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Review 6/11/2009
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They reversed my charges!
Here’s my story on the Cathysteeth. com tooth whitening scam: I was able to persuade both companies to reverse the credit card charges of $78.93 and $78.33. I ended up only having to pay a $25.00 charge (“for the whitening light”) which I was glad to do under the circumstances. I took a slightly different approach, although I was just as angry as the rest of you at being scammed.
Having been in customer service all my life, I know firsthand how miserable a customer service rep’s job is, dealing with angry people all day long. So the first thing I did when I got on the phone is to tell the CSR that I realize what a difficult job he has, that I’ve been there, and that I hoped we could both work toward a satisfactory agreement.
In my case I had a legitimate reason for cancelling, beyond the fact that, like all busy people, I neglected to read the fine print. Five days after I received the product, my dentist told me not to use any tooth whiteners before all my dental work was completed. This is the fact I kept coming back to as the CSR took me through his canned spiel. I refused the “half-off” offers and refuted his argument that I could “use the product in the future”. I stuck to my story and kept coming back to my bottom line. At one point I said: “Joe, you sound like an intelligent person. Tell me, would you pay for something you can’t use?”
Persistence is the secret! Be patient, stay polite, don’t lose your temper and hang up on the CSR. A bad attitude will get you nowhere. If you keep repeating that you will not pay for products you can’t use, eventually they will have no choice but to give in. In my case I was referred to an email address: services@advancedwellnessresearch.com.
I put my concerns in writing in a pleasant and polite way. I also complimented the CSR’s efforts in my email. Finally, at the end of the message, I mentioned that I had this identical experience with a second tooth whitener company and that they were very helpful and immediately reversed my charges. This was the truth. I ended the email by saying “I hope your company also prides itself on excellent customer service and will reverse my charges immediately like Company A has done. As I mentioned before, I cannot use this product according to my dentist, nor can anyone in my family, and I can’t give it as a gift to anyone.”
Try killing them with kindness. You too may get a favorable result! And please…learn from this experience. Always, always read the fine print. Don’t deal with a company you don’t know. Protect all your online purchases with PayPal. And remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!
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