Vagaro

Pros

User interface is great. Easy to navigate

Cons

There wasn't much of anything I disliked about Vagaro.

Pros

I like that Vagaro is a great fit for small businesses. The scheduling center is easy to use, the website is pretty straight forward if you are used to navigating websites and customer service is top notch. Not one time have I called in and asked for support did I have to wait on the line for longer than 1 minute. Each person I spoke with was very professional, helpful and helped me get to where I needed to be.

My favorite part about Vagaro is the personal touch they offer. I spoke with a gentleman by the name of [sensitive content hidden], and he went well above and beyond for support. He walked me through everything I needed and then stayed on the phone with me to listen to me rant about The Office. [sensitive content hidden] is excellent at his job and all I have to say is " Happy birthday to [sensitive content hidden] and shutup about the sun...shut up about the sun! Seriously though, He was fantastic and I could not be happier with him and his support!

Cons

I wish there was more flexibility on the website ( MySite ) so I could customize it better. I also wish there was a way for clients to request to double book and the client have the option to approve of it. The free card reader was not working when it was sent to me and a new one had to be issued as well.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Pros

They have customer service you can call although you may not get the correct info and have to wait 45 minutes to speak to someone.

Cons

I have 10 employees and switching to Vagaro has been a nightmare. Very glitchy system and the data transfer was a nightmare. Maybe for a one person show this would be ok, but for a business my size it’s been a horrible experience.I lost so much revenue in discounts I had to give out because of how much this company messed up.

Pros

It is great for scheduling, payment processing, and client communication so much easier.

Cons

The con for vagaro is the additional cost for add on services

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Pros

It gets the job done. I used it as a client scheduling an appointment and it might have been early on in the technology so I’m not really sure how it is currently I’m sure it is more advanced, but it was simple enough to use and I was able to visually see the openings to schedule, etc.

Cons

There wasn’t too much that stood out to me necessarily, which I guess in a sense that would be what I like the least. Scheduling an appointment sometimes can be a chore and since there’s nothing really that stands out that I like the least, it would be kind of a good or bad thing. And it’s really because it was just fairly basic. Nothing that wowed me or set it apart from similar platforms.

Pros

I found Vagaro to have easy online booking and confirmations. I get compliments from Customers about the ease of use.

Cons

it did not have a few reports I needed, if they did I could not figure it out.

Pros

It is pretty straightforward to use. It's nice to switch calendars between multiple locations.

Cons

I wish there was a way we could edit the customer information after they created a profile. Many times they will sign up with another spa but have a different email address but we cannot change that. I also wish we could have multiple logins instead of having a shared one with having to get a code to login each time.

Pros

I love being able to connect with like-minded companies in the Bay Area. I work in Plastic Surgery, and we network with salon and spa professionals. This gives me an opportunity to search and review the very best and highly rated companies in the area.

Cons

Too many to choose from. It is hard to sift through so many companies and individuals.

Pros

Easy to use online booking with good features and good mobile app.

Cons

Price point is a little higher than competitors.

Pros

The ease it provides allowing me to schedule my most important appointments.

Cons

If someone does not use my specific link, they find it difficult to get to my scheduler.

Pros

Vagaro fits our needs for our spray tanning and teeth whitening business. Very user friendly and improvements are always being made. Customer service is excellent.

Cons

On a few rare occasions over the past 4 years that Vagaro has gone down during business hours, it completely disables our business. Can't see the calendar or check out clients.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

Switched From

Pros

I love how streamlined it has become in my work/life balance. It's almost like my boss dictating when I can or cannot have the day off. It just helps in many ways with me mapping out my day and as a big plus I can link it with my Apple Watch.

Cons

Honestly I'll need a while to think about if I had any complaints in the past but for now I'm just gonna enjoy my experience.

Pros

Vagaro's customer service chat option is FABULOUS. If ever I don't know how to use something, I get the answers I need right away in the chat. Either through the chat bot, or with live agents. Makes it so easy to learn how to use.

Cons

I'd like to see Vagaro build out their Website templates more, and email communications options to be more targeted. We need to be able to customize lists, and build nicer-looking newsletter templates.Also, I thought Vagaro would be a good way to get more referrals, but it has not proved to be.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Pros

All of the features that are specific to the beauty industry. Makes running my small business easy when it comes to tracking sales, scheduling, client communications, point of sale, as well as taxes.

Cons

Client communications was a little too much to customize. In some ways I appreciate the customization and in other ways I wish it was a little more simplified.

Pros

online booking system, and robust management tools for businesses of all sizes.

