Call Kurtis: Gifting a Massage for Mother's Day? The Message You Need To Know - CBS Local

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SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Battling breast cancer, Karri Grant really could really use a healing massage.

“Massages are meant to relax and calm you and not stress you out,” said Grant.

She used a $110 Massage Envy gift card her boyfriend gave her for one massage. With $55 left on the card she wanted another one. When she called to schedule an appointment she was told she’d have to pay double.

“I felt like that was a bait-and-switch,” she said.

Grant says the clerk claimed the first visit she got was at an introductory price. But now she’d have to pay the current price of $99.99 unless she became a member, which she doesn’t want to do.

“It ended up just being my problem, kind of like a take it or leave it,” said Grant.

Consumer Attorney Stuart Talley says if her boyfriend specifically bought two massages for $110, Massage Envy would have to give her two massages.

“When you buy a gift card for a specific service, they need to provide that service,” he said.

But because her boyfriend bought a dollar amount on the gift card, Karri has to pay the current price of the service.

After we reached out to Massage Envy we learned of a solution.

The company said, “All guests may enjoy the introductory rate at any Massage Envy location once every six months.”

Six months have now passed, which means Grant can get the lower priced massage once again; giving her time to be pampered just as her boyfriend wanted.

“He felt that I needed some relaxation and some down time,” she said.

If you lock in a service for a specific price, a company has to honor it.
But if you put a dollar amount on a gift card, you have to pay the going rate for the service. California law also says you can only cash in a gift card if it has less than $10 on it.

Massage Envy Explanation
Public Relations Director Karen Sung

I looked into this and did confirm with the franchisee that the customer did purchase a specific dollar amount on the gift card that you provided and not for a specified number of services.

The receipt you provided is for her massage service provided on July 26, 2015 (which was for the introductory rate of $49.99 and her tip of $5.00, which came to a total of $54.99) and not for the gift card, which was purchased in 2013.

In terms of our policy on introductory rate, all guests may enjoy the introductory rate at any Massage Envy location once every six months.

Hopefully, that helps explain the situation better.

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