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2.0 29 Reviews

Aveda Institute Complaints Summary

7 Resolved
22 Unresolved
Our verdict: When using services from Aveda Institute with a poor resolution rate, be vigilant. Understand the common pitfalls other customers have faced. Prepare thoroughly for any interactions with their customer service, and consider alternative solutions if your issues are not addressed satisfactorily.
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Aveda Institute trouble with salons

After 20 years with Aveda, I am through. A year ago, I moved to Minneapolis and have had horrible experiences with three different salons. The first two salons I went to, I tried a total of five different stylists in attempt to get my hair right. I had my hair butchered, my color last two weeks, and often the hair cut I did not request. The salons were M. Elizabeth Salon and Sanctuary Salon. My last visit came yesterday when I went for my 2:30 appointment at yet another Aveda Salon, Salon 2000, and at 3:05 cancelled my appointment and left the salon because I was tired of sitting in the waiting area. I called the Aveda customer service line and reported my issues. My concern is I was told my complaints would be documented however these were independently owned salons, which I took to mean there is nothing you can do. I can't believe that with the brand that Aveda has this would be their standard answer. Do you not set training standards for these salons or do any coaching on customer service? Prior to moving to Minneapolis, I went to a salon called Czars (Bolingbrook, IL and Naperville, IL) and I never had any issues. They were very professional and seemed to always have their staff doing some type of training. I would highly recommend Aveda benchmark this salon. I only post this because even though a salon has the Aveda name on it does not make it a premier salon. I would highly recommend you view internet reviews on the Salon before you pay the couple hundred dollars to get your hair done.

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Thesnobbycat
Wilder, US
Jan 07, 2012 6:39 am EST

Again, Aveda is a product line they sell. Aveda has nothing to do with the actual salon. It goes through a private distributor that sells a variety of salon products.
Don't worry, you can be ashamed of my hype. I am equally ashamed of your ignorance.

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Kipriarty
Albuquerque, US
Dec 09, 2011 12:49 am EST
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I believe the point is that, as loyal customer of Aveda, we expect that if they put their name on a salon, they will have some sort of oversight of that salon. Many people go to these salons solely because the name Aveda is on the sign. To use your example: I would not call Joe's Dairy Farm complaining of poor service at Cold Stone Creamery; however, I would call Joe's Dairy Farm if I got poor service at The Joe's Diary Farm Concept Ice Cream Store.
Unfortunately, you are correct about one thing. Despite the image advertised by Aveda, they could care less about the individual customer. They are just another greedy company trying to masquerade as an ethical company. Aveda should be ashamed. And I am ashamed that I believed your hype. : (

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Thesnobbycat
Wilder, US
Sep 14, 2011 5:00 am EDT

Aveda is just the product line they sell, you complaining about a hair salon to the manufacturer of Aveda products is like me complaining to a dairy farm about the bad customer service at an ice cream shop. They don't care about you, the products are already paid for by the salon.

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Aveda Institute - bad experience

Be aware of Aveda Institutes. Before I enrolled at Aveda they promised me all the one on one instructor/student time that I would need, small class size, the best training, and more...Aveda Instututes do not let the student have their tips from clients. Aveda threatened the students on a regular basis, that if we kept any time, even one-dollar, the student...

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Aveda Institute class action lawsuit

If anyone has been wronged by an Aveda Institute cosmetology school and would like to start a class action lawsuit, please contact me at [protected]@yahoo.com

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Rla94
Dahlonega, US
Jun 23, 2013 2:52 pm EDT

The same type of nonsense is taking place at the Aveda Instutute in Birmingham, Alabama. They do not have any licensed educators on their staff for the esthiology program and received a 70 from the Alabama board of Dermatology for their program. The board came back 90 days later and then gave them a zero. Students have not had an instructor since February and fear they will not even pass their board exam. They have only been taught how to do a basic facial when they should have a complete knowledge on injections and laser therapy. I enrolled as a student and am supposed to begin class July 9. I later found out from current students the situation at the Institute. Not only am I shocked that they were going to try and enroll another class after receiving a zero which makes them unable to operate but that they were going to keep this a secret from me.

