ComplaintsforMassage Therapy of Buffalo

• Initial Complaint

  07/21/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On July 10th I requested a cranio-sacral therapy appointment from Massage Therapy of Buffalo. They are now saying that by requesting the appointment, I was "purchasing something," and they had a right to bill me on July 10th. I have received my credit card statement which confirms same. The appointment isn't until July 24th. Because this sounds so shady to me, I am asking for a refund and cancelling the appointment. On email I was treated rudely and told that "I am not used to being talked to this way..." Give me a break. I think anyone would find it odd that a business bills for Physical Therapy 2 weeks in advance. I haven't received the physical therapy yet. I didn't "purchase" anything! If this is how they do business, I want nothing to do with them.

  Business response

  07/22/2023

  Hello,  We are writing in response to the complaint filed against our business with the Better Business Bureau. We take all customer feedback seriously and appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns. We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced during the booking process for your massage appointment. It is never our intention to cause frustration or dissatisfaction to our valued customers. We have thoroughly reviewed your complaint and would like to provide clarification regarding our prepayment policy.As you pointed out, the requirement to prepay for massage appointments is stated clearly on our website and through our booking platform, ******. We have taken significant measures to ensure that our policies and procedures are transparent and easily accessible to all our clients. Prepayment is a common practice in the service industry, as it helps us manage appointment schedules effectively and ensures the availability of therapists and resources to accommodate our clients' needs promptly. We understand that individual preferences may vary, and we sincerely regret that our prepayment policy was not to your liking. We always strive to find a balance between providing excellent customer service and maintaining the smooth operation of our business. Your feedback is valuable to us, and we will take it into consideration as we continually evaluate and improve our policies. To address your specific concerns we have already issued you a refund on 7/21/23 prior to your compliant and we confirmed this with you via email.  Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. We take our reputation seriously, and we are committed to upholding the highest standards of customer service and satisfaction. Your feedback is valuable to us as we continuously strive to improve and provide the best experience for our customers. At this time our policy remains the same that prepayment is required at the time of booking. To clarify on July 10th 2023,@9:19am you booked an appointment for CranioSacral Therapy initial evaluation first time session & selected the appointment date of Sunday July 23rd @415pm & included an appointment note upon booking . We have provided photo documentation of this interaction, including the receipt upon booking the appointment for the selected date, time, & session type, which shows the date & time of transaction checkout by the customer (07/10/23@9:19am.)  We have included a screenshot of the ****** booking & cancellation policy agreement a customer must select upon booking their selected appointment. We have also provided additional photos including email confirmation screenshot  dated 07/21/23: of cancellation of appointment,  -07/11/23@933am: screenshot of accepted appointment ,  -07/21/23: email from customer to cancel appointment. If needed we can provide additional documentation as necessary including the email of the appointment booking by customer (07/10/23@9:19am.) However,  the response boxes only allow up to five files for us to upload . Also, please note that we are a massage therapy practice, not a physical therapy practice. We understand how this may be confusing, however physical therapy services are not the services that we provide as this is clearly stated on our website with each type of massage therapy service along with their descriptions.

  Customer response

  07/24/2023

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.  The customer informed BBB that they did receive the refund.  Regards,  ******* ********

• Initial Complaint

  02/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I scheduled an appointment for Massage Therapy of Buffalo for 2pm on 2/13/22, and arrived on time to my appointment. However, the door was locked and no matter how many times I tried to contact them, they would not answer. Extremely hard to reach as they NEVER answer the phone. I login to the site only to find out that they somehow changed my appointment time to 3:15 PM with a different therapist than I had requested. They NEVER notified me that the time of my appointment was changed NOR that they changed my therapist. I had to wait in my car in 10 degree weather for 1 hour and 15 minutes. They should have at the very least contacted me about the change in time and therapist, which they failed to do. Extremely unorganized business that completely disrespected my time. They responded several hours after my appointment was finished with a text saying that my appointment was at 3:15. Completely unprofessional to never notify the customer about this ahead of time and not even care that I had to wait outside in the freezing weather because of their lack of organization. In fact, scheduling this appointment took 3 months because they never pick up the phone even when I left them several voice messages over several different days. I want a full $85 refund because of this unprofessional service, disrespect of my time, and then dismissing my complaint. The massage therapist even gave me a creepy stare as he was walking inside the building while smoking a cigarette and blowing it purposely in my direction. Made me feel uncomfortable. Completely unprofessional and rude service from this business. They owe me a full refund for the unacceptable service.

