'“Pay what you think it’s worth” massages – guilt trip pricing?' blog discussion

katyboo123

That said, I think £1.85 is extortionate for a pint of lime and soda in a pub and won't pay it, but there are people who do. So I suppose it's a case of as long as there are people who are willing to pay, then carry on girls...

And it's not like they say to you, pay what it's worth and then stump you for a twenty spot. They tell you an average price up front and whether you agree to it or not, you have a choice, you can walk away.

katyboo123

noeelieangel wrote: »

Hi everyone:)
i work for Massage Angels which also owns Ibiza Angels (not to be confused with the 3 minute Angels in Australia ‘sweetnothings’) and I can vouch that they are a great company to work for with lovely girls and the training is really excellent. i am a bit confused with all your comments as never any customer complained directly to me ...

In regards to this blog, it has always been explained to me that the ‘pay what you feel it’s worth’ concept is designed to encourage Angels to better the standard of their massages, which in turn would make us more money and it does work.

The company provides us with free training and retraining whenever we want and again this is to encourage us to be a good as we possibly can. The company also only charges us a set fee to work and so it’s up to us how much we earn. However; there are rules about how we can say and how we explain ‘pay what you feel it’s worth’. £10 is a simply rough guide or ‘price indication’ which I think is reasonable. I can assure all of you that my 10 minute massage is definitely worth £10 please so please feel free to come and experience it for yourselves.

There is actually a promotion on this month that if you mention the password phrase “I need energising” before 11.30am to any of the staff, it’s free!i will personally guaranty a great experience to you all...just ask for me!

BTW - If your sister ‘oddball553’ only lasted 5 weeks in the job and only made £30 a night, it probably wasn’t the job for her. Ibiza Angels has well over 100 staff on the books and many of them have been with the company for years. I am with them for a while and i even recommended it to 2 of my close friends.They love it!

For me, This job have given me enormous confidence as I can earn good money from making people feel good, whilst still having the time to follow my career as a singer. So I’m a big fan!

so give us a chance and come to see us in the mornings you will not regret it ))
xxx Noellie

First up, I don't think any one is 'complaining' as such. People are just giving their views and like I've said, I wouldn't pay £10 for a 10 minute massage. I have a really tricky job and I fry my brain working for £10 an hour. So I in turn, couldn't afford to pay £10 for a 10 min massage, when I can get a 30 min one for £18. If you see what I mean? I appreciate of course that you directly do not get £10 per 10 minutes, but that's the cost to the consumer.

Also, with regards to oddball553's comments, it's different horses for different courses, but of course, people are entitled to their opinions. I recently took on a second job in a bar as I was skint to make ends meet and going from an office job to a bar job is hard - there are people who work there who look so natural and graceful and can do the job easy, whereas I struggle I forget the cocktail ingredients and food prices, etc and make it look hard!

I tend to lean towards the opinion if you pay £10 for a 10 minute massage no matter how amazing and 'worth it' it is, you are probably giving yourself a one off treat, or have too much spare cash.

You don't need to justify yourself, saying you earn good money and have confidence, etc. If there are people willing to pay it, you carry on! )

Mark_Hewitt

There is a guy on the Shambles in York selling art work but only asks for whatever the purchaser wants to pay. "Some people don't have a lot of money" to which we laughed in agreement. "Oh you think people not having money is funny do you?!"... We quickly shuffled away, yeah great sales technique..

Pennylane

I would like to know what qualifications these massage therapists have.

Are their qualifications available for clients to look at? If I could see that they were properly qualified and insured, then I'd pay a reasonable amount, otherwise forget it. They could cause more harm than good.

megababe18

My friend Sandra used to work for a massage company that did 10 minute back and shoulder massages in pubs and clubs - with the caveat that she get's paid what they then the massage was worth. This is what she said: "the company we worked for had arrangements with the bar staff, which meant we were kept safe and supervised. In exchance, it took half our earnings - above a £5 per hour mimimum. Yes there was flirtng and banter, but that adds to what is a social experience. it is not meant to be therapy, it is a quick boost tog et the circulation flowing and relax the recepient to a small degree. If someone was very drunk in a club you avoid them because they would be touchy-feely or might throw up afterwards.

