Comments on: Massage Envy: Ethical Questions

By: Me

Me — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:01:55 +0000

I am soooo THANKFUL to hear all these comments about how Massage Envy is a scam in many ways. They seem sooo money hungry I totally agree, the massage was so-so, def not relaxing. I wasn’t sure about joining, so I told them I needed to think about it, however I have them calling me daily! Now I KNOW and will NOT be going there again!!

By: employee

employee — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 06:41:34 +0000

Hooray! I quit! On to bigger and better things! Oh, there have been a few more things that have popped up lately… such as the front desk stealing the cash tips of the therapists, and having the front desk sell the memberships to the clients BEFORE their massage (and the therapists don’t get their bonus that way) Yes.. everyone gets bonuses by getting you to sign up. That’s why they try so hard. I even had a front desk person ask me, “So what do you recommend?” and when I said, “They didn’t have many issues” she said, “well, tell them they have lots of knots.” No…. that’s not what we do. We don’t tell people to come back for reasons that aren’t there just for the sake of getting them back in. Also, they encourage employees to come to work whether they are sick or not. Would you like to have your therapist massaging you while they have a runny nose, sore throat, coughing up mucus or possibly spreading H1N1? Well, the owners and mgmt think there’s nothing wrong with that. If a therapist runs their own practice, if they are sick, they won’t work on you. And vice versa. Who wants to be that up close and personal when one of you has a cold and could be contagious? I’ve turned people away (working on my own) when I was feeling under the weather. That’s the right thing to do. So, on to bigger and better things!!! Here I go! Massage Envy… you are history to me. I’m better than that.

By: Past ME Therapist

Past ME Therapist — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:21:19 +0000

I worked there for about a year. I consider myself a good therapist, but I know some of the therapists I worked with were not good at all. I scheduled a massage with one of my co-workers and came in on my day off to get my massage with her and she didn’t pick me up for 15 minutes after I got there. Since I worked there, I went back to the break room to find her and she was sitting down talking to some other therapists as though she didn’t even know I was there. Then, she proceeded to massage my neck with her elbow and didn’t touch any other part of my body! I was in shock that she was still working there.

I agree with “employee” about all the ways they cheat therapists. They pay therapists less than 30% of the fee clients pay. The people working the front desk are not paid well either and they are pressured to sell, sell, sell. The managers are all about the numbers, and many of them come from a retail mall outlet type of background, but no massage training or experience.

Another thing they do is say they want you to have time off to “take care of yourself” and so you get a little vacation pay that you have to accrue by working so many hours per month for one hour of vacation pay. When you need to take the time off, they tell you you have to find someone to cover your shift.

Its really just a way for inexperienced massage therapists to get practice on a lot of clients, but they aren’t making a lot of money, and they are taxing their own bodies for it.

Most of the owners of ME franchises are investors of some sort or don’t really know anything about massage and they are all about the money.

There is no education of clients. Members come in and expect to receive a high quality massage in one hour and they expect the therapist to read their minds. They will walk out without knowing that it may take 24 – 72 hours to actualize the full effect of their massage, if it was any good. They will chat it up, and if the therapist talks back, they will say the therapist talked too much, they may come in late, even if they’re told they only get 50 minutes hands on massage time, they don’t turn off their phones, some don’t bathe, some will give gratuities of $4 or $6 or maybe nothing.

I could go on and on, but there’s too much. When I told several of my clients I was leaving, they commented they knew it was just a matter of time.

It could be good, but its just franchise massage.

By: employee

employee — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:39:37 +0000

Oh yeah.. and to get out of the contract.. just cancel your credit card and get a new one issued. voila.

[Oh, yikes. Thanks for writing! Not surprising, just very upsetting. Hang in there and may better things come your way! - PB]

By: employee

employee — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:37:23 +0000

I work at a Massage Envy currently. There are TONS of GREAT therapists there. The reason they all work there is two reasons: 1, they do a bait and switch. They do the interview, tell you you’ll be making 15 per hour, plus tips, plus commission if someone joins. Not true. You don’t find out the truth until you get your first or second paycheck or however long it takes to figure it out. You get paid 7.50 unless you are 50% booked in a 2 WEEK PERIOD. They don’t tell you this until you figure it out. The paycheck is so confusing the way they break it down, that you can never figure out how it got to be that amt. anyway. They tempt you with bonuses, advance in the company, “LEAD THERAPIST” free massages…. that’s not true either. We have to pay $20 for an hour and we can get bumped from the schedule if someone walks in wanting a massage for that time. Even if you have scheduled in advance. The list goes on and on… The second reason that great therapists are there is because the job market (here anyway) is just not hiring for therapists. There are too many schools pumping out therapists, and no jobs for them. They don’t tell you that in school either. They should send you off saying, “Congrats! Good luck finding a job–suckers.”
In MY opinion, Massage Envy is a crooked company based on money and how many people they can get to sign up–regardless of what they really need or want. Therapists get suckered in unaware of the truth until it’s really hard to get out. I’ll be leaving as soon as I find a replacement also! A crappy job is better than no job at all these days..

