Sun Tan City
Reviews and Complaints

Hello My name is Mandy Marshall and I was a STC employee for a year. I first want to start off by saying I never called out of work, and I was never late, and always kept my sales performance high. This email is not coming from a disgruntled place on my end, I just want the truth of the Salon Director and District Managers unfair, and favoritism ways to be known.

I terminated my employment with STC because of the very serious lack of management, and due diligence from our DM on very serious issues and situations.

I was at home one night after working at STC the exact date was June 1st, 2017. I worked a mid-shift with two other employees. My shift ended, then I went to tan, and left the building. After getting home I received a phone call from another employee- Macy Paramour, stating that our salon Director Serena Pop was planning to fire me the following day after my shift, and before the monthly meeting. Then it was brought to other employees knowledge of Saran's plans by Serena. Then the schedule of the following week was sent out to everyone except for me, with the expectation that I was not to be shown the schedule because Serena the SD did not want to find out she was going to fire me. I am just trying to understand why this behavior is OK? Why does someone is management get to tell the entire staff that they plan on firing someone before the person they are firing even gets told by management? I am a business management and marketing major in college, and I have gone over a lot of laws of business and this is a HUGE NO-.

Sarina Pop has continued to show such poor lack in leadership and will only show favoritism to the ones that buy her food and coffee, run her errands, and be her chauffeur. I have personally have witnessed Serena Pop the SD steal toiletries, laundry pods, versa towels, lotions, and gloves. She told me to please not say anything, and to not judge her. It always made me very uncomfortable to keep these things from our owner the Salon because I do not think Malissa would have put her in that position if she knew Sarina was doing those things. We all as a whole were always threatened to never go to Malissa or Victoria about things because we would be the ones to get in trouble and get wrote up for going over Sarina's head. So now that I am no longer with the company I feel it is the right thing to let the company know what kind of person they have running their business.

Sarina Popp the SD will only show any kind of advancement to the ones that she can benefit personally from. I told her on more than one occasion that I was not going to continue to buy her lunch or her coffee and she time and time again would push for me to buy her stuff. She would go on and on how her husband would steal all her money every paycheck and leave her with nothing to make me and others feel bad so we would buy her meals, and drinks.

I was offered the ASD position by Victoria and Sarina in March of 2017. I became a keyholder and did everything they asked me to do. When it came time to promote me they came up with false accusations and lies to keep me in a lower postion. They said I chased a new hire out the door when it was SARINA that did that, I witnessed Sarina stating she was going to let the new hire fall on her face because she did not want to train her anymore. When I took the time to train this woman she expressed to me how horrible Sarina was to her and was planning to leave. Sarina lied and said it was all me and I got wrote up for it. Then Victoria Tomeo and Sarina Popp made false accusations and lies that I got 5 customer complaint tickets in less than a month, when I asked to see the tickets they refused to show them to me. So I contacted corporate and talked to them about that specific situation they stated they have to show me the tickets if I request them to do so, they would just have to black out the names and client numbers. When I again went to Sarina and told her I wanted to see the client ticket complaints she again said I wasn't allowed to see them, and I told her I was going to go to Victoria, Malissa, and Hope with this, Sarina stated that I would get wrote up for going over her head to upper management.

I received another write up that stated that I made two other employees cry and physically shake in fear when they work with me. I was told their names, and that I would no longer be able to train new hires. When I talked to one of the girls about me "making her cry and shake in fear" she was really upset because she never said that, and is now my new boss at my new job. So if I am making someone cry why are they giving me a job? Sarina proceeded to tell me that I was not allowed to ask someone to not be in my personal space when I was on the front when dealing with clients, that is was unprofessional, and I received another write up for that.

Sarina Popp would miss count money in peoples drawers so they would constantly be short, and I myself on quiet a few occasions had my drawer be short at count in times and I would confront her and she said not to worry that the cash payments would balance it out. I feel that she would put me in these positions of lying to owners that she was stealing money, and letting the drawers balance out at the end of the night.

