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Salon Horror Story: Hair Philosophie

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Hi everyone!

I wasn’t able to post a single entry last week because I went through my hell week (yikes!) And it’s not yet over. Anyway I’ll jump right into my Salon HORROR story.

A few months ago, I was able to purchase a discount voucher from a very famous and trustworthy groupon site. The voucher entitled me to a full head color and hair cut by a SENIOR STYLIST for only PHP1375 (originall PHP2500) at Hair Philosophie Salon. I am a college student and I’m a total sucker for discount coupons! It was a very good deal and I read good reviews about the salon so I bought myself a coupon.

I decided to set an appointment on Friday because I wanted to feel pampered after all the stress from school. When I arrived, the interiors were very modern and the whole place had a chic vibe. The salon is located in the Salcedo area in Makati, a posh area in Makati.

Anyway, before I start with my horror story, I’d like to be fair and share the good points of the salon:

 

  1. the interior design was fabulous
  2.  the chair was comfortable
  3. clean and new
  4. good magazine selection
  5. service by the assistant was good

Okay, now I’d like to proceed with my horror story. This might be long but it’s worth it!!

I gave my coupon to the receptionist and my stylist was made aware of my coupon.

If I am not mistaken, they have two senior stylists. One is a thin guy with long straight hair and a funky haircut. While the other one is a short and stubby gay person with blonde hair.

The one who attended to me was the latter. He introduced himself to me but I forgot his name. He asked me if i was using the coupon and I said, “yes.” I asked him, What color are you planning to use on my hair?”. He brought out the color menu and told me that he was mixing two colors. “Ako bahala sayo. I’ll be using this as a base and I will use this to highlight your hair.”  I would like to clarify that he neither ask me if I wanted extra services nor informed me that he was adding an extra service that I had to pay for. I also did not tell him that I wanted extra services.

We proceeded with the service and after everything (hair color and highlights) was applied, I heard him instruct his assistant to apply hair treatment on my hair. The sealed hair treatment (Kerastase) was right beside me and I recognized the brand and I knew it was not part of the hair coloring procedure. I panicked because he was about to have the treatment applied on my hair without even asking me for my permission so I asked him what it was. He NONCHALANTLY told me that it was for an extra hair treatment. I asked if I had to pay extra for it and he said yes. AND THEN IT CLICKED. I asked him right away if I had to pay extra for the highlights earlier and he said “yes, extra of PHP2700.” I immediately refused the hair treatment. I called up my mom and she instructed me to stay still and wait for them to finish the procedure because they still had control of my hair. They rinsed my hair and blow dried it. I waited for my dad to arrive to pick me up and he was made aware of the situation and basically rescued me from that predator of a stylist!

In front of the manager:

my dad asked the stylist: “Did you inform my daughter about the extra treatment?” 

stylist:no, i assumed she knew…bla bla bla

dad: why did you not inform her of the extra treatment? why did you not inform her about the extra charge?”

stylist:because she told me that she goes to different salons and I assumed she knew.

(**YES! I have been to numerous salons all over the metro and I have NEVER experienced this kind of lowly and unprofessional treatment. )

dad to the manager: “you heard him. he did not inform my daughter about the extra treatment.”

manager: “But sir, we always ask our stylist to explain the procedure.” (she was even trying to defend the stylist?  (Yes, it could have been my fault because I did not ask him wether the highlights required me to pay extra cash however, the moment that he was about to apply the treatment on my hair just PROVED that he was totally taking advantage of me and was trying to scam me into paying for extra treatments!)

dad:your stylist did NOT inform my daughter about the extra payment and therefore we should be required to pay”

manager:in that case, our stylist will pay for the treatement.”

dad:okay, let’s go.

manager:thank you sir.” (WHUT?!?!)

The stylist was totally dumbfounded and he couldn’t defend himself because he KNEW that he was wrong. He couldn’t say anything else to justify himself so he told the manager with an arrogant tone, “okay, let them go.” He said it in such a way that he wanted to shoo us out of the salon.

