Zeneba Academy of Esthetics

You get what you pay for. If you pay $99 for 10 massages it would mean that the school got $49.50 Divide that by 10!
Would yo be willing to work for $2.50 an hour? The other $2.49 would have to cover the overhead. What kind of service can you expect or $2.50?

And really $199 for a year of unlimited laser! Again the company gets half. That is $99.50 Deal find gets the other half. Then you want to get your full legs, brazillian, under arms and lip lasered. You expect them to spend 2 to 3 hours doing the service and you want to go in every 6 weeks! Really? You're expecting to get 25 plus hours of service for $99.50. Would you work for 4 dollars an hour?

Perhaps people should use their brains. How does a business stay in business offering those kinds of deals?

We should not buy these ridiculous deals. Perhaps then the deal find and other companies can find deals for us that make it worth our while as well as worth while for the spa. That is when we will get good service.

After my first experience I realized that ' You Get What You Pay For'.

I cannot warn people strongly enough - do NOT pay in advance for any packages from this company, which also goes by the names of Rivage and Kootenay Medi Spa. They offered 1 year of unlimited laser hair removal for $200 through Dealfind, and are not honouring them. Dealfind has apparently refunded several deals; however, if by some misfortune you pad Zeneba, Rivage or Kootenay directly for any sort of spa packages, you are S.O.L.

Through Teambuy there is now another hair removal deal very similiar to the one offered by Zeneba / Rivage. The new company is called Balance Beauty Clinic. Are they connected?

went there tonight for my appointment, to my surprised, place was closed down and some lady told me some story how all employees were fired and are under investigation for fraud. Lovely, i guess i aint getting my money back on this crappy deal

Checked with BBB. this business is closed. I also bought through dealfind-got a refund. BAD BAD SERVICE.

i know all of these horror stories personally because as embarrasing as it is i worked at that dump and believe me there is NOTHING going on to fix any problems going on in the company , and sadly the companny DOSNT EVEN PAY THE EPLOYEES , they say they will in the interview and tell u in a few weeks that they wont pay u for 6 months so i had to leave but luckily i found a better more professional laser clinic to work at
good luck to you all :)

Those people are just plain incompetent and do not know the meaning of customer service. I had a voucher for the manicure/ pedicure and microdermabraison and I booked online as per their requirements and I phoned a week before to confirm my appt but you know what? I got there only to find that there was no booking on my name. Worse thing is I took a day off to go there. So I wasted my TIME and MONEY.

I had the proof on email sent by their online system but they said that the online booking is not reliable. Well, when i phoned, they told me that the booking HAD to be done online. The manager offered no solution whatsoever and she acknowledges that people are pissed at their service.

Well I hope everybody spreads the word about their LAME service.

I give these guys 0 rating. As may others said, they were unprofessional, older blonde woman stood watching me while I removed my clothes, did not wear gloves, moved laser sporadically around (taking no more that 15 mins to treat all my body areas) and finally, because she was moving SO fast, accidentally hit my hairline where I now have a bald spot on one side.
It hurt like crap when she hit that spot because of all the hair and when I yelped, she just said, Oh You're ok. Well, yes I am ok, but now I have this f***ing bald spot. If only she could have actually targeted the hairs that I wanted removed instead of treating with random movements. Obviously the laser does work, but only if you hit the hairs...
I asked about this onece, and was told that the laser splits and the gel helps it split. Well, let's just say that after this experience I am happy that dealfind is refunding my money. Now I need to see if dealticker will too as I bought some IPL treatments from them before I went in for hair removal and saw all these reviews.

