Surreal — Local services in Phoenix

I went to Salon Surreal for nearly 7 years, but no longer. I am not rich, but it got to the point where I was going multiple times per month for waxing, haircuts and vivid dyes so this location got a good chunk of my money over the years and I probably went much more than the average client. I will not give the owner another cent of my money after how she treated me.

I want to say that this has nothing to do with my stylists or waxer there. They are all extremely skilled and kind.

First instance, I was new to waxing. I went to pay I was charged an excessive amount because the front desk staff that day charged me for an entire wax package instead of the one time service I got that day. I talked with the waxer about it next time I was there and that's how I found out I overpaid and she was extremely helpful to make it right for me.

A couple months ago is when the situation started that finally made me want to quit coming here:

I went in to see my stylist for the vivids that day, and also say the waxer too. I went up to pay and the guy working the front desk tells me the price, and it sounds low to me for both services. I ask "Are you SURE that's the right price?" So he goes "Yep!" Feeling tired, and not wanting to dispute it further I just ended up trying to pay so I can go home and get out of there.

I run my card, it says approved on my end. He tells me that it was declined on his end. He explained that "Sometimes this happens." Which is weird because this is a first for me in all these years of going here. I agree to run my card again. Same thing. He urges me to try it again, I do it...reluctantly... This continues for about 6 or so attempts of me trying Apple Wallet and my credit card same result! Funnily enough, my card worked everywhere else that day that I tried it so this was absolutely on their end only.

He agrees to let me leave and tries to call the manager for some resolution. She was on vacation, and not super responsive or helpful to him or any of the other staff that tried to fix the problem for us over the next few days.

Next day, I get a call from the girl working the front desk and she has the same problems. Also, the amount that she authorized it for is now a different amount than the amount the employee from the previous day gave me.

The entire time these charges held, I was not charged for them and I knew I would not be, but it was extremely frustrating.

I went back to see the waxer again. The desk staff that day was great, they charged me correctly, and the transaction went through smoothly. The waxer and the receptionist that day also went into the system after I paid for the day to try to help me fix this situation... AGAIN. So it's not like I didn't want to pay for these other services, I was just so eager to get it over with so both my bank and their salon could have correct balances. When they went to check it, it showed a THIRD different amount for those same services. They both agreed they would have the manager call me back when she got back from vacation.

She took her time to call me back, it wasn't until Tuesday. I explained it to her over the phone, and she basically said that the reason that happened was because the front desk staff forgot to charge the Square device. After taking time out of my workday to take her call, provide the actual correct payment (finally) all she told me was something along the lines of "It's ok, we knew we could trust you because it's you!"

Her lack of empathy towards me was deafening and it became so clear at that moment that she doesn't truly care about loyalty of customers, only money. I see an independent stylist and waxer now and feel better knowing my money is going mostly all to them, especially since they already made it known how much they care about me. Imagine if I was a single mother and you overdrafted my main account with all the charges were held up. Would you pay the overdraft fees then? Probably not.

I won't be back, this review is for informational purposes and visibility only so please don't contact...

