massage therapist

psychologist

mental health technician

licensed clinical social worker

mental health therapist

Zeel

After the Zeel algorithm removed my therapist account from access to the platform, randomly after covid19 without a single warning, message, note, letter, anything, I decided to write this review.

Therapists BEWARE.

Safety, Parking, Massage type, Stairs, Weather, Timing, Traffic, Space, Respect, Lateness, Ratings, Communication.
My bad experience with Zeel pertains to all of the words above and I will explain in detail.

I was hired at the end of 2017 and began applying taking appointments in Westchester County. Very late appointments (8pm-12am) but the payout was $110 of a $140 client cost. Pretty good! There are NO other benefits besides the direct compensation earned and distributed weekly (The usual independent contracting gig).

I was *safe, parked in a driveway of a house, and most of the time had an easy, no hassle, straight forward Swedish - light to medium pressure massage with only occasional *stairs. The *weather was nice. I had ample *time to get to the appointments and I skipped past all the *traffic after hours.

The clients had a lot of *space for my table and for me to move around, *respectful of my time, *pleasant and *rated me accordingly. Not to brag but I had *all 5 star reviews except 1.

Checking in and out and charging were all done through an app and easy as sliding your finger.
I did about *1-2 appointments per day, 3-4 days per week. It was a pleasant, rewarding experience.

**During this period Zeel raised the client massage to $164 without telling us to which I found out one day while checking out the client and seeing the invoice.

In 2019 I moved closer to NYC and wanted to make zeel my *full time job. I wanted to take advantage of this one opportunity to make the money I was willing to work for.

Now I was doing Zeel *full time, 3-5 appointments per day, 3-4x per week.
Payout in the city was $125 per appointment. It was possible to do 5-8 appointments on a Saturday or Sunday. The weekdays were slower but always had work after hours.

*Public transportation was very unreliable for me personally so I chose to drive instead.

You have to be *close to your car since an appointment notification could come in at any time. Using a garage or being any amount of time away is a disadvantage. Zeel could approve or deny your request to the massage at the last minute, so if you don’t want to run back and forth you must be near your car, preferably *in the car. This saves you from the *parking tickets also because you’re gonna be illegally parked if you’re moving around the city all day.

Which brings me to, the *algorithm assigns the massages to therapists. The person who can begin the appointment at the earliest time is usually granted the massage. I spent most of the time *stressed out and *rushing.

If you are running behind in time it affects everything; parking, intake with client, setup, your next massage, etc.
I was *late to several appointments. The clients were very pleased to hear that I would honor the late time by adding the that time to their massage at no additional cost (Eg: if 10min late I would add 10min to their original massage time).

At the end of the day, it will reflect on your *ratings if you’re late FOR ANY REASON. Not to mention you are not only behind the original late time but also the extra time you gave the client just to pacify them so they will not be spiteful and give you a lower rating than you deserve.

The lower your ratings, the more you’ll have to settle for the *inconvenient and *farther away appointments because the convenient massages are rewarded to higher rated therapists when they apply.

I mostly *parked on fire hydrants because of *traffic leaving little *time leftover to circle around. I’d only been *towed once but it was nerve-racking.

Since I spent a lot of the time waiting for appointments in my car, I was exposed to the *weather. Sometimes freezing my toes and fingers off or sweating in a hellish sauna.

A Zeel rep told me we could not ask for the clients to change their thermostats. For the client, body temperature drops, so whether winter or summer, you’re bound to be uncomfortably hot. The summer season affected me tremendously.

One massage I boiled over and almost had a *heat stroke. I politely asked the client if I could have ice and quietly sat on the floor of their bathroom until I wasn’t light headed. After the massage they went to hand me a cash tip but I could not accept.

The clients were very down to earth in the city but not aware of my time or effort. A lot of them used the massage as a *massage ‘lesson’; wanting to know how much academia I had and my qualifications. That or for *venting.

My appointments were almost all *deep tissue or sports massages despite their official zeel request (many times showed up to a Swedish massage at 12am, last night appointment to be surprised they wanted ‘DEEP’ pressure anyway).
There was a sense of wanting to get the ‘most for their buck’; requesting such unnecessary pressure because it would be ‘more effective’ and ‘worth’ the value.