My experience has been the same as everyone else, horrible. I cannot rev iew the actual services since my appointments that I was forced to book 3+ months in advance were cancelled in short notice. The main reason I am writing this review is to warn people, Zeneba is not longer honoring ANY vouchers bought off dealfind. Any refunds will be dealt this dealfind. Zeneba is offering the same deals as they7 were on dealfind but you can purchase it directly from them. WARNING!!! I can not possibly imagine that Zeneba or any othe other names it is operating under (Rivage Spa) will be able to keep its doors open. Regardless of the money that they have made from dealfind or tuition they collect from their poor abused students (who doubtfully get paid anything to perform their services) their BAD reputation will eventually kill their business. I have actually never seen anything with even as close to as bad reviews as Salon. Any further vouchers bought from this company will pocket money for the owner as I am sure their plan must now be to sell as many more vouchers as they can, cancel all apointments or just not let any one book appointments and then pack up shop and lock the doors. What a joke.

My experience with Zeneba Academy of Esthetics rates a "0" and here is why:

I have never seen such an unprofessional and scammy group as Zeneba! I purchased my dealfind deal in June and the first available appt. was Sept. 1. I went online and booked all 16 appts. beginning Sept 1. The first appt. day arrived and I received a call only 90 mins. before saying they were short staffed and had to cancel that day's appt. I was not pleased but what could I do. That was bad enough but then the very next week my appt. was also cancelled!

When I finally did get in for my appts I was taken aback by the unprofessional attitudes of all the staff there. Appts. were long delayed in a waiting room with music so loud even my headphones didn't block it out and service once in the room was rushed - once in the room I was in and out in 10-15 mins. On the dealfind offer page a dealfind admin states: "one session is 60 minutes." I'm sure Zeneba provided that little tidbit of information.

The waiting room did not have enough seating and one of the chairs was a 2-person chair - sometimes that chair was occupied by a male and the staff would direct me to sit in the remaining part of that chair with him, seeing it was the only seat left. I preferred to stand, thank you very much. A little too comfy for strangers, let alone a person of the opposite sex.

Parking was horrendous and one time I took the only spot left near (not in front of) the front door. As I got out of the car the owner pulled up behind me and told me I couldn't park there. I left only to see her park her car there! Yeah, customer first attitude for sure!

My last appt. was yesterday for cellulite. The 2 girls working on me treated me like a piece of meat. One girl came in to give a 1 minute instruction to the other girl on how to actually do the treatment!!!! It was obvious the girl had never given a cellulite treatment before. On the dealfind offer page a dealfind admin states: "this treatment is not performed by students." Then she left, coming in to check a few times. The "newbie" was so rough on me with the ultrasound machine, massaging it so deep into my skin that I felt like slapping her! When the other girl came in they discussed how she (not the newbie) had been trained in the "old school" way where they literally slapped a woman's thighs until some of them cried! I felt like telling her that this wasn't much different! The newbie also ran the ultrasound wand carelessly close to my private parts that it touched - that is not necessary. As well, instead of moving to the other side of the table to do the opposite thigh she just reached over. My last 2 appointments also the girls remained in the room while I was dressing/undressing - very unprofessional. Dignity people, dignity. A time before that the woman did leave the room while I was half undressing and when she opened the door to exit I realized that the waiting seat was just across the open door and I was facing a wall to wall mirror in the room that could easily reflect my half undressed body to whoever would be passing by or whoever might be sitting in that chair, perhaps a man.

I witnessed in the waiting room people complaining that services they signed up for weren't available when they got there. The client would say, "the deal offers such and such and that's what I booked for and that's what I want." The staff would just counter uncaringly with, "well, we don't offer that as there is no one here trained to do that so you can't have it." I think it was deep tissue massage, but I'm not sure. As the customer quipped and I agree, why then do they offer a service they don't provide?

Upon entering the building it was required that you stop by the reception desk first. There, they ask you what you are there for. Tell me why they don't already know? If someone is behind me or nearby I don't necessarily want to share with them that I am having cellulite treatments or hair removal or whatever!! Then when you get up the stairs the staff there asks the same question - in front of the whole waiting room! It's none of anyone else's business and care should be taken to ensure privacy of clients. It should say on my appointment why I'm there. I don't go to my doctor's office and shout out to everyone in the waiting room that I've got a boil on my behind or am constipated!