Unfortunately, I had a horrible experience. I came in with my hair looking so much nicer than what I left with. I should have known when I booked a couple days prior and it had a full days of open appointments on the weekends. I booked an appointment due to waiting last minute before a trip and my stylist was booked out a few weeks. I was booked with an apprentice and I wish I knew that prior to my hair being done or asked if I was okay with it. I thought I was going to get quality hair at a salon but left looking like I did my own highlights in the dark. I wanted to go blonder and no yellow color was my big request but came home with bright yellow streaks and each side not blended or even. I have never experienced anything like it. I originally went for a lavender toner which showed all the imperfections of how bad the highlights were put in. I have done this before a few years back but with professionals and it came out wonderfully. My hair never looked this bad in my entire life. My hair still smelled like color treatment when I got home and my scalp wasn’t comfortable. I didn’t want to put my child to sleep due to the strong odor. I had to take a shower and do a conditioning mask because my hair was so fried and it did not seem like it was washed out well enough. I had to wash my hair after getting it done! Unreal. I get my hair done 2-3x a year with a full balayage and have never experienced this smell or type of hair quality. The salon had me return the next day to get “ fixed”. I ended up coming home darker and my front pieces having red in them. I’ve worked hard to go blonde the past few years so that was a disappointment but do understand it probably had to be done to fix the day priors mistake. The lady fixing my hair was super nice. I can’t believe that it was about 200$ to get hair colored by an apprentice and I wish I was notified that’s the quality I was getting. I have a family event to get to and now showing up with red pieces hair and dark unlike my normal blonder hair. I’ll have to spend more money to get this fixed and to get my hair lighter again when I return. Highly don’t recommend. They attempted to fix it but it’s nothing of what I wanted. Not only is it not what I wanted; it just doesn’t look good either way. It was a waste of 5 hours of my life and no compensation from paying bayalage rates with an apprentice when I did not receive balayage. ( yes , they refunded me 17$ due to charging me for extra hair color being used) Pics included. I also came home with chemical burns. I don’t have a sensitive scalp like claimed; the chemicals were not washed out appropriately. Including pic of what I came into the salon with , 2 pics of the yellow and uneven “balayage” was completed, and the final product the day after to get fixed ( darker hair). I just wanted to go lighter and get a nice balayage done and can’t believe it was this complicated. My hair has never had an issue with coloring or toning and always come home with my hair feeling healthy. It felt like my hair was blamed there vs. the incompetence Also, I wanted a trim and there was some dusting done. I did not feel comfortable to do my face framing and angles due to seeing quality of hair color. Just disappointing to waste...

I'm disappointed to leave a negative review. The owner and stylists are sweet and nice to work with. My big issue is with the salon manager. She's allegedly been running this salon approx 17 years (she mentioned on the phone) For my wedding last month I needed hair and makeup for myself and two other women. The salon manager in her infinite wisdom scheduled two employees to do all this. She assured me on the phone on the phone they would "make it happen" and I would be out of there by 12 sharp. My hair and makeup was last, and by this point the stylists ran out of time. For me, the bride. They turned me away from the mirror and started rushing doing my hair and makeup at the same time. I was later told this was against policy... well I couldn't see my hair to speak up about my distaste for it. I tried to have the stylist re work it but it proved impossible with the amount of hair spray she used. The whole thing was one unfortunate turn of events after the other. My two bridesmaids got a braid done, and hair down with curls. That's it, no elaborate time consuming styles. I actually had to ask the stylists to stop rushing and do a good job because I was the bride. They were understandably stressed. The salon manager sat up front the whole time (she told me later, on the phone she knew i was running late but she did nothing to help). and what do you know? it's 12:30PM. I gave up on the hair and left. I went home and tried to rework my hair myself. The whole thing was a nightmare. I don't fault the stylists, they were simply inexperienced and put in a bad position by the salon manager. I called the salon the week after the wedding several times. After being sent to voicemail I called back and the manager finally answered. She knew who was calling. She tried giving me some lame story about her just leaving me a voicemail (she did not). I have had to chase this woman down every step of the way. For contracts, scheduling, customer service, and payment. She never returns calls like she explicitly promises to. She's sick, time got away from her, she forgot, she's about to go into a meeting...I had to chase her down to pay the salon +$800 for the bridal services. She is always full of one lame excuse or another. One time she said she had no excuse... yet still tried to claim she had just left me a voicemail. Funny she's the only person I miss calls from... not anyone else at the salon... She said she would refund me $100 for my poor experience, but then she said she didn't know how...? Manager of +10 years doesn't know how to refund? Finally days after this promise, the refund went thru. She promised to call me back again about the refund but of course that never happened. Again, I am sad because the owner is sweet as can be and the stylists try their best. It's just a poorly run salon. When I think about my wedding day and see pictures, I get upset over and over about how horrible my hair looked. I now have to pay my wedding photographer extra (on top of what I already paid) to photoshop my hair. It was actually that bad. Salon Surreal is great for a haircut... but don't ever rely on them for a...