By: Ari

Ari — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:28:12 +0000

Massage Envy is simply horrible. They provide bad service, bad massage, do not meet customer expectation and does not try to manage customer relationship. I had horrible time with Maple Grove location where essentially I paid for four months without any service. When I canceled my membership, they did not cancel the auto pay from my bank and continued drawing money from my account! They also look for every opportunity to not provide service while charging you membership.

By: Michelle M.

Michelle M. — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:47:02 +0000

Well after doing quite a lot of research on ME, I decided to just follow through with whatever my own experience was and call it a day. And the end result is that I am completely thrilled with my ME massage experience and here’s why: I’ve had 7 (yes 7!) car accidents (in which NONE of them were my fault!) and have caused me to now have chronic upper and lower back problems. Because of this, I have a dear friend who is a chiropractor and has cared for my alignment needs. However, as he states my problem lies mainly in my muscle fibers and I should have regular massages as often as I can (preferably twice a month). So, after researching spas here in San Diego and La Jolla, not only are the prices variably high, some of the therapists are not that “great”. Then I came across ME, researched, and I decided to call and make an appointment in the La Jolla office. Not only was the staff incredibly kind and polite (absolutely NO PRESSURE whatsoever for joining) but I found the BEST therapist I’ve ever had (particularly for my specific needs of releasing my lil “stress buildup”)! He was thorough and it was the first time in my 15 years plus of getting massages that I had a therapist take such time to make sure I was not in pain while getting the job done! Sure it has to hurt a little but usually most therapists are not as cautious in cases like mine and Mike was right on the money! I love it so much and I thought the office was beautiful and the costs were perfect for my needs so I joined! And I couldn’t be happier! I’ve already scheduled my next appointment in two weeks and for the $59 monthly fee, one “free” one hour massage then $39 for each massage thereafter is a wonderful charge for this kind of service. I agree this isn’t meant to be a true spa experience but rather a more convienient and cost-effective way for folks like myself to have constant massage services without breaking the bank. Maybe I just got lucky with my overall experience but I thought I’d share… Good luck!

By: Raven M

Raven M — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:13 +0000

I wish I had researched ME. I just thought it was a regular place to go for massages. I fell for the “Wellness” pitch and now it seems like I am stuck. I went in totally unprepared for the hard-core sales pitch. I went for a massage to reduce my stress level and walked out 10 times more stressed than when I walked in. How do I get out of this contract?????? I feel totally scammed.

By: Larry O

Larry O — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:41:34 +0000

Signed up for ME in Utah after a hard day skiing. Very professional and competent.

Brought my membership home to Northeast. Not quite as good as SLC. Not sure if I’ll renew after 12 months but have nothing to complain about after 4 visits.

ME is McDonald’s of Massage. Reliable service, when you need, it if you are hurting. Independent therapists can’t give me ‘walk in’ service. It is a trade-off; convenience vs. personal attention. Cost is a little cheaper via ME in this market too. Typically $80-100 here.

By: Alex Trevelyan

Alex Trevelyan — Sun, 24 May 2009 08:59:44 +0000

Massage Envy is horrible. The consensus as far as the quality of the massage goes is below average, the best experiences at Massage Envy are no better then the norm at any other spa. Their menu is vanilla, the techniques on offer are very limited, and anyone whose been around the spa scene, or watched a video on YouTube can see just how limited the therapists at ME tend to be, or how limited the companies protocols are. The after massage experience at ME is like walking onto a used car lot. They use high pressure tactics, and say things that are patently untrue (like telling one lady I was within earshot of that if she signed the contract, and then changed her mind, she just needed to call and they’d throw the contract away, and asking another woman who said she’d need to discuss it with her husband to call him at work right then and there!)

I don’t see how their business model can work. They’re expanding rapidly, much like Starbucks did at one time, but you can see the trouble on the horizon already. For a monthly fee of $59, plus tip, you receive one hour long massage. The only way this arrangement makes any sense for the average consumer economically is if they get more then one massage a month, but most consumers of massage services are highly irregular in their use of such services. They may only get a few massages a year, often because they have gift certificates for such services. Most cities have a multitude of spa options, and there is almost always a therapist available at a rate comparable to the $59/hr. that it’ll cost at ME, so why in the world would you obligate yourself to a recurring charge that is a nightmare to rid yourself of? The only thing that can be said for ME is they always have therapists on staff, so walk-ons are easy, but then again, so do the Chinese massage studios in the mall.