Lost and confused

My daughter and I have been a client for over 4 yrs. We started with a great color professional, later we were introduced to Lynn. To me the best hair color professional at Donato. She was polite, very intelligent and knowledgeable. To my surprise, we call in after being at the square one salon not even 4 months ago, to book another appointment and Lynn is gone. They don't have my daughter in the system, after being a client for so long, and they don't have the formula Lynn used on her hair. Noone is there that can help us out, to at least put us at ease. If we pay for good results we at least expect good service in return. The salon to me now has gone from a 4 star to a 0 if there was a no star rating. Does anyone know where Lynn went? I know the company won't give that information, but at least have the courtesy to put you at ease and tell you they know the formula
I'm so lost, though not confused, just very disappointed.

Find somewhere else

Very hoity toity staff and atmosphere. I felt so uncomfortable the entire time. I came in with unwashed hair for a wash and cut for $100, and walked out feeling like I waisted it. The cut was ok. For he money I expected better service, like maybe an offer of a beverage?

There are better places out there for value, service and more accepting of more casually dressed people. This ain’t the place

I have been going to the same stylist for few years now. I changed my hairstylist as the one before that completely fried and chopped off my hair. For years I have been trying to grow my hair out to lower back length, with all the layers the same length (aka no layers). I went for a TRIM on Thursday, I asked for a TRIM as always and ended up with SRVERAL INCHES CUT OFF and layers that don't work for my naturally curly hair! When the hair is straight it makes me look like a soccer mom, I'm only 23! That's definitely not the look I was going for! Also the haircut looks like it's from 2009 as if they didn't update their hair cutting techniques. I am beyond disappointed that years of struggle while growing out my hair went to shit with one visit. My hair looks horrible! It's impossible to manage! I can't even tie it in a bun without random pieces piping out. Worst haircut I have gotten in YEARS! I am never going back there for anything that has to do with hair. They've lost a loyal client.

Traumatised - I went to the salon to have root colour for my dark roots. I also asked the stylist to brighten my hair by one shade all over.
When I saw the result (which I didn't see until after everything had been done), I had white/silver bleached hair. I burst into tears with the shock. I looked awful.
I'm from the UK and I have to say it is a completely different experience here in Toronto. Firstly, you cannot get colour done in the UK without an allergy test 24 hrs in advance. It is law in the UK. Secondly my colorist there took hair samples to test before she would agree to colour. Then she refused to use all over bleach as she said my hair wasn't in good enough condition. Then there was a long consultation looking at photos and colour swatches.
Here at Donato, I was ushered to a chair where I told him I wanted roots lightened plus a shade brighter all over if possible. He rushed off and the consultation was about 15 seconds. I should have been worried then but I wanted to trust that he was so experienced that he knew exactly what to do. He put bleach on the roots and then said he was off to mix colour for the ends. I didn't realise that he would bleach my entire head, removing all traces of colour and any nice highs and lows. He did try to fix it three times and the manager was involved but when my hair started to look pink and I was an hour late for work (was there 3 hours) and had been crying solidly for one of those, I told him I wanted to leave.
They were very worried I wouldn't pay and I was escorted to the cash desk and charged $203 plus tax with the offer of another free appointment. Considering I like in the UK and leaving in 4 days and I had lost my trust in them as professionals, I said I wouldn't be returning. So they charged me $200+ to ruin my hair which I will have to spend another $200 correcting when I get back - if that is even possible. Please proceed with blonde colour at this salon with care................................

Had an appointment with "Senior Stylist" Rick at 1145; Called them at 1140AM to notify I will be there at 1150AM ; At 1150AM I when I arrived I was told the previous client was taking longer than usual and there would be a 20 min delay ; Within a few minutes was told that the previous client will take more time and was rescheduled for an appointment at 1:15PM. They claimed that they tried to call me AFTER my initial call at 1140AM to notify regarding the 15-20 minute delay. There were however no missed call or voicemail on my landline(the number that I had provided) when I reached home.

Showed up again at 1:15PM ; Was asked to wait ; At 1:45PM requested to speak to the manager. After 5 minutes the desk service offered a manicure of the managers behalf who was "busy in a meeting" ; After refusing that finally got to meet Manager Cherlyn . She tried to blame the delay on "dynamics of life" ; "poor communication". Had to wait for another hour before was seen by the stylist finally at 2:15PM. Stylist Rick never, not once apologized for the delay.

