Ladyb1rd's Qype profile

Lovely food – never had a bad meal yet, and it’s great to have access to Thai food without having to go all the way into the City Centre. Never tried the Indian menu which is the primary cuisine, but I hear through friends that it’s just as good. Also, the staff are really attentive and pride themselves on giving a really good service to customers. There’s even a couple of really good looking waiters which is always a bonus! Finally, to top it all off, they also offer a takeaway and delivery service that stretches several miles – they even deliver as far as Broxburn! Well done Abida – you certainly have earned your 5 star rating!!!

Yum! Can’t think of a better indian take away in Edinburgh; only set back is that they don’t deliver as far as my home but it’s worth the drive to taste their beautiful cuisine. This is definitely my favourite Indian takeaway in Edinburgh and it’s great value for money. Would totally recommend the mushroom dupiaza for any vegetarians out there. Great!

Hi,

I also purchased a Groupon voucher for Helen Deans hairdressing, Edinburgh on 9
November 2011 and had my appointment last weekend. The service was appalling, so much so, that I couldn’t wait to get out of there. Please read below to find out why and avoid getting into a similar situation:

- Booking appointment – I called the morning after the voucher closed to secure an appointment in time for a wedding in December. Firstly, I had difficulty trying to get through on the phone number on the coupon, so I phoned their usual number instead. The Manager picked up the phone and the minute I said I had a Groupon voucher, she said I had to call back on the other number. I told her I’d been trying it since 9.00am and there was no reply. She told me “that’s because the salon doesn’t open till 9.30am”. I checked my watch and it was 9.40am! I re-phoned the Groupon number and surprise, surprise, the same lady (and I use the term loosely!) answered. I asked to make an appointment in December and was told “no chance – the first appointment for Groupon customers isn’t until the end of February 2012”. I challenged her since I would have been one of the first to call after the offer ended, and was told “If I give all my appointments to Groupon customers, I wont be able to fit in all my regulars”. I was so taken aback, that I said I’d phone back another time to get an appointment. When I called late February, I was able to reach the salon using the Groupon phone number immediately and make an appointment for two weeks’ time
- Staff – The Manager was as common as muck; in fact she seemed to think it was so out of the ordinary for one of the staffs’ Mums to come into the salon with a lovely bouquet of flowers – presumably for Mothers’ Day. Someone went down stairs to tell the member of staff that her Mum was waiting upstairs and the member of staff had told the other hairdresser that “she didn’t want to see her – she was to go away”. Nice! This was then bitched about by the Manager/several members of staff for the next 5 minutes, in direct earshot of the customers
- Appointment totally rushed – I was in the salon for 1 hour, 45 minutes in total. Usually, any hair colour takes between 2.5 – 3 hours
- Hairdresser – the hairdresser I had (who had long dark brown hair/size 8/about 5ft tall) was clearly still hungover from the night before; given the amount of times she had to rush away to get a drink; claiming she was “totally dehydrated”. She must have told me about 30 times to keep my head in a specific angle; despite the fact I told her I had a problem with my spine, and it was difficult to hold my head at such an obscure angle for a long period of time. During the cut/styling part, she hit my head with the brush/comb at least 5 times and didn’t offer any apology; similarly she scratched my face by accident and again, failed to apologise. She was fairly aggressive with the hairdryer and the heavy cord belted my leg quite a few times – again no apology offered. Lastly, when she asked what coat I had, and I responded “a pink ski jacket”, she seemed to think this was highly amusing – this girl must have been no more than 22 and has a lot to learn about customer service, plus a lot of growing up to do!
- Cut – again this was done once my hair was dry which I found rather odd, and if I hadn’t prompted her to trim my fringe, it wouldn’t have been done. I’m lucky if she took 1 inch off my hair, when I’d asked for it to be tidied up and all made the same length. Needless to say, the front is now longer than the back
- Voucher deal – As part of the consultation, I was asked if I wanted a full head tint or highlights. When I veered towards the highlights option, I was explicitly told that “Groupon customers only qualify for one colour and any additional colours will be be charged at an additional £20 each”;
this was not made clear on the voucher and should have been made more overt. Also, I never received my glossing treatment, which was also part of the offer
- Service – throughout my time at the salon, the only hair products that were used, over and above the colour were shampoo and conditioner – no styling products were used or offered. During my time at the salon, I wasn’t offered a cup of tea/coffee, or any magazines to read. I’d be lucky if she spent 2 minutes applying the straighteners to my hair once it was part dry – so much so that it had a lovely kink on one side because it wasn’t 100% dry before she used the straighteners on it

All in all, an awful experience that I wont be repeating. At the end of my appointment, I wasn’t asked if I wanted to make a follow-up appointment (thankfully) which speaks volumes for the poor customer service. I would have thought the whole point of Groupon is to establish a new client base,
and give those clients the same treatment as full paying customers, in order to promote the service and gain repeat business. Clearly, anyone using a Groupon voucher in this salon is classed as a second class citizen and treated as such.

I’ve sent a similar complaint to Groupon in the hope they don’t do any repeat business with this salon in future. PLEASE AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Again, have given a reluctant 1 star, since I couldn’t select none.

Thanks.