Plans to tag along this week on a trip to Pattaya kindly sponsored by Dezzo fell through, which is a shame because I was really looking forward to reading by the beach, and of course, indulging in massages and food while Dezzo did his thing. In any case I told myself that mopping was not an option and so, decided to arrange for a massage, and proceeded to ask my mother for the number of her regular masseuse. She told me that she had been given a voucher for complimentary full body massage at a spa at one of our local hotels for her birthday and told me to use that instead. Elated, I thanked her and told her to go ahead to make the arrangements to transfer the voucher to my name.

Fast forward to today, a week after the intial bookings and transfer had been finalized. I called the spa to change my appointment. The receptionist, probably a lady her early 20's answered my call with the standard pleasantries. I then gave her my name and appointement time and requested for a change of date. I could hear her flipping through the big appointment book and finger my name under said date and time.

"Orrrr you using XXX bank voucher one is it?"
"Yes that's right, could you change my appointment please"
"Have you been to our Spa before?"
"No I have not"
Taps pen on appointment book takes a deep breath and says "Ok Lah Ok Lah" in an indignant tone.
Before I could even say THANK YOU and GOODBYE, she put down the phone.

I'm not sure i my sensitivity radar was in overdrive but I distinctly felt a change of attitude and air when she realised that I was utilizing a voucher for my massage. I had initially wanted to enquire about their pedicure service as I thought it would be nice to actually pay for one of their services after using the voucher. Unfortunately, in her haste to end the call she had lost her company some business. It really cheeses me off when companies who give out vouchers, in an effort to market their business treat customers who utilize these vouchers like free loaders trying to sponge off on their freebies. They have to realise that we still deserve the same respect as and at the very least the same amout of courtesy just like any other paying client. If this is indeed a marketing tool then they should be doing their very best to promote and provide excellent service to the users of their vouchers. Only then would the purpose of the voucher marketing strategy be met. I may sign up for a package, I may tell my friends about the wonderful experience I had at their outfit, I may go back there to try out their other services.

I don't usually exploit free vouchers or discount coupons just to get a good deal, so this is all very dissapointing. Well, let's see how the massage goes. If the service is going to be equally shabby, I'm going to write in to XXX bank and ask them to reconsider their partnership with said spa, it is afterall, bad representation for the bank as well.