  Business response

  03/01/2022

  BBB spoke with Maria at the business who explained that the consumer purchased the gift certificate for the mother, but the consumer used the gift certificate for herself and for her mother.  The consumer moved the appointment at least 4 times. The consumer showed up for the appointment at the wrong time, using the gift certificate incorrectly because the certificate should have been used by the recipient. After the consumer failed to keep the appointment, the business was no longer able to accommodate the gift certificate due to the expiration of the certificate. The gift certificate should have been used by the mother who was given this as a gift.

  Customer response

  03/01/2022

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

  Massage therapy of therapy of buffalo is completely lying in their response. The business allowed me to use the gift certificate instead of my mother because she had chronic back pain. The business also never said that the gift certificate cannot be used for other people. In the original gift certificate message, my name along with my moms was included. She even admitted that herself. The gift certificate was not expired. That claim is also a complete lie. Also their policy never said that appointment times cannot be switched. In fact, they accepted my appointment time being switched. They never said anywhere in their policy or to me that that would be an issue. The business completely disrespected me and was extremely rude in their correspondance. Especially the fact that they have lied to me and to the BBB about the situation. I have proof attached. Maria, the owner, sent me harassing text messages. 

   
  
  
  
  

  
  

  Business response

  03/29/2022

  Facts

  1. Customer had a gift certificate expiring March 1st 2022- that I granted her extension to redeem had she booked her appointment after March 1st 2022. Gifted to ****** ****** - redeemed one session July 8th 2021. *****  “child” redeemed second session (amount left on GC) February 13th 2022. 
  

  2. Customer demanded $10 off for her appointment with myself because she did NOT read the daily deal promotion that was ONLY VALID for another therapist. The therapist (myself) that she requested was NOT VALID for this discount . 
  

  3. Customer booked incorrectly upon booking - as I have two profiles specifically set as -1- for single session appointment hours and 2-as couple session appointment hours - which can only be booked for a couples session Service Bundle- a service bundle is which two people are scheduled with two therapists. 
  

  4. See photos sent of where customer acknowledged the difference of booking appointment for single session Casey and then chose to book under couples session Casey. Customer clearly stated "request to book single session Casey and not couples session ." 
  

  5. Also see photos where it shows APPOINTMENT HAS BEEN “ACCEPTED “ - this is where the therapist has accepted the appointment booked. 
  

  6. Customer had booked appointment and then stated through text that she 1-deleted the notifications, 2- asked to move her appointment and then to keep the same, and then again to 3- ask when her appointments was again . 
  

   

  Customer then changed her appointment herself four additional times as follows:
  

  DATES: Jan 15th text message to change appointment date and then to keep appointment date for January 24th 2022. The other four rescheduling appointments dates and times were done online BY CUSTOMER FOR HER

  APPOINTMENT -and they are as follows:

  Changed On January 7th- TO 345PM JANUARY 24th 2022 FROM 315PM JANUARY 24th 2022.
  
  Changed on January 18th- TO 1030AM MARCH 17th 2022 FROM 345PM JANUARY 24th 2022. (Note GC stated must be redeemed within 1 year of purchase date MARCH 1ST 2021- which I gladly said I would have honored.)
  
  Changed on January 18th FROM 1030AM MARCH 17th TO FEBRUARY 16th 4PM.
  
  Changed on February 1st TO 315PM FEBRUARY 13th FROM 4PM FEBRUARY 16th. 
  