Their manager was very disappointing. She just nodded her head and told us that the stylist will be paying for the treatment. However, my dad and I both were  expressing our concerns and she was not able to do damage control properly. She did not console us and did not assure us that their stylist would be given proper sanctions or whatsoever. 

I am terribly disappointed with this salon. This salon is located in a posh neighborhood in Makati and their stylist’s behavior was that of an unprofessional and poorly trained individual. I have never ever experienced this kind of poor treatment ever! I was incredibly traumatized by this experience because the stylist clearly knew that I am a young girl and he totally tried to take advantage of me! I just wanted to share it with all of my readers and I want everyone out there to be aware of m experience so that they can avoid this kind of scamming.

I have been blogging for quite awhile now and I’m not the type of person who will post about things like this just to boost my viewer ratings. People can check through my previous posts and see that I ALWAYS state my honest opinions. Check my previous blog here.

To end, I would like to thank my hero, my dad for saving me from that bully of a stylist. Unless I hear news about this predator of a stylist getting terminated or getting proper sanctions for his actions, I will obviously not go back to that salon again and I highly discourage people to go there as well.

Phew, that was very long! Thanks for reading! If you have encountered any similar experiences from this salon, pls do share your comments below! Feel free to share your salon horror stories below as well! :)

Hair Philosophie is located at 117 tordesillas st. corner bautista st. ground floor finman bldg, salcedo village, makati.

Read more: http://www.bestiekonisis.com/2012/03/hair-philosophie/#ixzz25Ih3WAO3

 

 

 

Follow me on twitter! :)

https://twitter.com/#!/maxieissuper

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formspring.me/maxieissuper

 

 

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23 Comments

  • Reply Nadine

    Hi Max!

    I feel so bad for your horror story! I have one too. So, basically, I usually go to one person to cut my hair; it’s been like this for two years now. However, before my graduation pictures were going to be taken, I failed to book an appointment soon enough with my usual guy. I then asked a friend if she knew any other good places, so she recommended me to this one place. Mind you, my usual guy always asks what I want and tries to the best of his ability to match it. He’s also always very careful and doesn’t rush. With this other place, they did ask my what I want then the person just started chopping my hair off like there was NO TOMORROW. I could quickly see that it was turning bad. Lastly, she asked me if I wanted bangs, and I said yes. You know what she did? She just chopped a piece of hair from my forehead! End result: horrible and it brought me to tears from anger.

    09/02/2012 at 4:37 PM
    • Reply Maxine Marcelino

      oh my gosh. :O your story totally remind me of previous haircuts I’ve had in high school and grade school! I once had “willy wonka” hair because the person who cut my hair barely asked me what I wanted as well!!! So now, when it comes to haircuts, i usually watch my hair stylist with “eyes of a tiger” HAHAHA! Did you have to take your graduation photo right after? I’m pretty sure you pulled it off! >:)<

      09/05/2012 at 1:33 AM
  • Reply blissful_days

    Hello! Your review caught my attention! I was about to buy a voucher for this salon but decided not to after reading this.

    I read all the GLOWING reviews of others but all of them were invited to the salon, so I guess the service they rendered was more special coz they knew the salon was being reviewed. :(

    Haaay talaga. It’s becoming a common practice for high-end salons to give voucher-holders the shabby treatment!! They really have no idea that word can get around about their poor service.

    Thanks for this! :)

    10/10/2012 at 1:16 AM
    • Reply Maxine Marcelino

      Hi!

      I actually saw the voucher as well and I immediately thought, “the neeerve!” haha

      Yes, I also bought the voucher based on all the reviews on the salon. I just really felt like people should know about the real state of their service.

      I’m SO glad that this reached you in time! I would really hate it if they continue to victimize other girls.

