Aveda Institute
reviews and complaints

The customer service has gone down on - Aveda. placed order and received nothing I ordered. every item was wrong. I called and they sent one of the right items and two samples versus the two items I purchased. Called again to rectify issue and they assured me they understood - sent me one item and 1 sample a few days later. Never did get all items!

I wish there was something as low as zero stars I would give that out to this particular salon at Douglas J Aveda Institute at 2828 N Clark Street Chicago.

It was my first time getting my hair colored and my worst experience obviously left me scarred. Date- 3/12/2022.

My grays all around my forehead and sides weren’t covered at all and to call me in for a redo the lady named GRACE was as rude as she could be. She was least accommodating and gave me two weekdays days almost ten days after my first appointment to choose from.

When I agreed to come from 40miles away in the evening on one of the days she said sorry we don’t do color in the evenings!

She was rude, blunt absolutely atrocious.

First thanks for screwing my hair and second the worst hospitality and absolutely zero etiquette.

Please save yourself some money and peace of mind and do not visit this nasty place.

I had an appointment to cover my darker roots to match my platinum hair on May 20th. My stylist and her guide were wonderful. I can not stress this enough and do not want to get them to face any backlash. My hair has always been difficult. I bring snacks, water, and activities because I know how stubborn my hair is and that it takes a long time to lift. That being said, I have never had a problem with it not lifting all the way before this appointment. At this one, after trying many ways to fix it (again, they were amazing, ) my hair was ultimately purplish and the roots did not match the rest of my hair. Even so, I was not worried. I assured them I knew that hair continued to lighten a bit and that the overtone would wash out. No big deal.

After a few days I could see that the roots were darker and more brassy than the rest of my hair. I tried purple shampoo (along with Aveda damage repair conditioner and repair mask--I knew how important it was to heal my hair because I knew it would have to take more bleach to match the rest of my hair.)

I called today to make an appointment to fix it, as I thought I would give my hair enough time to recover before doing so. However, the woman answering the phone told me they only fix services if the complaint is within 48 hours of the original service and that I would have to pay for another blonding if I wanted to fix it. Again, my hair is just slightly off and I am only fixing it because I work as an actress and on-camera those things are very apparent.

The reason I have an issue with this is that
1. It took more than 48 hours for the overtone to wash out
2. Because of the overtone, I could not see if the roots matched. How was I supposed to call back and complain if I didn't know what the end result was?
3. I knew, having had platinum hair for years, that it would not be good to bleach my hair within that short of a window.

I am aware this is a "riskier" place to get hair done, as they are students. That being said, this is not an unfixable mistake. I paid for my roots to match my hair and that did not happen.

After speaking to the woman on the phone I gave up on getting it fixed there. I called another salon to see if they could do it and the woman who answered the phone said that I should go back to the original place I got it done and ask for it to be fixed, as I should not have to pay for that service twice. Even other places agree it is unfair and feel bad booking an appointment for that.

Aveda in Chapel Hill North Carolina is a hot mess. They do not have anything organized for us. We do not even learn about skin care the majority of the time we are there. And we haven't even mastered any type of facial techniques or waxing and they put us in with customers. First day we had a service we had never even spoken about. Also on zoom we don't do [censored] all day. We can literally be driving or at the store the whole time because all they wanna let us do is watch irrelevant videos on chakras. Point is if I could get my money back I so would! I came here to learn and instead it feels like I just spent thousands of dollars to learn absolutely nothing.! I want to sue!

Do not order from aveda they will rip you off! Got an email promotion from aveda offering a free full size product for any order over $50. The free item showed in the shopping cart before I hit submit order. But it did not show in the final order. When I called to report the problem was treated like I did something wrong. Spoke with sabrina who clearly does not like people. Basically accused me of making the mistake... Then said computers make mistakes, then when I got upset over her callous attitude she said she was hanging up on me because I was getting aggressive. Run screaming from this company. They do not care about customers and will try to cheat you!

I went to the store to return something with a receipt. Lady working there said she was able to locate the return with my pure privilege account but not be able to make a return since I had made an exchange in the prior transaction. She told me that I could make an exchange so I picked out my item. She asked me if I was sure if I wanted to purchase the item since I had returned it before. I told her that I returned a similar product before but not that one. I thought it was rude how he had looked up my previous returns since I'm a loyal customer.