I've been to Marvel College before and when I saw this ad, I figured it would be a similar experience.

I did read the reviews and was unsure how much of it was people who have never been to an esthetics school before. Unlike a lot of people, I had no problems booking an appointment and it was not cancelled on me.

The setup and appearance is far from professional, but I wasn't entirely expecting it to be. I did find it awkward to walk up to the third floor through the other areas and no one was even in those other areas.

When I got upstairs, there were already several other women waiting and I was given a questionnaire to fill out. I went into the room for my treatment and was shortly on my way. I got laser hair removal on my upper lip, forearms and legs and the technician took about 10 minutes to do all of it. To be fair, the technician was very nice and did wear gloves while performing the treatment.

After that first treatment, my techician clearly told me that in the future I can simply proceed straight up to the thir floor treatment area, no need to check in at the front desk. However, my next appointment I was yelled at when doing so.


I have seen results after 2 treatments, however I have been having problems book any more. I had to cancel one due to my work schedule changing that week and since then I haven't gotten any response back from the two other appointments I've scheduled.

They clearly are not prepared for the volume they are receiving due to these bargain deals being offered. I just feel bad for patrons who are paying full price for this!

At this point, I'm unlikely to return for further service despite the results I've been getting as I find it very time consuming and inconvenient to book appointments.

They have very poor customer service. I called to change a Nov. appt. because I have a broken leg now. I booked this appt. 4.5 months ago. The girl on the phone could help me rebook, she said I had to do it online. This was almost immposible to do, to get all services in one day. Then she told me it would be about 6 months to get an appt. This just became to time consuming and I don't want to bother with them any more. I am holding 3 vouchers for Zeneba and I have asked Dealfind to refund them all. Just a bad experience all around.

DO NOT give these people your money !!! I purchased a deal on the internet, waited 2 months for my appointment and 1 hour before they left a message on my phone cancelling, good thing I ran home after work and found out. So ok.. they had to cancel..it happens. The message said to call cleo to reschedule, so I did.. no answer, and for days no one returned my call, I left repeated messages even said I expect someone to call me back, and that this was bad customer service. when I finally got a hold of a human, I was told I had to re book online. 3 months later was the next available appt. I booked off work.. drove 30 minutes and I walk up to the desk, looking forward to some pampering. The woman taps away on her computer, looks at me and says "I'm sorry to tell you we have no staff for you." I'm stunned... what do you mean you have no staff?? Well why didn't someone inform me I ask.. to which I got the reply.. "I don't have an answer for you". I said well you sent me a confirmation email yesterday why didn't you say something then? Now granted by now my voice is getting raised and I'm frustrated with this ineptness. The woman tells me I can get my money back from the deal place and to leave. Now it dawns on me... They never had any intention of serving me because I had the audasity to complain about the service months before. Instead of telling me they didn't wish to serve me, they let me believe I was going to get the services I PAID for back in June, knowing full well I wasn't. They didn't care that I lost out on income or gas and travel time. They just had their little joke on me. NEWS FLASH ZENEBA.... your customers DO deserve prompt return phone calls.. especially when it's YOU who messes up the appointment... and customers DO have a right to voice their complaints when they aren't treated fairly or with consideration. You need to treat people properly if you expect them to be happy with your service and to treat you properly. I think this is a scam to get money and not give service.. be very careful people their place doesn't look professional and who knows.. could dash with all our money at any moment. I'm looking into reporting them to the consumer protection agency and the government which gives them grants for their students, who's with me in getting this place shut down ??

