My stress level and blood pressure has risen to unknown levels in the last two days. Yesterday, I went to La Dolce Vita to "redeem" the promotion I had purchased on the street in September from some PR company, around Broadway and W. 8th Street.
When I made the appointment a week ago, the receptionist said I could get the haircut, manicure and mini-massage all in one visit. When I got there, they charged me $18, after I had originally been told there would be some sort of hair product fee of $15. Ok, so $3 didn't seem to be so much. First of all, the place LOOKS shady, not like a quality salon at all. And I suspect they may either have ties with the mafia or are trying their best to appear as they do. I sat down.
The owner, who looks like a big mafioso, came over and told me my hair looked trashy and that I needed to get it dyed and highlighted. I said no. He said yes, you need it, it's $330. I said "no, I don't want it" again. The hairdresser told me to ignore the owner, that he'd do it for $100. I told him AGAIN "no, I just want a haircut." He told me very rudely, "hey calm down, we'll cut your hair then you decide." I said NO at least 3 times, so why the hell would I need to decide later? He cut my hair (did a poor job with that too). Then he said something like, "ok now we're going to color your hair." I told him I really didn't want it, and that I was planning to get it done when I went to LA this winter because that's where I usually get it done. He just completely ignored me then started putting glop on my hair. I sat there completely helpless, getting shit in my hair that I didn't want. The stuff was also getting in my face because he was so sloppy. When I tried to wipe some of the dye which was coming dangerously close to my eye away, he got annoyed, and said "what's the problem, there's nothing there." Well excuse me, I FEEL something there and I don't want to go blind so let me wipe the damn thing away.
When I went to pay the bill, instead of $100 (which was for services I NEVER CONSENTED TO), it was $160. I asked the hairdresser—reminding him that he had said it would be $100. He said there was a $50 blowdry charge and a $10 tax. I was so fuming by this point that I just paid the damn things and got the hell out of there. Today I called the salon and was verbally abused by the hairdresser when I tried to reason that I had never consented to dying my hair and that on top of it all, if he was going to charge me $50 extra for a blow dry on top of it all, I would have left with my hair wet. He started saying things like "you don't even deserve to have hair, you should be bald", "you looked trashy, you should thank me, " "I don't know where you come from, but I always have problems with people like you, " among other things. After I hung up, I was shaking with indignation and on the verge of tears.
This is just a short summary of what happened—I haven't gone into detail about how shabby their premises are, how sketchy the employees and owner are, how horrible their services are, how rude and abusive they are, and how I am scared to even file a complaint against them because in order to do so you have to put out your address, and I fear they might harass me (or worse).
If you are approached by anyone selling the La Dolce Vita promotion, PLEASE PLEASE RUN AWAY as soon as you can. And if you've already purchased it, just think of it as a sunk cost and do NOT go there. And if you have similar complaints/experiences, file a complaint with the BBB and maybe their business will get shut down so that innocent New Yorkers will not fall into their trap.
NY citizen
New York, New York
U.S.A.
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