Square One Salon & Day Spa

I scheduled an event consultation at Square One (downtown location) based on suggestions from many friends. When I called initially, I had to speak with the bridal consultant. She quite frankly came across as a complete dip. She first told me that she didn't have a stylist available on our wedding day who was well-versed in wedding up-dos. She did have a couple people who could do event up-dos. I asked her what the difference is between stylists who could do wedding up-dos versus event up-dos, and she told me that just means the wedding up-do stylists have done more wedding up-dos. I asked if there was a difference between the kind of styles available for wedding versus events. No. I still didn't understand the difference between the stylists and her final explanation was that the wedding up-do stylists "pay more attention to you because it's your wedding day."!!!!!Even though this raised red flags for me, I continued. I needed to give her my credit card number to reserve the date for my bridesmaids (this, prior to even having a consultation to see if I liked the style). I would be charged the full amount if I didn't cancel at least 30 days prior to our wedding. Again--more red flags, but my friends suggested this place.The bridal consultant also told me that they have a small room that would be just for my bridesmaids and me on the day of the wedding. We could bring in snacks and champagne, and use the room to relax. That sounded pretty nice, and one of my friends had told me she loved that when she was married (of course, at the salon I ended up going to, THEY provided us with mimosas and pastries at no cost--you'd think a place like Square One that seems high-end would offer that for free! Really, how much does a bottle of OJ and champagne cost? But for the salon I went to (Salon Dimitri, see other review) it was a priceless gesture because it made us feel special and it garnered return business for them...)When I asked how the consultation works, she told me to bring pictures from bridal magazines of what I like. I told her that most pictures show long hair pulled tightly into a bun, which was totally not what I wanted. Couldn't the stylist look at my hair and listen to what I wanted (curled, half-way up/half-way down, off my face, no part, with a little volume/height at the front) and experiment different ways? She told me that to do different things I'd have to schedule another appointment, and if I didn't like my up-do on my initial consultation then I would have to also schedule another appointment and pay the same amount!Still with all these red flags, I booked my consultation. I took some pictures and told the girl the parts of the styles in the pictures that I liked and didn't like, and how I envisioned my style. She quickly curled my hair with a large iron, and half way through she told me that she really would not be able to pull my hair straight back after all, due to my veil. She said she'd pull some strands on each side back, etc. I figured that she was the stylist, she felt my hair, she knew what she was talking about. She made a part (that I totally did not want, which I had already told her) but it was only about an inch long to separate the hair on each side of my face (so she justified that a part was necessary to be able to pull back my hair). She took those sections of hair and twisted them to the sides and clipped them. She put my veil in, turned me around to the mirror and said "There! Now you look like a bride! Do you want me to take a picture?" I was ready to cry! I looked like a medieval maiden!!! I asked about changing the twisted hair and part and she told me it had to be like that to hold. She took a few pictures, then started cleaning up her area for the next appointment (because I only had an hour and my time was up).I went to the bathroom to look at my hair again, and cried. When I left the receptionists oohed and aahed at the bride. NOBODY--INCLUDING MY STYLIST--EVER BOTHERED TO ASK ME IF I LIKED IT!My fiance came to pick me up and looked at me weird (I knew he didn't like it, either). He asked how I liked it--I told him it was awful! He asked if why I didn't have her fix it--I told him she said it had to be like that, and she made me feel rushed, and I was not going back there so it didn't matter if she fixed it now or not. I stopped to see my mom and she just looked at me weird and didn't say anything. When I told her I hated it, she said it didn't look like I paid someone to do that, and it looked like I could have styled it myself. To top it off, within an hour, the twisted hair fell out of the bobby pins and was hanging in my face. The curls barely lasted a couple of hours.The next day I had an appointment elsewhere (Salon Dimitri, see other review) and discovered that I could have my hair the way I described to the stylist at Square One and it did not require a part or twisted sections of hair like she told me. (As a matter of fact, Salon Dimitri styled my hair EXACTLY like I wanted with the same pictures and description I gave to Square One). Upon finishing my appointment at Salon Dimitri, I immediately called to cancel all the appointments at Square One. When I told them I needed to cancel my appointment and those for all my bridesmaids, the guy was no at all fazed or concerned. He just said OK and asked for our names. I would have thought they would want to know why, if there was something they could help with....Monday I called back to Square One to talk to the bridal consultant to make sure that our appointments and my credit card information was removed from their records because I did not want to inadvertently be charged. This time the person asked if I had been there for a consultation. I told her yes, and that it was awful. She offered for me to come back. I told her I didn't want to pay again to see if I liked a different style especially when the first girl didn't listen to me. The lady said that there would be no fee--it's a consultation, they work to create an up-do that you like until they get it right. I told her that is not how it was explained to me, etc. Turns out, this person I was talking to was the owner of the salon. She was appalled, and talked with me for over 30 minutes and could not believe the things I had been told and what had happened. She was very nice and offered to refund my money. I told her that was not necessary because the stylist performed a service for me and I had expected to pay--I just didn't expect my experience to be so poor. (The owner sent me gift certificate and hoped that I would give them another chance--I am NOT getting my hair done there, and I am afraid to get a pedicure or another service due to the terrible experience I had.) The owner offered to schedule me another consultation with a different stylist, but I declined since I already found someone who listened to me and made me feel comfortable and I was confident she was the right person to do my hair for my wedding. Although the owner was very nice and apologetic and made efforts to make things right for me (hence the reason I gave additional stars for responsiveness), I would not recommend Square One (downtown location) at all based upon my experience (and confirmed by the other one below).On a side note:Turned out that my husband's friend had a similar experience at Square One. She was in a wedding, and all of the bridesmaids were scheduled by the bride to have their hair done on the wedding day at Square One. There were lots of girls in tears, and one would not leave the salon because her up-do was that bad. My husband's friend asked her stylist to change something and he told her no, because his next appointment was there. She also said she and the other girls hated being "confined" to the special room. The friend's fiance confirmed all this, and said it was a nightmare and that he'd never seen so much crying.