Monday, February 7, 2011

Price Check Please?

For some reason my back and neck are really sore today. Massage is covered by my insurance (up to a certain dollar amount), so I figured I'd book an appointment on pay day (so I can pay cash).

I looked up one of the spas near my house online, checked their prices, and then called to book an appointment. This was the tail end of the conversation.

*booking appointment, inquired about price*

Spa: "That will be $110"

Me: "Your website says $55-$75"

Spa: "That's the American price, our spa isn't listed on there"

Me: "I looked you up on the Canadian site, and they have different services listed based on the locations so I know it's not standard pricing."

Spa: "But that is the American price. We're globally owned though, so after the exchange rate it comes out to the same price."

Me: "The dollar is at par"

*long pause*

Spa: "It is right now"

*It has been for, ummm, quite a while, and is projected to be for some time in the future*

Me: "Thank you for your time, but my insurance won't cover that cost."

I'm glad I double checked the price before I hung up the phone, that would have been a VERY unpleasant surprise if I hadn't. Needless to say, I'm irritated. Granted, that could also be due to my back being sore. Has anyone else run into this lately? If so, how did you handle it?

5 comments:

The Asian Pear said...

holy. even if they WERE on american pricing and we weren't on par, that's like a 50% increase!

Cassie said...

I know! I think the lowest the rate has ever been was just under $0.62 to the dollar back in 2002. It's never hit $0.50 as far as I know. The most recent the time those prices were feasible was back in 2003. It would be nice if they caught up a bit.

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com said...

Dollar is ABOVE par right now. Last I checked it was in the range of 3 cents off.

*annoyed*

And 50% pricing just for "currency" is a load of crap. They're gouging customers and they know it.

Next time this happens, tell them you'll pay them in USD then. :P :P

Cassie said...

Lol. I had another friend suggest the exact same thing. I'm going to try it the next time someone gives me this currency BS :)

My money, my life said...

wow that would totally annoy me too. good for you for asking. I would have had a fit had they laid that little surprise on me after I had already gotten my massage!