I cannot believe that Dealfind is doing yet another deal!! I had bought several $129 deals for 2 manicures/pedicures a month for a year. I bought one as a gift for a friend and we both booked separately for the same day but couldn't get in for two months. The day before our appointment we each got a confirmation email for our appointment. Then 12 hours later got a phone call cancelling. They told my friend that one of their esthetician was sick so that is why they had to cancel but they told me that THREE of their esthetician's were sick and (as an afterthought) so was their receptionist. Neither one of us actually talked to the person we just got a message. Then we were told that we needed to rebook online. Well, this is September and we couldn't get another appointment until December! No way we could possibly get our two/month manicure/pedicure at this rate. Thankfully I got a full refund from Dealfind. What truly disturbs me is that today I see AGAIN another deal from Zeneba offered by Dealfind!!! I urge everyone to stay away from Zeneba, you will probably never get in for your appointment (they do NOT take phone calls, everything is done via the internet) and will only have to go through the hassle of getting your money back.

I bought a 10 massage package on dealfind and after calling over 10 times and leaving messages I booked on line and had to book over 3 months out. the day before my apt they sent an email cancelling and when I went to book on line again they said no further dates available for booking. I then went down to the office and found out the building was empty shelves empty looked like they were going under. The new receptionist just hired told us( as there were more than just me in the same situation) to get our money back as we would never get our massages they sold way too many vouchers and don't have the staff to do them. She said it was a scam.. I know and glad I never got one from there it looked so dirty and dingy.. I have requested my money back from Dealfind and they told me the company was already under investigation. I then called visa and told them to refund my money from Dealfind as they have this problem with lots of companies they deal with. I then reported Zeneba to BBB and filed a complaint to them.. They are not a bbb credited company. Stay away from this so called SPA.. do not get any services from them read other reviews and complaints..

The place was so gross, that I stepped on toe nail cuttings as I walked across the floor. I don't think the place saw a mop in years. YUCK! How could a place like this take money to train young people. What a disgrace!! I will be asking for my money back from Deal find
Buyer Beware

I bought a 10 massage voucher for me for $$99 and was aware it was a school. I have gone to a massage school before and was provided a massage by a student who had completed all text book materials and was getting there hours done. We had a private room and was no different than one done in a clinic except an instructor came in. For 5 minutes to give suggestions. I assumed this school was no different how wrong was I. I called 5 times over a month and never got a call back so I drove over there during business hours. I could not find any one on any of the floors. While there I noticed how dirty it was and all of the massage tables where in one large room no walls or even curtains to separate the tables. I fought with deal find but got my money back.

DO NOT GO HERE!!!! Please read my story below. I have contacted Global News, the Police and the Better Business Bureau at this point and am considering suing them if I do not get my money back.

wanted to raise some concerns with you that I experienced last night at my first ever laser hair removal session. It was with an older lady with blonde hair of whose name I still do not know as she never introduced herself to me. I had gone with one of my close friends as she was also getting the same treatment done as me and we figured we would car pool with one another. My friend went first and I waited in the sitting area on the upstairs floor outside of the room.

My friend was only in there a matter of minutes when the door opened and I was told it was my turn. Shocked I asked if my friend was already done and she said yes. Please note: The lady stood in the door way, my friend exited the room and I entered. There was no break in between her leaving the room and my entering room.

Upon entering the room the lady closed the door, stood there while I waited and put down my purse and such; thinking that she was going to ask me to undress and that she would be back in a moment, when instead she instructed me with “ok strip”. I turned around, looked at her and asked her if she was serious and she told me yes. With the incredulous look on my face she told me that “I am going to see you naked anyways”. Now I am not sure why I did not stick up for my rights of privacy and ask this lady to leave, but instead I did as I was told. Feeling as though I was in jail (of which I have never been but have only seen on movies) I turned around and began to undress. I knew she was watching me as before I had even taken my pants all the way off, she asked me what the tattoo down my spine meant. Already extremely uncomfortable, I was told to lie down and by this time I am feeling very violated.

When I got on the table I was not given anything to cover up with, I was completely naked and was sprayed down with some cold solution and then had a gel put on all over my body, and as I was getting a full Brazilian, on my private areas as well. This lady DID NOT WEAR ANY GLOVES.

