Complaint Review: Smile Direct Club

I thought I'd give this company a try because of their TV ads. I visited a local outlet who waved a "wand" around my mouth to measure my teeth. I paid the $1895 fee upfront (big mistake) for their program.

The "kit" with aligners arrived in about two weeks as promised, but the very first set of plastic aligners were defective. The edge of one was folded inside the cavity where it should fit over teeth and wouldn't seat. I called their 800 number and spoke to someone with a thick accent, who I never could understand. The person put me on hold, then hung up on me after a couple of minutes. I called back a while later and was put on hold again. I waited some 8 or 9 minutes and gave up. So since I couldn't talk to an English-speaking person about the defective aligner, I decided to begin the program with the second week's set. Those had some rather sharp edges which caused raw spots in my mouth but I was able to shape them with a dremel tool. Once that week was finished I moved on to the third week's set. Those were split in half making them totally useless.

I tried emailing the company about them on September 11th. They wanted a photo of the defect which I provided. They thanked me for the photo and promised to ship a new set and to expect them to arrive within 10-14 business days.

After 4 weeks and no replacement aligners, I emailed again asking if they were planning to ship the replacements. No response. At All. So today, SIX WEEKS later I emailed again. This is their response:

"We recently had a significant increase of aligner orders and a small set of aligners ended up being delayed. Unfortunately, yours were caught behind that in the queue. We do apologize and will be able to get them to you shortly. Please expect an email with the tracking information once we shipped your aligners.
We have placed your Aligner order on September 13th, 2019 which will be delivered to the shipping address on your account. Please allow us 3-4 weeks for manufacturing and shipping process."

So, they want me to wait another 3-4 weeks for a replacement. I also noted on their return emails that they are apparently located overseas as there are spanish-language headings in their emails.

Beware of this scam overseas company!