      Thanks for the feedback as well! I really appreciate it. :)

      Maxie

      10/10/2012 at 6:30 PM
  • Reply LJ

    hi, i had my rebond last March using a voucher too. Got it half the price but i went home paying as much as twice my budget because the treatment and haircut was not part of the voucher which i did not know of. sometimes vouchers are really misleading. i’m planning to go there today but with your review, i think i’ll settle to my previous salon. thanks for this.

    12/08/2012 at 4:43 AM
    • Reply Maxine Marcelino

      Hi Lj!

      I’m glad my review helped! This whole post is to inform women of how they treat their customers after all.

      Good luck with your hair treatment/haircut! :)

      Maxie <3

      12/08/2012 at 6:22 PM
  • Reply Nao

    I can relate!! I read such great reviews online so my sister and I went to Hair Philosophie. The stylists are incredibly pushy; they really try to bully you into taking additional treatments. Hard sell na kung hard sell!

    My stylist kept telling me about this great treatment, and when I asked details he said something like, “basta – tignan mo nalang mamaya” and started to walk away; moments later his assistant approached me with the said treatment. My sister ended up paying for an additional treatment she didn’t know was not part of the regular coloring procedure (it being her first time to have her hair colored). We ended up paying a total of 14k, if I’m not mistaken.

    STILL, they are pretty good at hair coloring. If you’re confident that you can turn them down (no matter what), then you should go. Bring the exact amount and inform everyone that you will only pay for that specific procedure. That should shut them up.

    03/16/2013 at 1:03 PM
    • Reply Maxine Marcelino

      Wow, 14k is a looot. :o I’m a college student and I can’t just shell out 14k for my hair. haha!

      They WERE pretty good with their hair coloring service but I honestly feel like there are many salons who can deliver good (maybe even better) hair coloring services in a more professional manner.

      I really value the professionalism of the people who handle my hair so I don’t think I can ever go back to that salon again. haha

      Thanks for sharing, Nao! :)

      03/17/2013 at 6:23 PM
    • Reply Mitch

      Hi! I am actually looking for their website when I came across your blog. What happened to you happened to me last year too. I informed them I got a coloring treatment from deal grocer. I was told by the stylist (a senior one) that he’ll be giving me the base color of this, plus highlights of that, and a treatment of this. I had virgin hair when I went to their salon, so basically, I did not know that my one voucher is not applicable to their THREE treatments. No explanation whatsoever was made, and honestly, you can’t even chalk it up to my ignorance (For which I wanted to kick myself). I HAD VIRGIN HAIR! How was I supposed to know that I paid for just one NOT THREE? I was notified of this fact mid treatment and just in time to REFUSE the third treatment.

      Unlike you, though, I paid for the highlights treatments. In fairness, I liked what they did. BUT just a warning, this happened April last year. If it happened to Maxinne last August and to you this March, it means that’s how they do business. Be wary when availing of their services. they have vicious and medjo unethical business practices.

      04/12/2013 at 5:27 AM
      • Reply Mitch

        Just to clarify, I meant I paid for the voucher which covered only ONE treatment (the base color) and they flippantly told me I would be getting a total of THREE treatments, without informing me that my voucher only covers one. My voucher was around 1300 pesos, and I paid an additional of around 2k (for the highlights). I refused to get the third one after realizing that I’m paying an additional for the two other procedures.

        04/12/2013 at 5:32 AM
  • Reply Monica

    Sad to hear your horror story. Reading this made me pissed off with the salon. grr. I have never experienced anything like this, and I hope I won’t. I read a review about this salon before and it got positive feedback, well it is sponsored/ by invite so I think they provided an extra special service since they will be reviewed. I think the salon should really value their costumers and provide them with best possible service and not take advantage of them. They should ask and explain everything clearly right? Good thing your dad is to the rescue. Hope this bad experience won’t happen again.