I myself found out that Kylie Troffeter was dealing drugs out of the salon by clients that I had come close with that Kylie was dealing to them. I brought this to Sarina, and she said since she didn't see it she would not be able to do anything about it. Sarina instead of telling the DM or the owners about this huge misconduct at work, Sarina instead went and told Kylie that I told her that I warned Sarina about it. This puts the salon in danger of being raided and getting into a lot of trouble. This puts others that work with Kylie on her shifts in a position to get in trouble as well.

Sarina was caught red handed by another employee-Macy Paramore going through my personal belongings- my personal purse, thinking that her sunglasses where in my purse. Which by mistake I had picked up her glasses up by accident because mine and her sunglasses were identical almost. As soon as I realized I had her glasses I returned them immediately. She had NO RIGHT to go through my stuff. All she had to do was ask if I had picked her glasses up by mistake and I would have checked and given them right back. I DO NOT STEAL. Sarina had left sticky notes all over the office that someone stole her glasses out of the office, and the whole while knew that I had them by accident after GOING THROUGH MY STUFF!

Sarina Popp has very poor lack in leadership and management skills. She plays employees against one another, and will make it really hard to move forward to do their job. She would show great signs of jealousy if she was not included on things and take it out on people. If someone was shown any kind of gratitude from the DM or Hope or the owner she would talk negative about that person and tell lies about that person to take away from any positive outlook on them. She will ONLY protect the ones that she benefits from personally not professionally. Ones that cover up her lies, deceit, and thievery will only advance.

Sarina Popp has from day one stole sales commission from me, lied to me, and played me against our DM. Sarina in my time there would continue to talk very negative about Victoria Tomeo in horrible ways to the entire staff, so when Victoria would come around the staff would not know how to be around Victoria because they were all scared of her. I myself would talk to Victoria and have pleasant converstions, and when Sarina would see that she put me in a negative light to Victoria, and others.

I feel that if Malissa the owner knew how Sarina treated me, and others she would not have put Sarina in that position. I had the priviledge of working with Malissa for close to 3 months, and I am going to go with she is put in the dark about so much bad behavior at her Durham Salon that her business will suffer greatly in the days to come.

I personally have no ill will towards Malissa the owner, Hope the relations specialist, and Victoria the DM. I just feel that they probably need to take a real closer look on how Sarina is handling the Durham Salon. Not just believe what they see, but really pay attention to what is going on. Since I started working there, the turn over rate was signifiacatly high, and the common denominatior is Sarina.

Sincerely,
Mandy R. Marshall

I attempted to cancel my membership June 30th between 11pm and midnight. The cancellation wouldn't go through and when I checked online it said that customer services were closed at 11. When I went online the next day to cancel I received another error message but my cancellation went through the second time I tried. When I contacted customer service to take care of the charge on my account because I didn't cancel until the first they were very rude and stated they had no record of me trying to cancel online. When I told her I kept getting an error she said that the customer service was open until midnight on the 30th until midnight, when I stated that the website didn't say that she stated you can't cancel over the phone. After this cyclic conversation ended I asked to speak to a supervisor because I didn't want a credit I wanted a refund and she said she submitted a request for refund because her supervisor was busy and to check back in a week. If I don't receive a full refund sun tan City will be permanently losing a customer

I have been a sun tan city member for about 2 years. The only time I have issues with them is regarding money (Either them pushing products on the client's or upgrading etc). Keep in mind I have been a regular customer with them. The only serious issue i've had is regarding my cancellation. I am moving to florida in 2 days and went in to cancel my membership so I won't be charged the full month for a service I won't be able to use. Apparently they will not cancel my payment (Even though it has not gone through yet) and will not "refund" me the charges because I cancelled after the 1st (Today is the 1st). The only other way is for me to prove I am moving to florida. I offered my drivers license as proof. They then informed me proof of moving would only work if I had an active membership. Since I canceled today they would not accept my proof... Even though the sun tan city consultant who cancelled my membership said nothing about proof etc and stated it happened all the time and "of course I could get it worked out". I am seriously disappointed in their current customer service.