Cons

Vagaro's pricing structure can be perceived as a bit complex

Pros

Vagaro had good functions that in theory allowed you to calculate employee pay using a combination of commission pay and flat rates which is useful because we run a personal training studio where trainers make a % of 1 on 1 sessions and a flat rate for group classes.

Cons

There are so many bugs and glitches that it's very hard to actually use the software. All 3 of the employees that I tried to on-board to their payroll software had serious issues that took over a week to resolve.

Furthermore their support team was unable to help us successfully run payroll after trying for over two months.

Pros

Initially, we needed to track our customers packages, gift cards, and appointments. Scheduling, reminders and forms for services were also an important feature.

Cons

We are required by our insurance company to have forms for each service and forms have been an issue by not sending out to customers, saying they are filled out when they are not. Additionally, the marketing campaign feature (emails/text) does not provide you with correct data. What they say will be "Announced" does not match what was processed and text messages are sent DAYS after it was announced. Additionally, customers are missing from the email/text campaigns and Vagaro says that to account for any missing customers that would be an "enhancement". Reallyyyyy, what is processed versus delivered/failed do not match and there are missing customers and that is considered an enhancement. Additionally, you have to submit a ticket to determine what happened and if they don't research it with a 7-day window, they respond that they can't research it. We have been going round and round for over 4 months to get these issues resolved. Very disappointed in where this application is going.

Pros

I love the ease of the program and that it is availbe easily by mobile app.

Cons

Extra fees for text marketing, website builder etc.

Pros

It's easy to use. I like changing the colors for the season and having a pretty calendar. I love that my clients can book , fill our forms and pay online. It cuts down on printing costs and calls or texts outside of hours. It is so convenient for them!

Cons

There occasionally has been a glitch and clients have been able to book during hours I've had blocked off.

Pros

This system has a base which is amazing and you have the ability to add things to it to complete everything you could ever need from start to finish. It is very simple and user friendly for clients. Clients being able to access appointment making any day and any time when they think of it. The reminder system is worth its weight in gold. The POS and Credit Card transactions capabilities added to your system complete the perfect package. As a new business and nervous about handling all aspects of the business as seamlessly as possible this checks ALL the boxes!

Cons

There is NOTHING we do not love. It is efficient and easy to use.

Pros

agaro’s user-friendly interface and robust scheduling tools make managing appointments effortless, and the automated reminders help reduce no-shows significantly.

Cons

Vagaro's reporting features can be complex to navigate, and the customer support response times can be slow at times.

Pros

I enjoy vagaro as an easy way to book and keep track of events and appointments for my services.

Cons

I do not like that sometimes clients do not like to use the internet and book directly for convenience.

Pros

Super easy to schedule an appointment and build a schedule around.

Cons

A bit cumbersome to find a vendor by name and location. Also, the bookmarks tab is buried.

Pros

Online payments and membership renewals are the most beneficial things for me and have increased my revenue!

Cons

My members without auto renewal do not consistently get emails of membership expiring. I do not know if it is the difference of their online submission versus me checking them out or invoicing them.

Pros

It sends bulk promotional or announcement emails to customers in a single click.

Cons

It is slow and has an inability to customize new client email

Pros

It does the bare minimum of allowing you to book appointments and allows clients to schedule online as well.

Cons

Horrible customer service that does not care about the business. All they do is give you links to articles on their customer support page and take days, sometimes even weeks to respond to you regarding ongoing issues. Customers are able to upload their DEBIT card to their payment method on file, meaning if there are insufficient funds on the card, you can't charge them a late cancellation fee. Vagaro will randomly delete client profiles, but keep their appointments, so when you go to check them out you actually have to delete the appointment altogether and re-add them to the database. This means you will lose all the client's info as well as credit card info. They have a no-refund policy, so don't count on them to be willing to compensate you for significant financial losses due to their incredibly glitchy and poorly designed software.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Pros

What I liked most about Vagaro was that I can add employees under me easily. It was easy to set up and get my business moving.

Cons

I was very disappointed that Vagaro was not integrated with my Google page. It was very difficult to switch from Square to Vagaro because of this. When clients would book appointments, it would go to my Square Appointment Setter because Vagaro would not integrate with Goodgle, which was so odd to me. Also, the monthly payments for an app that doesn’t integrate with Google Business is way too high. As a small business owner it’s very important that we cut corners every which way we can; and I think that the people who decided to charge what Vagaro charges did not have the customer in mind when deciding, just maybe their profit. In the end I had to leave Vagaro because I found a cheaper app that intergraded very well with my Google Business. I have reached out and complained to them about this but got nowhere.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Pros

