Phorest Reviews

Implementing Phorest has been an excellent experience , so motivating, engaging & professional

Comments: Phorest provides everything you need for Cilent engagement and retention including email/SMS marketing; and a loyalty program via automated reach out to clients who are in danger of lapsing plus full social media integration. In addition, I can effortlessly manage appointments, stock, rosters plus get a suite of reports on all areas of my clinic

Pros:

I had researched various clinic software , but Phorest to date has exceeded my expectations . To highlight my favourite feature ,the software simplifies Cilent engagement & retention , in a way clients feel valued & special - text emails etc . This automated reach out to Cilents is such a time saving feature. I do like the loyalty scheme feature this I feel will support further growth together with the intervertebral social media marketing . I like that the software has centralised stock ,staff Cilent and clinic management . The stock management feature is an excellent tool to save time in creating orders plus provides me with a suite of reports on all areas of your my clinic . The Phorest Go app is very useful & when I was setting up the Phorest team gave me lots of useful easy tips to ensure I receive and utilise all its key features . I starting the wonder how we managed before we installed Phorest !

Cons:

One feature that is missing but I am aware it's a work in progress is Cilent consultation sheets , consent forms . & the storage of notes , Phorest is an excellent piece of soft ware but it does tend to be more salon orientated but I feel Phorest recognise the need to incorporate a support package more suitable to clinic . The training sessions I feel would be much more beneficial in smaller groups . With Phorest there does appear to be a lot of add ons to your original purchase price and monthly fee but hopefully as phorest's software encourages growth & Cilent retention these will be an investment .

Very Happy

Comments: I am very happy to have signed up to Phorest. The members of the Phorest Team I have dealt with over the phone have been extremely helpful and respectful of my needs with my business and I think the Software itself is fantastic. Would definitely recommend.

Pros:

I own a small salon with myself as the only staff member so I use Phorest in the capacity that I require. It is super easy to navigate...has many many features that work around your business and it seems that everything to grow and support your business is covered by clicks of a button. The fact that you can so easily personalise your settings/marketing tools in the Phorest program to me is very much a standout feature.

Cons:

I really like this software and it's features.

Unprofessional Company with hidden charges and poor data management

Comments: I have had this software for over 5 years and they are only interested in how they can make more money out of their clients. They charge inflated prices for simple things and hide the charges so you aren't aware of them. They introduce new features which sound great but in reality don't work and then charge you a higher subscription for their software for the new features when don't work. For example they introduced a feature called client reconnect which is supposed to text clients when they are overdue their appointment but it just doesn't work, yet they charge an extra £40/month for it. Also if you have multiple sites, none of their reports or stock inventory work across multiple locations so you have to go into each location to run reports or get stock information which is very time consuming. It also doesn't link into any other software or marketing software so you have to do work arounds and manual exports if you want to use your client data in facebook or email marketing. The email and text marketing within Phorest is expensive and poor quality compared to industry specific software so another downside to Phorest. There are many much superior softwares available that are cheaper, easier to run and integrate easier into other business softwares. Having stuck with Phorest for over 5 years now I wish I had made a move to better software years ago.

Pros:

The appointment diary is simple and visual but basic. There is an online reputation manager which helps you manage your online reviews but now I have seen what other systems can do I think it is basic and its only available when you are on their most expensive package.

Cons:

The company has hidden charges which they deduct at source so you can't see them or audit them. They consistently over charge and apply higher charges to bills than your original contract and insist on payment by direct debit so its not easy to detect them. They manipulate your data without knowledge or consent, for example they opted many of my clients out of being able to receive marketing information without my knowledge, I only discovered by accident and it turned out to have been an issue in their software which they denied to begin with but then had to admit it was their fault. I have no idea if they corrected the fault just with my account or whether other customers who have been affected but are still in the dark. A few years ago they made a major to how their online booking system worked, but didn't inform any of their clients so all our online bookings on our website went down and again it took a few weeks for them to admit the mistake was theirs, but it still cost me thousands with my website developer to re-design my website to overcome their change which is incredibly poor change management and poor knowledge of their customers and how they use the software.

