Review: Spa Symphony - 313@Somerset

Here's another long-awaited blog review of mine - and surprisingly... It was a negative experience turned positive.

Before you think this is another sponsored advertorial/review, I have to tell you it is not. Everything was paid for using our own money, and experiences are shared based on what we personally went through.

I'm not sure if any of you have came across a Groupon deal from Spa Symphony before, but I think I did patronize them years ago and forgotten about it.

(Sorry for the unclear pics, all the below were taken using my phone's camera under low lighting)

It was not until I received a call from them recently and they actually OFFERED me FREE facial session.

OMG, got what motive?!?!

Of course, ANY - I mean, ANY, sensible human will be on high alert and be skeptical about this, right?

FREE LEH. FREE. It's most un..un..un..un..believable.

Come on, there is no FREE lunch in this world. I was pretty sure there would be strings attached.

(No offence, but I am ALWAYS skeptical of spas, massage salons, etc because they are commonly about packages, packages, packages!)

"Do you mean it's tied with packages or what??" I asked the Mr.Nice Man who called me over the phone.

"No, ma'am. It's a one-time thing, and we are offering it for free. You can bring along your friend as well to enjoy the promotion together. Unless if you are interested in a body massage, it will be chargeable at $28."

Mmm, Did he just mention body massage? I would love that anytime!

$28 is actually considered a VERY reasonable price, considering that this is Singapore we are talking about. It's almost like paying at a Groupon deal price, except that this isn't really through Groupon.

Still on a skeptical mode, I agreed to take up the body massage option, much to his surprise.

"You are okay with paying $28 for the body massage, right?"

(LOL, I guess he must have thought all Singaporeans would opt for FREE facial session and did not expect that someone would actually not mind paying for other services)

"Yes, I know, I am okay with it." I replied.

Together with my massage kaki (Let's call her "Shreky"), we made an appointment and headed down for it. I somehow expected us to get into some hardselling shit. 

Unfortunately, they called me on THE day and informed me that one of us would have to give up the massage due to their masseur's last minute of urgent leave. They offered the option for us to switch to the free facial session instead.

Being a hardcore massage lover, I was quite disappointed, lah. Honestly, I had been looking forward to a good massage after all the body-ache!

Nonetheless, I took up the free facial session and let Shreky proceed with her massage.

When we reached the place, I was kinda' impressed by the glass door design. LOL.

Quite atas-looking, I would say.

As we entered, the staff greeted us with smiling faces.

Hmm. Not bad. Friendly. Wait till we reject all those packages during their hard-sell talk...

For a start, we were asked to fill in a form with our particulars.

We did not wait long before we were being ushered into our individual rooms. 

As I am a person who has sensitive skin, I was kinda' worried about the facial massages. (And not to mention it was FREE)

The staff assured me that all their products are made from organic ingredients and suitable for all skin types.

Hmm, well... Okaaay.

A young and pleasant-looking lady attended to me during the session. Somehow, we clicked and started chatting away- even sharing our personal stories.

The facial session was surprisingly quite comfortable, and I really love the ambiance of the room. (I noticed that they have an exquisite design placed on top of their ceiling in 3D mode.. And you will feel like you are looking at a sky/ top of a tree top!)

I was glad that there was no hard-selling done during the process (I have heard enough horror stories of customers going through a tedious hard-selling talk during facials)

When we came out of our rooms after 60 minutes, tea was served.

A lady walked in and greeted us.

I REALLY THOUGHT THE HARD-SELLING PART WOULD COME ANYTIME NOW.

Indeed, the lady did introduce us of their services - but that was surprisingly it. 

There was completely no expected hard-selling from their side, and even politely thanked us when we told her that we would think about it.

WAH, this is seriously BEST.

The facial session really came with NO string attached. It was just their way of service introduction to us, and I really appreciate that Spa Symphony was true to their words.

You know, this is the kind that I wouldn't mind signing up packages or paying for - instead of some others who use methods of hard-selling.

If you are any business owner who use hard-selling tactics, I hope you read and LEARN from them. Hard-selling will get you nowhere. In fact, it will only get on customers' nerves and cause them to shun.

So yes, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Spa Symphony for being such a good sport! The facial session was superb and your staff are really friendly.

I won't mind bringing other friends back there again if there are any other promotions in future. 

