Dr. Dot International Massage + Chiropractic team reviews and complaints
Misconduct. Abuse.
Dr. Dot is verbally and emotionally abusive to her employees. She is mentally ill in ways that make it extremely unpleasant to work for her. I am an award winning LMT from a prestigious school of massage and employed by a 5 star hotel spa where I regularly see high profile clients who are thrilled with my work. Yet, working for "Dr".Dot, I've been told I am...
Read full complaint and 1 commentApplicant mind games
I’m glad I checked this. I signed my contract and she sent it back to me because I didn’t initial each page. I have not yet sent my $40 initial fee or ordered the dr.dot shirt. I was going to ask her about the 1099, but assumed that she had to send that to all her independent contractors. Each massage practice that I have worked for has issued a 1099. So if she doesn’t give you a 1099, how does she do her own taxes.
I had a similar experience as IrishCarBomb.
I made an apt with a tester. He clearly didn’t want to do it and only did one gig himself. He was very nice to my face and I liked the guy. He said so what are we doing, I said “I assume a practical. I brought my sheets.” He just sat down with me and was saying the $1/minute. I said, that’s not what was posted on her add for $120. So I said I wanted to call Dr.Dot.
I called her and she said that the tester said that I showed up late and my nails were way too long and he was way too chatty. I said and I should have shut him up. I wrote back, “you must have me confused with somebody else, because I showed up 20 minutes early, I had my sheets and told him that I was ready for a hands on. He just wanted to chat in his waiting room.”
She got mad at him and said she was taking him off the list (he’s still there). So she had me see another therapist who was a friend of hers. Her comments were that I didn’t wear a holster. I haven’t worn one since school, but told her that I would use one. She liked my drive and tenacity and hired me. I wonder if a lot of therapists stop before this point because she is quite aggressive and curt and they don’t like all the steps. Perhaps she is hiring me because, through 2 negative experiences, I was still pushing to get hired, which makes me think she’s not maintaining a lot of therapists. She says she has close to 500 people. How does she do that without issuing 1099s.
Company Business Name: Dr. Dot International Massage + Chiropractic Team
Country of complaint: United States
Website: drdot.com
She also forgets what she puts in her documents versus her emails .such as u must include your pic an intro to the stage mgr and send it to Dot for apprlval i did on my first gig and she said . I am not sendjng thjs to tbe mgr READ MY DOCUMENTS! Um i did and it said this.. then she confuses u w/ other ppl. And her asst Tanisha is just as ### i bailed them out of a gig cuz the other therapist backed out . I asmed for the details she was sorude to me and got back to me 5 hrs later. Ummmkeep i mind im helping u out . Never got a thanks ..
Dr Dot wants you to buy all this gear. She hoped me from the outside...I am not on her roster. She paid me for met usual fee and then asked paypal to refund her after I did two sessions on a client of hers. SHE IS A VERY SICK DARK WOMAN. I warn all to stay away from her. I have been told she yells and demeans, even though she has been nice to be. I also don't take any bad behavior. She is not worth getting in business with. She is a very dark woman.
DO NOT use DR DOT. She is abusive. SHE yells at her workers and expects to work for nothing. GOOD LUCK getting paid. She paid me for a client and later sent me a paypal saying I never did the session. She has a REALLY BAD REPUTATION> I have all emails corresponding with her. VERY Sick woman.
There is no end to the depths she will sink to. Now she's resorted to writing bogus, egregious reviews on my Yelp business page even resorting to accusations that I solicit hand jobs! This puts me and my staff in danger ! It's bad enough being a massage therapist in an area where escorts and happy ending artists hide under e "Massage Therapist " title, now she wants to suggest men can come in and ask us for "extras". Dot lacks any integrity whatsoever. She is a malicious, pathological liar and a fundamental bad person.
I worked a show in LA a few years ago (just following up from above) and you should have heard the things she had to say about the artist. I won't mention who it was or what she said but no boss should ever speak that trash about their clients. She is crazy.
I currently work for her. Every single email I have ever received from her is abrupt and rude. I atleast know how to work her so that I get to do good gigs...but secretly I'm flipping the bird at the computer every time I respond to her. She is a narcissistic, nasty and my guess, ex-coke head groupie who is on a total power trip. I never take what she says personally because I know that her 'group' emails that are sent to all the other dot bots are aimed at people in general...and are just as unprofessional and rude as the ones that she sends me. I googled complaints because I was interested to see what came up...here you go! This is crayy :) dont take what she says to you personally because she is horrible to people in general.
Stagehands massage therapy is great. She is very professional and cares about her clients...always always accommodates the clients. If u can't find her online...email me at electras36d40@gmail.com
A few summer concert seasons ago I responded to one of her ads.
I'm a veteran skin surfer and thought this would be a great gig for me. I received an email from her stating that I should hear from someone for an audition, and if I did not hear back I should contact her...I did not hear back, so being a diligent human being, I followed up with an email. My mistake, she responded by verbally attacking me, insisting she never said I should contact her (um I have your email here babe), basically telling me I was an unprofessional idiot who had no place on the planet, how dare me. This did not sit well with me...guessing she's a high stress drama queen, who is a nightmare to work with...watching her on video her massage looks erratic and disjointed...guess it's who you know?
I do feel better though, her nasty treatment of me rattled my cage a bit, so it's nice to get validation that I'm not the lone verbally abused MT.
That said I did end up doing some backstage massage with a company called Stagehands, very professional, no one bites your head off if you ask a question...but again these are high maintenance folks you are working with, you may wait around for hours and work on no one, or be asked to wait for hours, etc...feeding egos and hero worship are not my thing, so I have declined further gigs...I'd rather work on regular folks who show up on time and pay isn't that different.