I climbed *stairs half of the time in places like Harlem and the villages in lower Manhattan which were popular (I have climbed up to 6 flights of stairs for one deep tissue appointment. On the way down I just let the table slide itself...) Yes the client has the option to warn you for stairs and pets, but sometimes they just... don’t.

*Space was 95% of the time *squeezing  around people’s bedroom or living room furniture, using *bad body mechanics. You would pay for that the next day when you couldn’t even move but it was your day off.

I used my phone as a large clock and for music so I took incoming appointments on an apple watch. It was a juggling act to not disrupt the rhythm of the massage.

I feel bad. I would have loved to be in the moment when massaging. Being intuitive and listening with my hands like a massage therapist should do. Relaxed at mind and in my body. Creating a space for them and myself to experience healing.

The truth is I was busy thinking of my car being impounded or ticketed, traffic, weather, rushing to the next appointment, viewing incoming requests on my Apple Watch, hunger, dreading flights of stairs, dreading talkative clients, feeling stiff from bad body mechanics, stressed about ratings, and my future with the company.

This is a little side note; most of the therapists I met while doing occasional couples massages were cold and unfriendly. I wasn’t the only unhappy therapist.

During the time I worked for Zeel I experienced 4 major trust and safety issues.

I was never *overseen while at appointments. I could not call zeel if necessary and when I texted zeel their responses were delayed or none at all. Not to mention the few times I forgot to check in and then realized at the end of the massage when I was checking out; they never noticed.

First instance was when a couple at a Mt. Vernon appointment insisted I set up in a certain area of the room. During the massage I realized that they had a baby monitor suspended from the wall nearby and the husband was probably watching me from their bedroom. I walked out annoyed and requested zeel to call me. They never called me, they never followed up.

The second instance was where I was massaging a woman in the Bronx who pulled out her phone and during the massage, started filming me while she was supine. It was so bizarre and I wasn’t prepared on how to handle it. I wanted this to not happen to her next therapist so I told zeel. I really wish notes were available to be seen between therapists in the network. We can be prepared if we know.

They did call me but basically said ‘you could always say you’re not comfortable with that’. The trust and safety team should have mediated that situation immediately. what else do we pay them to do?

The third instance. I Massaged a man in NYC who seemed nice. He asked for the massage to be focused on adductors. Especially the tendons that insert near the groin. This didn’t seem like such a big deal to me. He was an athlete and he described injury.
Fast forward about halfway into the massage I realized he requested to be face down while I massaged his “adductors” because there was definitely something else going on there.

I should have stopped the massage but the reliability rating was held over my head and I was in a predicament, having canceled recently and unable to ‘afford’ another count against me (You are removed from the network after 20% cancellations due to any reason). At the end of the massage, the tell-all was when he said ‘Thanks. You probably didn’t want to do that..’ and went to give me a high five.

The fourth instance was after I moved work locations. A client requested an ‘in HOME’ massage but at a business address. I showed up to a massive, dead and dark parking lot after hours. The only lights were two cars sitting randomly in the lot with their lights on. I said screw it, I’m not doing this and fled. I was boisterous about this to them. It even felt like they ‘heard’ me through our emails. Following week same client requests a massage, same place. They didn’t care.

After that summer Zeel, with no communication again, lowered pay in the tristate area by $10, to $115 out of a now $175/185 client cost.

I moved and began taking appointments in another county. It was much slower and I decided to only work when I wanted and find another job.

The clients in the new county were mainly Hasidic Jewish and were very pleasant comparatively. I showed up to several appointments and the clients would actively cough and sneeze. This was right before covid19.

I did not take any appointments after March 2020. Zeel did not offer any help or resources to us. They did a massive clear out of therapists right before New York State reopened without a word. Imagine showing up to work one day to find out they’ve changed the locks.

And I don’t care. I didn’t lose any sleep over it. I won’t continue massaging as a form of income. I’m free :)

I have been in the Zeel network for about 5 weeks or so now.  I was already very irritated from the first week of being in their system at their oversaturation of therapists.  It seemed not many jobs came through and I was told no to quite a few I bid on.  But then it got MUCH worse....on week 3 or 4 with them, I was turned down for TWELVE bids I put in, which was the only week of the past 5 where I received a LOT of appt requests.  But turned down for nearly every single one, including those when I could get there by the earliest requested time of the client, AND those that were quite close by to me.

