AIBU to be disappointed (spa day)?

[SpaBrat]

I'll kick this off by stating that this is a total first world "problem" so please excuse my rant as I know there's a lot worse going on in the world. I'd just be interested to know if anyone else would feel the same or if I'm just being a brat?

At the very beginning of the pandemic I got an award at work. These are usually in the form of an online shop where you can buy items from loads of different retailers (including the ability to get vouchers for the likes of Amazon or John Lewis to be used at leisure). This award, however, was different as it was for an "experience", which had to be booked via an online "concierge" service, who would hand pick the booking for you. Unlike the usual rewards you weren't able to see the monetary value.

I didn't book anything until recently, as Covid restrictions meant that the vast majority of experiences were unavailable and it was mostly "Learn French from home" (which with two small children at home in lockdown, while trying to WFH and home-school, was not really what I wanted to use a reward for!).

Anyway I finally got around to booking a spa day recently and went through the online booking process with my concierge - basically filling out a form with how far I'd be willing to travel, and allergies, the kinds of treatments I'd like, etc. Throughout this process I had no idea of the budget so it was a bit awkward as I didn't know what it was reasonable to request.

I was offered a spa day (5 hours) in a city centre (no parking!) at a small Thai beauty spa type place. Less of a day spa, more of a beauty salon. The treatments included sounded nice enough, reviews relatively reasonable, no food included though (will be there 11am-4pm). Also no spa facilities (pool, steam room etc). It was also right at the maximum distance I'd said I was willing to travel, and not the easiest to get to (I'll have to park and ride it or get an Uber due to the lack of city centre parking). Anyway, I decided to go for it, as I assumed it was the best deal to be found within whatever budget the concierge was working with (and I don't like being an awkward customer!). The package it turns out costs £325, which I thought was pretty generous.

But within the booking confirmation email I was sent £600(!!!) worth of vouchers for the spa. There was a note to say the remaining vouchers could be used (up until Nov this year) on anything I wanted to book at the spa (they're non-transferable as in my name).

Now I will probably sound like a spoiled brat (hence the name change!), but I am a bit irritated. With a budget of £600 I could have booked myself into a really lovely day spa (which is 6 minutes from my house) and with a package that includes lunch, some lovely treatments, and use of the spa facilities too. That would still have come in well below budget at £370, been so much more convenient, and it would have been much easier to use any remaining vouchers up as won't take an hour to get there and another hour to get back. A quick Google using my postcode (which the concierge had access to) actually produced a plethora of closer options in fact.

The way the concierge service was presented made it sound like they would go above an beyond to find the perfect package for me, but I'm actually left feeling like they just booked the first thing that popped up and didn't consider location or budget at all, or comfort for that matter (lack of food).

I also know I'm unlikely to use the remaining vouchers due to the difficulty getting to the spa. I was prepared to sort out the travel (about an hour each way due to traffic) for a one off really special treat, but as a single mum-of-two I know I'll be unlikely to find an opportunity to find another day to go back and use the remaining vouchers. I was really looking forward to a special day of self care, for the first time in many, many years, but now I'm just feeling a bit annoyed. £600 is a LOT of money to me and the idea of wasting any of the vouchers doesn't sit right with me at all.

I dunno - am I being unreasonable? I fear I might be but this has left a sour taste in my mouth!

Speak to your employer

If I was them I would want to know that the third party company we were using was not providing the service we expect

You asked for a spa day, you didn't get a spa day, you got some treatments

I would get it changed. It sounds rubbish.

With a budget of £600

But you didn't have a budget of £600.

The cost of these experiences is heavily discounted. Deals are made with the places who offer the best deals. It's very likely that they provide the additional vouchers to encourage you to become a regular customer.

We have a similar scheme at work. People have basically stopped going for the 'experiences' because there is always a level of disappointment.

Can you find out the 'value' of some of the alternatives? I really doubt it would be £600.

Sorry.

we are unable to discuss reward value

This means "we do not pay the face value" of these experiences.

Yep. That would've hacked me off. Can you explain to anyone see if it can be changed?

I'd kick up a massive fuss at the company. They've been shit.

That reply from the company is so impersonal it's filled me with rage. I don't see why they can't change it!

I wonder of the "concierge service" is a single Dodgy McDodgerson bloke operating out of his mum's spare room "hand selecting tailormade experiences" by cramming people into whatever turns him the biggest profit. The type who would have featured on that Esther Rantzen programme back in the day.

It reminds me a little bit of those scratchcard sheets you used to get in magazines about 20 years ago. You could always win one of various prizes including £1000 cash and a holiday was always one of the prizes. Well you never won the cash but quite often you would win the holiday.

I knew it was a scam but was curious to know how it worked, so on about the 5th time I won the holiday, instead of throwing it in the bin I rang the phone number to "claim the fabulous holiday". I timed the phonecall to the £1/min phone line. After all the rambling and faffing of the pre-recorded message "Congratulations you have won blah blah to claim this amazing blah experience ramble timewaste" you just had to say your name and address, interspersed with more timewasting amazing prize rambling. The call took 9min 20sec. Fine, that was how they made the money.

