Advanced Bodyworks Massage and Fitness

If I could afford it, I would go to John every week for a massage!

I am EXTREMELY displeased with this company, specifically the Albany location. I had purchased a Groupon for my Aunt, I am out of state, so figured this would be a convenient place for her to go and it was reasonably priced. My Aunt scheduled her massage with no problem. It was scheduled for 2 days after a surgery she had planned, since she’s a breast cancer survivor. With all the excitement and exhaustion of the surgery, she completely forgot about the massage appointment. The owner himself, John, contacted her and just kept repeating that «there is a policy», that he would not honor the full amount, and was completely unsympathetic to the circumstances. After getting this horrific news, knowing many massage therapists and business owners myself here in Maryland, I left a voice mail for someone to call me back because I did NOT agree with the way this was handled. The front desk rep contacted me Saturday April 12^th and assured me that she would leave a message for John to call me ASAP since he’s the owner and would have to make any final decisions. Today is April 29^th!!! So, over two weeks later I finally got a voice mail message back from John, he did not reference ANYTHING about my/​my Aunts specific situation. This isn’t a case of «oops I woke up with a cold and didn’t cancel» or «I felt like sleeping in»…this is breast cancer surgery! Granted, she should’ve postponed the appointment further out — however, I have NEVER seen a business owner treat a customer the way John has treated myself and my Aunt. I plan on going on Unilocal,and every other review site out there to detail these events. I would greatly appreciate a phone call and a full refund AND THEN SOME!!!

Full disclosure: I had a LivingSocial for this, but I will definitely be coming by again!
This is for the Albany location. When I walked in, I was a little skeptical, as the waiting room was bright red with some folding chairs. However, never judge a book by its cover!
My masseuse was Kerry and she was amazing! She actually looked over the paperwork I filled out and paid attention to it (unlike most places I’ve been to that only give a cursory glance). I have a lot of chronic pain issues at such a young age, and she really worked with me to make sure I had the best experience possible.
Apparently she is new to the practice so if you make an appointment, I would really recommend her!

Unfortunately there isn’t an option to give this person 0 stars, so I’ll go with just one. My experience through Advanced Bodyworks was a massage by John Mitchell himself and I can honestly say it rates very high on my list of traumatizing events.
Someone recommended John to me and being that I’m a massage therapist in training, I decided it would be very beneficial for my education to experience massage from a variety of different therapists. Apparently I should have looked into the situation a little bit more. John was EXTREMELY unprofessional!!! And on top of being unprofessional, it was the worst massage I’ve ever had. Apparently very poor training. John failed to check in with my levels of comfort on many accounts. He did not perform proper draping for sensitive areas of the body. For example, completely pulling down my underwear to expose my gluteal (butt) muscles. At one point he felt the need to comment on «how amazing I smelled», and seemed quite upset when I verbalized that I felt exposed while he was attempting to work on muscles in my chest. This man has absolutely no understanding of boundaries and what being a massage therapist is all about. It’s quite possible that he may be a fantastic personal training… But as far as massage therapy goes, I’m VERY surprised he has been able to keep his license. I felt extremely unsafe through my whole entire massage, and I’m quite upset that I had to pay $ 70 to feel manipulated and mistreated by a male massage therapist who was supposed to be doing everything he could to make me feel comfortable and safe, not threatened!

Well folks — I can still recommend John for your fitness needs — I no longer use his services — A change in business practices and the amount of one on one time, created delays in sessions has caused me to look else where for a personal trainer. John helped me achieve major sucesses in my personal fitness — I will be forever thankful to him for that.