Beauté Cove - Cove Beauty — Local services in Montreal

I’d like to share my experience as a returning customer. I had my nails done at this salon a couple of times last summer and was happy with the quality, so I decided to come back. Unfortunately, this recent visit was disappointing.

My technician arrived 15 minutes late. I had booked a 1h45min for hard gel nails—something I’ve done before without any issues. However, the technician informed me she needed 2h and could not proceed. I asked if she could accommodate the extra 15min, especially since she was the one who arrived late. She then called someone else over, presumably the manager.

Instead of trying to resolve the situation, the first thing the manager told me was that I had made a mistake in the booking and that I would need to pay 50% of the service because she has to pay her technician. I explained I was unaware of any mistake and asked if there was a way to reschedule or be seen by another technician. She flatly refused, claiming it would take 2h30min —something I’ve never encountered for hard gel extensions. The technician herself had just said 2h.

What really shocked me was the manager’s repeated insistence that I had to pay—not because of the quality of service or time spent, but because she needs to pay her staff. She also told me I should have called instead of booking online (which I’ve always done without issue and I cannot change the past). I found this both unreasonable and unprofessional.

I completely understand having a no-show or late cancellation policy. But I showed up, on time, took time out of my day, paid for parking, and was willing to find a solution. Instead, I was met with zero flexibility, no empathy, and no attempt to resolve the issue professionally.

As a returning client who chose this higher-end salon expecting quality and respectful service, I was extremely disappointed. In this type of service—especially something creative and collaborative like nails—things can change, misunderstandings can happen, and it’s the salon’s job to handle that gracefully. I'm not a tech so NO I don't know the difference between hard gel overay and that I need to chose gel extensions I'm not the one selling these sevices. I chose the first one because it was 1h45min and I know that's hold long it usually takes to get these nails. I asked for nail art if possible, not demanded it.

The way this situation was handled felt dismissive, rude, and purely transactional. I hope my experience helps others think twice about where they spend their hard-earned money.

P.S. for the salon – Please don’t bother replying with “We’re sorry, but you made a mistake. This is our policy.” I get it. This message is for your clientele to be informed. I’m not looking for solutions or PR statements aimed at maintaining...

I have never written a bad review for any business ever. But this was something i just couldn’t let go of!! When you get hit by a tornado and lose power for 26 hours and can’t make an apt they don’t care about your circumstances only enforcing their 24 hour cancelation policy… I should have known at that point what a badly run business this is and not rebooked . I then developed a fever and got super sick and had to cancel my rebooked apt and wanted to put the ball in their court to see if they would understand… They told me to wear a mask and wash my hands if not… Bingo… cancelation fee!!!! And this 100% of the service. So 210$ in fees in under 1 week for trying to do the right thing and at least not , not showing up. Had they at least tried to understand and told me they have to charge a small fee , i would have been ok with this. For me personally it’s not about the money at all… It’s about the complete lack understanding and just trying to accommodate a client when it’s completely out of their control and sticking it to them when clearly they have been through a lot… Who does that ??? Maybe i should have charged them a fee while getting my services done without A/C twice, during 3 hour apts!! All the while it being 30 degrees outside. Common sense and good business practice seem to not apply here. Good ppl generate good business. Clearly this is not the case at all…. It’s just another instagram trendy business that just doesn’t give a ….. Charging top dollar for services offering trendy little...

I didn’t have a good experience, but I think it can be a hit or miss depending on who you get. There seemed to be miscommunication in our text exchange, so the manicurist didn’t know that I wanted to have my toes painted, not just a pedicure. She was very annoyed and only gave me 3 colours to choose from, and then rushed my pedicure, only to take 2.5 hours to do my nails. I asked for small hearts, and showed a photo from the Cove insta feed, but the final design was… not very good. I bled on 3 fingers, and when I asked if she could make the hearts more delicate on my remaining fingers, she didn’t do that. She also did not speak to me at all, so I sat in silence for over 3 hours. I don’t expect a long chat, but a bit of talking might have been nice since there are no tvs.

The price was also a lot for what I got. For a gel manicure with basic nail art and a normal pedi on natural nails, it came to almost $300. I felt sick leaving after paying that much for both a mani and pedi that I didn’t like and bloody fingers.

There was also miscommunication when I wanted to remove the gel. They booked me for a new manicure, and then seemed annoyed that that’s not what I wanted when I arrived, even though I showed the text thread and it was very clear that I didn’t want a new manicure.

That being said, the nails on their instagram are beautiful, so it could be that I was unlucky in...