The best software ever!

Comments: Always brilliant, always efficient and never disappointed.
The system really is way ahead of any others on the market. It offers everything a business in the beauty industry would need and more.

Pros:

The ease of it and the reporting is excellent. It is a simple, yet really efficient system, and does everything I need for my business. I like the fact that the brand is honest, and doesn't rip people off to get a decent system, yet offers payment programmes to enable a business to be able to afford the best system within the industry. Everything about it is brilliant.

Cons:

Nothing really. Cant say I have got any cons. Anything I have suggested or requested on user voice has been implemented. The only thing I have ever found disappointing, was the tone of whoever was responding on user voice. They seemed more technical than customer focused, and came across rude and actually a bit obnoxious in their replies, which is very unlike the Phorest communication you normally give.

It's very "blonde" Friendly

Pros:

It is a very straight forward to use and most definitely better/easier than any other system I used over the years. The team are so friendly /helpful.. you can be very tired at the end of a 10-12 hour day and maybe your cash up isn't going to plan. I've called the support team with such silly questions, if I can't figure out something from pure tiredness and I'm always treated with such politeness/and I'm not felt in any way that I have annoyed anyone. I also love all the reports, available to me. Just to be able to see how some staff are doing or product sales or overall takings..

Cons:

I'd love to see more of an easier approach to showing if the client was new or old when they check in, and also if they have had a patch test with us or not, especially for hd brows and waxing. (I'm saying that maybe there is something that's as clear as day but I've just never been shown how to do this)

Bowled over by this system after 23 yrs of pencil & paper bookings. Glad I made the leap to Phorest

Comments: Professionalism and accuracy along with lots of feature just starting to enjoy.

Pros:

The speed I can make bookings and changes. Clear, straight forward screens, easily understandable and visible. Great marketing features which I know will bring big changes to our salon. Great staff reports showing clear results of sales, targets and utilisation - a real help for one-to-ones. Appointment reminders and email marketing are a great feature which I am enjoing learning to use. Can wait for all the positive changes Phorest will bring our salon.

Cons:

One or two niggly things on the screen but all about personal preference. I'd like a time scale on both sides of the page, and the hours to be shown in bold with the quarter past half past and quarter to in normal size. When I make a few selections of treatments for a client and she changes her mind the timings don't automatically bunch together - for example if the client selected an hour treatment followed by a half hour treatment the system would say book 3pm for the first and 4 pm for the second, but if the client then changed her mind with the first treatment and changed it to a half hour treatment the system keeps 3pm for the first appointment but leaves the second appointment at 4pm whereas it should automatically shift it up to 3.30pm. The only other thing we'd like is a page down button on the key board - out laptop isn't touch screen and the mouse is only a pad - it is difficult to slid up and down the page while holding a phone in one hand!

Easy to use, amazing after sales team

Comments: I was recommended by a customer of mine who loved their system. I called the number listed on the website 3 times with no answer and no answer machine facility. I then filled in a contact form and someone (Brian I think!) called me straight away and apologised for the phone technical issues, they explained everything really well to me and I felt that this was the right system for me and loved the philosophy of "Let's Grow." I booked an appointment to meet with a sales rep. When the rep came, I felt a little disappointed, he wasn't really that friendly and I felt like he sped through some of the features. A few of the questions I asked he answered with "the trainer will show you that on the day" which wasn't really what I wanted to hear when I was debating wether or not to spend a lot of money on a system. I asked if I could apply a 25% discount to group of customers that have used me for 10 years and I was told "No, you'll have to do that manually for each one, each visit" (the technician today laughed and told me of course I could :) ) When I saw my customer I told her about my bad experience and she convinced me to try again (so you need to thank her- (Tej & Co)) and said she'd had nothing but good experiences, so I decided to give it another go. The technician Dave who came out to me today was amazing, really friendly and so helpful, answered all my questions and went out of his way to give me contact details and then help me again at 7.30pm to set up my home computer. He is a real credit to your company! Everybody else that I've spoken to either over the phone or via email have been great, responding quickly to everything and again really friendly but professional. I haven't heard from the rep since the day I paid my deposit, and I feel like that says it all. I never write reviews (least of all bad ones!) but I truly believe that without that recommendation or your other staff I wouldn't have come on board with Phorest, and that would have been a massive shame- I've only had it 12 hours and I love it!

