Grumpy about Celestial

popecatapetal

I went in to the Celestial Ring in Stephen's Green the other day to talk with Jani, the tattoo artist I'd been planning to go to for my first tattoo, to talk about the design. It wasn't a particularly busy day, and the receptionist didn't seem to be occupied, but I'm quite shy, so I waited for a few minutes in case she was doing something important, and to get my nerve up.

When I finally did muster the courage to go up and ask her if Jani was in, and whether I could talk to him, she was rather unfriendly. She seemed very bored, and not at all helpful. Now, I can understand getting fed up of your job - I'm sure people are asking her stupid questions all the time. But it is her job - she's a receptionist at a piercing and tattoo studio, and she probably shouldn't be doing it if it bores her.

This experience is making me rethink going to Jani for my piece. His portfolio is wonderful, but I don't think I'd feel comfortable in that studio...

To sum up, I think that if you're working in a tattoo shop, and someone comes up, sounding rather nervous, you should probably try to make them feel a little more comfortable. After all, they might be interested in becoming a client.

And that is why I'm a little grumpy.

garthv

Welcome to my world

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055165692

popecatapetal

Do many people inhabit this world, or is it just a few grumpy people like us?

I think I shall be thoroughly transferring my business to InkWell. John's portfolio looks very nice, and it seems like it would be a much more relaxing place to get it done - not crowded, not indifferent. And the people there actually talk to you even if you aren't a typical modified goth-type person! :eek:

Attol

I feel the same way about there as you do and I've only been there for piercings. Couldn't imagine going for a big tattoo there, let alone anything else after seeing the attitudes of some of the staff first hand. It's just gotten so rude in there. I was in the middle of speaking to the receptionist one day on my lunch break and out of nowhere she turns away and starts talking to another customer about his tattoo or something. I just walked out.

popecatapetal

Is there some sort of management to Celestial, so someone could complain about their appalling customer service? Cos I really think they should be told about it - they're losing business because of it. They've certainly lost mine, anyway.

scop

When I went to get to my tattoo I figured I'd go there as it seemed busy, but you just don't feel you belong in the place. Cliquish or something. You can see other people feel the same as people tend to linger away from the reception which is a bad sign. Like you guys I just walked and went elsewhere. They probably lose tonnes of business that way. I went to Classic Ink where I was promptly invited what I wanted the second I walked in which put me at ease.

Alter-Ego

The staff in the studio over by jervis are usually nicer than those so and so's in SG, especially the guy with the tribal work on his neck. Asked for a labret retainer in there one day and the guy at reception looked at me like i had two heads.
My GF was going to get a tattoo done in there and they couldn't have been less interested. She canceled and went to zulu instead

Shelli

its such a pity the way Celstial has gone recently, especially considering the really great rep it used to have. I hope it goes back to the friendly place it used to be. Has anyone tried the studio in Ashbourne? Wonder if it's the same?

Reku

Attol wrote: »

I was in the middle of speaking to the receptionist one day on my lunch break and out of nowhere she turns away and starts talking to another customer about his tattoo or something. I just walked out.

Gees... that is extremely rude! If it was just to tell them to hold on a sec that she's with another customer it'd be fair enough but....:(

I would've thought good manners would be a requirement for any receptionist's job?

Attol

I know. I stood there for about 5 minutes and was very patient with them. When I appeared to be well and truly forgotten about I left.

wildcatink

Hi folks, I'm Adrienne, I (hopefully) haven't been one of the idiot or ignorant ones who've pissed you off (they don't tend to let me out of the office that often...), and I've just only just been alerted to this thread today. To put it mildly, I'm EXTREMELY concerned that so many people are having bad experiences in the Wildcat Ink (Celestial Ring). Let me say firstly thanks to those who've acknowledged the good customer service on here - I will be passing that on to the staff members in questions and secondly, and more importantly, that I apologise profusely for any inconvenience, ignorance, condesencion, idiocy or just plain rudeness that you have been subjected to by staff in Wildcat Ink. It's definitely not the studio policy to alienate customers - I will definitely be speaking to all the staff in the studios about the issues you've raised, and hopefully will be able to immediately and permanently resolve any problems with bad customer service. I have been able to identify some staff members from your descriptions and/or the date the incident occurred, but other descriptions are too vague for me to be certain whose ass is the correct one to haul over the coals... If you'd like to get in touch with me I will do my utmost to resolve any issues you personally have had - you can email me at adrienne@wildcat.ie. In the meantime, if at any time in the future you do experience a problem in any of the studios, you should always bring this to the attention of the manager or supervisor immediately, so that you leave the studio a happy, (and hopefully more inked and/or punctured ) customer (and in addition the staff member in question can improve their customer service skills so that neither you nor any other customer has the same problem again). The senior staff members in the studios are: St. Stephen's Green - Ning, Ashbourne - Kay and Abbey St. - Keith. In the case that you don't feel you can complain in person/on the spot, you are always welcome to email the studios afterwards (south@wildcat.ie for the Green, north@wildcat.ie for Abbey St and ashbourne@wildcat.ie for Ashbourne, and/or email me directly at adrienne@wildcat.ie. Again, please let me apologise for any annoyance or inconvenience we've caused you by being idiots and not treating our customers properly, I'd really like to be able to discuss your issues with you directly in the hopes of winning you back as a customer, and correcting any problems we have with our service. Please get in touch! Adrienne

Crumble Froo

fair play for that anyway

im not in teh country anymore, but hopefully ye'll be able to sort yer stuff out and win back customers again, ye've been a favourite of a few for a long time, it's a shame to lose something like that. best of luck.

