Phyto and Gataomo - An experience of Heaven & Earth
Earlier this year, I bought a Groupon coupon at $65 for Rebonding or Perm + L'Oreal Hair Restoration Treatment at Gataomo in Orchard (Worth $160).
I had wanted to make a booking something during 20/ Jun but was told all the appointments slots are full the entire Jun and most slots in Early Jul are filled as well, and the coupon will expire by 8/Jul! I need to travel to Shanghai for work in during End June till Jul and I'm not sure if I can have time to make an appointment as coming back from Shanghai as I'll need to travel to Malaysia 2 days after my return.
Then just a night before I set off to Shanghai, I realised that Gataomo is offering new Groupon coupon for later period, so I get my sister to call in and check if they can extend the current coupon. But they were very rigid about it and insisted "NO"! They are the one who can't offer available slots 3 weeks before the coupon expired and yet they are unwilling to extend the coupon. When my sister requested the receiver at the other end to approach for their management for consultation on this matter, no only that they bluntly rejected her but slammed down the phone with much rudeness. It's much hated that she has forgotten to ask who is speaking at the other end.
This absolutely pissed us off with such service. Not only that there's isn't any flexibility, they do not even have the basic customer service knowledge, how can they simply slam down the phone!!!
I'm unable to claim back $65 dollars from Groupon due to I did not report my bad experience with Gataomo earlier, but I'm busying travelling from the entire Jun till Mid Jul from 1 place to the other, so it just sort of slipped off my mind. Just my luck! Frankly speaking, after my sister's conversation with them, I won't be confident with their service level at all! And after surfing around, I realized that on some forum, there are others sharing about Gataomo's rude service as well!
As compared in my previous experience with Phyto Hair Spa, it is really Heaven and Earth! When I tried to make an appointment for 2 with Phyto Hair Spa just 1 week before the expiry of Groupon coupon ($38 for Detoxifying Hair Therapy With Wash and Blow And Styling at Phyto Hair Spa (Worth $128), I was told that the Takishimaya branch slots are full and they proposed me to make appointment with their Wheellock branch instead. However, Wheellock's branch slot's are full as well but when the caller at the other end hear that I can't get any slots from both branch, they actually offer to extend the coupon for another week. However, as most of the extended slots are full and available for 1 pax only so I have to book the available slots with an hour difference. But next day I received a call from Phyto informing that they managed to get 2 slots of same timing for me. They even offer to make a reminder call the night before the actual appointment.
As the available time slot is during mid day, and I can't go on leave during the busy period, I decided to give the other coupon to my mom's friend. I informed them to my mom can't understand English and they offer to get someone who is Chinese speaking to make the reminder call to my mom, so sweet of them!
My mom was so happy and keep sharing about her experience @ Phyto, how courtesy and heart warming when they served her throughout the session. And I'm glad that she enjoyed much.
For what you see, these 2 organizations are not offering typically same service exactly, so why am I comparing both? FYI, Phyto do have hair salon as well. Comparing both organizations offering hair service, you can see their way of business philosophy, the flexibility in business operations, and level of customer service. Being the intelligent consumers, you know better who and what to consider the next time you need a hair service. There's really no need for me to spell things out clearly.
I lost $65 with a heavy lesson learnt. I hereby urge all consumers to always check on review before taking up Groupon Coupon with an organization that you are not familiar of their service or products, especially when the monetary value involved is quite huge, which in this case for me, it is! I had wanted to save money initially, end up I need to pay "$65" more expensive to get a hair rebonding done! So far, my encounter with Groupon coupon, if it is the merchant that unable to provide their service (not because of last minute appoinment, but because their slots are full), they will automatically offer extension, or ask me to get refund from Groupon. So this is really a BAD experience for once!
I had wanted to make a booking something during 20/ Jun but was told all the appointments slots are full the entire Jun and most slots in Early Jul are filled as well, and the coupon will expire by 8/Jul! I need to travel to Shanghai for work in during End June till Jul and I'm not sure if I can have time to make an appointment as coming back from Shanghai as I'll need to travel to Malaysia 2 days after my return.
Then just a night before I set off to Shanghai, I realised that Gataomo is offering new Groupon coupon for later period, so I get my sister to call in and check if they can extend the current coupon. But they were very rigid about it and insisted "NO"! They are the one who can't offer available slots 3 weeks before the coupon expired and yet they are unwilling to extend the coupon. When my sister requested the receiver at the other end to approach for their management for consultation on this matter, no only that they bluntly rejected her but slammed down the phone with much rudeness. It's much hated that she has forgotten to ask who is speaking at the other end.
This absolutely pissed us off with such service. Not only that there's isn't any flexibility, they do not even have the basic customer service knowledge, how can they simply slam down the phone!!!
I'm unable to claim back $65 dollars from Groupon due to I did not report my bad experience with Gataomo earlier, but I'm busying travelling from the entire Jun till Mid Jul from 1 place to the other, so it just sort of slipped off my mind. Just my luck! Frankly speaking, after my sister's conversation with them, I won't be confident with their service level at all! And after surfing around, I realized that on some forum, there are others sharing about Gataomo's rude service as well!
As compared in my previous experience with Phyto Hair Spa, it is really Heaven and Earth! When I tried to make an appointment for 2 with Phyto Hair Spa just 1 week before the expiry of Groupon coupon ($38 for Detoxifying Hair Therapy With Wash and Blow And Styling at Phyto Hair Spa (Worth $128), I was told that the Takishimaya branch slots are full and they proposed me to make appointment with their Wheellock branch instead. However, Wheellock's branch slot's are full as well but when the caller at the other end hear that I can't get any slots from both branch, they actually offer to extend the coupon for another week. However, as most of the extended slots are full and available for 1 pax only so I have to book the available slots with an hour difference. But next day I received a call from Phyto informing that they managed to get 2 slots of same timing for me. They even offer to make a reminder call the night before the actual appointment.
As the available time slot is during mid day, and I can't go on leave during the busy period, I decided to give the other coupon to my mom's friend. I informed them to my mom can't understand English and they offer to get someone who is Chinese speaking to make the reminder call to my mom, so sweet of them!
My mom was so happy and keep sharing about her experience @ Phyto, how courtesy and heart warming when they served her throughout the session. And I'm glad that she enjoyed much.
For what you see, these 2 organizations are not offering typically same service exactly, so why am I comparing both? FYI, Phyto do have hair salon as well. Comparing both organizations offering hair service, you can see their way of business philosophy, the flexibility in business operations, and level of customer service. Being the intelligent consumers, you know better who and what to consider the next time you need a hair service. There's really no need for me to spell things out clearly.
I lost $65 with a heavy lesson learnt. I hereby urge all consumers to always check on review before taking up Groupon Coupon with an organization that you are not familiar of their service or products, especially when the monetary value involved is quite huge, which in this case for me, it is! I had wanted to save money initially, end up I need to pay "$65" more expensive to get a hair rebonding done! So far, my encounter with Groupon coupon, if it is the merchant that unable to provide their service (not because of last minute appoinment, but because their slots are full), they will automatically offer extension, or ask me to get refund from Groupon. So this is really a BAD experience for once!
Comments
Post a Comment