The Grooming Lounge Blog

Mistakes… we’ve made a few.  But then again… too few to mention.

Not exactly true.  As with any young and growing company, the Grooming Lounge has committed its fair share of snafus. There have certainly been more wins than losses for us, but the bottom line is that we really want to learn from our mistakes to make our business better.  Ultimately, we’re committed to getting it right for our valued guests.

That said, and in the spirit of truly transparent communication, here are a few of our most famous and humorous flubs:

2008: On the most recent version of our award-winning catalog  (coming to your mail box soon), we misprinted Grooming Lounge’s toll-free number on 90% of the pages. It’s a number that goes nowhere and is not even available for us to purchase and forward.  Not to worry though, we only printed 200,000 (gulp).  Just for reference, the correct number for web or catalog orders is 866.456.8643. Ordering online is easier.

2007: A mature gentleman visits Grooming Lounge for a hot lather shave. Challenge is, the mature man stands up when our Skin Expert asks him if his name is Mr. Davis, which it was not. Mr. Davis was scheduled for a full back wax. The mature gent says nothing, goes back to the room and gets waxed.  It’s not until he goes to check out that we realize he was there for a shave exclusively. Nonetheless, he gets the shave and says he didn’t really understand why he got the wax, but “it was kinda’ nice.”

2006: A prospective manufacturer sends some in-development products to the Grooming Guys to test out and provide feedback.  Bottles are poorly marked, but being a reputable manufacturer, the Guys give them a shot.  After using the “shower gel” one morning, one of the Guys quickly realizes he is testing the “Warming Eucalyptus Muscle Soother” (think Ben Gay). The sting of this incident doesn’t wear off until Spring of 2007.

2005: A Grooming Expert at the Grooming Lounge store in DC calls out sick from work saying he literally can’t find his pants, any pants, anywhere.  All guests are rescheduled with other service providers and a back-up trouser policy has since been enforced.  Individual is no longer working at the Grooming Lounge.

2004: Not really our snafu, but worth mentioning as it may have been a passive-aggressive tactic from a disgruntled consumer.  Upon opening returns from our web site, warehouse foreman notices that someone has shipped to us a half-eaten corned-beef sandwich.  No receipt was included, so no refund was provided.

2003: Gentlemen in for a Foot Treatment is asked to take a seat in our spa chair.  His aim is off a bit and he ends up sitting directly in the whirlpool fut tub instead of the attached chair. We had some towels, but our back up pants didn’t fit him.

2002: Our D.C. store opens but we have trouble taking credit cards as a payment method for the first three hours after opening.  Turns out that machine needs to be plugged in.

2001: The Grooming Guys visit Europe to do some old-school barbering research, leaving the web fulfillment operation in the trusty hands of some close relatives. After an anxiety filled trip spent worrying about order processing, the Guys return home to learn there were no issues with orders at all. None. That’s because there weren’t any orders placed! We’ve certainly come a long way.