I would never go back to this Aveda, Bellevue Square, Bellevue Washington Store ever again! The manager called Mall Security on me when she disagreed and argued with me how their Hydrating Lotion was supposed to be used! I have to say the manager on duty I encountered was one of the most unprofessional, rudest, and meanest Store Manager I have ever encountered in my whole life! I went into the Aveda Bellevue Square store 20 minutes before closing on a Sunday evening and saw Ana mopping the floor behind the counter. I actually went to the store to claim my birthday gift offer I received from Aveda Corporate Marketing but the gift certificate had already expired because I received it late in the mail. Not only did she reject my request to claim my promised gift or to speak to her Supervisor but she seemed to be in a hurry to close the store and refused to give me a free facial cleaning appointment they advertised when I asked for one, citing that there is not enough time even when noone else was actually in the store. She also did not walk me to the Hydrating Mist product I asked her to help me locate but she just pointed me to the shelf where they were stocked. I could not find the Hydrating Mist so I tried some samples of the Hydrating Lotion and put it on my arms and body. When she saw me putting the Lotion on my body, she seemed alarmed and screamed that the lotion are only for the face but not for the body and started arguing with me. I asked her that "Anything that is made for the face would be suitable and can be used for the body, doesn't it?" I told her I didn't know that the lotion was designed for only the face but not the body and I didn't read the fine prints on the bottle. I continued to put some of the samples of the Hydrating Lotion on my arm and body besides my face. Then she got angry and said she would call Mall Security and started dialing the phone. I told her that was totally unnecessary and uncalled for and that I would leave the store. I stepped out of the store as I saw her dialed the phone to call Mall Security. Honest to God, I had said nothing mean or rude to her but just asked her questions as an innocent and uneducated customer and I did nothing to provoke her angry response. All she had to do was to educate me that that Hydrating lotion was not for my body in a calm and professional manner and explain that the lotion is only for use on the face and not the body. She could have handled the situation in a much more calmer, customer-friendly, diplomatic and pleasant way then threatening me. She must had a very bad day at work and took it out on me near store closing time. When I called her back anonomously later after I left the store to ask for the name of her supervisor, she hung up on me, too, as she must had recognize my voice. I had worked as a mystery shopper for many years and had evaluated thousands of retail sales and customer service personnel at many chain stores and franchises and I have seen the worst of the worst (but not in this case as this was not a mystery shop but a personal shop), I have to say that I have never encountered an incident like as shocking as this one before and this topped almost ALL of them. I am just shocked that she was put into management position because she is definitely emotionally unstable and unfit to be a manager (or acting manager) or any customer service position by any means. As I left the mall, I saw like 3 to 4 Security Guards walking around but I was not sure if they were after me or not but it certainly scared me and it made me very nervous while I was walking out of the shopping mall. The truth is I had said and done nothing even remotely to provoke her calling Mall Security at all and it was totally unjustified and uncalled for. This was the most absurd and weird shopping experience I had ever experienced in my entire life and I will make sure that this won't ever happen to anyone as no one deserves this kind of treatment from anyone.

I am very frustrated with your financial department in dealing with my refund on returned products from my salon.
I asked them to not refund my money to the account they have on file because it is closed...They did it anyway and my old bank has returned the deposit. so now my money is in the wind...
I asked for a check and the woman I am dealing with for some reason has made this personal. I just want my funds back in my business.
I did everything that was asked of me and Aveda has received the product and it has been inventoried. However, they are not willing to do the same by putting my refund in a check and mailing it to me.
Jeanne Stanton and Bridget Schmidt are who I am dealing with. Bridget told me she would tie this up forever because she did not want to do the right thing. just refund my funds.
I have had the poorest experience with AVEDA from cradle to grave!

Lisa Williams
Simply Elegant Beauty Boutique, INC. (DBA) My Salon Bellissima
[protected]
16562 Gothard Street A
Huntington Beach, Ca 92647
refund #[protected]
Amount of refund $1194.35

2017-12-19
I cut my hair at AVEDA.

I think this customer harassment
must not happen in the place for hair cut.

Before she started haircut
I had explained my hair texture to person who cut my hair.
Also, I showed photo of my past hair to her. To show what it looks like.

I had ordered Grooming clay style and she totally ignored my(Customer) request.

Instead of listening my requirement, she simply blow out my back hair.
As a result, my hair lost its weight and start pops up like a pine apple.

I ordered grooming clay not the pine apple like corn head.

It needs least 6~7 weeks to grow back but I have a Christmas party soon.
I must stay Christmas days with this awful hair.

THis will be a worst memory in my entire life ever from the salon.

I will attach a twisted haircut picture of Aveda Atlanta.

I am irate because I spent $160 on a hair cut and color at the Jon Allen Aveda salon on nippers corner in Nashville, TN and the lady at the front desk accused me of stealing a product. I walked to the bathroom with a product the stylist was showing me and came back out with it and the lady at the front desk accused me of trying to steal it! I have always put the products I have intended to buy near my stuff and saved it for when I check out and I have never before been accused of stealing. I have been to nicer salons and never been accused of stealing before. The girl at the front should be fired for making guests feel so uncomfortable! I spent over $160 at that salon and will NEVER go back!

The idea is fine, some things are really comfortable, but I can't say anything positive about their staff. Absolutely terrible and awful.
Never dealt with so poorly organized staff with no manners. Looks like they have no idea that they should be nice to people, it's not a high school, where teachers afford rudeness and bad treatment.
I regret I paid money for this crap.
Very disappointed.

