SCMS might give you a great price for hair removal, but there are other costs that you won’t know about until it’s too late to back out:
1. The consultation is $50. Other places provide free consultations so you can decide whether or not to do it. They will credit the money back to you if you decide to proceed. The information they give for $50 is the same that you could get on their website. If you watch all the videos from their website and do some research on your own, ask the office managers Damon or Mark if you can skip this step and go right to your first treatment.
2. They will charge you $100 if you have to reschedule or cancel the appointment within 48 hours of your appt time. Other med-spas charge no more than $50 (if at all) for a change/cancellation within 24 hours. While it’s understandable that they can’t easily fill the cancelled appt, they don’t give you back the money if they do fill it. It's hard to get an appointment to begin with--they're booked solid most of the time, so the only open times could be none that work for you. But guess what--by the time you've find this out, they've taken your money.
3. They charge $28 for a container of numbing gel, which other places include as part of their service (duh). They also advertise on their website that they don’t have to use any numbing gels because of their new advanced laser with cooling tip. I guess if you buy the gel, you’re choosing to use it, not them…. therefore they can still technically make that claim.
4. Parking here isn’t free, and they only validate for 20 minutes. If they keep you waiting (a normal, regular occurrence in any medical office), they don’t compensate you for your extra cost.
5. After the consultation they expect you to pay immediately because the quoted price is only good for that day. You don’t get the opportunity to sleep on it or to pay at your first treatment. They do offer financing, but you still have to make a commitment during that “consultation” to get the quoted price. Also, since it's hard to get appointments (they're frequently booked up for several weeks in advance) you're expected to pay a upfront for service that occurs far in the future....or you forfeit the $50.
You don’t discover the above information until after you're out $50, and by that point you’ve already invested a chunk of money and about 45 minutes of your own precious time—not including your commute. Why has no other customer ever mentioned any of this before? I don’t need to review the hair removal process—it works or no one would do it. I’ve researched many laser centers for hair removal, and SCMS does have the newest, best equipment. But their petty/greedy business practices will also have an impact on your experience here, and you may do better by going to a more expensive, all-inclusive med-spa.
Pros: hair removal does work
Cons: read my review! And BAD location.
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