Varnish Lane Friendship Heights — Local services in Washington

I'll start with the positives: the decor is flawless inside and out; the color options are fantastic for mani/pedi. This is what the 1 star is for

Now below are the reasons why my girlfriends and I will never go back and why I canceled all my future appointments. I would like to say that I gave them 2 visits as a try.

1. The customer service is horrific. I even interacted with both of the owners in my two visits. They are judgmental and rude. Their business acumen is extremely poor. As someone very interested in entrepreneurship, I tried to ask friendly questions and was met with rude and unintelligent responses.

2. Overpriced. I tried both nail services for mani + pedi and got my eyebrows done the next time I visited. The only reason I can see why it's overpriced is bc it's a really pretty salon. There is nothing special about the actual service.

3. They are operationally inept. We scheduled our appointments well in advance and they made many errors. First, they had the incorrect time and second they forgot one of the services. They blamed us for the mistake and one of my girlfriends was refused the additional service that they forgot.

The second operational issue was with the service itself. During my eyebrow treatment, I made two requests. The first was to have the area of treatment cleaned and makeup removed. The second was to have the post treatment redness alleviated. Upon both requests, the associate performing the treatment seemed confused and showed a lack of understanding...

2/9/2020 Charming on the outside, tarnished on the inside. This is the second time I've faced disaster at the front desk that got in the way of me even GETTING the appointments I had long ago scheduled. And I've been going there for years, so my patronage obviously didn't mean anything to them either. Today's challenge: After arriving within 3 MINUTES of my appointment, I was critiqued for being late (?) and told the appointments I scheduled were not in the calendar. I showed them their own confirmation email that listed ALL the appointments I had booked, and one of the receptionists literally REFUSED to look at the confirmation I showed her, saying "All I need to know is on my computer, and you're wrong."). Seems like they'd booked too many appointments and wanted to cut mine short to make room for others. When I told them I had been going there for years, and found it troubling they didn't want to provide the services I scheduled, one receptionist leveled an AGEIST comment, saying I was not just wrong but that I "must not be very savvy online." Their suggestion for how to fix their error? Call another time. And to add insult to injury, they tried to charge me for not showing up. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't have infinite patience for a client service business that is unwilling to acknowledge or fix their own simple (and eminently...

The experience for a guest at a business starts when they walk in the door, continues with the receptionist and includes the paid service. I was 10 minutes late for a CONFIRMED appointment due to parking issues. When I arrived, as a 1st time client, the receptionist told me my appointment had been cancelled due my tardiness. She then proceeded to tell me I can wait . . . if I want. Basically setting the tone that leaving was one of my options. I had parked and arrived for a confirmed appointment. So, I was not leaving. After sitting at the couch in the reception area for 5 minutes, she then sat me in one of the treatment chairs for 20 minutes before service started. Treating clients punitively is such a bad way to manage a business. My whole experience felt like a punishment for being late. Not only did I sit in the service chair for 20 minutes; they didn’t bother to ask me about/assist with nail color selection, did not offer me anything to drink, didn’t tell me the name of technician. Overall, the attitude toward me was very dismissive. The place is lovely. The nail service was good. However, being greeted & treated in this manner is not the best solution. The owners should work on a different way to position talking/treating guests who arrive late. It would improve the overall impression of...