Complaint Rating:

Company information:
American Laser Centers
New York, New York
United States

I became a customer of American Laser Centers in New York City (928 Broadway, NY, NY) through their accusition of a clinic I was going to called Advanced Laser. Once my contract from Advanced Laser was over, American Laser employees manipulated me into signing up for another package with them for $1249. They assured me of their money back guarantee if there were no results. At time of signing up for a second package with them, I expressed my concern that perhaps I will not get any further hair reduction in the areas being worked on. However, they were very convinced that another package would get rid of the remaining hairs and that they had seen 100% hair reduction. I contiuned with the treatments for about 11 months and there was absolutely zero improvement! Any improvement I saw was through the clinic they purchased. However, the lasers and staff had changed, which are all mediocre. They hire young girls from Clinique counters and such, who know nothing about handling lasers.
In November of 2007 I expressed my dissatisfaction and asked for my money back. I stopped all treatmetns at this time. I was also concerned that all these laser treatments were causing other health problems, which may or may not be related to laser treatments.
They took pictures of the area with a digital camera (which does not show the hair, since mine is fine and dark) and submittted it to their headquarters with my complaint. No one ever responded to this compalint even though I called and called numerous times. I finally demanded to speak to their CEO which is when someone finally called me back. Her name is Karina Rodriguez. At first she told me that I would get my refund. But when the refund never arrived, I called back again dozesn of times before I got a call back. This time she claims she never told me that I would get a refund and that the pictures show I had improvement.
I explained to her 1. that the digital camera used does not show what is seen with the naked eye (the camera makes it look better than what it is) 2. that any improvment I had was when I was with the clinic they acquired 3. that ALC never took before pictures so she had nothing to compare it to.
In March they requested I go back to ALC on Broadway to have pictures taken again. Again, with a plain digital camera, they took pictures that do not capture the fine hair. They called me again stating I can not get a refund because they don't see the hair in the pictures. Since I'm not a man, my hair was never thick enough to be seen on camera. Now they will not respond to my phone calls or emails. I am looking into a class action las suit against ALC. They really need to be put out of business. I am also in the process of reporting them to the Better Business Bureau. I wish I had never signed up with them.