Tanning Salon Tells Woman She Is Too Fat To Tan

April 24, 2013

When Kelly McGrevey went to Aloha Tanning in Norton, Ohio to catch some UV rays, she was told by the man working there that she was over the weight requirements for the beds.  This especially surprised the Akron woman since she had just been given a tour of the facility, bought a tanning package, and tanned in a stand-up booth just the day before.  There had been no mention to her that she would only be able to tan in the stand-up booth and that there was a 230 pound weight limit for the tanning beds.

As luck would have it, the stand-up booth was being serviced on her second attempt to redeem her tanning package which cost her $70 for a month of tanning.  Upset and feeling discriminated against, McGrevey asked for a refund but was told that Aloha Tanning does not give refunds.

McGrevey says that the employee asked her if she knew how many times he had to replace the acrylic on the beds due to heavy people.  In a follow-up to McGrevey's complaint, yet another employee, named Nicole, stated that Aloha employees discuss the weight limit verbally but there is no policy in writing. She also went on to say that the salon has a lot of heavier people who come in to tan but they know that they cannot use the tanning beds.

Apparently, the verbal policy was not conveyed to McGrevey.  After the refusal to give her a refund, she called the police and filed a report against the salon owner.  She also went to her local media to bring attention to the matter and social media soon caught on and shared her plight.

It should be noted that some salons do have tanning bed weight limits but that policy is usually in writing and shared with the customer prior to completing the sale.

McGrevey has no intentions on going back to Aloha Tanning. Due to the negative publicity, the management there has now offered her a refund and another local tanning salon has offered her a free month of tanning.

Update: To read a response from the Aloha Tanning Salon in question, please click here.

What do you think of this story?  Share your voice!