In April of I inquired about laser hair removal at American Laser Centers located in Scottsdale, Arizona. The manager was named Gena. Gena was soon let go, due to her unprofessionalism, I suppose. Regardless, she managed to sell me on laser hair removal from American Laser Centers. As a 21 year old at the time, I was unfamiliar with the "grown up" sales world, and assumed that the manager would be there to stay. I was promised that even for my skin type, coming from Greek ethnicity, that the hair would go away. I also told the manager that being Greek and still in college, I traveled every year to Greece for the full summer. The manager said not to worry and that signing on before I left for the summer would be the best option. She also said that it would be perfectly okay to suspend or "freeze" my account while I was gone for the summer. All was good.
I payed $9,000 for full body laser hair removal in April of and my first treatment was sometime shortly after signing on as a preliminary treatment but my treatments would not fully start until September when I returned. I do not recall what body part was included in my first treatment. I want to express that since I have been receiving treatment at this location, I have seen at least 6 managers. Who knows how many others there were that I did not get a chance to meet. Something must not be right if there is a new manager every 6 months.
Throughout my experience at American Laser, especially for at least the first year of my treatments (starting August) the technicians would not raise my settings because the laser was painful. I told them that the reason I had payed $9,000 was to achieve hair removal and to raise the settings, but they would not. I was told that the laser would still work and to not worry about it.
They did raise my settings once a specific technician got a hold of my chart and saw how they had not been treating me properly for the first several months. I cannot recall what month or year it was when this happened.
I was also burned as one of the technicians went over my tattoo, but at the time I did not want to get the woman fired as I believed (and still believe) that it was a mistake, and the technician didn't know. She was knew at the time. But in all honesty, the burning is not the reason why I am writing this letter, but it is best to include everything to best describe to you the horrible experience I have had at American Laser.
In summer of and 2009 and 2010 I left for the entire summer, supposedly "freezing" my account so treatments were not counted and the months were not counted as being part of the 2-year guarantee.
In November or December of I had scheduled two appointments. One day before both appointments the new manager at the clinic by the name of Angela called to cancel on me for reasons that I do not know of. The bottom line is that the manager canceled on ME. I believe we re-scheduled the appointment for January. When I went in for the appointment the assistant manager, Gena, said that they couldn't treat me because my contract had expired without me paying $50 for every 30 minutes of treatment. I told her that I should have until the end of November left since I had frozen my account for 4 months from 2010 and the new manager, Angela had canceled on my for the months of November and December. They argued with me for quite sometime and then signed on a new deal where I would receive 3 treatments on each part of the body, and said if I did not experience hair reduction after the second treatment, we would then file a "non-response" form. I left that day without treatment, and I do not recall the next time I was able to be treated.
Since then, the technicians who had treated me had raised my settings, which I was pleased with. A few of the technicians "double passed" certain areas because I had been complaining of not seeing results. I was surprised to see that when double passing, the results were much better. I had asked for them to double pass me on my last few treatments. The technician said not to worry and they supposedly noted in my chart to set my settings higher and to also double pass. I was only double passed once after that, so I specifically requested that the last two treatments that I had I be double passed. They noted that in my chart.
Today, April 29th of I had an appointment scheduled for the upper body areas. I canceled the appointment on the 28th due to work. Things freed up with me at work so I called back on the morning of the 29th to see if they could get me in. I spoke with Gena, the assistant manager, and she said they could get me in at 5 pm, but said that they wouldn't be able to do all of the areas listed. I was fine with that, but I reiterated multiple times that I needed to be double passed since this was one of my last treatments on the upper body areas. She said that would be fine, and that we would only do the stomach, chest, face, and maybe under-arms if we could squeeze it in, but I would be in a room with out the "chiller". I said that would be fine with me as long as we can double pass.
All was arranged, and I went in to American Laser Centers. My appointment was scheduled for 5pm and I did not get into a room until 5:20, which is fine as I understand sometimes things come up that are unavoidable. While waiting in the reception area, I had expressed my concern to the manager, Angela about the treatment not working, and that I needed to file a "non-response". Angela was rude, and unprofessionally rolled her eyes at me and said that no one else had experienced that since she worked there and that the assistant manager would have to take care of it since she had been there longer. To me that says, "I don't give a d*mn, so I'll pass you on to someone else". She also said that they probably wont do anything about it because of the way the contracts are worded and they wouldn't give me my money back. I told her that I did not want my money back, I want to get what I payed for, which is for my hair to be removed. This is the first event that led to the fury of the next event that soon happened afterwards.
A new technician invited me in the room to be treated. She started by saying that we were going to be treating face, chest, arms, under-arms and abdomen. I expressed that I wasn't sure if we'd have enough time since I needed to be double passed, which I had confirmed with Gena the morning of over the phone. The technician left the room and when she returned she said that she could not double pass me since the room I was in did not have a chiller. This was already known, as I had spoken unbeknownst to me to the assistant manager, Angela the morning of and she said it was fine. Again, I expressed that since I had only a few treatments left, I needed to be double passed because without it for my skin the treatments do not work.
Angela, the assistant manager who I spoke with that morning came in the room and said that she did not that I was ethnic by looking at my last name so she assumed I could be double passed without the chiller. Meanwhile, it was 5:40 (40 minutes AFTER my appointment was scheduled). The whole time I had been there, since 5:10, the room directly across from the one I was in was free. I asked if I could just go in the other room, but they said no because there was someone else who had an appointment in that room. They said they could do nothing for me. I told Gena that because of her mistake she had wasted a good portion of my day, and that this was unacceptable. Her reply was that I could've been getting treated but it seems like she had forgotten to keep in her mind that I had previously said that without double passing the treatment does not work on my skin.
This is completely unacceptable. This whole situation. Number one, the treatment not working, number two the multiple times that I have spent driving and arguing with the managers about the treatments and what type of equipment they are to use on me, and number three the complete unprofessionalism of the manager and the assistant manager.
As a small business owner, I know customer service. This is NO WAY to treat a customer. If one of my employees treated a customer of mine as I was treated I would be livid, and they would be gone. When a customer receives bad customer service the effect is 10 fold. I understand that certain rules need to be followed (i.E., no double passing without the chiller on darker skin tones, etc.) but it is completely unacceptable to just assume that someone is caucasian because of their last name and to make them drive 40 minutes out there and to spend another 40 at the clinic, only to have to turn around and go back.
They have now told me to not come back for treatment, when I clearly need more treatments for the laser to actually work (IF IT WILL EVEN EVER WORK!?) but this is absolutely unacceptable. My hair on my face, thighs, and arms is still heavy!!! Someone needs to straighten this company out because they are fraudulent!
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