I am continuing to have withdrawals on my credit card for a service I am not using. Have attempted to cancel this but get no email confirmation. When I phone customer service, they tell me they don't have an email on file for me...odd. Attempted to phone business in Liberty direct only to get a recording. Called national number and got very unhelpful staff member. Online chat did not follow through with my cancellation request. This will be reported to the State of Missouri and Better Business Bureau. WARNING...Sun Tan City will continue to bill you even when you cancel. They will tell you, you signed up for monthly membership but when you cancel, they will continue to bill your charge card. Scam!

I have been a faithful customer for years and have had my monthly amount auto withdrawn from my bank account. Back in February an error was made at the salon and someone else's bank account information was added to my account, she was charged $32.99 for one month of my membership, I went into the salon, it was discovered and I paid my outstanding membership so I assumed everything was fine. However, May 1st, on my way to work, trying to get gas, my debit card was rejected. Logging into my bank I discovered that Sun Tan City took $392 from my account as opposed to the $32.99 that I have budgeted and this expected. In reaching out to customer service I was placed on hold for and back and forth for nearly an hour, I was promised by Chris in customer service that my money would be refunded immediately, he even took my debit card information so it would be a quicker refund, he told me if I didn't see them refund in 24 hours to call him directly! Well 24+ hours later and still no refund and mounting over draft fees, I called customer service and asked for Chris as I was told, after being in hold for nearly 10 minutes, lo and behold, he was not available. I demanded to speak to a manager and after being placed on hold for another 15 minutes I was told no and the only solution to my issue is to wait 7-10 days for my money? Seriously? No apology, no offer to make me happy, just shut up and wait.

Know that your financial information is NOT safe at Sun Tan City, their satisfaction guaranteed is a joke and customer service? Forget about it!

I signed up in feb for the 6 month tan package.in february I specifically asked about the summer months bc we have a boat and why would I tan in a bed... I dont. So I made sure to ask before signing up if I could freeze my account in may to july. I was told yes by the store manager at the location. Well. I went in today to freeze my account bc I was told to do it few days before the new month. So I did. Went in tried to freeze and was told I could not freeze my account... That I have to be active for 6 month before I can freeze... Okay wait... My package is a 6 month package.. Why would I freeze my account after it ends?! It's bs. I will be paying to tan this summer when I go to the lake every weekend... I was misinformed to get a sale. After my 6 months is done, it's done. Never will I go back due to this bc lying to a customer to get a sale is not a right business tactic.

I had a spray tan for the first time at suntan city in Brandenburg KY. The woman that waited on me was so rude and hateful! I had never done the spray tan before so I had a lot of questions. She acted like I was a nusiance and that I was bothering her! Also my daughter was with me and when the woman finished explaining the process to me, which was very informative, she went to the front of the store and said " I just hate dealing with stupid people! My daughter heard this and proceeded to inform me after my session was done. She was going to tan today but decided not to due to the remarks and rudeness of this employee! I still have 2 sessions left but it will just be money wasted because I refuse to give anymore of my time to rude individuals who don't want to do their job...

Free spray tan week can be very frustrating for spray tan regulars. Long wait times with 1st time tanners and machine breakdowns due to increased traffic.

Understand that this promotion is critical to your marketing efforts. However, would you consider letting your highest tiered clients with annual spray tan contracts have priority over new and non paying clients.

