I am genuinely gobsmacked by the treatment I received today, and I don’t know what I should do next.
as background, I’m going through some stressful events next week where I need to feel confident, I decided to have my nails done to boost myself a bit before Monday. It’s a rare treat for me, maybe once every couple of years. I used the Treatwell app and found a slot free not far from me in 20 minutes, so I booked via the app and prepaid.
I arrived a few minutes early and the lady at reception told me she’d receive the booking notification 10 mins ago so I would have a 5 min wait. I let her know that i was happy to wait 5-10 minutes, but I had a commitment later and I’d prefer not to wait longer than that. I went and sat in the waiting area.
after I’d waited 30 mins, I went back to the front desk. She said it would be 5 mins so I moved my evening commitment and sat down again. Then after I’d been there 50 mins I went to ask about the wait time. She said at least 20-30 minutes so I said in that case I’d rather cancel and get a refund.
it all kicked off from that point. She had a 20+ minute rant about the booking system she’d inherited from the previous owners, about Treatwell and their bookings, their commissions etc etc. she was getting more and more agitated and I did really try and deescalate. I kept saying I sympathised with her difficulties but would like a refund. Her husband, who was completing a manicure next to us then joined in, just ranting really aggressively about it not being their problem and an insane range of unrelated things (they have five children at home, one was born premature, did I understand the stress, the wife kept telling me she went to private school and designed the booking system herself etc). They were shouting to other staff in a foreign language but clearly about me from the gesticulating and use of ‘Treatwell’. The man even started telling the clients already getting their nails done that he was sick of people like me. He kept trying to coax me to come back another day and they would honour the booking but obviously I wasn’t comfortable with that.
I honestly wanted to cry, I don’t know how I held myself together. Finally the wife said she’d cancel the appointment on Treatwell. However i checked my emails and she’d marked me as a ‘no show’ which meant no refund. At this point I submitted a one star review of treatwell. All I wrote was I waited 50 minutes but did not receive the service I paid for. Honestly, I think this was mild given the ranting. The wife then absolutely lost it and kept saying they wouldn’t refund me as I left a poor review. In the end I left after an hour. I’ve contacted Treatwell, but apparently they need the salon owner to confirm I attended before they issue a refund, I feel so powerless.
I did check google reviews before I booked, they had a 4.3 but when I look more closely, the higher rated reviews seem to date back to the old owners and a few recent review note the rudeness of the team.
is there anything I can do to get my money back? I’m a quite calm woman in my 40s but I just feel so shaken by the whole thing