Customers, attorney general office wondering about gift cards

The demise of a popular downtown spa is the result of ongoing disputes in a divorce, and customers are tense over the value of their gift certificates, while employees are wondering whether they will see their final paychecks.

Spa 151 on the River opened with great fanfare in 2005, proclaiming itself to be a luxury day spa that would offer massages, pedicures and pampering that included items such as a caviar facial.

Owned by Ashli and Scott Rowland of Cape Girardeau, and Brent Wills, a Jackson insurance broker, Spa 151 was an addition to the check cashing and loan business they owned under the name of Check Please in several Missouri towns.

The shutdown and the resulting failure to honor gift certificates gained the attention of the Missouri Attorney General's office after at least one consumer called to complain, spokesman John Fougere said. The office is looking into the complaint, as well as one against the Check Please location in Cape Girardeau, he said.

The closing took place last week, swiftly and without any advance warning, licensed massage therapists Paula Keller and Donna Patterson said. (Paula Keller is no relation to the writer of this article.)

On Tuesday, Patterson and Keller said, Scott Rowland arrived and told the staff he was taking over. The staff was told to take a day off Wednesday, they said, and when they arrived Thursday, Scott Rowland told them that the spa would not accept credit cards or the unredeemed gift certificates. Employees were told they could accept cash or work for tips, Keller said.

None agreed, and the spa closed for good, she said.

"We looked at him like he was crazy," Keller said.

Ashli Rowland confirmed most of the elements of Keller and Patterson's versions of the shutdown in an interview Tuesday.

She said she was attempting to finalize a deal to sell the Check Please building at 78 Plaza Way but that the appraisal was too low and Scott Rowland failed to show up for the meeting.

Instead, Scott Rowland went to the spa and changed the locks. "There is no way I had any idea of this crap happening," Ashli Rowland said.

While she asked the employees to give her time to straighten out the confusion, they walked out on Scott Rowland, Ashli Rowland said.

One item of dispute is the amount of outstanding gift certificates. Keller and Patterson said Ashli Rowland told them that the Christmas sales of almost $100,000 was gone. Ashli Rowland put the figure of outstanding gift certificates at $50,000.

Keller estimates she is owed at least $1,500 in unpaid commissions. Patterson estimates that she is due more than $700.

Keller and Patterson are now working from Elements salon, 2031 Cape La Croix Road. About a dozen people in all worked at Spa 151, they said.

Scott Rowland hung up twice on the Southeast Missourian after a reporter identified himself. He has not returned messages seeking comment.

Customer complaints about the closing are understandable, Ashli Rowland said. "I totally understand what people are saying, but there is nothing I can do about it."

She said she is trying to regain control of the spa but doubts that it can reopen.

In an interview with the Southeast Missourian, Wills said he and his wife sold their interest in the spa and the loan operations in October and he has had no part in operations since that time. That left the business in the hands of Ashli and Scott Rowland, Wills said.

"The situation is I am not for sure what happened," he said.

Wills said he retains an ownership interest in the spa building, which is a converted home that dates, in part, to 1836. He and Scott Rowland have spoken only briefly in the past week, Wills said.

Employees who have equipment in the building should contact him, Wills said, and he will arrange for them to retrieve their property.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126

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Attorney general office looking into gift card situation

The consumer fraud division in Attorney General Jay Nixon's office has received one complaint about Spa 151 gift certificates, spokesman John Fougere said, and three complaints about a similar situation of unredeemable gift cards sold by another defunct Cape Girardeau business, Joey's Seafood.

"We want consumers to know we are looking at the situation both at Spa 151 and Joey's Seafood," Fougere said. "We are looking to determine if there were any violations of Missouri consumer protection laws in their business practices."

The consumer division of Nixon's office has dealt regularly with spas and gyms that accept payment for gift certificates or memberships and close before the contracts can be honored, Fougere said. One way to combat losses from such transactions, he said, is to pay for the gift certificates or memberships with a credit card.

"Then you can go back to the credit card company to challenge the charge and attempt to get your money back because you did not receive the good or service you paid for," he said. "If you pay straight cash and the business closes suddenly or is bankrupt and has no assets, there is only an extremely slim chance of getting your money back."

The Better Business Bureau of Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois has received no complaints so far about Spa 151, said Scott Thomas, a trade practices consultant with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB will help anyone who has complaints by attempting to contact the Rowlands, Thomas said.

To contact the Missouri Attorney General's office consumer division, call 800-392-8222 or go to www.ago.mo.gov.

To contact the Better Business Bureau, call 314-645-3300 or go to www.stlouisbbb.org.

-- Rudi Keller