  As you can see, and I have explained previously to the BBB representative that I spoke with all of the dates she changed for her appointment have been done by herself. And that I am notified for EVERY APPOINTMENT- scheduled, changed, purchased, accepted, and cancelled via email. Again see photo. 
  
  8. Customer send photo of the text message for ONLY the first time she asked to move her appointment. She failed to leave out the additional other times within a one month period that she herself changed it. 
  

  9. Customer had set all of her notifications email and notifications text messages to OFF. These settings are preset to AUTO-ON IN THE USERS PROFILE - to send text and email reminders of upcoming appointments. This can only be altered by the customer- herself. See photo again, and additional photo where customer acknowledged that she was sent a text notification and then DELETED IT and then asked when her appointment was again.  
  

  10. Customer was extremely rude to myself and my staff - the massage therapist that she had scheduled with, and we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone who is rude and disrespectful in our establishment.  Furthermore, if you think that this is the first time someone has attempted to get a free massage- you are sadly mistaken-  this "child" - as listed under her mother, father or brother's profile as "child" will NEVER BE ALLOWED TO BOOK AN APPOINTMENT here at my business. She is blocked from scheduling an appointment online, and both phone numbers that she used to text message me have also been blocked- again if you would like all photos of her messages I keep everything documented for all clients.   Phone numbers ************ & ************ are both on file through our booking system as blocked and in our telephone communications. 

  11. Customer not only text messaged about "when is my appointment " indicating that she did not know when she made it for or that she has a complete disregard and concern about her appointment that she kept changing. Also- if this customer - ***** ********** continues with slander and defamation of myself and or my business she will be contacted by my attorney and a claim will be filed against her. Please remember that I have every screenshot of this customers text messages sent from both phone numbers that she had messaged from concerning her appointment and then continued to afterwards to the point of harassment. 
  

  12. All facts concerning this invalid claim have been recorded and will be kept indefinitely to ensure any further harassment, defamation, and slander by this "customer" will not result and if so we reserve the right to include documents in any communication format including online reviews and social media.
  
  I will suggest that this customer take her business elsewhere- perhaps a ******* **** that will accommodate to WALK IN clients. As we have many clients that we service with medical injuries and issues, chronic pain resulting from car accidents, surgeries, etc. We also participate in ***** * *** ******* along with insurance companies and will NOT have our clients not be able to schedule an appointment regularly because some 22 year old can't decide when a good time for her is to keep her appointment and finds something better to do and just keep rescheduling her appointment that her parents paid for.   I also suggest that she go back to ******* **********- which I'm sure her parents also paid for - along with this Gift Certificate- to learn to read- see facts #1-4 as customer does not seem to follow directions for online scheduling an appointment or has a clear disregard and disrespect for our services, time, and other clients of our business. Please understand that she is not the only person in the world scheduling as she thinks she is. And I will not allow her to waste my time, my clients times that actually need to receive massage services (who keep their appointments scheduled.) "Customers" like this are the reason many businesses have chosen to not reopen. She will not be the reason for mine as she is NEVER ALLOWED to book an appointment and is NEVER ALLOWED in our establishment AGAIN. To allot room and this amount of time and stress for a customer that chooses to continually reschedule one appointment shows that she not only has no respect for my business, for other clients, or for herself. 

  You could not pay me 10 million dollars to allow this disrespectful child to reschedule or ever be allowed in my facility. If you think I would allow some entitled child to ruin my business that I have worked my entire life to build you have another thing coming. All photos of customer notifications, texts, emails are documented and saved- as I have done for every client for my business- whether it is one appointment or one hundred appointments. I thank you for your time addressing this concern- however I have continually stated what the customer has done herself in statements of herself saying she didn't know when her appointment is along with every single time she herself changed her appointment online. 

  I will also send the intake form this customer filled out for her appointment- the document states:

  1. she has never received massage before and 
  

  2. In answering the question: what makes the pain better or worse - her response was "meds and massage."   
  
  I suggest she stay on meds and take herself to a walk in ******* **** type of facility. 

  
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