But finally today I got the answer to a question I had wondered: Is their system of setting up therapists with jobs FAIR?  Is it really only based on whether or not the client has a preferred therapist (in that case, the appt request is supposedly sent to ONLY THEM at first, and not released to other therapists unless the preferred therapist can't take the job), location, and speed of bid?  I have NOW learned, NO!  They (the company, not the clients) have their OWN list of preferred therapists apparently, applying their OWN bias to who gets jobs, because today, for the first time, a job I bid on was given to another therapist....THIRTY MINUTES after I bid!  Usually the decision is made within 3 minutes tops.  NOT THIS TIME!

Based on this experience, I have to logically conclude that ZEEL, not the CLIENT, was waiting for someone who WAS NOT ME to bid.  Otherwise, after about 5 to 10 mins passed, given the client was still within a relatively reasonable distance from me, I should have been given the job, or someone else who bid fast would have gotten it if they lived closer to the client.  But instead, they kept the client waiting even longer just to give it to someone else who responded after 20 mins, when I responded AS SOON AS the text came in, within ONE minute!  

Obviously, I was the only person who bid within the first couple mins, because otherwise, they would have had more than one option up front on who to give that job to, and the appt would have been assigned in under 5 mins as all the others have been.  It was not.  I waited and waited, wondering what happened....then a full half hour later, get the text it was given to someone else!  CLEARLY they were waiting around for this preferred person....why else would it stay open in the app for SO long?  (Yes, I was watching it on the app too, stay as an "open" appt for nearly half an hour, wondering why it was staying open when I had put in right away I could do it....so no, its not an issue with the text just taking forever to come through....also compared the "sent" time of the text to the "received" time....they matched.  This job did in fact take a half hour to assign).

I am surprised by this way of running their business, because I am brand new with them, but I cannot get more reviews if they fail to give me more clients!  I have only been given FOUR clients by Zeel, one was 3 appts for the same client, because he marked me as preferred and booked 3 appts within 2 weeks time while in my area staying at his vacation home.  But this is after bidding on at LEAST 30 or so possible jobs in the past month plus.  I know for a fact that at least my first 2 Zeel clients rated me very high, one for CERTAIN I know was 5 stars and another I am quite sure was 5 stars.  One client I am unsure of because he ruined his own massage by being quite ill during it, claimed he had eaten too much for bfast right before my arrival....NOT MY FAULT, and I explained to Zeel in detail what happened.  The person who responded to my text seemed encouraging and understanding.  But it was "ironically" that particular week that followed that appt, where I was turned down for TWELVE jobs I bid on....TWELVE!  

I am a great therapist.  If they would give me more jobs, they would quickly see my reviews climb up.  If ONE unreasonable client who got sick on their OWN, OUTSIDE of my control, dragged down my avg out of only 4 reviews, that cannot be helped!!  IT WAS NOT MY FAULT, but I have only been given ONE job I bid on since then.  I know my other 3 clients were very happy because they told me so, they were VERY complimentary, and 2 of them tipped me cash in addition to what they paid Zeel, since Zeel already automatically asks for a 18% gratutity, if someone is tipping more, its not out of obligation, they absolutely ADORED the massage so its above and beyond! I suspect that all 3, besides the sick guy, gave 5 stars, maybe one of them only gave 4, but that is still fabulous.  But if the sick guy gave 2 or 3 or worse yet, only 1 (I do not strongly suspect that but I sure am wondering now!), that would be enough to drag the avg down below 4 stars.

So if you are thinking of working with Zeel in the PHX area, just know, you may not get very much work with them, and they may judge you harshly for one bad or mediocre review even if it is not your fault in any way.  If you are reasonable like me and wanting it to supplement your income, you STILL may be surprised by just HOW little they supplement said income.

And oh yea.  They deceived us with the wording of how tips work in the training/interview process.  That initially bothered me quite a bit when I learned it was worded to make us think we get 100% of the additional tip.  No, you only get the flat base pay they discuss, so if you go to training, pay attention how they word it....I would be interested to know if this deceit is happening in other cities/states with Zeel.

Zeel = joke.  They also took a terrible picture of me and there was NO WARNING that our pics would be taken during what I thought was an interview (it was not, I had already been "hired" I guess, just for applying, it was an orientation....it would be better to give PRACTICAL interviews where you have the therapists perform brief massages and BE MORE PICKY about who you hire UP FRONT so that there is not so much saturation!), so I could be prepared for having my photo taken, if I had known, I would have worn a different colored shirt and a bit of makeup.  I do NOT photograph well.  And the lighting/location was bad.  So on top of everything else, I still wonder....are clients actually doing the final picking based on photos after all?  Because if so, that would also help explain why I am turned down for SO many.  

