Massage Envy – Southside

I was a member was a bit over a year. The service was fine.
Recently, I discontinued my membership after poor experience with front desk person, Myla. The situation was worsened by Brittany, the manager in charge, who tried to characterize Myla’s mistake as a «miscommunication». I don’t recommend this location at all, based on that experience.
Also, I do not like their policy of charging $ 10 for gifting a service to someone else. IMHO, that’s a nickel-​and-​dime policy.
Caveat Emptor!
To be fair, the General Manager, Jeff, did call me back. We had a good discussion and Jeff gave me a free massage. However, the experience with the store management left very bad taste in my mouth and I decided not to continue my membership there. IMHO, the way the store manager handled the situation was poor customer service and not very ethical. She made very little effort to correct the situation. IMHO, neither Myla nor Brittany appeared to care that an existing customer was going to cancel the membership and was planning to write a review on social media.
Also, if you look at their Facebook page, there are several «5*» reviews that are actually from employees who work there. However, they do not disclose that fact at all. IMHO, that’s borderline unethical and misleading. So, one wonders how many of those reviews are actually from real, unbiased customers.

JD is the worst! Walked out feeling worse than I went in. Je never stoofD up, touched my feet, nor my glutes. Never asked about pressure even though I was there for a deep tissue massage. Do yourself a favor and avoid this charlatan.

Ok… For starters, The massage was fine. My issue is with their craptacular gift card policy. So… A friend with a massage envy account gives my fiancé and I gift cards. You would think since there’s no expiration date, Said recipients would be able to get those massages. Oh wait, we did, but upon checkout discovered that since the gift cards were unused, they had been exchanged for product by the account holder (or possibly her daughter, the record was unclear). Wait up. So because I hadn’t yet used a gift card, it can summarily be revoked without letting me know? And I have a feeling it was presented to her like «Hi! We see you gave out gift cards on your account, but they haven’t been redeemed yet, wanna use em?» That’s just shady business to me. Why would a company let someone do that? The manager was kind enough to charge us the «discounted member rate «of $ 39.95 each… Why wouldn’t they bother to tell us these things BEFORE services were rendered? Oh yeah, they STILL tried to push a membership off on us!
Never again…

Massage Envy is an excellently priced place for a massage. My wife and I enjoyed a couples massage today — hers was all about relaxing, and mine was a deep muscle therapy massage. We were very pleased with both of our therapists, they were incredibly professional and accommodating. We went for a one hour massage and added a sugar scrub on the feet (wife) and the deep muscle therapy (me). We’ve had massages in a lot of different places for a much higher cost and this ranks among the best.
The downside to Massage Envy is their sales pitch. They offer a massage membership, hoping you come back every few weeks, but my guess is that most people don’t have the time or money to invest in bi-​weekly massage therapy. It’s nice — we love it! However, I wish they would just tell us about it, ask if we are interested, and then leave it alone. It’s not awesome to leave a relaxing massage and then be hammered with a sales pitch afterwards — I just want to pay, go home, and relax on my bed!
All-​in-​all, I highly recommend Massage Envy — great massages at reasonable prices. Relax and enjoy!

I like going to massage envy when I don’t need a really relaxing, deep tissue, full spa, and heeling type of experience. At massage envy going in expecting to get that kind of service is just not realistic and will kill your whole experience as I found out the first time I went after our cruise to the caribbean. I went in and filled out all their paperwork and releases, signed all the waiver’s, which to me seemed rather odd as I have been to several spas and massage places before and never had to fill out so many papers or sign my «life away» to get a massage, anyways after I handed back the forms I first discussed with one of the lady’s who worked up at the front as to what kind of massage I wanted and what areas I wanted my masseuse to focus on the most, then I was taken back to the room where my I would be getting my massage and met my masseuse and he again went over what type of massage I wanted and what areas I wanted him to focus on the most. I told him that I wanted a deep tissue massage and to incorporate a scalp massage as well, unfortunately that’s not what I got, he totally forgot or disregarded my scalp, and it felt like an infant was massaging me! Needless to say I left feeling the same way I walked in, but when I got home my dog was having a field day trying to lick the massage cream off my arms and legs before I could race to the shower!!! Now I go mainly when I just want to relax a bit, or after a day or night out!