But what of the holiday? They sent the info in the post: you couldn't select the date or destination, you just had to select a couple of blocks of dates and, IIRC, a couple of potential European city destinations from the list. You had to then be available at very short notice to go, any time in the one of the 2-3 week off peak blocks of dates.
So I expect they had a deal with a budget airline and a couple of cheapo hotel chains to use the holiday winners as "filler", shoving them into unsold plane seats and hotel rooms at short notice when the spaces wouldn't otherwise have sold. Only suitable for somebody who didn't have a job where you had to book annual leave and didn't have any commitments so their uptake would have been low enough to be outweighed by all the other £9.30s from the people who completed the phonecall.

Have a look at the Companies House website for the concierge service and the "spa", just out of interest.

"we are unable to discuss reward value

This means "we do not pay the face value" of these experiences."

Yep.

"Speak to your employer

If I was them I would want to know that the third party company we were using was not providing the service we expect"

Yep. Not just for you but as much to stop them financially supporting scammy mcdodgerson "concierge".

I've never seen this concierge type thing before. So you mean you have to rely on someone else to spend your vouchers and you don't even get to choose yourself? I would complain to the company and try to get them to choose again. Check the t&C to see if you can wriggle out. It sounds like a salon, not a spa.

But if it is a City Centre won't it have public transport?

I would be fuming, sounds like they are taking the piss

"I've never seen this concierge type thing before"

Sounds posh.
Isn't posh.
I wonder if the spa's other clients "treatments" include gently handwashing dirty money with infusions of rose petals.
Or indeed if the spa and the "concierge service" are both owned by the same lot.

I don’t mean to put you off saying something to your employer if you feel the service provided warrants it, just that I’d be careful. Do you know the value of vouchers given for similar awards in the past? Do you know anyone else who has booked an experience with this concierge service? These things might guide you as to whether yours is actually in line with what your employer is likely to be paying (discounted ‘spa’ deal plus fee to concierge service, which does at least theoretically have value since it gives access to a range of things to suit different individuals) or if they’re being ripped off. If the latter, then, yes, I probably would say something, although I’d pose it as a question thoug. I get the impression some posters would go in all guns blazing saying they aren’t getting £370/600 worth of spa day, but that may not be what was ever intended so I wouldn’t be doing that unless I was sure of my facts.

Re the company’s response, it would be worth seeing if you can adjust the times of the treatments so you can have a proper lunch with the gift card.

I’d probably warm the employer not to use this shitty “service” again. All this bloody secrecy is probably covering up one dodgy backhanders.

You asked for a spa day, you didn't get a spa day, you got some treatments
While this is true, unfortunately OP knew this when she agreed to the spa day chosen. She knew it was just treatments and in a difficult to reach part of town and chose it anyway, so can't really then complain about that.

I don't think it's reasonable to criticise them for offering a city centre location, as that seems a logical place if you're after convenience as most people would be able to easily get to it. However for you, a city centre is not convenient (not sure I quite understand why, but that's besides the point. It sounds like you live somewhere car dependent?). So really they can't expect to be mind readers and you should have said something rather than complain after it was booked.
When you booked it the only "unknown" was the value, but that shouldn't impact your ability to say "actually that's not a great location for me and I don't want to spend 5 hours of back to back treatments. Is there anything else you can offer?"

I also wouldn't assume that the voucher is valid for the spa closer to your house. I'm not familiar with this concierge model but I would imagine it's heavily discounted and therefore only with participating companies.

Thai massages are the best massages around! Nothing dodgy about a Thai spa (I go to a wonderful one near me whenever I need a massage) but it’s definitely not a ‘spa day’ kind of spa.

Their business model is basically to give you the crqppiest thing they can get away with, relying on the fact that a) you don't know how much your award is worth and b) that you'll be too British to want to complain as you worry you'll seem churlish and ungrateful

It's kind of brilliant really

I suspect quite strongly that the amount your employer pays to the concierge service and the amount that the concierge service company pays to the spa are both considerably less than £600. I do not think it is reasonable for you in your mind to equate the £600 with what you could have bought that would be more convenient to you, because I do not think your employer will have forked out this much.

Rather than focus on the actual sum of money, perhaps feed back to your employer that the rewards offered by this reward scheme are more of a hassle than rewarding, and that you do not find the concierge service helpful. Maybe when they review their reward and recognition procedures they will change providers.

I thought I would come back to this and update, as I had so many responses.

I have now had the "spa day". I gave up complaining/trying to get it changed in the end as I got absolutely nowhere with them (and also because it was kind of my fault for agreeing as already mentioned up thread).

In the end it was actually a very nice experience. The spa was tiny and I had to drive and then take two buses to get there, but it was worth it. I was very well looked after by a lovely lady with magic hands. And I feel very relaxed now! I had a short break around half way through the treatments and I was given a little snack, so there WAS food. Although I think this must be something they only do for people who book the full day spa package as it was some M&S bits (and it isn't mentioned anywhere on the website).

I still have £275 of vouchers to go back and use another time, so I think I'll treat my best friend to a massage.

I am still perplexed by the concierge service and why they didn't book something worth closer to the full reward value, but at least I know for future reference (if I ever get a similar reward in future).

Thank again for all the replies!

Glad you had a nice time. Hope your friend drives as that would save some of the stress next time!

Blimey, you could have a weekend for two at Champneys for that.

You need to complain asap.

Sorry missed the last post.

Please give this concierge service a shitty review.