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146 Acland Street St Kilda, 217 Glen Huntly Rd Elsternwick, Arch Demoness, Arch Demoness of Eyebrows, Awful bosses, bad customer service, Bad day, Bad eyebrow wax, day spa australia, day spa australia bad customer service, dayspa australia, dayspa australia bad customer service, Kicked out of a day spa, Lotus Day Spa, lotus day spa st kilda, Lotus Health Spa, lotus health spa st kilda, lotushealthspa.com.au, Mangled, Mutant zombie people, Waxed, www.lotushealthspa.com.au
As mentioned in Mutant Zombie People, I ran into a little trouble with a so-called beautician.
To recap: I needed an eyebrow wax desperately, so I didn’t end up looking like this…
Trust me, I was on the verge!
Okay, maybe not quite on the verge. But, it’d been a while.
Started getting the brows waxed over five years ago now. To allay Ana’s concerns – I’m in no danger of them thinning into oblivion. There’s not a single brow hair that’s shown any sign of vanishing completely, after all these years (stubborn bastards!).
My usual cheap ‘n’ cheerful (but excellent) place, had a one hour wait. An hour I didn’t have. So I strolled around the corner looking for an alternative.
Ah! The Lotus Health Spa was advertising eyebrow waxes… excellent… or not! (As an aside, their website is currently listed as a phishing site by Google!!)
Walked up a bunch of stairs into what was a rather lovely reception. There was a little relaxation room off to one side, and before they take you to the treatment room, your shoes come off and feet are massaged with a warmed towel… how beguiling it is, being drawn into the demon’s lair!
We get started. She asks me what I want, and I tell her: make the thicker parts closest to my nose thinner, but don’t touch the thinner bits and keep the shape natural. It’s what I always say.
I start to wonder if she knows what she’s doing, when there’s one pass of wax under each eyebrow and then, she does an awful lot of plucking… (erm, this is a wax, not a pluck!). I am not a chicken to be de-plumed!!
I’m given a mirror to view the result and I cringe as I behold the opposite of what I wanted. The thinner bits are thinner, and the left is thinner than the right. The thicker bits are still thick! And weird looking.
I’m not rude, but I am direct, probably because I’m in shock. I’m sorry, I’m really not happy with this.
I try to explain what I want again. She starts plucking my right eyebrow again, and then asks me to have a look. Oh! The inner part of my eyebrow resembles a misshapen wedgy blob… roughly shaped and anything but streamlined or neat.
I stare in horror, unsure of what to do next. Eventually I tell her please just try to even the other one up and we’ll leave it at that. I’m sorry, I’m really not happy with this at all. They’re really kind of mangled… (probably shouldn’t have said ‘mangled’).
She finishes and runs to talk to her boss (the owner?), who storms into the little room where I’m putting my shoes on. Doesn’t introduce herself (henceforth I’ve dubbed her Arch Demoness) and demands to know what the problem is.
I cringe as I realise she’s going to give poor Kate (who’d made a mess of my eyebrows) a dressing down while simultaneously trying to resolve things with me. I was far from comfortable and way too polite to just walk out. I wish I had!
The Arch Demoness insists I lie back down on the treatment bed while I explain my concerns. As I do this, she demands of poor Kate ‘explain yourself’. Kate stammers something about my eyebrows being too long and Arch Demoness runs with it… Well yes, the hair was long and that plays a part, and see how your eyebrow is slightly curly here? Well, it will never look the same as the other one! Her tone is triumphant; she’s confident she’s made a valid point.
Really, I say… So, you’re blaming my eyebrows for what’s happened here? I’ve been getting them waxed for years and no one has ever said anything like this before. And I’ve always been happy with the result, but I can’t say the same for this one. [Perhaps a touch harsh?]
The Arch Demoness speaks in an overly loud voice, Look, no one’s eyebrows are perfect! So tell me what you want me to do…
I ask her to lower her voice, and try to explain once again, before she cuts me off on another rant, again with her voice raised and tinged with anger. She’s now yelled at me, at Kate and instead of telling me how she’s going to make me feel better and put my eyebrows back in order, she’s vomiting one excuse after the other.
All of which leaves me feeling particularly nervous.
I’m sorry, but I don’t feel comfortable having any more work done here. I think I’d like to leave.