Not sure how I feel about it. I have completely mixed views. I signed up for a trial period, when I thought my business would be opening in May, It is now September and I am about to open. The trial period, did not let me obviously try the debit card or payment options. Then from my understanding if you didn't click to continue the trial period, you were no longer getting the service. Yet I am being asked to pay $40.00, $35.00 plus a late fee, for service used in June. But my trial period was end of May to June, so this put me off. THEN they locked me out of my account and are asking me to pay a past due balance of $40.00 but what will happen then, that's just to unlock my account and then are they going to charge me for what more months of NON -USAGE. I sent emails but they bounced back with literally, we've detected key words in your email that this filter system won't allow anyone to respond to. Now imagine if I were up and running and this happened? When I was using the trail period, here is what I somewhat liked:
The landing page
The reminders although I felt like the customer emails were lacking in personal touch and were standard, and seemed very automated to me and "cold." I couldn't figure out how to personalize it. Then the location was neat, but again. The email reminders were a little one liner, reminder but something about them felt off putting. Not sure, I did find the landing page creation challenging but nonetheless they give you a landing page. The add ons are expensive so for a software all of a sudden you can come up to over $200 I get it, but why is there nothing for a start up, entrepreneur? The $50.00 program seemed ideal and overall it seems like a good software but this $40.00 is absolutely offputting to me, so if I pay them and still can't access my account, they would have gained $40.00 for me for after a trial period where I was not using the program? So I don't know. BUT i do suggest doing the trial period. I 've done several with some others and so far, nothing seems to be wowing me or they're way to expensive for my start up.

Cons

Their capacity to shut your account down if there is a missed payment. Imagine running a business and that happens.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Pros

Scheduling was easy for me to use, but it was extremely hard for my clients. There were constant technical issues. The only decent thing about vagaro was their accuracy in generating reports.

Cons

They are super expensive for what you get, TONS of technical issues, their customer service denies tech issues, their website integration is expensive and doesn’t even function very well for what you get. Design options are limited. At least 1 in 3 clients complained DAILY to me about technical issues, not being able to see their appointments, change them, or get notifications. Also sometimes appointments would show that weren’t available so two people would book the same spot, or no one would be able to book at all and the spot would go unfilled. Honestly this app was terrible in my opinion and I would not recommend.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Pros

Vagaro looks great on the surface because they dedicate a tremendous amount of resources to SEO and inflating reviews.

Cons

Unnecessary steps for us and for clinets. Awful support. Non-refundable equipment. Booking integrations doesn't work. List goes on

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Pros

easy to use, affordable, visually appealing

Cons

very very very basic software. not many robust features that most booking software companies already have. automated text messaging to fill last minute appointments is a must yet not available. reporting features very basic and unusable.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Pros

All in one solutions for selfcare with easy user interface, robust for managing appointments, class, staff, scheduling.

Cons

The landing is little bit slow, with the service offered if there is gif of service even in small size will be great.

Pros

pretty straightforward to setup - the onboarding was weird bc they wouldn't allow multiple stakeholders to attend the onboarding meeting from multiple accounts?

Cons

You should carefully decide whether you want to support Vagaro - here's why.

The #1 reason we initially were looking at integrating Vagaro into our business was seamless bookings.

They offer a pretty robust backend that makes it easy to add products/services and schedule them to a calendar.

Unfortunately, if you want a very frictionless experience for your potential customers to book an appointment, there is a dangerous trade-off.

#1: where your reviews live

Vagaro's software prominently highlights / promotes leaving reviews on THEIR platform, which in the end benefits Vagaro's landing pages (which they rank on Google for local services, then they promote your competitors to that platform)

#2 if you want to direct link to specific services or products you sell with a booking widget, you can't do that on your own website. You have to generate a link and send people to Vagaro.com

This is problematic because now your potential customer/client is on a website which advertises your competitors.

Pros

Initially, I thought this was going to be our all in one software. I looked at about 15 alternates and decided to choose Vagaro, despite it being a bit slower to operate than others, a clunky UI, and some missing features. Overall, I thought it had what I needed.

Cons

Where do I start..? I’m going to cover their main issue. The application is extremely unreliable and I cannot trust this application at all. I am very good with technology and report analysis. I have pulled various reports out of Vagaro that reflect completely inaccurate information, including their payroll reports. The gross pay amounts change each time you refresh the page - not kidding. My commissioned employees clock in and out and their hours are not reflected on the payroll report, causing state taxes to be underpaid and putting my business at risk. Don’t bother reaching out to customer support because they will shrug it off as a non-issue and claim you are operating things incorrectly. They’ll tell you that a feature request will be submitted on your behalf. Falls on deaf ears. Unreal. UI - The application frequently freezes up, screens lock you into a window, forcing you to refresh the page, losing all information contained. Setup - limited capabilities here so this will work fine if you are a basic salon. If you have any intricacies at all, don’t bother.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Pros

The features just blow me away. I could spend a year implementing all the options and still get more. The customer service team is sensational and always there.

