Beware the Vortex! How a $197 hair gadget sparked a three-month battle with American Express

Joanne Pantaleo thought her expensive high-frequency wand would develop hair, not complications. After the gadget died, the service provider vanished, and American Express sided with the fraudsters. Is she caught with a damaged gadget?

Question

I purchased a Vortex Hair Growth Wand and it give up working. The firm’s web site lists a U.S. deal with, however after I requested to return the damaged gadget they gave me a warehouse in China and instructed me transport would price $120. 

Every time I name, I’m routed to the Philippines and may’t attain anybody stateside. I disputed the cost on my American Express card. I despatched Amex the BBB warning and a Reddit thread that stated Vortex is a rip-off, but Amex nonetheless closed the case within the service provider’s favor. I simply need my a refund. Can you assist? — Joanne Pantaleo, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Answer

Vortex ought to have both discovered a solution to restore your wand or supplied you a alternative. Asking you to spend $120 — only some {dollars} lower than the merchandise’s price — was not cheap. 

The Vortex Hair Growth Wand, which claims to advertise progress, cease hair loss and shield areas towards future loss, kicks up quite a lot of warnings whenever you analysis it on-line. I’m no dermatologist, however I’m unsure there’s a magic wand that may make your hair develop again. Color me a skeptic.

You did nearly every part proper. You documented the defect, gave the corporate a possibility to repair the issue, and picked up third-party proof that Vortex was problematic. Then you filed a chargeback below the Fair Credit Billing Act. But Amex nonetheless slammed the door — till I knocked.

Here’s what ought to have occurred: when you provided proof that the service provider misrepresented its location and dangled an impossibly costly return deal with, Amex ought to have reversed the cost on the spot. Under Regulation Z, a card issuer should resolve a billing-error declare inside two full billing cycles. It seems the corporate additionally misrepresented its location whenever you bought the product. 

How may you’ve gotten prevented this? One phrase: screenshot. Always seize one of many service provider’s marketed deal with before you purchase. But additionally, a little analysis earlier than you made a buying determination may have prevented this complete mess. Had you recognized then what you understand now, you might need escaped the Vortex.

You might need additionally escalated this to one of many Amex executives I listing on my client advocacy web site, Elliott.org.

As to the query of whether or not the Vortex is legit, I’ll go away that for readers to resolve. But I take a dim view of any firm that makes a product return or restore so prohibitively costly that it’s all however inconceivable.

After you forwarded your paper path, I despatched your file — together with the Reddit exposé — to American Express. Two weeks later, you obtained a name from  Amex. The firm had reviewed the proof, quietly acknowledged that the service provider’s paperwork didn’t cross the scent check, and supplied you a $100 “good-faith” credit score. Although this was not the complete refund you had been hoping for, you accepted the supply.