At this point, the Arch Demoness and Kate are outside the room. Kate is being yelled at. The Arch Demoness storms back and forth to argue with me some more as I gather my things. She keeps claiming I haven’t told her what I want her to do. When in fact, I’d told her I wanted her to fix the problems we’d discussed.
And I’m getting kinda angry. Her staff member screwed up. That happens. But this is my face. If things go badly (as they have), it can take weeks to grow out. The Arch Demoness continues taunting me in a very loud voice.
Did you hear her tell us what she wants, Kate? I didn’t hear her say anything!
Yes I did. I wanted you to fix my eyebrows. But you’ve given me lots of excuses and haven’t actually done anything. Tell me, can you honestly look at my eyebrows and say they look even?
Arch Demoness raises her voice but refuses to give me a straight answer. Instead she bellows in return, Do my eyebrows look perfectly straight?!!
Please stop shouting at me, I say as calmly as I can.
She turns around, draws her face closer to mine while turning a bright shade of beetroot. It’s clear she’s lost control of herself as she screams, NOW I’M SHOUTING AT YOU!!!! GET OUT, GET OUT OF HERE!
Kind of amusing really, since I’m already going.
As I leave, she keeps shouting at me to get out. Hope there weren’t any other customers in there somewhere!
DON’T EVER COME BACK!!, screeches the Arch Demoness.
I have no intentions of that. But I will be telling everyone I know what happened today.
I don’t know what came over me, but I lied (a little), Oh by the way, I’m a writer. And I’ll be writing all about my experience.
Good, she says (all high pitched and bitchy), I look forward to responding to it.
Great, I say, you total freak!
She didn’t try to charge me at all. Not that I would’ve paid.
I ride away on my bike sobbing a little, thinking about the shocking state of my brows. Can’t go out looking like this! So I find another salon (a place called ‘Waxed’ on Glenhuntly Rd).
It’s staffed by cute young blonde things who look at my face with a frown. I explain the story to them and within minutes I’m in a treatment room.
The girl doesn’t look any older than twenty, but her professionalism is apparent.
Less than ten minutes later, I’m able to look at the upper part of my face without fear. Sure, they’re thinner than I’d like, but they look good. And the difference between the ‘beauticians’ at Lotus Health Spa and these cute spray-tanned bottle blondes… is stark.
Of course, if I’d read the signs right, I would’ve cancelled my evening plans and stayed in that night. Even so, I still would’ve run into the Orange Frizzy Haired Chihuahua Lady…
And now? Due to all the plucking instead of actual waxing, there’s a whole bunch of spiky little hairs growing back already. I should be grateful, really.
~Svasti
Svasti: A Journey From Assault To Wholeness 
Wow. Amazing how some people stay in business, isn’t it? Glad this fiasco is behind you.
Firstly, I am disappointed by the lack of documentary evidence/photos in this post!
Secondly, and I don’t say this often, lady is a crazy bitch. If that’s a typical encounter for her, expect to see an ‘under new management’ sign outside soon.
Thirdly, glad it all got (literally) straightened out. I think seeing as you’ve named and shamed the baddies, you should do a little promotion for the salon superheroes by naming them too.
Lastly, orange frizzy haired chihuahua lady?
yowza! Talk about dramatic!! I guess I should be grateful for my hairless head 🙂 So glad you found someone who could make things right, quickly and professionally. Yes, if I were you, I would be grateful for the spiky new guys!!
@tricia – Sometimes, I seem to have a knack for ferreting out these wonderful examples of humanity. I have my doubts they were actually qualified for doing any waxing!
@la – Have you ever tried to take a close up pic of your own eyebrows? I admit, I kinda wish I had’ve taken one before they got fixed. But I was a little too distraught to be thinking strategically at the time. And… I did just attempt a photo or two of the brows, but it really didn’t work out so well!
I honestly think the woman was out of her depth, and its clear from the way she treated her employee that this wasn’t a one-off. Sadly, I’ve heard many tales where day spas don’t treat their staff very well. But this lady I agree, is probably a little crazy and certainly takes the cake! Actually, I think she should take a customer service training course or something like that.
You know, I didn’t quite catch the name of the studio where they helped me out so wonderfully. Shall look them up and add their business name 🙂
Re: orange frizzy haired chihuahua lady, read my Mutant Zombie People post!
@Karin – Twas good to get this one down on paper. Horrible experience, but yes, there’s always someone lovely where other people are horrid.
I’ve been waiting for this post, Svasti. It’s great. I know it was bad at the time, but it’s so hilarious that the woman totally lost it and had no idea what to do to solve the problem. And the problem wasn’t that hard to solve.