"The pay what you think its worth is a good system - although you will meet lots of people who abuse it. i've been paid £1.50 or less on many occasions, but ofcourse you get paid a lot sometimes - especially if someone really enjoys the massage! It is a fair system which encourages the masseuse to provide a good service - and as for getting over paid -we spend a lot of time convincing customers to try the product, so it is not fair to assume we are raking it in!"

I've had a massage from her and her colleagues before - I paid £5 for the experience and felt that it was value for money. She tells me that women tend to pay less than men in suits!

hatchy

Right to walk away as you did IMO. Not saying it would happen but with you being in the 'public eye' you can imagine an unscrupulous person easily making up false claims and selling it to the tabloids, if you had gone in for a massage.

Richard019

hatchy wrote: »

Right to walk away as you did IMO. Not saying it would happen but with you being in the 'public eye' you can imagine an unscrupulous person easily making up false claims and selling it to the tabloids, if you had gone in for a massage.

What are the rules about giving out customer details as well*? If you wanted to make a luxury service at an above average price seem attractive at the moment wouldn't it be good to advertise it as "as used by moneysavingexpert.com's Martin Lewis"?

*I have a memory of watching a programme years ago where some struggling business had a customer who shared a name with a famous person so they used their name in an advert, and as it was true they were fine so long as they didn't use the famous person's image to mislead people. It may have been a sitcom rather than a factual thing though.

Petlamb

I hope the angels understand my issue with it - it makes me uncomfortable. That's not to say they shouldn't do business in that way or that there's anything wrong with it - for the people who are happy with that, then wonderful! For me though, it would be like an exaggerated worry about tipping!

I have to respectfully disagree with the logic that "if people didn't like it, they'd have changed". I don't think that holds water - I dislike the concept, but I wouldn't go up to one of the ladies or gents working for them, or contact their head office or something, to say so. Likewise, I'd presume that those that use the service (and therefore probably would have a chat about the system) are likely to feel comfortable with it.

As it stands, I have a mate trained in massage and reflexology, so I'll just sidle up to her :P

Adamsmultimedia

I have had two experiences of the pay what you think it's worth pricing strategy.
The first was a massage from a very pretty girl on board a ferry from Calais after a long drive. It was welcome and although there was no guide price suggested I had an idea what it should cost and how it compared to other massages and paid 10 euros. We both seemed happy with that arrangement.
My second experience was a Restuarant in North London my wife took me too many years ago. I think it was called "Just around the corner". The food was exceptional and the bill at the end simply listed what we had had and we were left to choose what to pay. I guess we overpaid because we were very happy with the food and the service and liked the guy who owned the place and didn't want to rip him off.
I am just starting a business myself offering wedding videography. I was thinking of offering a pay what you think it's worth pricing policy. I think it's maybe a high risk strategy but I'm keen to see just what my work is worth to the people who employ me. I want to do a great job and offer value for money and demonstrate my confidence through my pricing policy. The question is, how many people would think it's a great idea that ensures they get a good end product or would we this be too awkward and we'd be afraid we'd get the price wrong?

2bFrank

£10 for a 10 Minute massage is shocking . This system is clearly designed to rip people off. It doesn't matter what anyone says, £10 for 10 minutes is well over the odds. I get a Deep Tissue Massage every 2 weeks as I do MMA, which is for an hour and costs £40 and is worth every penny. The therapist is fully trained and has numerous qualifications on the wall at her studio, it has taken her years to get these qualifications and as she is top notch at what she does, so she can charge £40 for the hour. I hate to imagine what would happen if these girls got hold of someone who was in pain and had a bad back. They would make their pain even worse if they are not fully trained.

Me and my mates have used a similar service to the Ibiza angels (not sure if it was actually Ibiza angels or a similar company), in Ibiza on a lads holiday, I paid 10 Euros for about 10 mins, and the massage was awful, but I didn't do it for the massage, I did it because the girls were fit and I was having a laugh with my mates and the girls, which made the 10 Euros worth it for that. The girls were fun and flirty and that’s what you would expect.

I see the fun in this service when it’s in pubs and there is a friendly atmosphere, but to hassle people in a shopping mall for an overpriced service to the average Joe that clearly would not match the professionals is astonishing. I know it’s a ‘pay what you think’ price, but be serious, is anyone going to go through the embarrassment of paying less.