I've never been an individual to write reviews, but I feel that this needs to be shared. Last Thursday I phoned into the salon to make an appointment to have my hair done for my work Christmas party. I clearly explained what I was looking for - a blow dry and a curly ponytail with some front framing pieces - and I was confidently told by the girl on the phone it would be $45-50. So I made my appointment for 1 pm. I showed up, checked in with the girl at the front (she's the one that booked my appointment) and very promptly I was taken in by Serena. Serena spent almost two hours on my hair, and right at the beginning of the appointment she said that "they booked you in for a blow dry and flat iron" but that I shouldn't worry because there would still be enough time to do my requested hair style, which I showed her pictures of right at the beginning. Fast forward two hours and I'm back at the front desk to pay, and the girl that originally booked me says, "I'm so sorry but I told you the wrong thing on the phone, your appointment is not $50, its actually $130." I was completely shocked. When asked why, it was because the nature of the service was "actually a special occasion hairstyle." When I asked why I was not informed of this mistake right at 1 pm when I checked in, the girl's response was that the stylist (Serena) changed the nature of the appointment during the two hours. So my next question was why was I not informed by Serena when I showed the pictures that the service would actually be almost triple what I was told. No response. I told her that I would not be paying $130 and I was told the best they could do was 20% off. At that moment, so frustrated and already pressed for time, I simply paid and left.
I seriously question a salon that needs to do shady things like this to make money. There were so many opportunities for someone to inform me of the actual cost of my appointment but they chose purposely to wait right until the end when everything was said and done. Even to admit that a mistake was made over the phone and then to put the cost of that mistake on me is not how you run a business, retain clients, and definitely not how you get new ones. I have told all of my friends, everyone at the party I attended, and now shared publicly that I don't recommend Avanti to anyone because of this experience.