I marvel at the power of defensiveness and mean old pride to get in the way. Defensiveness seems to remove all sanity from otherwise sane people as they defend their position to the death.
I can think of an Aboriginal NGO -a very powerful organisation- whose entire modus operandi is based on defensiveness. And whose ‘meetings’ with other organisations comprise the shouting matches that you’ve described here.
PS. I think the Orange Frizzy Haired Chihuahua Lady looks like one of those PC mums in that ABC kids’ show… the one that had babies and toddlers and some kid called Chucky and a bitchy mean girl called Angelika. Can’t remember the show’s name.
@Amanda – I know, it is hilarious! I couldn’t quite believe what was happening – it was like kids instead of adults were running this business.
Pride and defensiveness bring us all down at one point or another. Seems to be what we do, huh?
The Orange Frizzy Haired Chihuahua Lady is small, thin, with angular features and a mouth that’s all pursed up all of the time. Her nose is bony and sharp with a bump in it. Her skin is olive-toned and her eyes are small and beady. Generally, I think she disapproves of anyone and everything that she doesn’t like!
Holy cow, this is why I never entrust my eyebrows to strangers! Demoness seems to have made a career mistake, she’s better suited to being a drill Sergeant in the army. Glad you found a place that could fix you up properly!
I know who Orange-Frizzy Haired Chihuahua Lady looks like:
Didi Pickles from the cartoon ‘Rugrats’.
Except skinnier and meaner. And with a chihuahua!
@Bird – Hehe, I’ve never had problems ever before with having my eyebrows waxed! Suppose there’s a first for everything!
@Amanda – Didn’t know who that was, but I Googled the name and you know what? I think you’re right!! 😉
OMG that is a horror story alright. Now time for revenge.
In the States on our news programs we have these reporters who go ferret out bad customer service and publicly humiliate the companies. You call them and they profile the bad companies on TV. Do you have anything like that there? I’d totally call them if I were you.
Next I would go to epinions.com and write a complaint, and complain to whatever passes for your Better Business Bureau. Really. Those women are maniacs!
Then, retag your blog post with their address and web site address so this post will always come up when they do get Googled. Google loves blogs better than dot coms. Take it from me, your friendly neighborhood internet marketer slash revenge professor.
I’m really sorry that happened Svasti. Namaste.
@Michelle Tackabery – Haha, yeah I fully intend to get a little more of my own back. This woman was a total freak! Thanks for the encouragement 😉
Oh, and the eyebrows? Haven’t quite grown back yet, but they’re on their way (thank goodness)!
This is a truly scary lady!
I had been there for facials quite a few times and had noticed the owner of this place having phone conversations that were much less than friendly and I had seen her make some unfriendly remarks, but believe she would act this way until it happened to me. I recently had some difficulty with my appointment scheduling and the owner became quite nasty and aggressive with me. I went to my appointment anyways as I did not want to have to pay the full amount and not even get a facial. She did not bother coming out of the backrooms while I was there… She basically “hid” instead of smoothing things over! Now I need to start looking for some place else I like, as I do believe in letting my wallet do the talking!
@Another One – oh wow! You know, I’m really glad I wrote this post now, and did everything I could to do make it searchable via Google.
She truly is a scary woman!
And definitely, its better to let your wallet do the talking. Somehow I don’t think she gets it, and just sees everyone else as the ‘problem’ instead of her own stinking attitude!
I have a friend who reccomends a place in Albert Park for facials, so if you’d like the details, let me know!! 😉
That’s very interesting, i recently went to this Lotus Day Spa in St Kilda. What a joke. I bought a voucher online from spreet’s. Talk about bad customer service, i guess by getting people to buy vouchers she may have some customer’s but i sure as hell wont be back there again, thank god i never had my eyebrows done.
Please read below my experience from Arch Demoness.
I bought a deal online from Spreets
Which was meant to include the following details that were posted on the site for this Deal.
Your pampering will include a full body scrub, designed to gently remove dead skin cells and exfoliate your whole bod! Next up is your body cocoon wrap, in which lavish skincare will be applied to your bod, then youll be wrapped up and covered in a blanket for a half-hour, so your skin can be utterly revitalised youll be as snug as a bug in a rug!
Then, its onto your express facial, which will give your skin a quick pick-me-up, including a cleanse, exfoliation, serum, mask, and moisturise. Repair and restore your skins glow!