My complaints against the establishment:

- Dont give appointments if you can't honor them
- If you anticipate delays have the courtesy to call the client well in advance and not 5 minutes before
- When you do reschedule the appointment, the least you can do is make sure you get the time right the second time around
- As a manager if someone asks for you, don't offer them complimentary give-aways through the desk staff while you are "busy in a meeting"
- As a manager when the fault is entirely yours : admit it. Rather than claiming it was miscommunication when absolutely no effort was made by the salon to contact us and we were made to wait another hour AFTER the appointment was rescheduled
- As a "senior stylist" have the decency to apologize for the wait and pure lack of professionalism on your behalf.

I have to mention that I did receive a 15% discount on the haircut and a complimentary very fake hand massage during the haircut.

I went to Donato since it's close by my house and I wanted to find a hair stylist that I could go to consistently. I made the appointment over the phone, and asked for an ombre. When I arrived I got sat in the colour section, and my hair stylist Lynn (not sure how it's spelled) came over and confirmed that I wanted ombre. I showed her a picture of how I wanted it, and she said okay and went off to mix the colour. Now that I've spoken to them over the phone, apparently the one second it took to say "ombre" and "okay" qualified as a 'consultation' where she described 'the process and design of what she was going to do'. Which is surprising, seeing as that was not even close to what really happened. I know very little about the colouring process, and trusted Lynn to colour it how I wanted. What I have ended up with is patchy highlights that stop about 1-3 inches from my roots, so it looks like a grown-out highlight, and the highlights that are there are all clumped together and not blended at all. The under part of my hair is also just completely blonde while the top looks brown- I'm not sure what she did, but this was definitely not what I asked for. When she had blown it dry and asked me what I thought, I told her that it wasn't what I was expecting, although at the time all I could see was the front of my hair and didn't see the extent to which it had been brutalized. I guess she had seen the back and wanted to keep it incognito for as long as possible.
I did call them and asked to speak to the manager after a coworker pointed out that I had splotchy streaks on the back of my head. (When I put my hair up in a ponytail because I was embarrassed was when my coworker sadly informed me that my bottom layer was even worse). I was told that the manager would call me back. After about 4 hours of silence, I called them back to see if the manager had time for me yet. This was when I was informed that I wasn't going to speak to the manager, I got what I asked for, it's all my fault and I wouldn't be seeing any money back or even store credit. The receptionist I spoke to kept telling me that "Lynn told me there was a consultation. Lynn told me you liked it. Lynn told me you approved"- even though I never even got to speak to Lynn, and even though none of that was true.
Anyways, I am left completely humiliated, down $160 ($180 after taxes), and have an appointment with my old hair stylist an hour away from my new location to get my hair fixed. This is going to cost me even more- when I showed her the pictures she was pretty unhappy and told me she would have to recolour my hair to help get rid of the weird bad highlights, and then give me the ombre that I wanted. So yay, all in all I will have spent over $300 trying to get my hair done because Lynn screwed me over and then ripped me off of my money.
And of course everyone has their own opinion and some people will have had positive experiences- this is just one of many and I strongly suggest if you want to go to Donato, don't go to Lynn if you're going to get an ombre.

With this review I wanted to express my total disappointment in Donato Salon at Square One customer service.
I started to regularly visit the Donato Salon more than 10 years ago. Although the staff performing the hair coloring and the hair styling has a high turnaround I always selected and found the right person for me.
My disappointment came on Sunday April the 12th when I went for one of my “Blowout”. The Blowout is a pre-paid of 4 sessions a total of $100.00. Being a prepaid service you expect the check out to be no longer than a few minutes, showing the card to the receptionist and update it with the number of the remaining sessions. However this didn’t happen on this date. I waited for 30 minutes while the receptionist looked into the system and not understanding what’s going on … According with my card, after this session I would have remaining another 2, but the girl kept going back and forth as 2 then one .. obviously not being able to understand the information on the computer screen … The contradiction ended up into an argument and the receptionist decided to call the manager because “is not worth it” for her time to find out what is going on. So I was supposed to agree being double charged for unknown reason.
When the manager came her concern was to convince me that I have to wait for them to figure out what their transactions are saying….as this would be any of my concerns ….it is a pre-paid service!!!
Anyway after 45 minutes with no result I handed them the card for keep and gave up the remaining of the balance.
What a pity of not being able to appreciate a long term customer and the staff not doing their homework in the back ground … being incapable of understanding your own records!
I am a mature woman who come to the Donato Salon at least 2 times a month and making sure I leave a handsome tip! Do they think I wanted to gain a free session ? I find their approach so insulting and unprofessional which determines me to find another place from where I could leave relaxed and appreciated!

