River Oaks Advanced Bodywork — Local services in Houston

I was dissatisfied with my experience as I did not receive the full service paid for. My husband purchased the Ultimate Relaxation Package through Groupon as a gift. This included a 95-min massage with hot stones and a foot scrub. When booking the appointment with the Groupon Voucher, the staff was unfamiliar with the massage package they advertised through Groupon. I had to look up the package online and detail what it included. My massage was booked with Angie and she did a pretty good job. Not a full-body as requested with a concentration in certain areas but it was still pretty good. The massage lasted less than 95- mins as the consultation took 2 mins and it ended promptly from 12-1:30 PM. The hot stones were briefly used on my back. Definitely disappointing as compared to other hot stone massages I've had. What bothered me is that she DID NOT do the foot scrub and when I questioned her about it she tried to convince me that the little touching she did on my feet in the beginning of the session was a foot scrub. I told the front staff how I didn't received the full package. They asked Angie, and she told them I was sleeping in and out of the massage and that she did that portion. They took her word over mine with no investigation, such as looking for towels with the scrub residue on them that a massage therapist would normally wipe off. I've had this sort of package done before. The foot scrub portion includes sugar scrub and hot towels on your feet. It's coarse on your skin but also relaxing as it exfoliates all the dead skin and your feet feel as if they're breathing afterwards. Ultimately, the full service was not performed during my session. The massage therapist lied and the front staff didn't exercise due diligence. I still tipped $20 for the massage which was not the best massage I've had. I will not be returning to this establishment again and would not recommend to friends or family.

Edit: River Oaks Management, I asked for more pressure for the relaxation massage because it was literally a feather touch. I asked Angie if she would do more pressure and she agreed with no issues. If she is saying otherwise, she is AGAIN lying. I do not know who in their right mind would willingly pay over 100$s for a feather light touch massage. Also, I confronted Angie about the foot scrub at the end of my massage and she had stated that it was performed at the beginning of the massage. Which was literally her ever so gently tugging at my toes. No foot scrub used whatsoever. Lastly, I only started to feel relaxed enough towards the middle-end of my massage with more pressure added and flipping over from front to back. My husband is currently deployed overseas, I am the mother of two young children under 4 and I am a part time student. I live off 5-6 hrs of sleep regularly and I rarely get time away from my children for self-care. So, it's no surprise that I felt relaxed and caught up on much needed rest. To clarify, I am not confused about the service I received. Your staff even sounded unfamiliar with the scrub and asked if she used a "lotion-scrub" and said you weren't even sure what the product was like because you'd only tried it briefly. Regardless, I replied back "no, she only used oil". It's unprofessional that you and your staff seemed more confused about the package details and have been unwilling to take accountability. Offering me 30% off of another package requires me to spend more money in your establishment when I was clearly not satisfied. Why would I offer you more of my money? I shouldn't have even tipped Angie but did it out of courtesy for the massage even though she is a liar. She clearly didn't know what the package entailed and ran out of time and simply didn't want to offer anymore of her time and then proceeded to lie to cover it up. The massage package, service, and how this issue was handled can be summed up as mediocre.

Please consider, Familiarizing staff with massage packages and train them to verbally announce actions taken with customers so it's clear they're getting what...