Finally, settle back for your hair and scalp treatment and massage it sends a thrill up the spine just thinking about it!For centuries, women in Asia have tended to their hair and scalp with natural, nutrient-rich treatments. And, now, its your turn.
My appointment was for 10am which i had just parked my car and called at 10.01 am to say i had arrived and was getting out of my car. Once i had arrived i filled in the book work and was taken to the room which i then received a salt body scrub and some mud wrap. which all up probably only took 15 minutes. Then i was told that my appointment had to be cut short because i was 10 minutes late, so i guess that means that’s all i get, the girl who was looking after me was told by the manager that is all she is allowed to do as i was 10min late, and its a half hour treatment, which i cant see going on the description that is not true that it would even be possible to have all that in half and hour, then they wanted me to go to the shower so i could wash the scrub of but guess what someone else was in there and i was asked to wait in another room. Guess they never had time HUH but had time to leave me in there waiting, so i ended up removing it with a towel and got dressed then left as i was utterly disgusted in the way i was treated.
Later i tried to call and say i was not happy and what they were going to do to rectify this and if i would get another appointment but no chance of that as they simply did not want to even answer the phone because they could see my number come up but once my number was hidden the phone was picked up and i tried to discuss with the woman how i was very unhappy and thought i may get a full treatment BUT NO she basically hung up.
They are taking these vouchers and pumping you through a 15min treatment and not honoring the voucher at all.
Hi Julie,
I’m sorry you also had such a bad experience there, although I’m not surprised. The manager is not a very nice person and I’m pretty sure her staff are scared of her!
It seems like a funny business for someone like her to be in – providing a service that is meant to make you feel good – when she is clearly not interested on being nice to paying customers!
Anyway, I’d recommend that you get in touch with Spreets and tell them your story. It can’t be good for their business to have people like her associated with it!
Best wishes to you.
Hi Svasti,
I have already contacted spreets,that was one of the first things i did and hopefully they will deal with it or not let her have anymore deals online. I have also found other bad comments on the internet from other customers who have also had bad experiences at this place. I think if she treats her staff like crap then should would have a really hi staff turnover, i could not imagine they would stay working there too long. And one would think by selling those great deals she would make the effort to try good customer service skills and build up her cliental.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=-37.868806%2C144.980319
Svasti,
Here is a link you can have a read of other reviews from cutovers.
AARHHHHHH!!!!
Sorry about the typos LOL think my computer changed some words and i cant edit the post to correct them.
Hi there
I received a SPREETS email this morning and thought, wow, the offer sounds great! Thank goodness I found your blog, as I would have wasted my time and money. It was a different treatement being offered, but it could have even worse results (it was demoabrasion)…
Thank you for your blog and helping others out there not suffer like you did!
Wish I read this before I went there!
Most unprofessional, Cheap, Dirty, Tacky attempt of a spa I have ever seen!
I will never go there again, and I will make sure everyone I know will never go there either.
Could not agree more about the owner, rudest lady I have ever come across!
I have never written a review in my entire life, they are UNBELIEVABLE!!!
I have never been treated this way before by someone who I am a customer of. I cannot believe she is the owner.
I was scared to ask them anything, they snapped at me a few times. Snapped at staff in front of customers (me and another).
They came into my sauna (without knocking) and said Youre times up, like I was dong something wrong.
But I realised the staff probably couldnt think straight being managed by that!
I go to a lot of spas and I have always been relaxed, but I felt tense, stressed out and uncomfortable at this one, just wanted to run out.
As I had a colon irrigation I called prior to my appointment to ask a few questions, and they were so rude to me and impatient, made me feel like I was wasting their time by even asking!
I asked if it would be ok to email them my voucher, as I had left the print out at work, and they said no go to an internet caf and print one out they dont have time to look at their computer today!
They was extremely impatient, rude and sarcastic with me.
I asked them how long I had to leave the last treatment on, and they said 15 mins, so I stayed in there for 15 mins, and they came in and said are you done my next client is here.
I said you told me to sit here, and they said no I said it takes 15 mins to take effect, hop up get your clothes on my next client is waiting in a patronising tone.
There was plenty more but I think you get the feel of what it was like!!!
I will be forwarding this on to all the voucher sites through which she gets a lot of business.
If anyone needs me to go to the ACCC with them just let me know!!!