Obviously, I have been specific enough in the info given in this review for Zeel to figure out who I am.  I want them to know I am more than happy to delete this if things change.  This is 100% honest, so unless something SERIOUSLY changes, therapists in my area need to be warned not to waste their time!

I began working with Zeel in 2018.  Work was slow initially and most clients were evening work with men in their homes who were largely inappropriate.  All handleable.  When I changed my profile picture based on a friends opinion , I stopped getting booked to inappropriate men, which I appreciated.  Zeel provides a profile picture to clients of the therapist booked for the massage, much like a massage parlor that brings out all the ladies you can visually examine, picking who may give you the experience your mind says you would like to have.  Questionable clients are those who request a session that is booked, but then cancel and the request is up again.  Some clients will have their request resurface 5-9 times for a specified period, flagging themselves to any sensible therapist, but not to Zeel.  These are often those people window shopping not for skill, but for a specific look, possibly looking for something inappropriately described as a wellness massage.  

The pay is competitive only if compared to an average or low paying spa.  The difference however is that unlike a spa, Zeel commissions do not accurately factor in commuting time, commuting expense, supply costs.  Actually, spas also don’t do that, but spas are less expensive for employees and independent contracts for the detail of not sitting in traffic between clients, having to do or pay for laundered massage table bedding.  

Zeel has done an awful injustice to the massage industry.  They offer a below average rate for massage therapy which results in a low profit work opportunity for the those whom this becomes a needed source of income for city living.   Often times this works for clients who mirror Zeel’s lack of respect for massage therapists.  

The medical massage Zeel now offers is even worse in some respects, except for the patients with whom therapists are booked.  They are often people with whom it is a pleasure to work with.  This has been the only rewarding aspect of working with Zeel.  The therapist will be responsible for Treatment Plans that must be worded satisfactorily to the Zeel medical massage team.  The therapist must take SOAP notes, which also have to be approved before payment will be issued to the therapist.  If working with multiple medical massage patients (or one to a few), scheduling is entirely the therapists responsibility.  Many medical massage patients do not consider the free treatments they receive to be a luxury that is there regardless, so they can at times be disrespectful when it comes to cancellations, responding to therapist inquiries.  You can literally show up to the door of the patient and if they don’t answer, there is zero compensation for your time, just lost time.  

There is a lot involved in medical massage that isn’t included in their “wellness” sessions, but the pay is the same.  Again, this base pay is not competitive.  It’s absurdly low for a mobile massage therapist.  Most seasoned and skilled people would never bother as they have an established sense of their value.  If skilled and seasoned people do work with Zeel, they also modify the quality of their sessions to reflect the pay received.  

Zeel also offers therapists the opportunity to help understaffed spas.  These all require a paid training session, but not all the paid training sessions are actually paid.  An example I have is going to a new spa the required two hours early for training, but no one at the spa would make time to show me anything.  Zeel opposed me when I asked for the two hour training pay.  There was no discussion, simply my ignored side met by their silence.  

At another spa that I staffed, one that the training was paid on, I learned that the employees themselves were paid more than Zeels independent contractors were paid.  Factoring in an independent contractors higher tax bracket, I voiced my complaint to Zeel and they did respond saying our pay was non-negotiable.  On that note, the non-negotiable pay will be doubled if a Zeel therapist cancels the day of and they are in a crunch to fulfill their contract with the said spa.  That means that Zeel will REDUCE their profit margin to maintain a positive relationship with the spa, offering the emergency therapist a fair compensation.  Zeel still makes a profit.  

Last work opportunity I will critique and reveal to prospective Zeel therapists is that of chair massage.  For chair massage events, Zeel therapists are commissioned approximately 30% of what they charge.  This is low pay and they could pay more, but instead consider that organizing a team of therapists warrants 70% profit.  During chair events, actually FOR ALL WORK with Zeel, there is no real support for therapists.  They offer chat in the app, which a therapist usually has to utilize while driving, but zero phone support.  