She very sporadically ran this machine over my body starting with my legs, Brazilian area, armpits and then my upper lip. She did not wipe off this machine before moving to my upper lip. When she was doing my armpits she did not move the other side of my body to do my armpit furthest away from her but instead reached over and ran the cord over my exposed breast and proceeded all the while with the cord roughly scraping over them.

When she was finished, she grabbed a towel and quickly started to wipe off my legs, my private area, my armpits and using the SAME WET TOWEL wiped off my upper lip with it. I have to say even though it was my own body I was pretty disgusted.

I was then told to flip over, she quickly repeated the above process using sporadic movements and within minutes I was done. She wiped me off very quickly and was told to get up and get dressed. She stayed in the room up until I had on my panties and had only half of my bra on when she opened the door to leave.

During this process I had to ASK her if there were things that I should or should not do following this treatment and if there was any follow up care that I should do at home. This was not information given to me and had I not asked, she would not have told me.

Another part that really bothers me is with keeping in mind my previous comment about there being no breaks between our appointments. When my friend and I were leaving I had asked her if this lady cleaned the machine prior to her opening the door and telling me to come in. She said no. That meaning that this machine, which was used on all of my friends same body parts, was not cleaned and then used all over my body and on my upper lip. I now not only had my own vagina on my upper lip but I now had my friend’s vagina all over my body and on my upper lip as well. Who knows how many other people this machine was used on without being cleaned?

This woman DID NOT use gloves on me or on my friend.

I do not know if the towels were even changed from the table that my friend was on.

In total from the time of checking in which was just after 7:30pm last night to the time that we had BOTH changed, had our treatments done and were leaving was not even 30 minutes later. We were BOTH DONE by 8:00 O’CLOCK. I have called numerous reputable salons here in Calgary, including some doctors offices that use the Nd: YAG Laser to see what kind of time frame I would need to be at their salon/office to have the same treatment done (upper lip, armpits, full leg and full Brazilian) and all of them have told me a time frame of 2-3 hours would be needed in order to cover these areas accurately and completely. How could there be such a variation in time from your esthetic school to some of these salons and doctors offices here in Calgary using the same machinery? How this lady did the BOTH of us in less than 30 minutes in TOTAL is somewhat confusing for me.

Upon talking with my friend today I made mention that I was feeling completely violated and dirty by my experience last night and was telling her more in depth about my appointment. My friend then proceeded to tell me that this lady had told her that she did not need to remove her shirt and that removing of her clothes from the waist down only would be necessary.

My questions are why was I never told that I could have such privileges as keeping my shirt on and keeping some dignity? Why was I never given a towel with to cover up my body? How could their possibly be a good session of hair removal when in total I was maybe in the room for 15 minutes of which included my undressing and dressing again? Why is the room not sterilized in between people coming and going? Why does this woman not wear gloves? Why are people not given the privacy to undress without being watched?

I bought 2 vouchers for 10 Massage treatments for $99 last June 23, 2011 through Dealfind. I booked an appointment for myself and my husband and the earliest they had available was on July 22, Friday at 11AM. I got a call on the day of the appointment, about 1-2 hours before the scheduled massage from a lady apologizing that they have to cancel our appointment and so with other clients because they didn't have enough staff (2 did not show up). We were disappointed but we understood their situation so we agreed to re-book. The lady booked us for August 2 at noon. She promised that our appointment will not be cancelled again. We drove for 30 minutes to their office on August 2. The receptionist checked our names and said proceed to the 3rd floor. We went there only to be told by what appeared to be the supervisor (very rude) that our names were not on her list and there is no way that she can book us in because she didn't have enough staff. She said some students did not show up again. We were absolutely flabbergasted! On our way down, one of the students/staff apologized because she was there when we were upstairs talking to her supervisor and she said she truly apologized and informed us that this has happened not only to us but to other clients. When we got down to their main reception area, we talked to the receptionist and she insisted that we were on the list and we should have our massages. She went upstairs hoping to resolve the issue. She came down with another lady, I forgot the name, but she said she is one of the instructors, and she apologized for what happened but she can't do anything. She said she was the one who called and I spoke with on July 22 to do the last minute cancellation and re-scheduling. She told us that we can complain to the owner/manager of Zeneba who probably doesn't know what is happening. Anyway, we left that office totally upset and was strongly comtemplating of cancelling the deals. Before the August 2 incident, I've already did an online booking for the supposedly second appointment for Sept 2 so I thought we'll see if it will be better by that time- trying to be considerate and because I thought the deal is really good anyways. On Aug 16, I got an email that the appointment was cancelled for Sept. 2. I called right away and spoke to the new receptionist and she said that we are booked. I told her I just got an email and it's stating that it's cancelled. She insisted that it's booked and she will send me an email confirmation. I later got an email stating that the appointment has been "changed". After all that's happened, I've lost trust in this company. My husband and I haven't used their massage service at all and all we got is stress, wasted time & gas to drive there, and a whole lot of frustrations. I've requested for a refund from Dealfind and am waiting for a reply.

