Lay Bare: BARED!

This isn't really a review but more of a rant. I have been a loyal customer, a patron, of Lay Bare Waxing Salon since my college days. I would frequent their first Katipunan branch whenever I needed unwanted hair removed. I was so impressed with their service that I've sworn to no other waxing salon but Lay Bare.

For those of you unfamiliar with the brand, Lay Bare is a waxing salon that uses cold wax in its treatments. They also offer threading for those who are still afraid to try waxing. Their salons have private rooms, regardless of the service that you're availing. Each room is kept orderly by a specific therapist. The wax therapists are well-trained and very friendly.

At least that's what I experienced in their Katipunan branch.

After I graduated, I barely had time to visit their Katipunan branch. I had to try other Lay Bare branches. The first one I visited was their branch in Megamall. I booked an appointment online, received my confirmation e-mail, and went straight to Megamall during my free time. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to have anything done. All I got was a rude therapist who told me they couldn't accommodate me because they had no clean towels available. I asked them why they sent me a confirmation e-mail if they couldn't accommodate any clients that time. Again, rudely, I was informed that they had no telephone line to inform me that they wouldn't be able to accommodate me. Sensing my growing hostility, a manger stepped in, and to my surprise, gave me the same treatment. She was just as rude as the therapist, and to make things worse, she told the therapist to just accommodate me, after telling me there were no clean towels available! What towels did they plan to use on me? I left the salon and quickly filed a report to their head office.

After the whole Megamall incident, I discovered that Lay Bare also had a branch in Podium, which was more convenient as it was nearer my office. I decided to try it, and I was happy with the result. The place was clean and orderly, the therapists were very friendly, and the service was done well. Just the way Katipunan does it. Unfortunately, it was not the case for my second and third visit. On my  second visit, I received a rather less-than-welcoming greeting from the therapists. The room where they took me looked dirty -- the beddings hadn't been replaced (you could still see powder marks on the sheet), the pillow was also dirty, and there weren't any folded towels on the mattress. Was I going to lay on a sheet used by another person who had an unknown service done? Eeck. I went through the process and once again reported the incident to Lay Bare.

Assuming that something had been done based on my report, I once again went to their Podium branch as it was the most convenient branch for me at that time. Unfortunately, nothing was done. The room I got wasn't prepared and ready for another client, yet the therapist brought me there. The service wasn't excellently done, nor was it near good, to be honest. I still saw some hair strands (apologies for revealing too much information) that weren't supposed to be there (since they were supposed to be waxed off). Apparently, this was the therapist's idea of getting the job done -- with stray hairs still visible. But this wasn't the worst part. When I was about to pay, they asked if I had a smaller bill. I told them I only had P150 and a whole P500 bill, which was the bill I handed to them. Instead of giving me my change, they kept on babbling about how they didn't have enough small bills to give me. After about five minutes of just talking amongst themselves about how they didn't have change, showing me the P500 bills they had, one of them started asking the other therapists if they can shoulder my change for the mean time. 

Two things: 1) You don't continue showing the customer that you don't have change, as if by some miracle your customer will come up with a smaller bill she does NOT have. 2) Instead of wasting everyone's time, making the customer feel uncomfortable, why not look for change right away? Why wait for a couple of minutes before actually looking for change? This was by far the WORST experience I've had.

The fourth incident wasn't as bad as the third, but it still affects the way customers see Lay Bare. This happened in their Congressional branch. Since it was the holiday season, and Lay bare Katipunan closed early that day, I decided to look for nearby Lay Bare branches. I decided to call first because they might have closed early too, but thankfully, they were open. Since I was in a rush, I asked the receptionist if they had a full house. She told me that they did NOT. I confirmed by asking if there was a waiting line. Once again, I was told that there was NO waiting line. My boyfriend and I quickly drove to Laybare, only to find a LONG waiting line in their CRAMPED space on the second floor. I didn't mind the small and less-than-inviting space they had (I felt like they just forced the whole shop into that small space). What bugged me was the fact that the receptionist told me a whole different story than what was in front of me. One or two people would've been fine, compared to the NO WAITING LINE she told me, but there were about six people in the salon when I got there. That's far from none. 

I don't know what's going on with Lay Bare's management, but it seems like the Katipunan branch is the only branch left with superb service and cleanliness. Their rooms are still well-maintained and clean whenever I visit, the receptionist and other staff are still friendly as ever, and you wouldn't catch them chit-chatting in front of customers in wait. The quality of their other branches, on the other hand, is just unacceptable. I actually tried one more branch, their Scout branch, and sad to say, I was also frustrated with the service. It felt like the therapist did not know what she was doing as that was the most painful waxing service I got, considering my high tolerance for pain. She kept on patting the wax, pulling it SLOWLY 1/4 off my skin, then putting the wax back again to pat it, then finally pulling it completely off my skin, ever-so-slowly. I'm not a waxing therapist, but I've had so many waxing sessions to notice if someone knows what they're doing or not. These experiences were so frustrating that I finally decided to look for another waxing salon I can frequent in case I couldn't go to their Katipunan branch.

What's happening to you, Lay Bare?