Tao Massage Therapy — Local services in Alexandria

Why I love Tao Massage: Best massage ever.

Why I dislike Tao Massage: The customer service is shady/rude. First off, I had an appointment, and I arrived 5 minutes in advance, and when she greeted me, she looked really upset that I was there. I explained that I have an appointment, she stalled, then lead me to the massage room. Once I entered the massage room, she asked if I’m paying credit card. It seemed that she wanted me to hand my card over to her while I stayed in the massage room. I wanted to be present with my card for any transactions (for security), so I left the massage room, went back to the lobby with her, and she again seemed upset. She wanted to charge me 6% sales tax on a non-taxable service in Virginia. She kept angrily repeating to me, “6 dollars tax,” but I was confused because I wasn’t making any purchase for a taxable item. She charged me anyway- but not in the usual way for sales tax. She added the fake sales tax to my total, which made it appear like the service price was this new total. The receipt didn’t distinguish that this fake 6% was actually tax. I knew this was bogus, but I really needed the massage, so a $6 swindle was ok. That was upon arrival. I didn’t want to add tip because I didn’t know if she was going to do a good job, so I always tip at the end. Because I didn’t add a tip upon arrival, she ended my massage exactly 10 minutes early. I asked if she was going to do my feet, she said that if I tip, then I can have the 10 minutes. I told her that of course I will tip if I receive a good massage. She agreed to complete the massage. As I was checking out, I said I will add the tip to the transaction I did upon arrival. I added 20%, and plus the fake 6% sales tax, that made a 26% tip. She was upset and said, “That’s all?!”. I was confused how she was so amazing at the massage, and able to be shady/rude when not doing the massage.

Despite this mess, I will probably return to Tao knowing that the shystyness is part of the experience. Any fake tax applied to my bill, I will count it as...

This was my second time coming here and I was very taken back at them asking me to pay for my massage BEFORE the service. I get massages 1-2 times a week for the past 5 yrs and NEVER have I had to pay before a service and felt like it was something they only asked me to do based on a stereotype. if anyone can reply back to this and let me know if they’ve been asked to pay before service that would be great. I recently moved to this area so was in need of a new massage place nearby but do not feel comfortable ever going back. After they asked me to pay before my service, I asked them if this is something EVERYONE who comes in has to do, and they kept saying yes but my first visit there I watched someone walk right in with out being asked to pay upfront. It’s unfortunate that I’ll have to go so much further for my weekly massage but even if this is something they do to every customer, super weird way of doing business at a massage shop…. Any service I’ve ever gotten in my life,...

Worst experience ever , I normally go to a couple different massage spas , this is one of them , unfortunately it’s my second bad experience and probably the last one . The lady who helped me kicked me out 10 minutes before my time was up , her excuse was the Chinese new year was that night and they had to close early . I called earlier that night and made the Appointment at 7:30pm and asked what time they closed and she told me 9:30pm so just because they didn’t have enough customer around the time she had no right to do that. When I complained about that she asked me to stay longer and tip her more money . That make me more upset and realize it was not for me . Just wanted to leave this review so you guys can do...