Really disappointed with my experience and false advertising by this spa. I purchased a Groupon for a Hydra-facial and was looking forward to trying some place new. I previously had membership packages at milk and honey and lifetime for monthly hydra-facials. I live outside of the city so it’s nice to come into town and have a moment for myself. When I arrived to my first appointment I was told a few minutes after arriving that my service could not be completed that day because the products needed for a hydra-facial were out of stock and had not arrived yet. The aesthetician offered to complete a different facial (of lesser value) if I still wanted to get a facial that day. I shared no, since I was pregnant I preferred a hydra-facial which isn’t invasive and pregnancy save. Also love that the extractions aren’t hurtful. I asked them to give me a call when the products needed are back in stock to rebook my appointment. 5 days passed and I had not heard back from them, so I called the spa. When I called the front desk person double checked the products were in stock and the service could be completed. They were apologetic that no one reached out and said they did not know why I wasn’t notified sooner. I shared my commute into the city is about 40 minutes and I didn’t want to drive back into town just be told to turn right back around. Well the day came of my appointment and when I entered the room I noticed there was not a hydra-facial machine insight… the aesthetician did not ask me about any of my concerns or skin care goals, she did not share what products or steps she was taking, and she seemed very green… they only thing she warned me about was the treatment pen may drop a little into my eyes or mouth and to let her know if it does and she will grab me a napkin. Whatever machine they utilize did not have a comparable suction to hydra-facial machines. I have have at least 24 hydra-facials and this was not up to par. Typically after a double cleanse the aesthetician will put up a light to your face and look at some areas to focus on and make sure they extract with the suction pen. They will also share what serum or product they’re choosing to infuse for that service and why and proceed with the treatment. She did none of that… additionally the suction pen was leaky and leaked into my ears and hair, luckily it did not leak into my eyes or mouth as I was warned. The aesthetician also suctioned one spot would take the pen off and then smear the product along the skin and then chose another spot so it wasn’t in strokes like you typically experience and a hydra facial. It was a very odd technique and did not leave my skin or face fully extracted or infused with whatever product they were using. It was more of a topical technique. I would recommend management retrain the aesthetician and provide an actual hydra facial machine. I will say she was great at facial massaging and put me right to sleep following the “hydra-facial suctioning” but what was odd is she cleansed my face again after the “hydra-facial” which typically you’d leave the serum in and would not follow the hydra-facial with a cleanse. It was odd and really seemed like false advertising. Pros about the experience is it was a relaxing environment and clean, easy parking. Just very disappointing in the false advertising of the Hydra-facial service and poor customer service when the products needed to complete my service were...

• -2 stars for their chatty massage therapists that give unsolicited advice throughout the massages, which frankly just tenses me up and takes away from the whole point of coming in for a massage • -1 star for their online experience, because their online booking portal doesn't work half the time and their survey links in their emails after appointments have never worked so I can never give my feedback • their spa services (microdermabrasion, foot exfoliating) are actually good and worth coming back to, because those were very relaxing and rejuvenating and I want to be fair to them

I had 2 different massages (1 Swedish, 1 deep tissue that was way too much light caressing) with 2 different therapists, and they both were the same as far as giving unsolicited advice, so I think it's cultural to this spa, which is nuts to me. Rima's review from Oct 2023 re: their poor experience on the massage were things I noticed as well

I work a desk job and it's stressful. I know all the tips to help with posture and tension, and I don't get to them as much as I'd like. I'm coming to a spa to turn my brain off, relax, and have someone ease out my tension.

What doesn't help is having a massage therapist chatting at random points in the massage with tips on how to improve posture at the desk, or explaining that they're not focusing on the area I asked them to focus on because the body is connected, or me tensing my jaw during their incessant need to lecture (that's how I respond to unsolicited lecturing, maybe it's you?) is why I'm tense everywhere else. Excuse me?

Yeah, maybe having a stranger who's doing a poor job at both helping me relax or easing the actual tension I feel while having to listen to you lecture me is what's making me tense. I had to interrupt the massage therapist in my 2nd experience to ask how much time was left because I had enough, and just asked to end it early. Just came home to write this review and book a massage at my preferred spot to fix this poor experience.

Waste of money for a massage, and I did it twice. Would never come back here for a massage.

Add'l info -- these services were at a discount through a promotion. This company came to my apartment complex (close to their business) to offer a $60 promotion to get 5 various sessions at 50% off as well as 4 free add-on services (e.g. microdermabrasion, cupping, foot exfoliation). I typically get massage but never spa services. I was open-minded to try the spa services; if it wasn't for the promotion I wouldn't have tried this spot

So with that in mind, I'll still be fair though and say that I'd recommend them for the other spa services since I did try those out and enjoyed those. But I wouldn't have gotten them without the promotion, and while I would've come back for massages since it's down the street, frankly it just...