MagnumForce

Yeah I got my first tattoo there and it was alright, but I went to get my second a year later, and it was an incredibly simple design and yer man messed it up (not severely, but still not acceptable, all it was was straight lines like), vowed never to go back there again, that was two years ago (or thereabouts), got my third in Snakebite and that was fine, lovely people there, Dim even put up with my friend who was getting her first tattoo and it took hours cos she kept squirming, and only charged her the same amount as first quoted, she even had to go back a few weeks later to get it finished free of charge, now that's service!

rannerap

i got my first tattoo in there and it was messed up slightly,dont think id go back again

Cupcake_Crisis

i went in there when i was gettin my first tattoo. i showed one of the girls my design and she just like laughed at it!! wanted to charge me like 150 for a small littlw wrist piece!! needless to say i took my buisness elsewhere!! there was just such a bad vibe about the place!

Will

stuff has been sorted in the other thread, let it be

Sean7

popecatapetal wrote: »

This experience is making me rethink going to Jani for my piece. His portfolio is wonderful, but I don't think I'd feel comfortable in that studio

I wouldn't let an ignorant receptionist put me off getting the right artist for my tattoo and jani is very good at what he does, not my personal taste but I know people who are delighted with work he's done on 'em. When you go in next time walk straight into the tattoo area and ignore reception, see how they like it.

truthinwords

I think it's crazy that over a receptionist you chose not to go to Jani who A) is excellent at colour work and has numerous examples of MONKEYS in the style you want in his portfolio. Still I hear excellent things about John so hopefully it works out well for you and in future you can always contact Jani directly through his inkednation rather then dealing with a receptionist.

xtruthx

wildcatink

Sean7 wrote: »

I wouldn't let an ignorant receptionist put me off getting the right artist for my tattoo and jani is very good at what he does, not my personal taste but I know people who are delighted with work he's done on 'em. When you go in next time walk straight into the tattoo area and ignore reception, see how they like it.

Hi Sean, sorry, but I'm afraid that is not allowed. As I have already stated on this thread and another similar one, the issues raised are being addressed, and any one who would like to make a complaint can do so on the spot - the studio managers name is Ning, by email to the studio - south@wildcat.ie by phone or fax - 01-4784273 or by contacting me directly - adrienne@wildcat.ie. I would very much like to resolve any issues you may have, but I think that encouraging someone to trespass and to possibly enter areas of the studio restricted to professionals with cross-contamination training is a very, very, bad idea....... You know all those do not enter and bio-hazard signs are there for a reason, not just decoration.


As for barging in on a tattoo artist when he's in the middle of a piece and contcentrating hard - well, would you be happy if you were being tattooed and other customers kept butting in every two minutes? I think not.
If you want to speak to one of theartists in the studio, they are always happy to come out on the floor and talk to you - at a suitable time, when they are not right in the middle of a piece - just ask at the desk and we will see if the artist you want to speak to is available, or let you know when they will be free to talk.

About half the artists maintain thier own sites and/or inkednation or myspace pages. We have these listed in our current pricelist. You are of course absolutely welcome to contact the artists directly through these (that's why we advertise them!), but all appointments in the studio go through the desk without exception.

Again, if you have any issues with desk staff or customer service, please do let us know so we can fix it. Barging about bothering artists, ruining someone elses tattoo is not the answer.

Reku

wildcatink wrote: »

Hi Sean, sorry, but I'm afraid that is not allowed.

....but I think that encouraging someone to trespass and to possibly enter areas of the studio restricted to professionals with cross-contamination training is a very, very, bad idea....... You know all those do not enter and bio-hazard signs are there for a reason, not just decoration.


As for barging in on a tattoo artist when he's in the middle of a piece and contcentrating hard - well, would you be happy if you were being tattooed and other customers kept butting in every two minutes? I think not.
If you want to speak to one of theartists in the studio, they are always happy to come out on the floor and talk to you - at a suitable time, when they are not right in the middle of a piece - just ask at the desk and we will see if the artist you want to speak to is available, or let you know when they will be free to talk.
....

Again, if you have any issues with desk staff or customer service, please do let us know so we can fix it. Barging about bothering artists, ruining someone elses tattoo is not the answer.

Doing such would then risk a number of things:
1. More complaint threads against CR, when they would in fact be completely innocent of any wrongdoing, instead it'd be the fault of whoever decides to burst in uninvited.
2. The whole question of who the customer being worked on holds accountable if you startle the artist while they are working and something goes wrong.
3. A well justified banning from the premises.
4. Criminal charges for tresspassing.

Think of the worst horror stories out on the internet of piercings and tattoos going wrong (e.g. the woman who had the intimate piercing go wrong resulting in a loss of clitoral sensation), if you disturb an artist in the middle of their work these become quite possible, do you really want to put someone else at risk like that? You pretty much put both the client and the artist at risk of harm, both immediate, and long term due to the potential for disease transfer (from either the client or the artist) if the artist does get injured and the potential for nerve damage.

If you really can't deal with the receptionist probably the best thing to do is simply wait, the artist will come out when finished and may have time to talk with you before their next appointment.

While receptionists are there as a customer service member, they are also usually a security member, to deter you from going places you shouldn't without invite/escort.

Wow... me being a voice for reason...

hot2def

I can't believe we have gotten to the point of discussing ways to get around the receptionists...Surely that would make them some sort of Anti-receptionist?

popecatapetal

Thanks for the support and ideas, everyone, but as wildcatink said, this is all being dealt with in garthv's thread, so no need to have it in this one too. I've emailed adrienne to complain about the receptionist, and hopefully things will get sorted out very soon. I hope they do - I used to really like Celestial.