Remedy Spa & Wellness — Attraction in Philadelphia

Tl;dr: They only know how to accomodate certain types of people (quiet, calm and doesn't ask questions) and will try to lecture or scold you into being the type of client they know how to work with. They expect much grace for their mistakes/short comings and will give you none for yours.

Long: I have never been to a spa before and was nervous about the experience and being touched by strangers. Booked $375 4 part pkg.

There was no communication beforehand, I tried texting and called ahead when they were open for Q's, got no response.

Came on time, was sat down on couch by a woman, with neither an introduction to her and the other staff member nor an explanation of the process. Offered a drink.

They started ~20 min late and when I asked about it I was told that they flow with the day and don't have rigid start or end times.

I mistakenly missed the note to indicate "female only" in the order notes of the masseuse I picked. Got a man which I was not comfortable with.

Instead of being directed to the sauna when I rejected the massuer, the woman pulled me aside, finally intro'd herself as the massuese from the order and spoke to me about how I messed up and what the fix was.

I admitted my mistake. My suggestion that its confusing to put the name of one masseuse on the order button when the option is actually referring to two ppl, and that one will be choosen for you, was deemed to be more of a me problem than a Remedy Spa problem by the woman. No one but me has ever made this mistake I was told.

She asked if I could stay later, I said yes. In my harried frustration I thought she said come back in an hour and we would try again. I said ok, thanked her then left so she could get back to her other massage appt.

Came back in 1 hr 10 min, learned that she inferred/thought I implied I wanted to skip the sauna by my agreeing to come back after an hour, this was not said explicitly beforehand, I am more confused than ever.

Told schedule was now rigid, 10 min over an hour is inconvenient, was given the option to cancel and pay half, pay full price and differ pkg to another day, or skip sauna.

Felt no trust at this point, couldnt imagine ever feeling comfortable with her, so no point in deferring. Cut losses, paid half and left.

Communication didnt start until after things went wrong and I was frustrated. Felt like Remedy was most concerned with making sure I knew all issues were 100% on me for my inability to get their processes, no improvement onus on them.

I will say they charged me half of the cancel fee ($187.50) instead charging me full price($375), but it still felt icky and like they should have been able to skate around my ignorant flub more easily as the experienced professionals.

They could: explicitly confirm male massuer is ok beforehand and not just surprise you when you enter the room, have a receptionist deal with responding to customers in person/phone/text, get someone who understands UX/UI design on the square order website, have moved me to the no-touchy sauna activity to re-work the pkg order instead of pulling me aside and bombarding me with info.

Either way, I wanted to relax and ended up paying Remedy to get into a polite and aggrieved back and forth....

This establishment is very small but cute. I can honestly say I was disappointed in the service. I guess my expectations were to high. When I arrived they took me around the corner which is in the back of reception desk. A small area with two lounge chairs and then some other really low seating sofas. All they offer is water when in the reviews I saw customers were given glasses of champagne, no robes, no changing area, wasn’t offered usage of the lockers. Had to change in the room like I was in the doctors office and hang my items on the back of the door. The Swedish massage was just ok. Was asked what areas to focus on I said my hands and feet due to an autoimmune disease I suffer from but he mainly focused on my legs and back. It was even at one point he moved my panties over more into my butt crack to make it like a thong (super weird). Also used an excessive amount of oil… at the end of the massage wasn’t offered a towel or anything left like a shiny greased turkey. Can’t say I would return. Oh by the way robes were at the entry but I assume just for display. There is room for improvements.

Update: I am very disturbed by the called I received today 12/14 from Carrie. Disrupted my work day with an 18 minute call to literally rebuttal my review from my experience back in Oct. due to them being a small black business. Even comparing her personal experiences with mine and other establishments she has worked. As if I thought this establishment was anything close to a resort spa. The audacity to ask me to change my review of my true and honest experience it would of been best to just apologize for the experience and move on. However wanted inform me how they don’t normally offer robes because they do not want to do laundry and save water??!. How I should of been offered use of their sauna, overall lack of communication on their part (not my issue). Lockers my sister was told only were meant for spa party guest. Didnt even know they had a shower until informed today. Offering of refreshments she basically said is not consistent sometimes fruit, tea, etc(but how would I know that) Only offered water. Its was tactless and distasteful of calling to explain differences of spas as if Ive haven’t experienced several, saying my review is hurtful to them being a “black” business. FYI on your website its only an option to send an email. I dont expect to ever return. FYI I verbally informed the masseuse of where to focus he didnt even have my paper but I guess your calling me a liar now (that’s wonderful). Calling trying to negate my experience was unbelievable. Had to end the call because I wasnt going to go back and forth. Next time try remedying the issue with accountability instead. Love and Light right...

Only writing this because I did try to contact the owner to resolve the issues I experienced, but didn't hear back.

Arrived 10min ahead of my appointment and door was locked. Cold day out so not a great way to start.

My masseuse was one hour late. Yes....a full hour!

My masseuse was unskilled and inappropriate. I've had enough massages to know the general cadence of one. This felt like his first day on the job. He massaged areas that don't really have muscle, like my ribs. He kept going back and it hurt. I told him that, but he kept going back (thankfully with less pressure), but still not normal massage zone. This is just one example. I never felt in serious danger territory but he did take some liberties with this massage too.... For $150 plus tip, I was expecting a more tranquil setting too. The massage table was cold when I got in, music had to be setup. Nothing was ready. And this was after an hour of waiting. I did use the sauna for part of this time waiting but that's not an hour long activity for me.

It's such a shame because the inside of this place is absolutely gorgeous and so zen! But of course after this experience and hearing nothing back from the owner, I won't go back and I would advise...