This place has to be shut down, so unprofessional, miss leading, dirty, rude, unwelcoming place on earth.
Who would think those words would describe a so called “SPA”!
The lady who owns this is a shocking human being
The funniest thing is that the woman in question (The Arch Demoness) keeps trying to leave positive comments about her business on this post, but I’ve blocked her in several tricky and technical ways… 😉
The owner is pathetic, how sad.
You have never satisfied a client so you have to post fake positive comments haha. Shocking place, how they are not out of business I will never know. Guess they try and trap people online.
A Thankful Reader for the Post (different ‘LA’):
Thank god I searched/googled for bad reviews before booking a voucher through ‘living social’, as I was close to buying a microdermabrasion treatment voucher from this horrible place…
I commend you ladies for posting all this horrible experiences from this day spa, especially for Svasti for starting this thread or review post.
I suggest for those who recently had a bad experiences/services is to try and take it up to Consumer Affairs (if its possible)? No harm in checking with them if there’s a chance in dealing with this – ie. fine the owner ; shutting it down etc?
I admire people who takes their chances in building a business, so long as they do it well. But, for those who run these ‘almost a scam business’ should not have the right to even exist at the start, as it’s clear that they are running a misleading advertisements. Also, as far as it looks like, they (horrible service providers) is stealing people’s hard earned money by not giving the right service/s they paid for and running this misleading scammy offers…
I hope this post will get to alot of consumers out there, so they can avoid a horrible treatment like thisbut also, I hope that it gets back to the horrible ‘Lotus Health Spa’ owner and the business owners like her, to make them aware that people are not stupid and that karma finds it way back (and hit them back.)
Update:
Ladies, it may also interest you that a friend (also a business owner) has sent an email to all the ‘voucher providers online’ so that they can be warned about this business owner and similar ones…to hopefully do something about it.
After all, this will also likely affect their business and also may weaken the credibilities for future offers/business providers that they may have….
Good luck to those who already purchased vouchers from this owner.
Great! Obviously I have ended up on this via a google search. Well, NOT so great – I DID in fact purchase a microdermabrasion voucher from living social. I am not entirely sure that I want to use it now! So many bad reviews and not one good one. i did notice that the comments you said were written by the o\woman coincide with the fabulous positive comments written on the other site. Oh boy. where is that ap that runs a search on dodgy businesses?!
If you haven’t used the voucher yet, I suggest you ask for a refund. I know that is entirely possible. You should also tell them WHY you want a refund. This woman doesn’t sound like she’s changed one little bit. Good luck!
Wow, thank you for this blog. I was looking at a voucher for this place from living social. It was for a detox with colonic irrigation – I have never had that done before and was a bit apprehensive anyway. Imagine having it done there!! Not the most relaxing environment!
I hope this woman gets out of this business, surely she must realise it’s not for her. Screaming in a customers face?! Crazy!!!
I’d recommend that you post this article to Facebook, Twitter and anywhere else you can! In my view, we are doing a public service. How that “day spa” continues to be open while continuing to be horrible to everyone, I’ve no idea…
Great post!! I recently visited Lotus Health Spa to treat my Mum to a microdermabrasion and they were terrible! Worst customer experience of note, the treatment was a quick 5 mins only covering her cheeks. The therapist didn’t listen to any of our concerns or queries. They were extremely pushy with selling their products and very unpleasant. Will never go there again or recommend this to anyone! Thanks again for sharing your experience
I wish I had Googled before going there… I bought the microdermabrasion voucher from living social and had the full demoness (Kathleen) experience. She was terribly rude, raised her voice at me for being 5 minutes late, left me waiting there, not knowing if I was going to be served or not, and generally gave me the worst experience as a customer of my whole life. I ended up not having the treatment, which in hindsight, I’m quite glad, but the money had long ago come out of my account. I called Living Social in tears and they were actually pretty nice and immediately gave me a credit for that voucher. I said to them that it was very important that they check who they work with. Businesses such as these ones make you think about giving up on the whole system. I sent her a complaint email and the response was also unbelievably rude. Anyway, thanks for posting this.
Stef, every time someone else finds this post and writes of their own experiences with that place, I’m gladder than ever that I wrote this post. I’m honestly surprised that they’re still in business at all. I wonder if Lotus Health Spa is actually a front for some other kind of activity? It’s about the only reason I can think of that someone with such horrendous people skills would still be “working” in the day spa business!
I’m so glad you got your money back!