I tried spray tanning 3x this week at 3 different locations Springfield. Wait times were 1.5, checked in and came back, still had 4 people in front of me. Different location both machines down. 3rd try, checked in and returned, still a back log due to 1st time tanners

I have been tanning with this company, Sun Tan City for a year and never had a problem till yesterday. I checked in around 3:00pm and they set me up with bed 3 for my session. This bed has had a problem with not starting for a few months. I called the front desk for help. The first time the said there was a 3 minute delay. I waited 4 and tried again. Called a second time and they told me to press the button harder. Tried that and still didn't work. They covered the mouth piece on the phone for a while so i got fed up and got off the phone, got dressed, and left since I was now running late for work. On my way out the male manager told me to have a nice day instead of trying to solve my problem. I dont understand why they couldn't give me the other bed that was open in the first place like the lady on the Saturday shift did or gave me a new bed after realizing it wasn't going to start. I believe this is the last month on my membership and now I dont know if I'm going to renew it.

On February 21st I paid cash of 21.99 at Shepherdsville location for a month Fast Level tanning package. The employee asked me for my credit card information, which I had reservations about, but I was assured there would NOT be a charge to my card that day OR forthcoming months without my verbal consent. When I asked her the reasoning for needing my credit card she told me it was, "simply the policy of the company to have my cc information on file."
***The automatic monthly cc charge had been a deterrent for me in becoming a member with STC in past years, so I was pleased that I could now pay cash monthly and not have auto-payment.
On March 6th, I went to a new STC location in Mount Washington, KY. Upon inquiring about the end date of my month tan package, I was informed that on March 1st my card was charged 21.99. NOT WHAT I AGREED TO!
I was not happy that my cc was charged w/o my consent, even more so, it was 2 weeks BEFORE my first month was to end! After consulting with two STC stores' employees, I was directed to the Customer Service #.
This morning, March 8th, I called the customer service number and Chris G was my representative. He was very helpful. There was apparently miscommunication between myself and the STC employee. (I am still not sure who was originally in the wrong, myself or the employee) BUT although he was not willing to reimburse my credit card, Chris did offer to extend my membership for two months free of charge. He assured me that my cc would not receive a charge until June 1, 2017, if I choose to remain an active member.
I was pleased with the service Chris G offered to me. I am hopeful his word of suspended cc payment will stand and there will be no further charges applied to my card until said date.

MY TWO CONCERNS:
1.) I was asked if I still had a paper receipt of payment when I paid cash. I have had over a half dozen cash transactions with the STC in Shepherdsville in the past and have never been given a paper receipt for any transaction. This may be something management needs to address.

2.) There has been no change in policy of auto payment. So why was I under impression that there had been? I walked away thinking 19.99 was the price for Fast Level/ one month package and NO LONG TERM COMMITTMENT. There needs to be a written agreement given IN HAND and ON PAPER to new customers to clarify the membership agreement.

Side note: I love the new STC in Mount Washington, Ky. The location is spacious and even the Level 1 Fast beds are great! I am surprised and super excited about the free sunless tanning offer that is currently being promoted this week.
Again, just wanted to give a shout out to Chris G for his prompt and adequate response to my complaint! Thankyou for taking the time to listen to my concern and making an amends that we are all satisfied with. I am looking forward to being a STC customer for years to come and am pleased with the attention my issue was given.
I hope this complaint form is given the proper attention needed to avoid the same problem I have experienced happening to future customers. This very issue is the reason I had been hesitant in becoming a regular customer with Sun Tan City in the past. What if I did not have the money in my account to cover the charge? That would have been very embarrassing to me and cost even more money for over draft fees. I can assure you that if that were the case, I would have made it a point to never tan @ any Sun Tan City location again. I love the service and tan that I have received at both locations and to lose me as a customer due to this issue would have been a shame.

Megan A Engle

I phoned store on Mudd lane, Hillview KY to inquire about the fast bed pricing, I was on hold repeatedly, I understand they are busy, but the rep was not pleasant at all. Got the requested information, the proceeded to drive up, only to be told on arrival that ALL the fast beds are out of service, I asked about when they expect to be back in service was told no idea, depends on when service technician repairs, asked about upgrade, told had to pay for upgrade. Needless to say I left, had I been told by phone the beds were out, I would not have made the trip. I phoned customer service, was on hold for 20 minutes, no answer, I gave up! Your customer service leaves much to be desired! Now looking at going out of my way to tan!

