1 Star for My Experience — EEK, me thinks not! 2 Stars for My Daughter’s Experience — MEH, I’ve experienced better. We both bought the LivingSocial deal of a half day of spa treatments for $ 99(regular price $ 225). The package included a Facial, Massage, and either the Infrared Sauna or Ionic Footbath. My experience on 1÷29÷11: I had the facial first. Not a bad facial, but not a great one either. I’m use to the esthetician spending the entire time with me doing something, such as hands and arms while the mask sets. I’m not going to name any names here because these people have to earn a living. My esthetician left the room for 10 minutes while the mask was setting. Meh! Next on my schedule was what I thought would be the Infrared Sauna — which is what I had requested. Well. Here is how the conversation unfolded: JOR: No, you are to have the ionic foot bath. Me: No, I want the Infrared Sauna… that is what I requested. JOR: No, you are to have the ionic foot bath. Me: Really? You are telling me that I DIDN’T request the Infrared Sauna? JOR: Well… it isn’t available right now… so you get the Ionic Footbath. Me:(Sigh…whatever!) The ionic footbath was the most disgusting thing that I have ever experienced. If I wanted to soak my feet in some putrid water… I’d have done that for free somewhere else! Next(and last) on my schedule was the massage. I ended up sitting in the lobby of the place for about 45 minutes waiting for the massage therapist and the only thing to do was look at outdated, ripped up magazines… or I could subliminally be talked into buying some of the holistic products that JOR sells since there was a video running over and over and over… well you get my point… and everywhere you look were products to be bought. Finally came my massage… I was sooooo looking forward to the massage. OMG!!! It had to be the WORST massage that I have ever had. The massage therapist«J» barely got started when she almost went into anaphalactic shock because she was so incredibly allergic to cat dander and I obviously had some on my clothes since I have 2 cats at home. I thought I would have to give the poor girl CPR! She had to leave the room a couple of times to blow her nose, but the entire massage time was spent listening to her wheeze, sniffle, and cough. UGH!!! I came out of that massage more tense than when I began. After my escape from JOR, I sent an email to the owner. She called me back the next day and we had a lengthy conversation about my experience. She asked what she could do to make it up – and even offered me another experience at no cost. I told her that all I wanted was to make sure that my daughter’s experience was better than mine since I have spa treatments on a regular basis, but they are a real luxury for my daughter, both time-wise and financially, since she goes to law school and they only have her husband’s income. The owner assured me that she would not only personally greet my daughter, but would make sure her staff knows to give her the«star» treatment. Now onto my daughter’s experience on 2÷10÷11. I warned her about the wait time between treatments, so she was prepared and brought study materials with her. She had the Infrared Sauna first — she loved it! A+ Then she had the facial — she thought it was good and didn’t mind that she didn’t have the hand/arm treatment. At least the esthetician(the same one that I had) never left the room this time. Then the massage. F-!!! The massage therapist(the same one I had), doesn’t know how to do massage… that much is clear — she missed one of my daughter’s legs completely(ummm, don’t most people have 2?). And she sniffled the entire time as well. My daughter also has a cat, but maybe because she gives her long-haired Tortie a lion cut… or maybe«J» took allergy medicine, at least she didn’t keel over, but listening to someone sniffle isn’t conducive to a relaxing experience. Bottom Line: Neither me, nor my daughter, will EVER go back. Joy of Raphael has had a lot of ‘deals’ on Living Social… now I see why. Once you go, you’ll never go back! PS: And if the owner was there, she never made an appearance to greet my daughter. Sorry for the lengthiness of this review… it had to be said.
