I am writing this post with the hope that it may help others from being victimized by this company's "guarantee". For those of you living in the Chicago-land area seeking treatment for hair loss, please be careful if you are considering the Bennis Natural Hair Growth Institute.
A little history first….I’ve been losing my hair for a few years now – typical male pattern baldness and have tried many of the standard treatments (minoxidil, propecia,nizoral,etc) along with some others (vitamin regimens, various topicals and vitamins) without success.
An internet search led me to the Natural Hair Growth Institute last October. The promise of a guarantee and laser treatments caught my eye. After much deliberation, I decided to try the program as long as a couple of items in the contract were modified. The program involves 6 months of laser treatments - 36, “scalp massages†-18, vitamins and topicals. My guess is that the laser treatment is the only legitimate treatment in the plan and the other items are simply additional moneymakers. During the course of my treatment, the laser appointments were stressed as I had over 40 half-hour sessions. Meanwhile, nobody seemed to care very much when I ran out of supplements or topicals. In fact, when I eventually started receiving the “scalp massagesâ€, I couldn’t help but notice they were only “hair washesâ€. I asked the question….but did not get an answer here.
The problems started occurring early on as I showed up for laser therapy a couple of times and no one was at the office. To be fair, this problem was rectified. However, the trouble I had with payments proved to be the main issue. After a down payment, the first regular monthly payment taken from my credit card was done at the wrong time (early..) and for the wrong amount (too much). This pattern continued into November and December. My complaints were brushed off and the debits were never corrected. Around Christmas time, another large unauthorized payment was debited from my credit card. This company’s abuse of credit card privileges ultimately forced me to cancel my card. By this time I had already spent “thousands†of dollars and many hours going back and forth to the center for treatment – but had no noticeable regrowth. Meanwhile, I continued going for treatment and Bennis agreed to waive the January payment. However, the next month some large late fees were randomly added to my balance – again no mention of this in the contract. I had decided at this point, that I could no longer make any monthly payments since I had lost my trust in the company based on its disregard for the terms of the contract. I communicated this to the company in March.
At this point, since it was coming up on six months and I had not yet seen any positive signs of regrowth, the company verbally offered to extend the contract. In other words, I would stay on the program with the hope of seeing some new hair coming in. I was agreeable to this since I still had hope that this would work out. Hope can be a dangerous thing…
By now I had also decided I would need the support of my credit card company in case the situation were to arise where I would be asking for a refund of my payments as noted under the contract. Unfortunately, my card only allows disputes within a 6-month time frame from the charge. Therefore, I decided I had to file a dispute as a formality, on the original down payment before the six month timeframe ran out. I informed Bennis before doing so, specifically stating that I was not looking for a refund but needed to file this claim which could be ignored for now. In response to this, my appointments were cancelled and I received a phone call laden with obscenities and threatening legal action against me even though I am losing my hair and Bennis has “thousands†of my dollars. After thinking about it a bit, this really didn’t surprise me. I’ve never dealt with a more unprofessional and poorly run company.
A little history first….I’ve been losing my hair for a few years now – typical male pattern baldness and have tried many of the standard treatments (minoxidil, propecia,nizoral,etc) along with some others (vitamin regimens, various topicals and vitamins) without success.
An internet search led me to the Natural Hair Growth Institute last October. The promise of a guarantee and laser treatments caught my eye. After much deliberation, I decided to try the program as long as a couple of items in the contract were modified. The program involves 6 months of laser treatments - 36, “scalp massages†-18, vitamins and topicals. My guess is that the laser treatment is the only legitimate treatment in the plan and the other items are simply additional moneymakers. During the course of my treatment, the laser appointments were stressed as I had over 40 half-hour sessions. Meanwhile, nobody seemed to care very much when I ran out of supplements or topicals. In fact, when I eventually started receiving the “scalp massagesâ€, I couldn’t help but notice they were only “hair washesâ€. I asked the question….but did not get an answer here.
The problems started occurring early on as I showed up for laser therapy a couple of times and no one was at the office. To be fair, this problem was rectified. However, the trouble I had with payments proved to be the main issue. After a down payment, the first regular monthly payment taken from my credit card was done at the wrong time (early..) and for the wrong amount (too much). This pattern continued into November and December. My complaints were brushed off and the debits were never corrected. Around Christmas time, another large unauthorized payment was debited from my credit card. This company’s abuse of credit card privileges ultimately forced me to cancel my card. By this time I had already spent “thousands†of dollars and many hours going back and forth to the center for treatment – but had no noticeable regrowth. Meanwhile, I continued going for treatment and Bennis agreed to waive the January payment. However, the next month some large late fees were randomly added to my balance – again no mention of this in the contract. I had decided at this point, that I could no longer make any monthly payments since I had lost my trust in the company based on its disregard for the terms of the contract. I communicated this to the company in March.
At this point, since it was coming up on six months and I had not yet seen any positive signs of regrowth, the company verbally offered to extend the contract. In other words, I would stay on the program with the hope of seeing some new hair coming in. I was agreeable to this since I still had hope that this would work out. Hope can be a dangerous thing…
By now I had also decided I would need the support of my credit card company in case the situation were to arise where I would be asking for a refund of my payments as noted under the contract. Unfortunately, my card only allows disputes within a 6-month time frame from the charge. Therefore, I decided I had to file a dispute as a formality, on the original down payment before the six month timeframe ran out. I informed Bennis before doing so, specifically stating that I was not looking for a refund but needed to file this claim which could be ignored for now. In response to this, my appointments were cancelled and I received a phone call laden with obscenities and threatening legal action against me even though I am losing my hair and Bennis has “thousands†of my dollars. After thinking about it a bit, this really didn’t surprise me. I’ve never dealt with a more unprofessional and poorly run company.