When my husband and I walked in to the "Experience Center' we were told we were 10 minutes late and we could not see our stylist! We called ahead and told them we were on our way and the "manager" told us to be on time because we had to "cancel a couple of times and let's not waste Whitney's (the stylist's) afternoon again!" We got there at 12:56 pm and had a walk from the parking lot putting us on the floor of the salon at no more than 1:04. I am disabled and use a walker., so it takes me a little longer. My husband stayed at my side instead of running to the salon, to let them know we were there. When we arrived, we were told we were 10 minutes late and the manager told us we couldn't see the stylist and then called security when we verbally spoke back to her in protest! I checked the cell phone when we arrived and it was 1:04 and then by the time she told us we were not worthy of seeing the stylist, it was 1:07, 3 minutes later. I showed her the time on cell phone and she realized we were not 10 minutes late. I pointed out that we had been talking to her about the appointment for three minutes, this manager did not change her mind and actually wanted the security person to take us out. I stayed for a moment and pointed out that this treatment of a long time customer was not what Aveda stands for and that we always tipped well and that there had been no upset with us changing appointments up until now. She said she was sorry but there wasn't anything she could do. I pointed out that a manager who takes a "no can do" position and then says "I'm sorry" really isn't sorry. I asked the security person if i could talk to him for a moment because I was really going to have to report this. We exited together and I will never go to another Aveda salon again. Your not accommodating an obviously disabled person behind a walker is unreasonable and inexcusable. This manager said her name was April.

I was served by the colorist Nadine, in the Aveda store located on Saint-Laurent street in downtown montreal. Before we began, I mentioned how I had come one year before hand, paid X amount of money and got exactly what I wanted for a decent price. Nadine mentioned how although she wasn't able to give me exactly what I wanted for a lowered price, she could do half my had for half price (which I had understood to be 50$ without tip...seeing as how I only needed less than half of my head bleached). During the process, she kept mentioning how she was making mistakes, how usually she pays very close attention to minute details and how with my hair she was totally messing up. Which, honestly I didn't mind at the time because, hey, 50$ isn't that much afterall!
After spending 4 HOURS in the salon, practically falling asleep, having wasted half my day, the process is over and I am leaving with pink hair. She said the toner would leave after a wash or two. IT TOOK ME OVER 2 WEEKS AND MANY MANY WASHES TO GET OUT! I had an event that night and was way pissed. Oh not only that, once my head was in the tub for the fourth time and she was rinsing out whatever mess she had done, she pops her head over mine, saying that she left the bill at the cash; a whole double the price we had discussed in the beginning!

I am sooo not happy with Aveda. I will never go back, and suggest anyone else to find better aswell.

This school is a joke, Bottom line! And we the students of this joke of a school have to speak on it and stop letting them take our money! I am filing a lawsuit to get every red cent they got from me. If you want to do something about this joke of a school pls email me @ [protected]@gmail.com! Thanks

Both daughter and I, in separate magazine ads, wanted to try a hair thinning product of Aveda; called their Cust Serv to get nearest hair salon and travelled 11 miles each way to find that salon said samples supposedly sent to salon were never sent or received by salon for distribution; called Cust Serv back and she said/he said, she said/he said, but when it comes down to it, their Cust Serv said they had no samples to send, did not expect to have any samples and could/would not even send a coupon for the $24/shampoo or $24/conditioning product; salon said you could not see results unless you used more than the sample, even if it were available for distribution; Cust Serv said "that's the way it goes." I can see from searching for complaints about this product that my feeling it was a scam to get you into their salon distributors...DON'T BUY AVEDA PRODUCTS IS ALL I CAN SAY-- Signed: a senior and her adult daughter/mother of 3 in New Jersey/USA.

I had a horrible interaction with Golden Shears, an Aveda Concept Salon in Albuquerque. When I contacted Aveda to report the incident, I was told that there was nothing they can do about individual salons, as they are individually owned; however, they would try to contact the owner/manager and discuss the issues.

After four days and at least two different/conflicting stories from the owner, Aveda refused to assist further. I was shocked that even after the manager lied directly to Aveda, their "Customer Care" team would not provide any assistance.

As a loyal customer of the Aveda product and philosophy, I expected if they put their name on a salon, they would expect/mandate that salon to do their business by a set of ethical rules. Unfortunately, despite the image advertised by Aveda, they are unconcerned with 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.

I had a horrible interaction with Golden Shears, an Aveda Concept Salon in Albuquerque. When I contacted Aveda to report the incident, I was told that there was nothing they can do about individual salons, as they are individually owned; however, they would try to contact the owner/manager and discuss the issues. After four days and at least two different/conflicting stories from the owner, Aveda refused to assist further. I was shocked that even after the manager lied directly to Aveda, their "Customer Care" team would not provide any assistance.
As a loyal customer of the Aveda product and philosophy, I expected if they put their name on a salon, they would expect/mandate that salon to do their business by a set of ethical rules. Unfortunately, despite the image advertised by Aveda, they are unconcerned with 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. : (