DR Tattoff RIPOFF Awful customer service and deceptive practices. They use deceptive practices to get your money and then close up shop and refuse to refund. Dallas Texas

The Setup

My wife visited Dr Tattoff in Fort Worth TX on January 20th and paid for tattoo removal services to have a small tattoo removed from her ankle that she got in her early twenties. Twenty years later the tattoo wasn’t cool so she’d saved money for a very long time to pay for the removal. 

She went to the consultation and got an estimate on the cost. It was still very expensive so she decided to wait but then she received a text with a coupon offering a significant discount on the service.

At the first appointment they provided one laser tattoo removal service. On completion they had her pay for the entire treatment plan which was an additional 14 services to be provided at the Fort Worth location every seven weeks until completed. They also explained that if any treatments were not needed (the tattoo disappeared faster than expected) any unused treatments would be refunded. 

At checkout they quoted the original amount of $1436 dollars for the treatment but she quickly reminded them of the coupon for 50% off she received by text. The person handling the payment was surprised that she had a coupon and with the coupon amount but they honored it and processed payment charging our debit card $736. 

The Shut Down

On February 1st, six business days later, we received an email that she was being “transferred” to the Dallas location on Preston Rd and Fort Worth was closed and services would be completed in Dallas.

She immediately replied to the email with a demand that the money be refunded. 

Two days later on 2/3/16 they replied with "Unfortunately, no refunds are being issued at the moment. If you're interested in scheduling your tattoo treatment in Dallas and would like to take advantage of free laser hair removal, just let us know". They offered a free laser hair removal service to "make it right" in their response when we requested the refund.

On 2/4/16 I started researching the company to find the corporate contacts to attempt to resolve the situation. A few Google searches revealed that Carol Mendelsohn was their Director of Marketing at the corporate level. 

I called the number I found online on a press release and Carol answered within a few rings. I explained the situation and explained that I wanted a refund in full of the payment and if they failed to do so I would use any and all resources available to me including media contacts, the BBB, social media and review sites to expose the company for their fraudulent and deceptive business practices. 

Carol quickly told me that she was in the car driving her kids to school but listened to my complaint and replied with the same canned response. 

They do not issue refunds because there’s another location in the same area.

She was obviously caught off guard with my phone call. 

I explained to Carol at that time that anything less than a refund was unacceptable. She offered was to put me in touch with Harry Zimmerman at the corporate office. I quickly replied with “he’s based in Austin Texas, correct and she confirmed he was and was obviously surprised that I knew who he was and that he was based in Austin Texas.

I hung up with Carol and contacted the Dallas Dr Tattoff location (they had just opened at 10:00 AM). I asked for the manager, was put on indefinite hold and finally hung up about 20 minutes later. I assumed she was probably on the phone with another angry customer from Fort Worth or Frisco as both locations had been shut down.

I then emailed Carol and copied John Keefe, CEO and Harry L. Zimmerman, EVP – Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel demanding a refund and explaining that I would use any and all resources at my disposal to get my refund and expose their poor business practices if my refund was not issued. 

I explained again that my intent was to get my refund and move on and that should they not do so I would assure them I would do far more than $736 in damage to their by exposing them and the way they do business. 

After sending my email I called the Dallas location again asking for a manager. I was placed on hold and after another 10 minute wait I went through the same song and dance with the manager and was given the same “no refunds” canned response that was obviously written by a corporate nitwit. Every single person at Dr. Tattoff recites it verbatim. 

All of the employees insist that because there is a location “in the area” (in Dallas) that the services were still available to us and we would not be given a refund.

We live in North Fort Worth. The one facility available in Dallas is 49 miles from our house. It’s not in the same city. It’s not even in the same county. 

On a good day it would require a minimum of two hours travel time round trip. With traffic it could easily be a three hour round trip if not more and they expect us to make that trip fourteen times.

There’s a lot more gas involved and a significant amount of toll fees on top of the crazy time investment to get there and back.

They all responded with the same thing when I explained this and kept saying it’s “DFW” and it’s “Dallas-Fort Worth”. 