    04/04/2013 at 1:54 PM
    • Reply Maxine Marcelino

      I agree! :) Well my experience from this salon helped me learn a very valuable lesson. It taught me to be more vigilant and attentive when it comes to undergoing various treatments from salons. Just be careful and I’m sure this wont happend to you! :) I was too naive and trusting kasi. hehe. :)

      -Maxie <3

      04/06/2013 at 1:35 PM
  • Reply haze0510

    And they are still doing this up to now! I think they are really into scamming their customers:
    Check out the discussion thread in dealgrocer and the incidents are similar :(

    (click on link below then click on discussions, if you have a dealgrocer account you will need to login)

    https://dealgrocer.com/product/2080-rebonding-or-digiperm-treatment-with-loreal-x-tenso-r

    05/02/2013 at 11:37 AM
  • Reply Maxine Marcelino

    hi haze! :)

    wooow i’m disappointed to have read those experiences with the salon. the services they offer on actual isn’t bad at all so i really hope their management gets to fix the scamming problem soon. :( thanks for sharing my blog post and thanks for sharing this discussion to me. :)

    God bless you!

    max <3

    05/05/2013 at 9:08 PM
  • Reply aulie

    yikes traumatizing nga pero dapat talaga iniinform yung clients sa extra charges. It’s a good thing that your dad was there to clear things up.

    If only tactics like that can be grounds for sanction sa DTI kasi in a way it’s cheating your clients na din. Wala kamalaymalay that they have to pay extra. Im not sure if the owners know about it. Did you send them an email after your experience? siguro it would help them evaluate their people’s ethics and hopefully stop doing it. :)

    07/08/2013 at 8:57 AM
  • Reply trikazir

    Oh! I experienced the same thing on this salon. I bought a deal same as yours but ended up paying additional 1500. There were lots of blogs I read about their good service and that’s why I bought the deal. To my dismay, stylist keep on pushing you to add this and that. Whew! I never went back to this salon again.NEVER!

    07/25/2013 at 9:22 AM
    • Reply Maxine Marcelino

      Hi! :)

      may i ask when this was? :)

      08/11/2013 at 3:42 PM
  • Reply Lauren

    Hi! Thanks for writing this review. I was this close to buying a coupon for this salon but reading this is making me think twice. I hope you don’t mind, but can you give me the name of the colorist who sneakily tried to give the extra service? Just to make sure he doesn’t end up doing my hair in case I buy it.

    08/06/2013 at 5:12 AM
  • Reply Light Ash Brown Hair Color

    I such as valuable information an individual offer with your content articles. I will save your own website and appearance all over again below regularly. I’m rather guaranteed I’ll be explained to a lot of completely new things here! All the best for the next!

    12/26/2013 at 3:12 PM
  • Reply xtelly

    Hi! This salon was owned by Jing Monis if I’m not mistaken. It has been featured on Kris TV last month and i am doing my research for this salon which leads me here. :)

    Few months ago we had the same scenario. I went to this salon in Podium. I was very eager to try this salon because all of their post from instagram are really a nice before and after hair style for their client.

    During my experience, I had permanent blowdry and hair color. My expected budget for this salon is for only Php12000. But after our session I was really shocked with the receipt that cost Php21,000. I can say that we really had the same exeprience. Because they just applied it without asking me and I am not aware of this kind of style. :( their service was good though,but the interior are so dissapointing. Also the effect of permanent blow dry only last for 4days which cost Php6500. :((

    10/16/2014 at 9:58 PM
  • Reply joann

    Yay… bad service indeed. I also had a sad experience recently with a salon. I availed the digiperm service of EdwinLisa Salon at their JP Rizal branch in Makati using the Metrodeal voucher. It was a total of almost 6hrs of procedure and it cost me 4k (incl. root color, treatment, half rebond) but the result was frustrating. I was told that I’m okay to leave even if my hair was still dripping wet and was applied with 10-12pumps of curling lotion. When my hair finally dried, it was so stiff and heavy. My hair looked so messy and frizzy. I don’t know what to do with my hair now, I even messaged the fb page of EdwinLisa but they did not reply. I had my digiperm at a Korean Salon last year but the result was beautiful and it even cost me less (ensogo voucher 1.8k only).

    07/22/2015 at 5:33 AM
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