so many posters think this is your fault, you had declared the allergy and it was reasonable to not expect her to cover your feet in a alcohol based product for a pedicure!

OP,

The Environmental Health Department of you local council will be the people responsible for enforcing Health and Safety legislation at the Spa. They will have powers to investigate what happened. They will know if there have been other reported problems with the spa. Generally companies will take a LOT more notice of an incident if the Environmental Health Department have been involved.

I'd suggest contacting them.

I get it. I don't think this is about you and what you can get from them. I think you want them to be held accountable and to not do it again.

It's very poor that they didn't read the form. OK yes as someone with an allergy you should speak up as standard, but they have more responsibility here.

I know you say you didn't know they were going to use a product, fair enough, but the first thing I would say when walking in would be "I have an allergy to alcohol, I just want to check you won't be using any". However regardless of that the issue is that they didn't ask, nor did they use the form. What if it had been someone with a more serious allergy? It could be next time and that's why they need to be accountable for the second incidence. So now you need to find out who they are accountable to. They must report to some kind of official body surely?