Aveda Institute Chicago

10/24/2008 Posted by km07

I went here to do waht I thought was a goodthing and help the students out. Not worth it. This is NOT, I repeat, NOT an official AVEDA school. Therefore they are not held to the policies and customer service that official schools are: such as the one in NYC. (The NYC one is FABULOUS) This was what was explained to me when I called complaining about my bad haircut. One half of my head was poofed out and the other was cut too short. I called Saturday and the receptionist said Customer Service was OUT until Monday. I am NOT waiting for the work week for a bad haircut to get fixed. I got my hair fixed at VanCleef down the street and they were so wonderful. They made me realize that bad service is not an option - ever. I just got off the phone with the customer service at the school and they said they would fix it for free. Sorry but the haircut was like two and a half hours long. I don't have time for going down there, waiting, getting another two and a half haircut fix. Please, think about supporting another hair school. Or better yet, use the money you were going to spend on this "cheap" haircut, and instead spend it toward one you will truly love. All the school said they would do is that I have to get a gift certificate in my name at the salon - they would only reimburse me for half my haircut. I would have to travel all the way there, and spend more of my money there. They said they won't mail it because they could be held liable. When I stated NYC mails gift certificates all the time, that's when she explained they are NOT like NYC school, because they are not OFFICIALLY part of AVEDA. Just a franchise school. I never get upset. I am a very calm person. Customer service is monumental to me. Especially in these times. No one should have to go through this. So don't! Go somewhere else. Have fun and look wonderful.

Pros: Smells nice

Cons: Horrible cut. Horrible customer service.

03/12/2008 Posted by DdOr

As a former student I'll give the rundown, I'm going to give a truly honest review to a repetable website. First of all, the hours are wrong. Currently the hours are tuesday-friday 9am-4:30pm. Fri-Sat. 8:30am-5pm. Soon they will be offering part-time students a change in hours to fit those who cannot attend the current hours. Next, the students are well trained by very vigilant instructors. Depending on the level of the students you will receive different services. With the lower level students they will have more time spent with the instructors depending on their ability. This may increase the time you have to spend. The upper level students are given more free reign and probably less time to complete the service. No matter the level, the students try their hardest to give you quality salon service for low prices. They do not benefit from giving you mediocre care. There are always limitations. It's recommended to use the parking garage for discounted fees, meters do not always reflect the amount of time necessary and we cannot always feed the meter for you. Also if the instructors desire a longer service for your hair please do not use the time told by the extremely qualified receptionists in vain. Lastly it's common practice to give retouches & classic cuts. If you are looking for extreme, sassy cuts & color we are there for you! Aveda is more then just a naturalist sort of place. We want to always experiment and the best part about is that the instructors are there to assume the cut you want is what you get.

Pros: Good cuts & color