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Birtha James
Chapel hill, US
Nov 08, 2012 3:59 pm EST

I am presently a student of this institution. May I say hell. This is not a fair education given. Favoritism, discrimination, instructors full of drama that you can't find to help you when you need their help. For a long time half the school was divided with hand picked favorite students put on the high retention side. They were booked before any other student. They were focused on and all attention and praise on them. When we all paid the same for that same education. We are a school divided. They have changed the curriculum for the honor students to get a further education in special classes . Such as color blocking, umbrees and etc i had a client come in for color blocking and since I'm not on the honor roll never learned it. They booked me with a client for this service I've never done and not one of them helped me . They claimed they were busy while joking and talking to their favorite students. I ended up on my own doing a service they would not teach me because I was not an honor student or one of their favorites. I paid $20, 000 the same as fellow students for a lesser of an education because I didn't fall under the favorites category. I searched and asked for help as they all pointed to the next and the next instructor because they couldn't be bothered. I ended up sound it on my own and it turned out great. Point is no instructor who is paid to teach would take there time out to help me with a service I was never taught. $20, 000 for what a name that doesn't hold up to the education they promised. I do not recommend anyone waste there money on a school full of drama, favoritism and a half ### education the instructors decide to whom to give it fully. Aveda is a money pit full of instructors who are not professional and come to school with. More drama than the students. My experience at Aveda is the worse experience and the biggest waste of money on an education I was promised that was never delivered.

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jodiw
Clearwater, US
Apr 06, 2011 12:50 am EDT

There are 100's of students that were wrongfully terminated at the Aveda Institute in St. Petersburg FL.
My daughter was one of them, I have never been so shocked at what goes on at this school. I would be interested in participating in a class action lawsuit, I have a well documented file.
This is not a positive place any one considering cosmetology should look at real schools that are focus on putting out quality talented hairdressers, not signing people up and then taking the money and terminating them for absolute non sense. How does SELF Grooming sound? That was one of my daughters final write ups. Seriously she put lipgloss on at her station and was written up for self grooming, and once you get a few write ups like that they terminate you and keep ALL of your money. There was a student who had a car accident, and was late on a test day, not only did they not let her take the test, they failed her for the whole phase, making her retake it, at the cost of $2500.00. I could write a book on all the things I saw and heard, it was seriously the most shocking thing I have ever seen. I felt like I was watching them steal, not only money but hopes and dreams. Every student in there was there for an education that would lead to a career, and all they got was a student loan bill.

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Aveda Institute - unfair termination

I was unfairly terminated from Aveda Institute Cosmetology. I was a great student. At 50% of a students completed hours, Aveda collects full-tuition of $22, 0000. I was terminated at 51% of my completed hours. My entire time on the clinic floor, the Aveda staff refused to five me live model services. Now I have hours that do not transfer to other cometology...

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Aveda Institute annoyed at more than bad haircuts

I had heard complaints about Aveda before I went but decided to try anyway. The first time I went I had to get used to their "style" of doing things--which includes a bunch of visits from your stylist's overseer/mentor person during your haircut. This is not too big of a deal because this is a school for beauty students, and they're still learning...but you do have to get used to being treated like a guinea pig. The first girl I had on my first visit did a great job. I was so nervous because she seemed a little out of it...sort of spacey, maybe just too casual, and the last part of the haircut she didn't let me see the mirror because it was a surprise. I was scared but she showed me the final product to my amazement: The best blow-out I've ever had! She really took the time to make my hair voluminous and wavy like I asked. The haircut itself was even perfect--can never get it that way again. As much as I try to explain it now, I havent had my hair cut like that since then.

This leads to my next haircuts, which as I said, were not as good as this one. The second hairstylist/student I had was nice but she wasn't the greatest. It kind of felt like she didn't wash all the shampoo out of my hair before she started styling. This made me really irritated during the haircut because it was like parts of my hair were heavier and greasier than others and she didn't notice. When she blow dried my hair she didn't capture all the pieces and it looked half-assed (even though I do believe she tried). My hair felt unwashed and REALLY frizzy all day...and your hair is supposed to feel nice after a haircut. At the end of my visit, I went to pay the cashier and I recognized the lady behind the counter from my first visit--must be a manager or some higher-up. She was really short with me while I was paying...like I didn't press the Credit key fast enough for her...or something like that, I don't exactly remember. But basically it should have been an easy customer service experience where she could have smiled and taken her eyes off her computer for two seconds, instead of pushing customers through like cattle.

