JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two popular Jacksonville massage studios abruptly shut their doors, and now customers are wondering what’s going to happen to the unused services that they paid for.
For a place that’s meant to offer relaxation, Jenitre Moore said Massage Heights has provided the opposite.
“I’m going to have to get one of the little rollers and massage my way through it and say, ‘I’m great,’" Moore said.
Moore had been a member since 2016 but hadn’t gone in some time because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I have an enormous amount of credits,” Moore said.
News4Jax has learned that on Sept. 3, Massage Heights Jacksonville located at the St. Johns Town Center and Massage Heights River City both abruptly closed.
When Moore reached out to the owner of both locations, she received an email, saying, “Like you, we were shocked and dismayed when we learned last Thursday that our business had been shut down by the franchisor. We were given no warning, notice or say in the matter.”
“I get another email that the franchisor has just closed on them abruptly and that they were in the hole $400,000,” Moore said. “And I’m, like, ‘I don’t care. You still took my money.’”
A message sent to Massage Heights Jacksonville members provides the name, email and phone number of the franchise owner and instructs people to contact that person for a refund.
But Moore received a message from the company saying that any membership money was used to pay staff and that it is "now left with no ability to issue a refund in any event.”
“I said, ‘That’s not our fault. That’s unacceptable,’" Moore said.
The other option that many members, including Moore, were given is to use any prepaid credits or gift cards toward a different spa that will be opening.
Property records reveal an LLC was filed for an Integration Spa at both Jacksonville addresses back in May under the same management as Massage Heights Jacksonville.
According to members, they were told they can use past credits from Massage Heights Jacksonville but only if they create a new membership.
“I just want to cut ties and I want my money back from my unused treatments and let me go,” Moore said. “Let me go.”
It seems that each member is getting information at different times, which is why it is creating so much confusion.
News4Jax reached out to both Massage Heights and Integration Spa and received a statement early Monday evening from Massage Heights.
“The local franchisee materially violated its franchise agreements, so Massage Heights Franchising terminated the franchise agreements. Members and guests can use their prepaid service credits at any Massage Heights location in the U.S. and Canada until Dec. 3, 2020,” Massage Heights’ statement said, in part.
Integration Spa also sent a statement around the same time.
“We are not affiliated, however, with the former franchised business. While we have extended a limited-time offer to former members of Massage Heights (and other similar local competitors) to honor their Massage Heights membership credit value (in a monetary credit at Integration Spa) if they become members of our new business,” Integration Spa’s statement said, in part.