Katelynn Vifquain
August 11, 2018 21:13
Two stars for Renewal Health's mission to offer detoxification services in Santa Fe, an increasingly valuable service in an increasingly toxic world. Zero stars for the owner's lack of actual "expertise" knowledge that she claims to have on the subject, as well as dishonesty about the fact that she doesn't actually own a true infrared sauna.
When the place I usually go to in Santa Fe for bi-weekly infrared sauna treatments experienced flood damage to their facility and had to temporarily close, I contacted Renewal Health to inquire about their infrared treatment options. I was told over the phone that they have both an infrared wrap as well as an infrared sauna. When I said that I preferred the sauna, I was informed that the rate would be $35 per individual session or $99 per month for unlimited sessions if I committed to monthly auto-debit for at least 3 months in a row. Since I thought the latter was a great deal, I opted for that. Unfortunately, it was too good to be true. As soon as I laid eyes on the sauna for my first session, I knew that it wasn't a true infrared sauna (no infrared panels), but rather just a traditional steam sauna (with heater, stones, and a bucket of water with ladle). When I asked the owner, Noreen, about this, she said that it was actually a "combination" sauna by Heavenly Heat with both traditional steam and infrared. While I didn't think she was correct, I nevertheless kept my initial session. The experience felt notably different than that with a true infrared sauna; less sweating, less of a sense of cleansing and purging toxins from my body. Indeed, traditional steam saunas don't have the same detoxification effect on the body as infrared saunas, and detoxification is my entire purpose for doing these sessions. I contacted Heavenly Heat directly, and sent them pictures of the sauna to verify what type it was. Not only was my suspicion correct that it's NOT a true infrared sauna, I was informed by Heavenly Heat that it's not even one of their saunas!
Thankfully, I was able to get my $99 refunded by Noreen when I confronted her with the correct information, though she was quite defensive about the matter and didn't offer any kind of apology for the misinformation or inconvenience.