Cons

Just learning all the options to handle for customer/clientele management. There is a lot to learn with the Vagaro product. It takes time to absorb it all, but it is definitely worth it or I would not be still with them years later. I am proud to say I use their service to not only you but my clients.

Pros

Ease of use, consistency of good customer service and added features

Cons

High email/text marketing costs, high rates to process payments, inability to credit/rollover unused portion of marketing plan ( ie. if I pay for 5k emails and only use 2k, it would be nice to allow rollover of unused portion) Especially due to the fact that there have been many glitches or unexplained sends that were not actually sent!! We have so much wasted money due to this

Pros

Ease of use and affordability! Also, HIPAA compliance, inventory tracking, & online booking! This is THE program that holds our clinic together and allows us to continue to operate effectively.

Cons

Sometimes, it doesn’t connect well through our WiFi firewall for some reason, but it’s easy enough to hotspot for access if/when this happens.

Pros

Very easy to use to book appointments abs send reminders automatically

Cons

It doesn’t tell you who canceled when they cancel

Pros

Vagaro's appointment scheduling and inventory management features are top-notch. It's easy to use and has streamlined my business operations.

Cons

I wish Vagaro had more customizable reporting options and better customer support. Sometimes it feels a bit limited in that aspect.

Pros

Setting up the system and adding employees was relatively easy and straightforward and scheduling appointments was user-friendly. The platform offered automated reminders and email notifications, which helped with client communication.

Cons

There are some technical problems that impacted clients to struggle to interact with the system.

Pros

Really like that I can have a different room for each service and it is easy to use

Cons

Don't like that there are not better notifications for waitlist. Don't like how weird it is to find our Merchant details each month. The look of it could just be better somehow.

Pros

I wanted to use it for the scheduler and payment processing.

Cons

The credit card processor did not connect well to multiple devices, and so I cancelled it. I actually had to pay for the CC processor, but when I went to cancel Vagaro they still forced me to pay another $100 for a "free" CC processor, even though I paid for it. Very frustrating and the support was not good. DO NOT use this application. Its very scammy.

Pros

I like the ease with which customers can get text verification and book with just a few clicks on their mobile app. I also like the fact that their email system can successfully send emails. It's the best feature product that can be fairly easily customized.

Cons

There really isn't a downside to not getting help from the tutorial video. I liked everything that was totally fine

Pros

It looks great. I switched from a different EHR because this looked like it had more options, better options.

Cons

You can't fully set up your profile until you migrate you information over. Once you do that, you cannot do it again, so if you are continuing to use your old software while to get Vagaro setup, you can't update it again later. If you cancel, they continue to charge you, even if aren't using it, or can't use it. The promise features that are still in development, so when you try to incorporate them, you're told they are not available yet. Just offer a good product and and let people leave if it doesn't work. Charging on the front end before you get set up, and charge them again when they try and leave, just so annoying!

Pros

Not much, constant complaints on the online booking, outages, fake reviews

Cons

Arrogant, rude, will not fake plant reviews, I don't want reviews period. I trust Google for my reviews, not some podunk reviews from plant clients.

Pros

How they help you set up. That's about it

Cons

How of a month of using Vagaro no one has helped me get my cc payments in the app. Customer service tech support is incapable of any help. I feel frustrated no one has helped

Pros

I pretty much like everything about Vagaro. The software is very easy to use and even if you get stuck, Vagaro has a university where you can take a class on how to use Vagaro or a specific task you're trying to perform.
I find that the price was well within my budget for a software program that has all of what you need to build a successful business compared to other programs.

Cons

I think the thing I like least about Vagaro is the fact that the add-on functions cost extra. To feature your business on Vagaro, its an extra fee, and also it's extra to develop a form, it's the little extra fees that really adds up, especially when your building your business.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Pros

Vagaro offers incredible value for the money. With affordable pricing plans and a wealth of features included in each, it's a cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes. You get more bang for your buck with Vagaro compared to other platforms.

Cons

Have not encountered any cons so far, everything has been very smooth

Pros

It has been very Affordable and hence it was a good choice for us.

Cons

Our practice needed more features than what it had to offer. it worked great for the last few years but we have grown out of their space which i think they are working on expanding. They have been great overall. Would definitely recommend it.

Pros

It is easy to set up and implement. Existing customers adapted to using it quickly and new customers love to be able to do everything from a phone.

Cons

I currently have no complaints about this system. It achieves everything I need it to.