Tried, tested and highly recommended from SGComplainQueen! Hahaha.

Here's their website if any of you is/are interested:

http://www.spasymphony.com.sg/

(Too bad that I did not get the chance to take many photos there as I did not intend to blog about it but eventually decided to!)

Groupon Deal Review: - LifeSpa massage - Worth Going?

You know, I have figured that my blog should contain posts that benefit others from my personal experiences - especially those that I spent money on.

I am sure plenty of you out there have googled companies, products or items from Groupon deals before purchasing them, and reviews from bloggers would have benefited you.

SO, so... I have decided to share more about my Groupon experiences here with my readers as I do purchase their deals quite often! 

So what kind of deals do I usually spend my money on, you ask?

MASSAGE or FOOD. 

(I feel that body massages in Singapore are darn expensive without purchasing Groupon deals!)

As I have a friend (I shall call her "Shrek" since it's a nickname we have been calling each other since our poly days, haha) who are into body massages as much as I do, we would often share lobangs with each other and purchase deals to try.

"Well... You know, you can share all of our experiences in your blog," she suggested. 

I thought it was a pretty good idea. (So to all those bad merchants, watch out! If you are one of those who do not honor your Groupon deal, I shall post about you on my blog!)

I shall start off my first entry experience on a positive one: - Here's one deal from Groupon that we tried: (Don't worry, this is not a sponsored post or anything like that -  We freaking paid money for the services from our own pockets!!)

$27 for a Swedish or Deep Tissue Stress Relief Massage at LifeSpa

$27 is considered an attractive price for a body massage service. (Without Groupon deals in Singapore, a body massage can easily cost up to $100 and above, which is crazy)

I know it's risky, but I did not bother to check or read reviews about the place before purchasing the deal. It was a pure luck thing. I remembered both of us were desperate for a body massage and were lucky enough to book an appointment for the next day.

There are 3 outlets of LifeSpa, and we chose the one at Carlton Hotel, which was quite a convenient location.

We were WOW-ed by the place upon arrival. We felt so out of place in such an atas venue.

The reception lady was well-mannered, and passed us the forms to fill in our personal details before heading in for our massages. 

When we were told that the room was ready, we were completely overwhelmed by excitement as they brought us to a luxurious-looking suite (it was a COUPLE ROOM!! It means that we would be able to communicate with each other in the room during massage, which was an additional bonus as we didn't expect we would be given the privilege. In most massage places, a couple room requires a top-up charge and we were NOT charged a single cent for it)

It was an out-of-the-world (in a good way) kind of experience as I was dazzled by the facilities as well. Can you imagine that there was a PERSONAL TOILET as well in the room? We had all the privacy to ourselves, and there was a heater pad on the massage bed too to warm our bodies.

The masseurs were very professional as well, and I would say they do have some good skills there!
(In the past, I always had this mentality that the masseurs will not give quality service since we purchased the Groupon deals at a cheap price. I am sure most of you would have this thought, too, right?! Sometimes, things are too good to be true. However, I was proven wrong on this occasion!)

After the massage, we were given a choice to choose our tea (I opted for Ginger tea, which I love!) and we were led to a comfy resting area (We felt like princesses with such atas treatment, LOL).
When we reached, I noticed that there was even a small plate of snacks- complete with our cups of tea- ready at the table.

NOW IS THE MOMENT. I HAD A FEELING THEY WERE GOING TO DO SOME HARD-SELLING OF PACKAGES.
I always hated this. I have read reviews of many places doing hard-selling of packages and throwing customers black faces if they say "NO".
I'm someone who has difficulty saying "NO", so you can imagine how dreadful it was for me.

Well, we waited.
There was indeed a young lady approaching us with a form.
Fortunately... We were only asked a question,
"Do you do massages often?"
We shook our heads.

"Well, its okay then. See you".
And that was it! No hard-selling. Wow. This is so un...un..un..un..believable. LOL.
We were stunned like vegetables. *pun intended. ahem*
I guess it was because I indicated we were students in the forms?
 (Yeah, students are always poor okay!)

Nonetheless, I would recommend this Groupon deal to anyone who would like to give it a try. Please do note that I am only reviewing the outlet that I went, and could not verify that the services in the other outlets are the same.
Till then. stay tuned to more of my Groupon deal updates~!