Last, and worst of all, was the third stylist. I made haircut appointments for my fiance and I, and he was really resistant to coming, so I was just hoping that we would have a good experience. They called me for my appointment, but didn't call him for another 25 minutes even though our appointments were at the same time. By the way, the two of us finished at the same time..and I have shoulder length hair, whereas he was just getting a buzz...

So, I sit down and my stylist starts talking at me for like ten minutes, and I just want to hurry because I don't want my fiance to wait forever for my haircut to finish. She is asking a lot of questions about how I usually style my hair, the products I use, and she's kind of lecturing me about hair care, not in a mean way---she means to be helpful and friendly---but it felt awkward. I was just nodding along until she said, "You know you can FEEL the grease on your roots!" and I was like, "Well yeah, sorry I just came from the gym", or something, which I had. And then she comes back a little too enthusiastically, "Oh, no honey. It's from your shampoo!" After that I was kind of offended. I know they have been trained to say stuff like "Store bought shampoo is bad, our shampoo is good, " but she took it too far. How could she know it was from my shampoo and not something else? My hair didn't even feel that greasy. She was making something out of nothing to prove a point.

She told me her ideas for my hair, then had her mentor come over to approve her plan. The mentor had a different idea about what cut and shampoo she should use, so she told the stylist to use some other style of cutting, some other (more expensive) shampoo. When the mentor walked away, the stylist seemed defensive of her original decisions and started talking a little smack about the mentor. Not anything overtly bad, but for instance she said, "You know, I recommended THIS shampoo, and not the other stuff because you know, THEY just seem to forget that the reason people come get their haircut here is because they can afford it. Like who's willing to spend $20 on shampoo!?" This remark made me feel weird, almost like I was cheap and poor for going to Aveda. But mostly it was just unprofessional to talk about her superior.

That wasn't the only time she talked about her supervisors behind their backs. Different ones came over each time with more tips and stuff, and each time she'd defend her own actions and make some comment on theirs. When we went to wash my hair, she kept telling me how fabulous this one product was, and how it was even good at cleaning jewelry. She and I had talked about my fiance when I arrived so she knew I had a ring, and asked me--while soaping up my head--if she could clean my ring for me. I felt really weird handing back my engagement ring to a stranger standing over a sink, and have her put some unknown chemicals on it. The ring looked fine and everything but asking somebody to hand over their precious items like that really puts them in a weird position.

A few weeks ago, by the way, I dumped Aveda for good and decided to just shell out $60 (including tip) for a nice haircut. The REAL stylist at the other salon almost seemed to laugh at my hair when I told her I wanted to re-shape and add layers. She described the layers in the back of my head (that I had been given by the last Aveda stylist) as very cut-and-dry...boom, boom, boom--three staunch layers. Not cool. They should have been of varying lengths and integrated better.

Ok, so anyway, back at Aveda I finish the haircut and the stylist is making a fuss about finding me the shampoo that SHE recommended, even though I didn't ask for it. She seems to annoy the people at the front (including the ### lady from before). I hear the other staff members make some annoyed comment about how this stylist is behind on her appointments, "again." I thought it was really unprofessional of these manager-looking people to make mean comments about a stylist. The stylist was talkative, flightly and energetic, which I can see may come off as annoying, but all in all I think she was trying to be nice, helpful, and relatable. But the staff, especially this one lady behind the counter, didn't seem to have such good intentions. They were just mean.

While I was paying, this same ### lady was again short with me. No smile, no hello, barely any eye contact. She always seems to be angrily busy with something behind the counter and barely looks up to give you your total. Only grunts it at you. Ultimately, it was this lady--who is obviously some kind of higher-up--that made me stop going to Aveda, not the stylists. If you have a customer service job and you expect to keep it, then you should be the type of person who always has a smile on and looks approachable enough that I can ask for help if I need it. How do these kind of people get through?

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Aveda Institute beware of their gift cards

I had a hair cut today at the Aveda Institue with an advanced student and also bought a blusher. My bill came up to $67.83. I presented the cashier with a $25 gift card which was part of a Xmas package I bought at the same Aveda Institute in Dec 2009. The cashier refused saying that the $25.00 discount was good only for the month of January.

I complained but did not get any satisfaction, other than a phone number to call one of the salon's directors- which I did immediately. I have not heard back yet.