Outstanding

Comments: Phorest was easy to deal with from the word go - down to earth, understanding, and trustworthy. I suffer from learning disabilities and Phorest staff are so patient with me and really help me to understand anything I need. They are right there for me even down to the stupid things like how do I open something. Or where to find something. This was a big step for me and Phorest made it so easy. It's so good I tell everyone about it. I love it and to know I have it makes me proud.

Pros:

I like that the software is easy to use, nice and bright, colourful, and it changes all the time. I love how it saves looking at the same screen all the time, and Phorest listens to the client base and changes things when they need to which I think is just amazing.

Cons:

I don't like the fact that there our little bits in each section so you have to really search for some things to find what you want. And I don't like that it doesn't come with a spell check as this would be so helpful.

This Software Rocks!

Comments: Its been a fantastic transition from MINDBODY software to PHOREST . The Team at Phorest is nothing short of brilliant.
I Just want to share Two things. 1 the software 2 The support.
1. I have been using Mindbody for over a year. I have a medium size staff of 6 stylist in total and depend on a full management software to manage my small salon.
Honestly you cannot even compare the software, Phorest is way more complete, and is made for the hair industry. It works so well, No bugs. The software never crashes. It works smoothly.
Its really simple and easy to navigate, book appointments , run reports.
I wish I had found the software ages ago! My old software was crashing and full of bugs, constantly on the phone trying to fix an issue on the site that was the software.
They have amazing social media integration. Marketing is all worked into the software, and very easy to use. They have great email campaigns all built in.
Well I could write a full page here but will move quickly to point 2.
2 The service and support is amazing, we have had ongoing training for all our staff, If we are stuck on any difficulty amazing support is just a call away.
I Am looking forward to making full use of this powerful tool in my Salon, and looking forward to growing my business with Phorest.
Thanks to Daniel , Shane, Barbara, Martha Helen And all the guys at Phorest for all the help support and training. Looking forward to growing with Phorest.
Matthew Jonathan

Pros:

Easy to use. A complete system. Great support

Cons:

None

Good Software but it can be better

Pros:

easy to use , one of the best software in the market , support team is great , cost effective , upgrade with new feature and improvement is always a plus .

Cons:

few general things are missing , it is always good to wok on big improvements but its also important to work on few general things too for example Paymentmate software from phorest needs to be released Please bring reprint receipt option on appointment page Please add currency calculater on cash up user voice needs to be redesign

Bait and Switch

Comments: Needless to say, we are looking at other systems and will be cancelling as soon as possible.

Pros:

Roster works well. Appointments scheduling

Cons:

Too many reports that are too complex and not user-friendly. It looks like they have no idea of what is needed for back-office reporting in a salon. Payroll download to CSV with useless information, data not in any logical order, and it reads top to bottom instead of left to right which is how most systems work. There are differences between the desktop and web applications as far as functionality, so I find myself toggling between the 2 to get the information I need. And most importantly, there was not honest full disclosure from sales on what was included AND that we would be locked into a 1-year contract that will be automatically renewed unless you give no less than 2 months notification in writing to cancel. Most systems do not have a contract. Be careful of the SMS texts and what is included versus extra. Things that are included in most other systems are extra with Phorest. On multiple occasions we had to reach out to get a function added that we should have had from the beginning. Each time I try to get do something and I use the help function, go to our system and we don't have the functionality that their instructions give.

Only good as a diary- old fashioned software

Comments: Disappointed with the software.