In chair events, last minute emergency needs, I have seen the 30% commission normally given be doubled to 60%, meaning Zeel still keeps 40%, income happily kept by a company that does not offer support to their therapists.  

Zeel can be a great company to work for, it gives therapists more work and helps people get more massages. Aside from a few difficult and inappropriate clients, i got along well with the majority of my clients. I stayed pretty busy with zeel, making it my main source of income. I had a high rating and many prioritized clients, and got a large percentage of the work I bid on - I knew there were other people bidding on this same work, and they struggled to get it. But zeel changed a lot over the time I was there. 

I started with zeel pretty early on when they were only in 3 cities. I felt that I could go in person, text, or email if I had an issue and it was resolved or answered at almost any hour. 
Over the years the app started to go downhill with every update. My clients had to get my personal number because the app would only give me 5 minutes to respond if they wanted me specifically, so they’d always text first before requesting me on the app or they’d end up with someone else. After awhile I’d have to message multiple times to get an answer from zeel. A couple times I’d bid for an appointment and they’d keep that pending until it was past the start time - someone forgot to send us the confirmation message, so those people never got a massage. Other times, there was no person on the other side of the app to help me out if something happened at a massage and I needed immediate clarification. I was never in a dangerous situation, but if someone was, it’s concerning to know that sometimes, nobody was there. In the early days they’d have people up until 130am making sure I checked out of an extended latte night appointment. 

The management who was around when I started really put their life into this work. It was an early app, and between developing the client base, therapists, expanding, and making sure everyone was happy, they worked many hours. Tim was the local guy everyone dealt with, and while his light sarcasm wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, he was incredibly approachable, and really cared about people. There were others who worked in the office who fit into the same category (I’m forgetting their names), and they also worked very hard. Well they’re all gone now, between low pay, too many hours, and the company’s expectations for expansion - spas, corporate chair massage etc. - there was no real way for them to meet those desires, and left. 

I worked at spas through zeel too. It ended up being how I made a great deal of my money there. It was a mixed experience. The pay was usually great, I was typically busy, and clients loved my work. At almost every place, there are about 10-20% of the staff who despise you. They think you’re taking your job, the whole staff will have rumors about how much you make, and many complain heavily about zeel. Because you’re not an employee there, the front desk will tell clients who request you that you no longer work there. The management can cancel your shift at a moments notice - sometimes full weekends would be canceled on a Friday afternoon, leaving you sorry out of luck for the other shifts or private appointments you could have been booked for. Some spas will book you assuming they’ll have lots of couples massages, then 12 hours before the shift, shorten it by almost half. The management can get rid of you for any reason - my car broke down on the way to one. I texted zeel to call them but they didn’t for 15 minutes, and just before my $40 Uber got there, they had blocked me for all 9 shifts I had lined up. Others had gotten blocked for having two complaints a full year apart. Eventually, almost everyone gets fired from a spa for one reason or another. And if a manager has an issue with something you did, they have to call zeel, who calls you, and communication ends up being a phone tag kinda thing instead of them talking to you directly. Holly is the local spa representative, and she does a wonderful job trying to communicate and keep everyone working and happy, I’ve enjoyed working with Holly greatly.

I got let go in January. I received a phone call and wasn’t given any specifics, just that they have to let me go. I was sent an email saying I am no longer allowed to use the app. I asked if they could be more specific with whatever incident happened, and that I’ve been with the company over 3 years and did a massive amount of work with them. I got the same email back saying they reserve the right to let you go for any reason etc. I found it to be unprofessional to not even tell me what happened. I’m still left two months later with no explination and no idea what happened.

Overall this company is good for people looking to get hands on experience with different people, and be able to change up their working environments. But getting your foot in the door is going to be hard with all the competition and how the app operates. I watched the company slowly decline in the sense that therapists are poorly represented, and management was driven away due to unachievable expectations. I’d love to see this company succeed, they started off as a really great company, but if they keep up this trend, they’ll continue to lose more therapists and clients.

