Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa — Local services in Town of Poughkeepsie

My fiancée got me a facial as a gift, it was amazing , but it turned into one of the most frustrating experiences I’ve had with a business.

After my facial, I was aggressively pressured to sign up for a membership — the process was rushed and confusing. When we tried to cancel, they refused to let my fiancée do it (even though her card was on file) and made me wait several days for a manager to call me back. I was told it was canceled.

Weeks later, I got another call saying my membership was still active and that they would charge me on September 5th. Even though I was not ultimately charged, it was upsetting that they still had me in the system and tried to sell me on keeping the membership instead of apologizing or confirming my cancellation.

Customers should not have to chase a manager down, wait days for a callback, and still wonder whether they’re actually canceled. This was stressful and felt completely unprofessional. Be careful with anything they ask you to sign — canceling is not a simple process here.

Update after business reply: Your reply is misleading, and I want to clarify what actually happened so future customers know what they’re getting into. No, I Wasn’t Asked to Call You Back: When my fiancée tried to cancel, she was told management would call us back — not that I needed to call you. We waited almost a week before someone finally called. First Call With Management: When the manager finally called, I explained how frustrating the process was. I was told the membership would be canceled — but clearly, it wasn’t. Sales Call on Aug 31: Instead of confirming the cancellation, I got a call trying to sell me more services and warning me I’d be charged Sept 5 if I didn’t come in. When I pushed back, I was told there was “no record” of my earlier call — which is unacceptable. Second Manager Call (Sept 1): I had to wait for another manager to call me at 8:39am the next day. This person still had no record of my prior calls and started the call by pitching me more services until I stopped them and explained my frustration — again. Billing Details: Your response misstates what we paid. My fiancée paid $145 for the membership and $45 for the extra service. I personally spent $141 on products when I left the store.

This entire process was exhausting — repeated calls, no record-keeping, sales pitches instead of solutions, and multiple rounds of waiting just to cancel a membership. Customers deserve to know that canceling here is unnecessarily complicated and...

I hate writing bad reviews. But the manager suggested I leave a review. So here I go. Let me say at the beginning that I typically have great experiences at this location. Also, I must say, the front desk staff are extremely nice and friendly and set the tone for great experience. However, for the second time in as many visits, I had the same type of unpleasant experience during my massage. In my line of work as a pilot, I experience several spas all over the globe. I cannot remember ever experiencing pain or cringing; as I did on this most recent treatment. The pain was caused by the therapist placing extremely cold hands on my back causing a startle reaction that then caused painful back muscle cramping. You can imagine the reaction. Nobody wants that. Also, every time during this recent massage when lotion was applied it was uncomfortably cold. It was so uncomfortable, I began to cringe in anticipation every time lotion was applied.

Since I'd had the same unpleasant experience for the second treatment in a row, with a different therapist, it gave me pause to think that maybe this was somehow a systemic issue. I realize, it also could be just a fluke that it happened to me twice in row. The manager I spoke to regarding the first time it happened seemed a little defensive when I spoke to her. This time seemed to be better. I'm only hopeful that it is resolved as I love massages.

I was told that there are lotion warmers in each room and it was the therapists choice to use them. I would have hoped that after I alerted the therapist during the session that it was extremely cold, that she would have used it. She did not. I guess when there is a schedule to keep and it's during a massage, it may have been too late to do that. I get that. When speaking to the manager this time, I suggested that they may want to make it policy that the therapists use the lotion warmers.....and that they may want to warm their hands before touching a client for a message. The first therapist a few months ago knew her hands were cold and warned me. My first thought was that if you know your hands are cold, why would you even touch a person's back.....and not rectify/warm them before beginning...

I booked my wife for a 60 minute Swedish massage here. We usually go to locally owned spas, but I wanted to surprise her and the only place that had last-minute openings was Hand & Stone. They advertised an $80 introductory 1 hour massage. Was super convenient and a nice surprise for her. When I picked her up from her massage, she told me the massage was pretty good (the massage therapist was a very young man who was obviously new) but the massage was only 50 minutes instead of the 1 hour advertised and that the front desk essentially harassed her about signing up for a monthly membership on the spot. There were signs posted about what was a considered an “OK” or “good” tip, which is very tacky. When she left a $20 tip on an $80 massage (which, according to their sign, isn’t enough?), she said was she was brazenly told it’s actually a $129.99 massage and did she really enjoy herself? Is she SURE she enjoyed herself?? The staff member continued to push her and probed why she wouldn’t sign up on the spot for their membership.

It’s really disappointing to pick her up from a massage that I booked for her as a gift (that was supposed to be about relaxation and pain relief) only to hear that she was made to feel embarrassed about the tip she left and also brigaded for not signing up for their monthly membership.

Even if the massage had been AMAZING (it was fine, but certainly not something she said would have paid $130 for - which is about $20 more for 10 minutes less time compared to much nicer locally owned spas) we would never consider saying yes to pushy and condescending staff. Perhaps you should reconsider how you treat your guests— particularly new clients — because the last thing someone wants to encounter after a massage is aggressive sales tactics akin to a used car dealership. Won’t be...