Pros:

Great diary features, staff rostering also quite good.

Cons:

Useless for marketing, their ‘upgraded’ marketing suite is frustrating and not at all user friendly. Take hours to produce a simple newsletter it’s not worth using, and if you want to save a draft to re visit later, good luck trying to find it. Customer service don’t really want you to call, so I’ve just been cut off again. They do answer support tickets but on another day, so it’s all a bit slow, and if you’re a busy salon, it’s not the best.

Good software

Pros:

The support team are brilliant and always happy to support and help where they can. Customer service excellent too. I like that its iCloud based . I like the reports too when they work!!

Cons:

We can not book colour online because we can't book across three chairs !! Was promised we would be able to do this in the sales pitch - yet to happen and have resigned myself to accepting that it wont work as I don't think there is a way for it to happen. We are very happy we moved over to Phorest anyway and 4 years on, we like it and have just purchased another license for you new salon ( so it cant be bad!! )

Very basic, would not recommend for large operations

Comments: a very basic system, not quite what I would like in the busy spa

Pros:

Easy to use for staff and good visually.

Cons:

quite limited with reporting, cant store credit card details, can have only one confirmation email and can't re-send it.

It is a good software, easy to use and quick.

Pros:

The automated reach out to Cilents is such a time saving feature. I do like the loyalty scheme feature this I feel will support further growth together with the intervertebral social media marketing.

Cons:

The training sessions I feel would be much more beneficial in smaller groups. With Phorest there does appear to be a lot of add ons to your original purchase price and monthly fee but hopefully as phorest's software encourages growth & Cilent retention these will be an investment.

Phorest software

Comments: I looked at lots of systems and Phorest was one of the first but I was apprehensive at paying the initial outlay especially as I had already used a system for a couple of months which didn't work for me. I trialled a few different systems but nothing fitted right with me so I re-visited Phorest and it looked amazing. I took the plunge and at the training I kept saying "I can't believe how easy this is to use" Honestly I can't believe how much time I wasted looking at other systems. All I can say is you get what you pay for. Phorest is easy to use, it does everything apart from making your patients tea and coffee! It works on iPads, iPhones, the training is excellent and company support is amazing, they really want to work with you and grow your business. It only lost one star as we can't go totally paperless at present but I know they are looking into this. Best decision I have made and it is so professional.

Pros:

Easy to use and easy on the eye Lots of reports Text and email templates or make your own Stock taking I love everything about it actually!

Cons:

Will be good to be able to go totally paperless at some point but I know this will come to the future

Everyone has been really helpful, efficient and really supportive helping me set up my new software.

Comments: I'm really hoping it is going to help me boost by business reputation online and bring in new business and help with retaining existing clients and turn them into loyal regular clients.

Pros:

Its really user friendly. The staff have been amazing and genuinely want to help me grow my business and do well. Love that you can link all your reviews in one place and monitor them. so much easier. Also love all stock is easily managed and the Treatcards are a great idea that my clients are really excited to get involved in. Also cannot wait to be able to use my salon app.

Cons:

That its web based... I think its a real downside. But so far its only downside. Possibly would be good to be able to do more on Phorest Go! I do alot from home on my day off and it would be great to be able to see a little more on my phone/tablet rather than having to purchase another computer for home or bring my work computer home.

Helpful system that is easy to use.

Comments: A basic ability to manage my clients and have good records for historical that is easily accessible.

Pros:

Simple and easy to use. A good way to monitor what is going on. It is easy to manage appointments. The support team is always on hand to support and advise with any potential issues that may arise.

Cons:

Tricky having the initial training before the software was installed in the Salon. So some of the functionality that exists around permissions and betters ways of using the system was hard to take in at the time.

Ehhhh

Pros:

Wonderful if you have multiple locations. Constantly getting updated, and can be used on multiple platforms!

Cons:

The marketing is inferior, difficult to share reviews, difficult to modify existing prices and services

I have only been using the software for a week now and already I am noticing big changes to my salon

Comments: This software has given me control of my salon as I don't work in the salon, I know what is going on and able to keep on top of my business.