they want you to be available and wear a t-shirt with their logo and help promote their company but you are not an employee you are independent and you pay for everything on your own. you provide supplies and transportation and take all the risk and wear and tear to your equipment and body with lil compensation in return. no support by local management team, never met my manger, everything is done by text or through the app. its the uber of massage. This massive company that was the first to enter the mobile massage business but now its not setting a good standard since they have loss quality over the years with bad communication and terrible management. if you get hired and actually get booked a client you will have a lot of things to tolerate from problematic clients to glitches with the app and no communication or slow reply when faced with an issue. they have no real concern for you such as if you are sick and need to cancel an appointment. and no real way to ensure safety when booked alone with certain clients. no sick days or pto. you really are better off making your own business and not working for a major company that doesn’t have your best interest. this company generates millions of dollars off the hard-working therapists and we get no benefits. no pay increase, no real incentives to work except because you love doing massage and need bodies to work on. if you need side money you would be lucky to get booked more than 5 times a week, I averaged about 3 a week in Florida and got more work offers in Virginia, each state seems different with how they handle bookings. they told me I cant expect fulltime work with them.  the bidding system to get work makes no sense at all. offers get sent out and if you reply 70% of the time you don’t get the booking. only good part was I met awesome clients from the app because usually clients that want massage are nice and pleasant people but still creeps and weirdos request massage from the app, I don’t know how the company allows freaks to book with them but it happens often. I know many people that were "hired" by zeel and never got booked with them, I don’t understand how their algorithm works but I could be 5 miles from a client and still be rejected for the assignment, but they will send a request over 50 miles away and not offer more for gas expenses. would you want to travel for 1 hour and make $80 and travel another hour back? you lose a lot of money traveling far away for the same amount of commission. but they don’t care about you but they care about making money and yet many clients complained that they were booked with therapist that was mediocre or lazy in their service, not enough pressure or no concern for the problem areas. it says its spa quality in the comfort of your home, not sure what that means because spas hire bad therapists too. there is a rating system so you can be judged by your performance but again the management team is remote and have no idea who you are or the skills you have as a therapist.  the clients get a introduction to us before we meet them and we know nothing about the client when we arrive. you do your own verbal intake and I never seen many coworkers do verbal intake, again no standards. barely any notes about the clients is listed, its just a mystery when you get an assignment and you hope this person is safe and normal. some clients ask for specific needs to be addressed the app doesn’t know how to coordinate booking the right therapist with the right client because they don’t know us and/or our skills. its very impersonal. a lot of clients asked for my number directly because the app was too much drama. but if you tell management about these issues it gets ignored. this is a job, not a place to grow and develop a real sense of teamwork or community among the staff.. I’m very disappointed after 4 yrs with this company it ended badly. good luck with the nonsense. maybe their leaders will listen more and make improvements one day. Massage therapy isn’t like uber because the clients trust us with our knowledge to help them heal, it’s a very personal thing and companies like zeel monopolize massage like its just units of sales per day and don’t respect the human aspect that is required in this line of work. I couldn’t be a massage therapist for 15 years if I didn’t take a vested interest in my clients needs, zeel doesn’t understand that part at all. Its just numbers and algorithms to them. You cant be in the business of touching people if you lack understanding humans.

i cant express enough my anger and disappointment with this company.  I worked hard for them (when they would actually let me work!)  the app consistently got worse as the years went on.  no communication with management. nearly impossible for a male therapist to have consistent work booked.  nearly every job I responded to, within seconds of it being sent to me, were given to another therapist.  their system of booking is an atrocity.  IT DOES NOT WORK!  ive been with soothe for 5 years, and always get at least 1 massage a day.  with zeel, I was lucky to get 1 massage every two weeks.  I was contracted with zeel since 2012.  my first years I was with them, they got me a lot of good paying jobs.  then it became more and more difficult for me to get jobs.  they don't screen clients properly.  thankfully I never had a problem with a client, but sometimes I didn't feel safe.  they finally terminated my contract because they said a computer algorithm suggested id be let go, because I cancelled 10% of massages over 7 years, because my car would break down, or a tire was flat, or my battery died. If I ever had to cancel, it was never last minute.  I called in immediately, and they would book it with another therapist within a few minutes.  at the time, those cancellations were accepted and understood. then recently, zeel decided that if anyone cancels on an accepted appt, they would lose their job with zeel.  also, they said my 4.56 rating out of a possible 5 rating, wasn't high enough for them to consider my continued contract with them, lastly, they said I didn't have enough prioritized clients.  THATS BECAUSE YOU WOULDNT ALLOW ME TO WORK!!!! how can I build clientele if you wont assign me the  jobs!   so they let me go because of those reasons.  not because I was unprofessional.  not because I was unreliable or not dependable.  im disgusted with them.  and im considering filing a lawsuit for wrongful termination of a contract.  all in all, they pay was very good, when you got jobs.  but the cons outweigh the pros.  don't work for them. the management are shady and don't properly communicate with their lmts.