Darcy was NEVER an employee of Dr Dot. Dr Dot found her online and saw she ran a similar organization. She asked her to work a few shows because she was short handed and asked her to wear her shirt. Ever since that time Dr Dot has stalked her, posted defamatory content about her on the web, etc. Darcy's companies Stage Hands Massage and her non profit the Hands That Rock...continue to thrive, and have been featured in Billboard Magazine and have received national sponsorship to support special events and festivals. The proof is in the pudding.
I agree with you, I worked with her long enough to do one job... and was fired because I wore a religious symbol necklace... she is a quack job for sure... just to let everyone know, clients will hire in your area without her so called "high profile name" you can get jobs directly without her torturous attitude! just let your local venues know you are able to be on call for major shows coming through, most of the artists will go through someone local and avoid her as well. she doesn't allow fellow dotbots to talk to one another for a reason, they all hate her, and her mental illness ! I also feel sorry for her children. not so much her husband as he has the right to leave and save his children. I would like all those stars out there to know she shares private information about you to her dotbots, she will say degrading things about you, and use you as a stepping stone to convince her dotbot how " good " she is, the truth is NO ONE needs her, to do what she does... just get your name out there on your own... you are so much better off without being associated with her in anyway..
I don't know if I agree that's she has a brilliant business mind at all. The business concept is amazing but Dot herself seems pretty inept. One time, she didn't know that it was me who was working a gig and then she blamed ME for HER not knowing. If she had a great (or even mediocre) business mind, she would keep track of who's doing what gig and when. It's really not that hard in this computer age to keep track of these things. She'll email directions for a gig and say "email me one day before show to remind me you're going" and then one paragraph down it will say "as always, email manager one or two days before gig to see if they want hotel massages." Two different sets of directions and no matter which you choose, she will at you and try to make you feel foolish. These things happen all the time! She's emailed me that she expects me to always answer my phone when she calls. For the one or two times a year she might call me, I shouldn't do anything else but wait around for her calls? As if I don't have clients of my own to see, money to make, etc.? If you have questions for her she tries to make you feel like an idiot for asking. She will actually tell you that you're wasting her time. She tries to make it out as if she's so busy all the time but check out her twitter page. She's obviously spending hours scouring the computer for stupid pictures so that she can tweet them while at the same time at her therapists for wasting her time. Oh, speaking of twitter, one time I happened to look at her page and she had completely denigrated one of her therapists who she apparently fired. She put this woman's picture up whereupon all of her twitter friends criticized this woman's appearance. I only hoped this woman never came across this. Dot may have had valid reasons for firing her but putting her up in a public forum to be made fun of is as far from professional as I can think of. When someone called her out on it (one of her reasonable "friends, " most of them were nasty), Dot justified it by saying that she didn't give out this woman's name. She obviously never gave a thought as to whether any of her therapists would see this and how it would affect team morale. Typical! So, Beware!
This Salik person who claims that all of these posts are ex-employee Darcy's is no doubt Dot or someone close to her (Salik is her husband's last name). This just goes to show that she is incapable of sitting back and reflecting upon her own behavior. Instead, she chooses to blame others, all the time, for everything she perceives to be an infraction against her. She has classic narcissistic/borderline personality disorder. Look these things up. She fits them to a tee. The problem with these disorders is that they're virtually impossible to cure and almost impossible for others to deal with. These are the people with whom you constantly have to walk on eggshells around. They make everything about them and blame others for every problem they have. They are incapable of looking at themselves clearly and honestly.
For the poster who says that all the other 650 dotbots are happy with how things are, I'd like to ask a question. Do you know all the other 650 dotbots personally? I'm a "dotbot" (yes, a pretty demeaning term) and you don't know me. It's been my experience that if there are several people within an organization who are unhappy and all have similar complaints it means there are many, many others within the organization who are unhappy as well. They just aren't speaking out about it for whatever reason (maybe they don't know these forums exist).
To the poster who used to answer her phones I think I know who you are. I spoke with you on the phone a number of times and you were nothing but polite. I'm sorry you had to go through this. Twenty five dollars a week? That's just sick. It doesn't surprise me that as you said, she loses celebrity clients because of her bad attitude. I had a band manager tell me that he wished she'd give up her control freak ###.
I'm also concerned about the negative reviews from clients. Yes, she treats her therapists like crap but I would have thought she'd at least keep her mental illness hidden from potential clients. To treat a client as lesser because she's not a celebrity is appalling. Because of Dot's attitude and behavior she makes clients question the ability of her therapists which affects all of us since we're associated with her. Also, her constant dishing of gossip about celebrities is against the confidential ethics of this profession as does her making herself out to be a sex symbol.
If you're thinking of working for her, here are my thoughts. The only reason why I continue working for her is that I've loved the jobs I've gotten through her. I have access to clients I would never have otherwise. I've met people with whom it's been an honor to meet. For the most part, everybody I've come into contact with-from the artists to the management has been really great. They love the service and are very appreciative. I've never had anyone not treat me professionally and with respect. If you work in spas or medical offices, etc. this is a great way to occasionally be in a fun and creative environment. I also think that Dot is pretty generous. You take 80% plus tips. For those of us who work in spas and hotels, this is pretty good. Granted, we can't control how many people will get massages and it doesn't always end up being a good payday, but that's pretty much how it is in this industry anyway.
Do not work for her if you are thin-skinned and take things personally. You will be miserable. This forum has been great in helping me realize that others feel the way I do. She has incredibly pathological control issues and really goes out of her way to be mean and nasty. It may be to your benefit to call her on her bad behavior or it may be best to let it roll off your shoulders, placate her and get through the jobs. It probably will depend on your personality. This woman has very serious mental disease and it will most likely never change. I feel sorry for her husband and children.