Pros:

Easy to use and navigate around, the various colours kinda personalise the calendar but still makes it very user friendly. I did not margin for the ongoing training offered by Phorest at my convenience , I expected to be able to get hold of someone when I want for any issues that I come across and I have not been disappointed thus far. I was a little dubious about the monthly price of the software package but now I am seeing that its good value for my hard earn cash. I hope this continue but so far I have no reason to think otherwise. I am looking forward to a long and prosperous working relationship with Phorest. Phorest you rock.

The Crem de la Crem of Salon Software

Comments: Overall Impression:
I have been a customer of Phorest for the past 4 years, over that time I've seen the software improve and evolve with the needs of busy salon owners. The owners of the company and all of the staff have a real passion for the product, and invest heavily in their time and expertise with any issue Salon Owners have. For the Salon Owners who really want to take control of the day to day running of the salon and have ambitious plans to grow then Phorest is a worth while investment. Also know that Ronan and his team are not sitting at home enjoying there product, they are innovating and improving on a regular basis. Pros - Cloud Based, Support is excellent, they offer outstanding training and customer service, they listen to their customers with User Voice, and they genuinely care about your business. Business Blogs with Guest speakers is great. Cons - It's hard to find a con, I look at the software with 2 eyes, from a Salon owner who uses it and a Salon Owner Accountant who recommends it. If I have a con I know I can send an Email to Ronan, and we will discuss it, usually find a solution within the software it's self or we'll start to work on it implementing improvements.

We are just commencing but more than happy to update further once I have got used to the software

Comments: I can see straight away there is so many easy to use extra's from what we have previously used.
I will get my head around these over the next few days nd revert back with more positive comments. Your team have also been on point and very good, especially Faelan & Justin. Negatives I want to share: - Online bookings deducting £1.50 per appointment!! If 100 bookings a month it is £150 a month which is a huge hit to my bottom line. Based on my previous software company there was no charge and most of my booking made over night too, so in my eyes I am concerned about this. almost £2000 a year! - Bookouts drop down menu- These are far more complex and long winded than the previous system i used, I showed Faelan how easy it was on my previous software and even though they are far behind you guys, there was a few things like this that were far easier. - Visual and easy on the eye. Again you can't see the whole name of the client so when they enter the salon you need to hover over each client to find out who they are. Also the flag icon and additional icons cover the name which i think could be a lot cleaner. Again i showed this to Faelan.

We are enjoying the reports and watching our business grow. The training has been helpful for us.

Pros:

The clients scheduling is awesome. It's very easy to use and manage. Client cards is a great option. We like the fact we can see notes on our calendar screen

Cons:

The thing we like the least is the way confirmations are Handled with the client. We would like a daily report of the clients who've confirmed for their appt and a list of clients to call and confirm for the day. It also would be nice to have a call report the day after appts so we can call each client and see how their Appt was. At this point, we are only calling clients who haven't submitted a review. We believe if they've submitted a 5 Star review they are very happy and no need to call.

Impossible to get lost in this Phorest.

Comments: Every point of contact with the Phorest team is done with ease and professionalism. I am delighted with the software and impressed with the customer care.

Pros:

It is so easy to use and makes the the most tedious reports easier to understand and control. Make my job as Manager easier.

Cons:

Haven't found a flaw yet!!

The best in the business!

Comments: Have been using Phorest for the past couple of months now and I must say, it's definitely the best salon software we've used to date, we've had to kiss a few frogs before we found our prince but Phorest is definitely worth the investment and it's been onwards and upwards since we started using it with the help of their excellent support team.

Pros:

Ease of use, friendly navigation, great customer support. It's like having an in-house marketing team it's so simple to activate the in-built marketing functions.

Cons:

The price is a little punchy when comparing the market, but once you've spent some time using it and the team become adept at unleashing its full potential, the value is evident.