By the Sea Day Spa — Local services in East Haven

Customers beware!!!! I had came in for a gift certificate for a mother daughter massage for my 10 year old daughter and myself and was told massages are not done on children under the age of 13 and the woman told me that 10 is too young for a massage. I went elsewhere for our mother daughter massage and had no problem whatsoever. My husband wrote a negative review about this and the reply from by the sea was a straight out lie- whoever wrote it claimed I would only get the massage if we were in separate rooms. I never insisted for my daughter to be in the other room... in fact I asked for a specific mother daughter Swedish massage where we would be in the same room and was told that 10 is too young and that no one under 13 is allowed massages and we were only able to get manicures and pedicures together, so the fact that someone just replyed on my husbands review stating that I insisted us be separated is a down right lie and you should be ashamed of yourselves! I cannot believe a business would write such a lie about a customer on their own review. I never, ever would insist my 10 year old be in a different room and for you to say I did is outrageous! I am not one to write a bad review on a local business, but when you say I did something I didn’t and make up a lie in regards to me as a parent I have a problem with that. I was told it’s policy for no one under 13 to have any massage and that by the sea is an adult spa, which I have no issue with and is why I was polite and even purchased a gift while I was there. I didn’t write a bad review initially because although I don’t agree with the policy that was explained to me and felt the woman who was explaining this was rude, it is your right to have that policy and I have to respect that. My issue now is you saying I requested something I didn’t, which is something I would absolutely never request. I was 100 percent clear in that I wanted a mother daughter massage together and was straight out told “10 is a little young for a massage!” I never, ever once requested to be in a separate room and to write that I did is absurd! The service mother-daughter clearly indicates a massage with both the mother and daughter present so Im not sure how you would think I meant for her to be in a different room! I never said I wanted separate rooms and I am in shock that this company would put those words in my mouth let alone publish that lie in a review. You wrote to my husband that you “suggest he thinks it through..” well I suggest you be more professional when replying to a review and not make up lies to make your company look better. As a business, you also probaly shouldn’t “suggest” anything that has to do with how to parent. For you to make up a lie in a review because of what seems to be in response to not liking the review my husband wrote- well shame on you! I am a life long resident of Branford who always tries to support local businesses. I would hope you realize the mistake you made and acknowledge it. It also seems like there is miscommunication at by the sea as to what your policies are based on your response to my husbands review in comparison to what I was told today in person so that might be something you as a company...

I purchased a gift card to By the Sea for my wife for Mother's Day. She has gone there in the past for manicures and pedicures, and she was looking forward to returning. Since so much has changed during the pandemic, I checked the By the Sea web site and right on the front page in the section devoted to gift cards it listed some of their services, which included "Mani and Pedis." So based on this information I went ahead and purchased the gift card online. When my wife called By the Sea to make an appointment to use the gift card she was informed by the spa staff that they no longer offer manicures and pedicures. Since my wife doesn't typically use the other services they provide she now has a gift card that will never be used. I contacted By the Sea via e-mail and explained the situation and asked for a refund based on the fact that the purchase was made based on incorrect information on their web site (which was still there as of 5/20/21 when I contacted them). I explained that while I assume it was just an error on their part, my wife really does not use other spa services and our children and I would like to use the money we spent to get her something else. I explained that I understand that it is unusual to refund gift cards but I hoped they would honor my request since the purchase was made solely based on false information I obtained from their web site. I receievd a response the next day from By the Sea saying that they would not refund my money and suggesting that she use the gift card for other services (which I had already explained she doesn't want). They refused to take any responsibility for (or even acknowledge) the misinformation published on their web site in their response but they did apparently go in and update the web site after my e-mail since it was changed on 5/21/21. Luckily I did screenshot the web site before I sent my request in case they did a quick change and tried to dispute my claim. Since they refused to even acknowledge their mistake or apologize for it, it now seems likely that this information was left there purposely with the hope of deceiving unknowing buyers and promoting whatever services they still offer.

I have never posted any reviews before for any company, but I felt obligated to let people know about the dishonest and unprofessional practices being carried out by By the Sea. I always support small local business and gave them ample opportunity to make this right and be accountable for their "mistake" but they wouldn't budge. A simple apology and some form of accountability would have good a long way and would have definitely kept me from writing this review. While I can't say anything good or bad about the services they provide, I can say if you are looking to do business with a company that operates with honesty and integrity you shoud not go to By the Sea in...

So I've been raving about and patronizing "By The Sea" for the better part of probably 15 years.

I've always had pretty great service from start to finish, making the appointment, check in, changing, hot tea ready to go, the services themselves, check out and product purchases.

I haven't been there for at least a year and was very excited to book a special treatment for my birthday coming up.

I called up and booked a 2.75 hour treatment and was scheduled at 4:30 so I went ahead and made arrangements to leave work at 3:30 and had been looking forward to it!

Then something kind of dawned on me, they close before the amount of time allotted for my treatment (not including changing/relaxing tea time etc) and I remembered reading at least one other review about a class of clients feeling rushed at their "end of day" appointment.

So just to make sure, I gave a call in to inquire as to whether they planned on staying later for me orrr what the deal was.

The young lady who answered the phone said they actually close at 7:15 on Friday and proceeded to tell me I have to arrive 15 min early to get in a robe la la la. I explained that I had been there several times and I know the drill.

Then she checked my scheduled appointment time and confirmed in one breathe that the appointment Was "scheduled incorrectly and my start time was actually 3:45 and they're human and make mistakes".

Um- I was thinking to my self and expressed the concern that there was an error made and 3 days before the treatment, I hadn't received any notification to which she replied, we check the day before (I think it was the day before) to make sure all of our services are scheduled out properly.

Well that may work for them but a last minute phone call of the change certainly wouldn't have worked for me as I stated, I made arrangements to leave work early.

At this point, I just had a bad feeling about the ordeal, I didn't love the tone of the customer service over the phone and lost a bit of faith that my "once in a blue moon special treat to myself" wouldn't go as smoothly as it had in the past so I went ahead and found a different salon to go to, called them back and cancelled.

Since they didn't ask why I was cancelling which I would've been happy to explain, I was met with "ok we'll take you out for that treatment".

I run a small business and appreciate feedback to improve my customer service. I can also be understanding with a mistake but after being in business that long, I think they would have scheduling down pat, as well as a friendly and receptive tone while interacting with clients, especially loyal long term clients.

If the owner(s) would like to reach out to me to discuss, I'd be more than happy but since the girl in the front wasn't too interested in why I chose not to keep my appointment, I figured they can...