Spa Smart

I am writing this review in the hopes that other people will steer clear of this business. I was recently in a bridal party and we decided a spa day would be a perfect stagette party for the bride. Spa Smart provides mobile spa service, and we decided to book the spa treatments at the bride’s house so we could eat and talk during the afternoon. The company contacted us individually and we were required to pre-​pay for our selected services, either by emailing them our credit card number or by going through PayPal. I was immediately uneasy about the email asking for my credit card information, so I did a PayPal payment. I ordered a 120 minute manicure/​pedicure combo and a one hour sports massage ($ 109 + tax each).
The day of the spa party, five women arrived to do our manicures and pedicures, and we were surprised that none of them were Spa Smart employees, and none of them had met each other before. The women worked out of their homes and came with varying equipment; one said that Spa Smart answered her «for hire» ad on Kijiji, and none had ever done an at home spa party before. The quality of the manicures and pedicures was poor, at best, for the whole group, and my experience in particular was only 40 minutes — far short of the 120 minutes I paid for. The woman who did my nails did not soak, clean or exfoliate my hands, and when I asked for a French manicure, she didn’t have any nail polish colors in her bag to do so. After borrowing some polish from another woman there, she did her best to paint my nails. She complained the entire time how difficult it was, and the end result looked like she had painted my nails with Whiteout; it was thick, uneven and clumpy. It looked awful, especially since she didn’t treat any of the hangnails or dry skin on my hands.
My pedicure couldn’t really be called a pedicure. The woman asked me to put my feet on her knees and simply painted my nails — nothing else! No treatment or soaking of my feet or cleaning of my nails. After she left I saw that there was polish on my toes and one nail was missing a second coat. I was appalled that having my nails painted on someone’s knees was what I paid for. Both treatments were of such poor quality I was terribly disappointed.
The massage I received was performed by an older man, with the table set up in a bedroom. He made me uncomfortable, which is just my personal feeling, and I couldn’t wait for the massage to be over. He also confused my health release form with another girl’s form, and asked me questions that indicated he had read the wrong form for my massage. I also asked for a back and shoulder massage, which barely received any attention. I do admit it was my responsibility to be more insistant during the massage, and I didn’t do so, but I also feel I shouldn’t have had to.
After the party a couple of us girls contacted the company to ask for a partial refund because our services were so bad, and they sent us an email that told us that since we didn’t stop service at the time, we have no right to complain it was poorly done. They said «we sell the experience, not the service». Their website states that you can only get a refund if you cancel 7 days prior to the spa party, and I wanted to cancel my massage after meeting the therapist, but I was afraid I would be out $ 115 with no avenue to get it back. We are now going through the Better Business Bureau to try and get a partial refund, but I am not hopeful anything will come of it. Please don’t waste your time or money with this company!