I can sum this place up in a few words– «Your experience will vary.»
This particular joint has 17 massage therapists (MTs) on staff and no staff bios online or in shop, so it’s really the luck of the draw who you end up with and how it goes unless you know someone and can request them personally. My husband and I went for some much overdue work last night, his masseuse LuAnn was AMAZING, mine, a guy with a J name… (Justin?) not so much. Giving the dude the benefit of the doubt, I’ve researched the heck out of the company (couldn’t sleep last night), and have found out the following.
— Massage Envy (ME) is a franchised corporation with over 800 locations.
— On average, their MTs earn $ 15 a massage, or minimum wage for hours they have no massages, whichever works to more over the month, and not both. (IE, you work 5 hours one day and get 5 massages, you earn 60 bux plus tip, next day you get nothing– but your 60 bux plus tip works out to making both days minimum… etc) I think that this is WAY too low for how much of a toll your body takes for this skilled craft.
— The quality of manager/​upper staff and treatment of employees ranges widley from location to location, but generally they’re the ones raking in the dough (you pay $ 38−59+ for a massage, your therapist gets 15, no matter what– do the math)
— If you enroll as a member and miss your three day cancellation window, you can only get out of the contract if you move more than 25 miles from a ME or have doctor’s or military orders.
— In Ohio state, the salary of massage therapists overall has dropped considerably since the first ME opened there.
Taking these researched facts into consideration– ME is not a one size fits all kind of place. The therapists are booked back to back, so if you don’t mind possibly getting a worn out therapist (like I did) and paying bottom dollar for it– example, you NEED a massage every other week and this is the only way you can afford it, or you luck out and know/​find someone who works there who you love (like my husband did last night) go for it. If you are more concerned about the happiness of your therapist, willing to pay a little more if it means they get more, etc… I recommend going elsewhere. Where yet, I do not know– but here’s the cost breakdown for a couple.
$ 59/​mo first person, $ 49 second. Additional massages $ 39. Gratuity not included.
which works out to…
$ 186/​mo plus gratuity for 2 «1 hour massages» each. What they don’t tell you is that your therapist has to take your prep time off of your massage, ours ended up being 48 minutes.
For long term massage, not bad rates– but I can’t relax in their environment when I know a massage therapist personally and have seen what it has done to her body. I will be cancelling my membership today, and will update with results…

This facility has friendly and attentive front desk receptionist who acknowledges when you walk in even if she’s on the phone and doing something else. I can always appreciate the little «I’ll be right with you» gesture.
Before I booked the appointment, I asked for recommendations on massage therapists who can provide firm pressure massages but also fluidity in their movements. I was offered two names and I went to Amanda purely due to our schedule matching up. Amanda was very friendly and pleasant and did deliver the firm but fluid massage I was looking for.
Glad I dropped in on vacation now it’s time to get friends on the massage envy boat!

I’ve also been to the Massage Envy on St. Augustine Rd and they seem to be all similar. There is a front and inner waiting area. There are about half a dozen individual rooms. The receptionist are nice but they try hard to get you to commit to a year. The initial massage only costs $ 40 and the year commitment has you paying out $ 50/​month. Any extra massage for that month is $ 40. If you didn’t sign up then its $ 65 a pop each time you visit.
I had Lanita for my massage therapist. She specializes on the back and neck. Highly recommended for those with back and neck problems.
One thing that most people don’t realize is that if you get the discounted price, they prefer you to tip based on the full price (of course).

This is probably the 4^th professional massage that I have had in my life. IT WAS GREAT! I really like this concept just seems a little expensive for me. Great location. Catch a massage and a movie for V-​day!