Cristina O Dominican Salon & Nails Spa 13936 Baltimore Avenue, Laurel, MD 20707

"Response to Elsa's response below: Rating yet another 1 star for Elsa. What a long-winded way to avoid accountability. Even to go as low as insinuating that I would 'act a certain way' or 'dehumanize' a member of your team because of the language barrier mentioned. That's unbelievable. As a business manager, this is very low of you and I hope you can step outside of your ego and resolve the issue at hand, rather than writing an essay attempting to portray yourself as a Saint and make implications. Having worked in customer service myself, I make it a point to be courteous to everybody. My mentioning the language barrier with Romana was NOT a complaint, and had nothing to do with lack of respect for her or inferiority. I'm sure you have disrespectful customers who may act as such, but that is not the case here. It was simply to highlight the difficulty in trying to understand the pricing inconsistency policies before I asked to call you. To my point, if your salon pricing and policies were clear and consistent to begin with, that wouldn't be a factor. Romana is the best stylist there, and I always treat her (and any other staff member for that matter) with the utmost respect. Even when I was confused prior to calling you, I remained courteous with her, as I know that the salon's operational issues aren't her responsibility. I stand firm on what I said in my initial review and the issue at hand. Your prices are unclear and inconsistent - as expressed by multiple other patrons under this review section. It would behoove you to hire a consultant to teach you customer service skills, because they are clearly lacking. Take care."

"I’ve been 3x and, enjoyed my experience on all occasions. Fast service I called and someone returned my call told me if I made it by 6:45pm I can be seen. I was out of the salon by 7:30!! This last experience on 6/29/23 was amazing my hair was so flowy. Romona did amazing not too much heat (which I was afraid of) my hair was still silky & straight! I will be coming back x everyone was so nice. Thank you ladies"

"tl;dr: Unclear pricing & horrible customer service from Salon Manager, Elsa. Wow..I went to post my review and noticed other folks have had the same issue. Not surprising! Totally agree with Dana, T.J. and Sepe in the previous reviews. I've had generally OK experiences at this salon in the past, but I recently encountered a significant issue with their customer service, which stems from their unclear pricing policies. Prior to visiting the salon, I called to inquire about a blow-dry service and spoke with Elsa, who is the salon manager. During our conversation, I mentioned that my hair was already washed, and Elsa confirmed that they could provide the blow-dry service. Elsa was not present when I arrived. After the service was completed, the stylist, Romana, who had limited proficiency in English, initially informed me that the cost of the service was $85. This came as a surprise to me, as I had specifically received only a blow-dry. On previous visits to the salon, I had received the full service (wash/set/blow-dry) and I had been charged varying amounts, such as $85 and $65. The inconsistency in pricing left me confused, as I had anticipated a lower cost for a partial service. In an attempt to clarify the situation, I asked to call Elsa. Elsa explained that, regardless of whether I had washed my hair before coming in, the salon's policy was to charge the price of the full service (wash/set/blow-dry). I had not been made aware of this policy during my initial inquiry, and it was not mentioned on their website or through any signage in the salon. To further complicate matters, the salon's website listed "Blow Dry" as an a-la-carte service, leading me to believe that they offered this service separately. Additionally, when I questioned the inconsistency in pricing during my previous visits, Elsa attributed it to potential errors made by the stylists due to their unfamiliarity with the POS system. However, I expressed that this was not my responsibility. Reluctantly, I agreed to pay $65 at that moment to avoid leaving without payment, but I also expressed my intention to dispute the charge due to the salon's lack of pricing consistency and their failure to communicate the full-price policy for a partial service. What made matters worse was Elsa's behavior during our interaction. She was extremely rude, frequently interrupting me and speaking over me while I was attempting to express my confusion. Not a hint of understanding or humility. She even told me that if I didn't like their "policies," I didn't have to come back. This behavior was particularly disheartening because, overall, I had a positive opinion of the salon before this encounter. In retrospect, I've observed other customers at the front desk expressing similar concerns during previous visits. It seems that this recurring issue is a result of the salon's unclear pricing policies and operational inefficiency. Separately, they often don't use proper detangling techniques, as they tend to begin detangling from the roots and work their way down. During each visit, I find myself needing to gently remind them to start detangling from the ends instead. In addition to this, I've experienced an incident where a small section at the front of my hair seems to have been burnt off. I suspect that this may be attributed to the intense heat emitted by the dryer, which heats the metal clips used when setting my hair in rollers (which is partially why I only opted to get my hair blow dried during my most recent visit, to avoid this happening again). If you're going to charge premium prices for your services, it would be reasonable to expect that your prioritize the health and well-being of your clients' hair, and treat them with respect!"

"I wanted to make an appointment but couldn't get through when I called. There was a message that said they took walk ins though. The salon is a decent size, they have several seats in the waiting area, and they took my daughter a few minutes after we walked in. One person washed her hair and another styled it. My daughter's hair is very curly and thick and it took some time but the stylist got her hair very straight and spiral curled it. It came out nicely."