Have you been Bonvoyed?

My best friend and I bought a Groupon at the JW Marriott Spa Le Merigo in Santa Monica. We had a massage.

You can imagine my shock when they expected a 20% service fee (which at first they told me was a mandatory gratuity) on the original price which was about a $32 tip. They also expected us to tip 20 to 25% to our service provider.

I called the titanium number and customer service was horrified. They do not have mandatory gratuities. That is something that we give as a gift that is between us and our provider. What upset me was they were not calling it a service fee, they were calling it a mandatory gratuity. When I complained about it I found out that it was a service fee that was mandatory. And we were supposed to tip on top of that. That's 40% back.

I cannot help but feel like someone tried to pull a fast one. I will never go back there again.

And just so you know when we purchased the Groupon it did not mention that there were any service fees but that it didn't include the gratuity. Well everyone gives gratuity. But as I said it's between you and the service provider. Typically about 20%.

They also told me that if I didn't pay the whole amount they would charge my card on file without my permission. I was able to get to the people at bonvoy titanium To get the service fee waived As they also felt it was very unreasonable.