Yes, that’s what the airport is called but they are two very different cities and are very far apart. We don't live anywhere near Dallas. We don't go to Dallas for any reason, ever and we have no desire to and that’s typical of everyone I know. 

They're BROKE

Finally, Harry Zimmerman calls me back from Austin office. I missed his call and called him back a few minutes later and got his voicemail. After several more attempts to reach him he calls me back.

Harry Zimmerman goes through the same story, gives me the same canned response and I repeated my message again, refund my money, make it right and if not I’ll do everything I can to let people know what this company is up to. 

Zimmerman continues with his canned response until I mention I was going to drop by the Dallas location. He encourages me to do so and assures me we’ll love the service and I explain that my visit would not be to get laser treatment but rather to collect my refund.

Zimmerman then implies that if I did “anything illegal or threatening” the police would be called. I made clear that he was twisting my words and I had no intentions of doing anything illegal or harming anyone but I expected a refund and that I would visit the Dallas office or his office in Austin to get it. 

At some point he offered to issue a gift card to me to “refund some money” but was never specific to the amount and I shut him down quickly explaining I had no intentions of ever doing business with their company. His suggestion was that I could give them as gifts or try to sell them to “recover some of my money”.

Zimmerman also continued to state that this was a “minor inconvenience” for the excellent services they offer. He did everything he could to make it seem that we should be thankful they’re still going to provide their excellent services. Like it was a gift to us that they would allow the dumb Fort Worth rednecks to get lasered.

Finally Zimmerman admitted that Dr Tattoff corporate knew on 1/20/16 that they would be closing the location but that local employees were not aware.It doesn’t take a rocket science to know they wouldn’t tell their local staff they were failing financially. It’s clear though that the corporate office knew this was taking place when they accepted our money.

The Revelation

Then I have that Eureka moment….

• They closed the location in Fort Worth and Frisco (possibly others, I don’t know).

• They’ve taken a hard line on refusing refunds and they aren’t going to bend.

• The local staff were surprised the coupon existed.

• The local staff were surprised with the discount that was available. 

• Dr. Tattoff corporate was texting the coupon codes and big discounts to people who had received consultations in Fort Worth offering a big discount to capture these clients and generate the cash flow while they could in attempts to save their other locations. This gets a little cash flowing and they capture customers and lock them in before they shut down the location.

• They know that someone looking for tattoo removal in Fort Worth isn’t going to contact Dr Tattoff in Dallas and drive an hour or more. They’re going to find someone in town that offers the service.

• They kill two birds with one stone, cash, customers and they screw everyone and hope it works out.

• They don’t issue refunds because they don’t have the money to issue the refund.

• They offer a gift card in attempts to shut people up as a last resort knowing there’s a chance it will never be redeemed or that they’ll shut down the other locations before they tried. 

• Clearly Zimmerman has no concern over the reputation of Dr Tattoff or irate customers. He either truly doesn’t care OR the company is in such a financial death spiral that he doesn’t care at this point because it won’t matter. 

• Either way, they clearly don’t have the money to issue the refund or they're cooking their books for their investors. 

A quick Google Search revealed an investor presentation from 2014 from the National Investment Banking Association and includes their financial projections and growth plans. 

In 2014 they’d forecasted 53 operating locations in the year 2016. With them closing the Fort Worth and Frisco Texas locations on 2/1/16 they have a total of 7 locations in operation. 

I guess when he heads back to his $750,000 home at night at he doesn’t lose any sleep about screwing honest, hard working people out of their money. 

This company is a scam. I want my money back and they’ve made it clear they will not refund the money (without admitting it’s because they’re on the brink of financial collapse).

Until I get my money back I’ll do everything I can to make sure they don’t take advantage of anyone else and screw over any other honest hard working people. 

I've filed complaints with the BBB and filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office as well. 

tl:dr 

Dr Tattoff Fort Worth charged my credit card $736 and closed their business six business days later. They refuse to issue a refund for services because they have another location an hour away. They expect me to make 14 trips to this location in another county to receive the services and clearly have unethical business practices and are working through major financial difficulties. 

Do NOT do business with this company and don’t give them one penny of your money because there’s a good possibility none of their locations will be around much longer.