I went to Zeneba for the "Dealfind" special. To start with, it is such weird set up. You must go up three flights of stairs and odd hallways. The reception desk gal had to ask someone on the floor a question, so she must leave you there and go up the three flights. Onece up there, the head lady proceded to ream out her massage gal and she was very curt and rough with everyone. Another couple came for a massage while I was waiting and they had been reschudled two times already and she told them she was overbooked and lacking staff so told the lady to rebook again. My massage gal appologized for what happened out front. The massage gal was fearful and inexperienced but did her best. The head lady did my manicure and pedicure. The manicure was done in the chair for the pedicure. The water to soak your hands in was cold water. I would not consider going back again.It was anything but a nice relaxing experience. Aug. 2011

This school has moved again now at 42 Ave SE. This school had a good reputation before new owner took over. I only enrolled in one Module (thank goodness)The course was advertised as a three week duration of 105 hrs. Mon to Fri. 9am-4pm.Classes were actually from 9-3:30 (1 hr lunch) so you only got about 82 hrs. of instruction. I paid for 105 hrs. !!! The course did not cover everything stated in brouchure. After writing my final exam and getting a 90% I was entitled to my diploma. I waited a week then contacted owner. He said was not informed I finished and instructor gone till next month. After much heated discussion he said I could pick up in one week. A week later still not done,I finally got it three weeks after finishing course.This school is in need of a health inspection there was a water leak in front entrance still there at April 7 th and the students are expected to clean and empty garbage every Friday plus there is little to no ventilation.I'am now finishing some more training at a different school and what a dfference new school is organized ,clean and instructors teach what is spcified in brouchures. I will never ever recomend Zeneba to anyone interested in esthetics.

This school was great when the Europeans owned it, as i've heard from a few students who have attended there, but now under new management it is just horrible...We are forced to clean and do janitorial duties including: sweeping and mopping floors, cleaning out washrooms and toilets, taking out garbage, and a few of which are not meant for a PAYING student to do; this is a janitors job, or even the owners if they do not feel the desire to hire one. Not all of our schooling we payed for is taught to us, and is not taught to us in the basic standard we will need to know when we go out into the working world of esthetics. Some of the instructors are very rude and inconsiderate towards others, and treat many of the students like garbage, as well as using threatening tones to do as they are asked of doing - ex. cleaning duties,questions,etc. There is no administrator, and it is very hard to ask questions about our schooling unless you are willing to get into an argument.Many who come to check out this school luckily have seen the unorganization and chose to go to another school =)

On the flip side, we do have a couple very amazing instructors who are the only reason I can get through this schooling, and wanting to learn from them. Unfortunately who knows how long they will put up with this school either..

This school is horrible, i dont suggest anybody go there. Not just from my experience but all the people around me while i was trainig there. They do not provide proper theory notes ( spelling mistakes, false claims ) , not even text books. The owner does not care about the education provided to his students, only about the money!! Very discriminating against women and the staff is treated garbage! Run if you can!!!!!!!!!!