PDA, NOT of the affectionate kind!

I never wanted to use this blog for the purposes of which you will soon read about. I wanted to spare you, my readers, from rants and raves bordering on lunacy and hate. But after an experience I had today, I can't help but want to share and warn all of you (especially my fellow Torontonians).

Last August I bought my lovely mother a gift card to a spa in downtown Toronto. I chose that particular one based on reviews, referrals and finally, location. It was her birthday gift, and I wanted her to be able to access the spa at will.

So I chose the Pantages Spa on Victoria street, purchasing a couple of highly priced items for her to indulge in. She used one of the treats as soon as she could, opting to use the other at a later date.

Which brings us to about a week ago.

She mentioned wanting to use up the gift card before it expired next month, and asked that I book an appointment for her. I spent the next hour trying to call the spa, where, to my confusion, it kept going to voicemail. I thought nothing of it, left message on the 10th try, and went back to my daily routine.

Having not heard back from them in a couple of days, I decided to call the Pantages Hotel today to find out what was going on. The nice lady at the reception desk transferred me to the spa, where someone answered after three rings.

I told her about the fact that I'd been having trouble getting a hold of them, and asked to book an appointment for this Sunday.

The first question she asked me was if my gift card was from the wellness spa or the hotel spa.

I said I didn't know there was a difference.

She then asked when I'd purchased my gift card.

I said last August.

She then proceeded to outline the fact that they were a NEW spa, replacing the OLD Pantages Spa that was run independently in the hotel. The NEW spa was a part of the hotel, and did not honour the gift cards from the OLD spa.

Excuse me?

She went on to say that the old Pantages Spa would be opening at a new location -- in Vaughan, of all places -- but not until the end of September. My gift card would be well expired at this point.

"You've got to be kidding!" I thought.

I understand that the recession hit everyone hard, but the Pantages Spa didn't have the decency to CALL their customers with outstanding balances on their gift cards before shutting down? At least tell us what our options were? I asked for their number or contact, and she said the only one they had was the old number where I'd left a message.

How convenient. I'd love to know how many confused messages lay sitting in that voicemail, which I'm sure NO ONE will ever answer.

I'm so frustrated in all of this. I booked it down to the hotel after work to see what was going on, and to no surprise, the old spa has been replaced, now up and running with new smiling faces inciting people into their wellness centre.

Yea right.

So I asked the lady what my options are.

The voice on the other end of the line sweetly replied, "Honey, you're screwed."

Yea, screwed out of a good sum of money. You people know how costly these spa treatments are!

PDA = PRETTY DAMN ANNOYED, in my book!

I'd give you all a link to their site, but the last thing I want to do is get them more attention, even in the manner of page hits.

I have a right to be mad.

xo
SC