On jan 16, 2017, I arrived at 7:45am cst for a tanning session at this salon. I noticed that there were no lights on at all, and since I have personally been involved in 8 other instances when employees failed to show up, I called the corporate office at 7:56am to report that this salon did not appear to be able to open at 8am, scheduled opening time. They told me that I had to call back after 8 to give the salon s chance to open. I called again at 8:05 and they reported it. They told me to give the salon an hour. I called again at 8:50am to let them know that nobody had arrived. I called again at 9:10am and they just said that they are aware of the situation but couldn't reach the supervisor. That should be enough time for anyone to bs called in and open the salon, but as of 9:20am, no employee has arrived. Terrible, terrible customer service as this happens many times. They don't offer anything except a token tan that can't be used if you have a monthly membership! I use this place only because I truly love their instant beds, but they treat their long time customers very very poorly.

I went last week to pay on my account.. $29 for the faster bed.. then I went to a different location here in Nashville, tn and was told I owed $29 more.. I wasnt even told at the last one that it was for last months... then the location I was at today it was very nasty and the worker was rude and didnt help at all. Old hickory blvd hermitage, tn! Needs to be shut down! Sucks because thats the closests one by my house now I have go across town to be taken care of the right way! Absolutely ridiculous! My bed was disgusting.

Hello, I am a regular at Sun Tan City in Winchester ky. I love the deals and the employees were always making me feel at home. Well about a week or 2 ago I had used a $100 bill on a $33 total at Sun tan city. My change would have been $67. Well the store clerk did not count back my change and just handed it to me. I did not think anything of it because I have never had a reason not to trust the crew before and I'm very familiar with everyone there. But when I did count my change to put it in my wallet I noticed it was just $47. I confronted the girl at the counter who waited on me and she said there was nothing she could do but she would let the manager count the drawer and the next time I come in see if he drawer happened to be over. Well I went to sun tan city the next day and I asked the very same girl if the manager noticed my missing change in the drawer and the girl said no. She stated her drawer was right. That is impossible. I had no other money but that money and I wanted to bring this matter to someone more professional that could please help this get resolved properly. I am extremely upset at this incident. I thought very highly of this business. What can I do to get the help I need in finding out if this person is doing this to all the costumers or if it's the while store robbing people. Please contact me with a solution or your thoughts so I can move on from this. Thank you for your time!

The staff at sun tan city are all incompetent, no brain, trash. They steal your money and act like they can never refund you anything. I went in to specifically cancel a membership a week prior to the first of the month was guaranteed this had been taken care of come to find I am charged another 50 dollars and the store manager "doesn't remember me coming in" -- as if that makes any sense. Terribly run company.

I purchased a sunless tanning package. I received two sunless tans a month. I didn't use these in the winter so they built up so that I have 14 on my account now. I froze my account since I had so many. I thought I would use these and get them down before I unfroze my account. Then I find that while your account is frozen you can't use your sunless visits. I can't share them with my daughters. If I cancel I lose them all and the money I have already spent. This is a ridiculous policy since I have paid for the sunless visits. It isn't a bed so it is on my account.

I paid for the membership on the website www.suntancity.com. I waited for the card and confirmation info, but these jerks simply ignored me. They haven’t provided any info and I still have no idea what to do now. I was upset that I wasted time and money. Please, post comments if you can help me. As well as share your views about this website.

Sun Tan city will set you up with an auto pay, and on it's customer service line tells you to just go in and cancel when you want. You can but you had better make sure they put it in writing. Just asking an employee and them telling you it is done apparently means that they will keep auto-deducting from your account. When I called to rectify this they would not refund even though it was 2 months after my last visit. They auto deducted 284.37 before I could get it to stop. The last part I called and they had already had a "hold" before the start of the month. That too was not able to be recovered. So the moral is get everything in writing! This place is a total scam, and if they get their money care nothing about customer service.