I am writing here because my review a few days ago had surprisingly been deleted off yelp. I mean I wasn't that harsh but honestly this place is upright horrible. I probably shouldve even left a tip. I had long hair like almost passing my butt and I asked for a couple of inches off and to make it more volumized. I booked with a senior stylist 2. She was a bit rude. She was like you can either have either or. 2 inches off or more volume. In my head I was like... ok where the fuck did this attitude come from? Did you like not eat your lunch and get hangry for no reason in front of a new potential client. So she starts cutting and stuff and I felt like she wasn't engaging in any conversation or letting me know what she was doing to my hair step by step. After the cut she just literally blow dried my hair straight. Like thanks for the volume and short ass cut. My hair now sits above my chest and I am not the most slimming in size but I did want to keep sone length to cover my body a bit but she drastically thought that cutting half of my hair length would make a difference in volume. I absolutely hate me hair. I paid $75 for a junior 1 cut. I could've gone to fiorio and got a level 3 stylist that knew what they were doing to my fine asian hair. An unnamed senior stylist 3 at Donato did not ask me how I wanted to style my hair after my cut but just went straight to straight blow drying my hair... like at least ask me if I wanted it curly or straight. Save your money and walk over to Fiorio. They know their stuff and know how to treat their customers!

Do not go for massages or spa services here. Very bad customer service - after having come twice before for massages, only now did I discover that this whole time they have a tea lounge in the back. The massages themselves are fine, though the treatment rooms are very noisy which ruins the mood. Are also very rude if you're paying with a gift card.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY AT DONATO. OVER PRICED, CANT GET A JOB DONE RIGHT AND UNWILLING TO OFFER THE SIMPLEST SOLUTION.

I was at your Square One location Monday afternoon and asked for Ombre colour as well as a cut and style. I had a good experience however, I am not completely satisfied with the results as I wanted the ends to be a lot lighter then the middle to give it that fading effect. I went back today to ask for the ends to be lighter and the girl turned me away. She told me I should wait a month. I left unhappy as I spent over $300 and didn’t achieve the look I wanted. I called the salon when I got home to ask a manager Scott, if there was another route we could take, he insisted on sending me back to the same girl whom had already told me that she could NOT do it.

It took a lot of courage to go back in there today and ask for my hair to get fixed as I hate to complain and but I know what my hair is cable of (strength and colour wise). I don’t expect that lightening the ends would leave it as healthy as the roots of course however, if I am asking for the ends to be lighter, then lighten them. It’s not the first time I’ve had Ombre as I got it done a few years ago when it first became popular. It was a lot of money for me to spend and leave with something that none of my friends or family could even notice. I feel like I was spoken to like I was born yesterday and/or have no salon experience.

All I feel like I was told after speaking with your manager was “go somewhere else” I don’t know what to do at this point as I am very disappointed. Aside from taking another day out of my time off to go all the way back there, I am still waiting by the phone over and hour for the manager to call me “right back”. (Way to set the expectation, Scott.)

I was not looking for a refund; I was looking to get results.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

L Solomon

Re: Ombre. Scott did call me back and told me if I wanted to get my hair retouched it would be a CHARGABLE visit and that I would have to sign a waiver in case my hair snaps off. So now what if it doesn’t? Do I go back and risk her purposely over-processing my hair to prove me wrong? I am so upset and near tears. This was a horrible experience. I will not be going back. I can’t believe a salon with your reputation could be so cheap.

I am no an idiot and have worked in salons for years. I know when a woman comes in after not having a pedicure for over a year and she expects baby soft feet, its not going to happen. However if she wrecks her polish I will redo it at no extra charge. It’s called customer service. But this is not at all a situation like that. I know I can go to another salon and get the results I want. Heck I can probably even do it at home.

You have my $315 so why bother with something as simple as adding a few more highlights unless you’re milking another $100 out of me, right?

BASICALLY WHY SHOULD SHE WASTE TIME ON ME WHEN SHE CAN HAVE ANOTHER PAYING CLIENT IN HER CHAIR? SHE ALREADY HAS MY MONEY.

My goodness, I am ashamed and embarrassed that I spent that kind of money now.

FYI: $315 can feed one of my Christian Children’s Fund children for 21 months.

Happy Easter. I hope Kayla is stuffing her greedy face.