My complaint is as follows: I feel as if I have been cheated and duped because:

1. there is no expiry date on the gift card. The only disclaimer on it is "Valid from january 01 2010 for salon services only. Taxes and gratuities not included."

There is nothing on the card, front or back that says that it is only valid for January 2010.

2. The cashier maintained that we would have been told at the time of purchase in December 2009 that the card was only good for January 2010. That is untrue because had I been told that, i would not have bought the Xmas package in the first place as I knew I was going to be out of the country for 6 weeks, including the entire month of January 2010, and was in fact leaving the weekend of the purchase.

I feel I have been cheated on both counts. I have been a great supporter of Aveda in the US and Canada and a fan of the mission of its original founder, Horst Rechelbacher. But this episode has left a poor and bad taste in my mouth. Be aware of Aveda offering gifts!

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Angela wrongfully terminated at Aveda
madison, US
Jan 18, 2011 1:46 am EST
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Also, the Department of Education and the Office of Inspector General [protected] or email them your experience at hotline.oig@dc.gov...I have filed my case with the Office of Inspector General and they forwarded my case to the Dept of Education, and they did an investigation. They found stuff that Aveda does wrong - Aveda was guilty. This is the only way to stop Aveda in the future and I am determined to start a class action lawsuit, please contact me if you want to join. arussell25@yahoo.com

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Aveda Institute do accept their own coupons

Upon recently moving to Chicago, I was thrilled to receive an Aveda coupon in the mail for 50% off a coloring. So, I called my Aveda Concepts Salon that I go to, to book an appointmnet, thrilled to be receiving a discount in these tough times. After receiving the treatment, I went up to leave and presented the coupon (which the coupon instructions said to present at departure). The girl checking me out however, promotly informed me that they were no longer accepting the coupon because they "accidentally" sent out too many. I was not granted my %50 off (so I paid $150 instead of $75), or given any free product, but instead was told by the store manager there was nothing they could do. My recommendation for this company is that if you don't want people to use coupons then don't send out coupons. duh!

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Aveda Institute ingredients

I asked for the ingredients of a toner used that caused my hair to turn orange and become very brittle. Aveda does not reveal ingredients used in their salon products. These products are impossible to remove, and damage the hair.
Reply from the Florida Board of Cosmetology
There is nothing in the Florida Board of Cosmetology laws and rules requiring Aveda to release this information to you. I suggest you seek legal counsel for assistance.

Thank you.

Executive Director
Board of Cosmetology

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Angela wrongfully terminated at Aveda
madison, US
Jan 18, 2011 1:52 am EST
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I contacted the Office of Attorney General at [protected] or email them your complaint about Aveda at hotline.oig@dc.gov...Aveda charges very high prices for a school with students performing the services. I got an awful education and unfairly terminated. The OIG forwarded my case to the dept of education and they investigated Aveda. They did find things wrong by Aveda. More people need to report Aveda Institutes to the OIG to keep them from scamming students and paying clients in the future. I would like to start a class action lawsuit as well. Please contact me if you are interested at arussell25@yahoo.com

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rcgsalon
Manitowoc, US
Dec 08, 2009 11:46 pm EST

I don't know exactly what your situation is but from the tidbits of info you give here I will guess you have medium to dark hair and wanted light blonde or neutral med blonde highlights. Sounds like your stylist may have been highlightling your hair, could not get it through the red orange stage of lift and instead of toning they left your lightener on too long for the existing condition of your hair.A toner would not make your hair brittle or damaged but previous damage done to your hair by you or your stylist can. If you have done "box" or drugstore color and failed to reveal that to your stylist during the consultation then blame is on both of you.

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Aveda Institute rip off

Pure NV Salon didn't wash my daughters hair, do the head massage, just curled her already wavy hair. They charged $48.00. I called and explained that I got my hair cut, blowed dry and curled for $50.00. They claimed that hers was a special occasion (graduation) and that was a different category altogether and the staff should have explained it when she booked the appointment. They didn't do that. The management feels that they are correct and frankly, I have never heard such nonsense from a business owner. He also mentioned that an Aveda Concept salon doesn't mean they have to follow a standardized format. The second salon in this town, called Kasha, seemed better, until I got two very bad haircuts by the owner. Instead of fixing the first one he made it worse! I mentioned that a $70.00 haircut should be of a better quality than say, a $25.00 one. He shrugged and that was that. My take on Aveda? Total ripoff.

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