My Herbal Essence Pedicure Experience

Well, remember the promotion Herbal Essence had for a free manicure or pedicure?

My voucher came in the mail Monday and I was very excited because a pedicure is just not something I would normally pay for.

So, I follow the instructions on the voucher and look up my locations on the special website they give you. There was one in Merrillville and one in Valpo. The location in Valpo said to call the Herbal Essence concierge for details. So I call and was told that the Valpo location was not participating in this promotion-they were for the haircut promotion. So he gives me the phone number for the one in Merrillville and tells me to call them and set up my appointment.

Turns out, it is the nail salon inside WalMart (oh well). So I call the salon on Tuesday and set up an appointment for Thursday. I tell the guy that I have the Herbal Essence voucher for a pedicure and he tells me I am set.

Ah, now it is Thursday, and I take my happy self off to a pedicure. It was very cool, lots of sloughing, and massaging. When I am finished, I hand the girl (who was very nice) my voucher and she just looks confused. She takes it to her manager who glances at it very quickly and flips it away saying "no".

So, I'm just standing there looking like an idiot.

Me: "They told me you participate in this promotion and I told you what I was coming for when I called.

He doesn't even look at me as he is saying "NO, no no, we no participate".

I take out my cell phone and call the concierge again. She tells me that they definately participate. She says that they wouldn't even have their info if they didn't. She give me a phone number that the salon is supposed to call. They are supposed to leave their salon info on the voicemail and someone will call them back with a credit card to pay.
I try to tell this to the manager guy of the salon and he won't even listen to me! He just keeps saying "no".

Then I noticed that the corporate number of Da-Vi nails is on the wall. I call that number and when the woman answers, I ask her if she knows about the Herbal Essence promotion. She tells me "of course!". I tell her that this salon is refusing to take my voucher and she says "No, all of our salons are participating." (Da-Vi nails has salons in most WalMarts-many of them have their own names but are part of Da-Vi) So she asks to speak to the manager. The manager guy then proceeds to argue with her in some foreign language for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, I am standing there still looking like an idiot, while other customers are waiting.

And honestly, at this point I am REALLY not wanting to just pay after the way he has been treating me.

He get off the phone and tells me "We independent salon, we not sign paper for promotion".

I reiterated that they would not have his information if he was not part of this promotion.

Me: "Your own corporate office just told you that you are participating so how can you refuse to take this voucher?"

He runs and pulls out a stack of gift certificates to show me and says "We only take this".

I am trying to explain the difference between a gift certificate and voucher to him while he is talking over me, going on and on about his gift certificates until I finally say "I don't care about your gift certificates!"

Crazy Manager Guy: "I don't care about voucher"

Me: "Well, you need to because this is your payment"

Crazy Manager Guy:"You no pay? I call cop"

Me:"Fine, I call cop too" (I mean I'll call the cops too)

So, there I am, waiting for the police like a common criminal...

Enter the Hobart police.

A VERY nice officer came and was standing there for like 30 seconds, being ignored by Crazy Manager Guy. The officer finally asked me if I knew why he was there. I showed him the voucher and explained the situation.

He tried to talk to Crazy Manager Guy and had the same problem I had (the guy keeps talking and won't listen). He told him that the voucher looked pretty official and wanted to know why he wouldn't take it when his own corporate office told him to.

Crazy Manager Guy launches into more litany about their independence.

Finally the officer asked if I would be willing to pay if the voucher company doesn't. I said I would be more than happy to.

THEN, we learn the REAL reason...

Crazy Manager Guy says "But they only pay 50% because it advertising deal".

Well, you know, that is usually how promotions work...I mean, had this gone well, I probably would have been back because the girl that took care of me was so nice. On my own, however, I would NEVER have gone to that salon in the first place.

So, he finally agrees to what the officer is suggesting: That he take my info and that if he does not get paid, then I will come in and pay.

He writes down my license number and phone number and then one of the girls hands him the phone.

It is corporate again.

He gets off the phone and says "Okay, they say they pay me".

So the officer made him black out my personal info and I was finally allowed to leave ONE HOUR after my appointment was finished!!!

Whew! NOT what I had envisioned, let me tell you!

My advice to all of you locals out there:

STAY AWAY FROM THE SALON IN THE MERRILLVILLE WALMART!!!!!!!!