LA now pays therapists $80/hr, tip included, regardless of whether a massage therapist has to transport their own table or the client has one provided through what used to be the Zeel membership deal. The vast majority of clients do not have tables. I know the compensation is higher in some areas and lower in others, so you would have to check with a representative to confirm for your area. 

Having worked in the spa industry 10 years before becoming independent in 2016, I know that at first that the compensation can seem great. However, you have to consider all the overhead costs and unpaid work that goes into providing in-home massage on demand. You are now not only a massage therapist, but also an on-demand delivery/instillation person. If you count your added expenses and the hours you spend driving/setting up , and you very well should, you do not make any more than you would in a good spa, particularly if you are used to generous tips. Depending on how far you travel to your appointments, you could easily make less. For a quality therapist, the added work involved and lack of pay increase makes this an unattractive alternative. Do the work and build your own private practice. 

The management in L.A is bad. They are rude and greedy. It came as no surprise to me to learn that they are loosing spa contracts. I believe that this is particular to this area, as the majority of my experience with Zeel was in San Francisco, and I never had any experience there that demonstrated they were anything but respectful and could conduct themselves with tact.

If you are going to work with Zeel, remember that, as an independent contractor, it is also they who are working with you.

I worked with Zeel for about a year. In the beginning, it was a solid platform: pay was fair, clients were respectful, and management understood the realities of massage. At times I could work full time through the app, with consistent income and strong client feedback.

Over time, policies changed in ways that made the work unsustainable. Cancellation pay was cut, even when long travel and heavy equipment were involved. If a client arrived intoxicated — which by professional ethics means the session cannot continue — therapists were no longer compensated for the lost time. Communication features in the app were reduced, making it harder to coordinate or follow up when issues arose.

Safety and professionalism also became a concern. I experienced clients showing up intoxicated, canceling multiple times, or making inappropriate requests, and support from management was limited. With more therapists added to the platform and no increase in pay or benefits, the work became inconsistent and unreliable. Zeel was once a dependable source of income, but over time it shifted in ways that no longer prioritized the therapists’ well-being.

I've been with Zeel since they first started in the DC area.  I am licensed in DC and Virginia so they keep me busy.  Being a contractor, i set my own schedule and have plenty of flexibility.  I don't have to fight to take a weekend off if I want!   I have been set up as a small business so I'm set up and used to tracking all my expenses (milage, parking, supplies, paying taxes).  Pay is very fair for the area. They offer some discounts for supplies, liability insurance and other things.  Being a contractor, there are no benefits but that's to be expected.  It would be nice if there were more discounts or a way to help us with for vacation savings, health insurance or AFLAC.

Sometimes getting appointments can be competitive but by now my ratings are good (being dependable and many customers giving high ratings) I tend to get as many appointments as I want.  I have many repeat clients that are in their membership programs which doesn't require me to take my table (in turn I get paid a little less), this saves my body.  Now that Zeel help with short term spa staffing, that's keeping me busy. The app can be flaky at times.  Their start/end session on the app ensures safety.  I never had an issue with a client but know one therapist that had and Zeel was very responsive (they had somebody pick up her supplies so she could get to safety).

I work for Zeel in Miami and I worked for them in Austin as well.  In Austin, it was absolutely fantastic and I attribute that to the field manager.  She really did her part and made sure that clients were vetted properly and therapists were taken care of and got plenty of appointments.

Here in Miami, it has not been as good.  Appointments are few and far between.  I’ve reported clients who have acted inappropriately and yet they’re still allowed to continue booking appointments-placing other therapists at risk.  I was told by a manager that they’d do something to help me out since I was victimized and I never heard back from them.  It seems like the field office here is not as diligent as it was in Austin but that’s true in many cases here-not a strong work ethic here in Miami.

Some good points:  If you rate a client poorly, they do check in to see what the problem was (they just don’t always follow through as I stated earlier.). The pay rate is wonderful but you can’t rely on it because call frequency is low.  They keep very good records and make it easy for therapists to access them.  Overall, it’s a good supplement.  I really wish I could make more money with them because the freedom, pay rate and flexibility can’t be beat!

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