One woman who said she isn’t much of a complainer took to social media to blast European Wax Center after a terrible experience.
In a viral video that has racked up over 3.4 million views and 248,000 likes, TikToker Emilia Ferrante (@emiliaaferrante) said the service was bad, and she was also overcharged for it.
“So I’m typically not one to come on here and bash a company,” the woman began in the clip. “But European Wax Center, whoever owns it, you need to come get the Huntington Beach location.”
The woman said she recently went to get waxed, and the woman providing the service was late. That was just the first of many problems Ferrante said she encountered. “It was not a good wax,” she continued. “There’s still hair left over. I was very itchy afterwards.”
Still, the TikToker said she kept her complaints to herself. She said she made small talk with the front desk worker while scheduling her next appointment and then went about her day.
Then, she said she got a call from a worker at the store.
“Hey, you didn’t pay when you left,” the caller allegedly told her.
“No, wait, I did pay,” the woman said she responded. “Paid with my card, tipped, chatted with you about the weekend.”
Ferrante said the worker admitted she did, in fact, pay for the wax. “Never mind then, you’re all good,” she claimed the worker said.
However, Ferrante said that didn’t stop the worker from calling her several other times while she was at work.
She said she finally returned the missed calls when she took her lunch break. According to her, the worker said they had mistakenly charged someone else’s account for her wax.
To fix the problem, Ferrante said the worker offered up a refund and then took her card over the phone to charge her account.
“So I gave her my whole entire credit card number over the phone,” she said. “She tells me I’m good. I see the Bank of America charge.”
She said she received yet another call from the store later that night, which she did not answer. Then, she alleged the company began to harass her by phone, even sending text messages.
“I’m talking condescending messages,” she said. “Smiley faces after every word.”
Ferrante claimed the store worker argued with her about the charge for her wax and refused to acknowledge her payment. So, she said she went down to the store to clear things up.
That’s when she was reportedly told that her account “looked all set.”
“Must’ve been a weird glitch,” she said.
However, she said she received messages from the store’s worker yet again after she left.
To try to clear things up with the worker, she said she emailed her all of the proof that she had, in fact, paid for her service.
Then, she said she discovered additional charges that she never authorized.
“All of a sudden, my credit card, I have four charges,” she said. “Now I paid for a wax five times.”
The content creator said she paid “$78 five times.”
Ultimately, the woman wondered who hired that worker in the first place, given their inability to provide proper customer service.
“This is a company issue,” she said. “The customer should not be being harassed.”
“Thank you for sharing your experience, Emilia,” European Wax Center’s TikTok account wrote in the woman’s comments section. “This is absolutely unacceptable. Someone from our team will be reaching out to help make this right.”
@emiliaaferrante @European Wax Center do better begore charging someone $390 for one wax #europeanwaxcenter ♬ original sound – Emilia Ferrante
Other commenters were outraged by the charges and the way the woman was treated.
“There have been times in my past where 5 charges of $78 would have destroyed my life,” user AcePooks wrote. “This is insane.”
“Literally dispute the charges and I would neverrrrrr go back,” another viewer added. “The manager should not be harassing you like that.”
“You should be refunded everything and then have your next 5 five waxes FREE,” user Linda Lee Counts796 said.
This is not the first time a beauty provider has come under fire for questionably charging customers. One woman accused Palm Beach Tan of wrongfully charging her and forging her signature on documents. Another woman said she was scammed into taking a loan to cover laser hair removal costs.
The Daily Dot reached out to European Wax Center via contact form and Ferrante by email for more information.