Complaint Review: South Beach Tanning - St. Petersburg Florida

I signed up for a mis-advertised monthly service from this tanning salon. I moved two hours away from this tiny company chain, with no other locations to visit in sight. I cancelled my service with them about a week after June 1st and it cost me $100, and 4 hours of driving. Before I drove to the location I emailed the website asking for help since I have moved so far away. I received a response in pink (Adorable!) telling me to contact someone else. No location info, no phone number, and definetly no contact for this person who was responding. Upper management was very upset that I lingered on this..contain your laughter. They were unable to make the correlation before professionalism and email formatting, apparently this offhanded remark was all the 'VP' could grasp onto as she wrote her final reply to my BBB complaint. I emailed in again on the website, I repsonded to Amanger Jurgens email TWICE. No responses. I went into a location and cancelled my membership. I filied my BBB complaint on 6/29/15. Here is the chain of emails. Please note the blantant LYING by whomever was responding. Nobody ever contacted me, until July 1st, The day after I WROTE that nobody ever called me. 

SBTC:

We have attempted to address Mrs. McGinnis' concerns several times. Mrs. Mcginnis's email was responded to immediately by Amanda Jurgens whom is a corporate regional manager. Amanda informed Mrs. McGinnis that the St. Petersburg location is an independently owned an operated franchise location, and that she would have to speak with the owner/manager of that location to address her billing concern. Full contact information for that location was given to Mrs. McGinnis. Despite all attempts to explain this to Mrs. McGinnis, this did not appear to be good enough for Amy and what followed has been a barrage of emails and posts on social media with negative attacks that had nothing to do with the issue at hand. Amanda also explained to Amy that we have a 30 day cancellation policy. While Amy claims in her complaint never to have heard about this, the cancellation policy in clearly highlighted in bold print on the membership form that was signed by Amy. Item 12 of the attached membership form clearly states the cancellation policy, and ironically, the example used on the form is the exact months Amy claims to not understand. In addition to signing the form, all clients must initial this line item. As mentioned, this point in highlighted in bold print and larger font for the exact purpose that there be no confusion regarding our cancellation policy. In addition, our VP of operations has made 2 attempts to contact Amy today via phone to address her concerns, both calls have gone unanswered and there has been no voice mail to leave a message. As previously mentioned Amanda Jurgens works for the corporate office and the location in question is an independently owned franchise location. It has been explained to Amy by Amanda that it would be illegal for us at the corporate office to make billing changes to an independently owned franchise location. Amanda has contacted the franchisee to make her aware of the situation and to look for Amy's call. To that extent, Amy must reach out to that owner for resolution. It would be up to that independent owner if they wish to extend any type of offer to Amy. With that being said, it does look like the franchise owner has followed the standard 30 day cancellation policy as outlined in Mrs. McGinnis's membership agreement and no wrong has been done to Mrs. McGinnis nor has she been billed for anything incorrectly. In reviewing internally, we believe all of the correct protocol's were following in addressing Amy's initial contact to the corporate office in a professional and timely manner. I would again reiterate and encourage her to reach out to the owner of that location, which contact information she has been given, to further address any concerns she may have.

ME: 

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

I contacted Amanda Jurgens twice asking for the correct contact information. AGAIN, this company responds with zero contact information. They have not offered a resolution at all. I never once contested the contract, so the wasted explanation is again-not appreciated, requested, or needed. I received the EXACT same response from Amanda Jurgens. 'Contact someone else, but I have no name or phone number for you to contact'. My complaint stands. This company should be ashamed of their unprofessional responses. Also, I've never ONCE had a conversation with Amanda Jurgens Via phone, and I have included the ONLY response from her below. So this whole' Amanda explained to Ms. McGinnis...' and 'Amy Claims to not understand'. When did I claim to not understand? Who is LYING in this company, saying they spoke with me? Nobody ever called me, nobody ever emailed me. I never once told anyone I didn't understand. I actually NEVER spoke with anyone..except one response from Amanda (attached) In fact, I've asked several times through this companies website for someone to contact me. I'll be blasting this ridiculous response all over social platforms. You should be ashamed of whoever you hired to make this lie about how you contacted me- I assume it's the same person who instructs 'managers' to use pink font when sending business related emails. You didn't even try to resolve your Better Business Bureau complaint, it clearly deserved. Please see the ONLY response from this company. Attached

SBTC:

I believe our first response addressed all of Mrs. McGinnis's concern and her second response is indicative of the types of responses we have gotten when trying to explain the situation to her. In her response she states she now does not dispute the contract, so if she does not dispute the contract then there is no issue since the root of her problem stemmed from her claim that she was never told about and did not understand the cancellation policy. Her sentence above "I never once contested the contract" seems to resolve the entire issue. If that issue is resolved I don't know what other issue there may be other than she claims not to have been given contact information, of which she has been. To reiterate, we are the corporate office and franchisor for South Beach Tanning Company. The store she is referencing in St. Pete Florida is an independently owned and operated franchise location at 5242 4th St N, St. Petersburg, FL 33703. The contact number for that location is 727-914-7510, and by law, they would be the ones to handle any billing disputes. But again, Mrs. McGinnis says she does not dispute the contract that she signed, so I am not exactly sure what the dispute is given that. Seems we have gone from a billing dispute, to Mrs. McGinnis not disputing the contract thus seemingly resolving, and now we are down to Mrs. McGinnis's displeasure with the color font that was used in an email from a GM trying to resolve her issue and get to the bottom of the situation in between the negative attacks. As mentioned several attempts to contact her by phone have gone unanswered and another message was just left for her at 6:14PM (July 1) as we write this response. It is unfortunate that Mrs. McGinnis has taken to negative attacks and threats to post negative information on social media. Her right to do so, but given she now claims to not dispute the contract, it seems any attacks beyond that would be slander. We have tried to offer our assistance to her and unfortunately responses have been of the nature above. If she still feels there is a billing issue we encourage her, as we have done from the beginning, to contact the independently owned and operated franchise location whom which her contract is with. While we can contact the franchisee and make them aware of the situation, by law we cannot tamper with the billing of an independently owned store, something that has been conveyed to Mrs. McGinnis several times, but she has not wanted to hear. Thank you for your attention to this important matter and I hope the above comment from Mrs. McGinnis claiming to not dispute the contract and us once again providing contact information for her to reach out to the local franchise location has resolved any and all issues present in this claim.

I originally asked not to be charged for July, since I live so far and cancelled close to the 1st. I can live with no refunding though. The company sent a copy of a contract that I actually did NOT sign to the BBB to show their '30 days cancellation notice'. I signed up in April, the contract they sent was created in May(the creation date is on the top) Also, it's a blank contract..that does not have anyone's signature on it. Since document creation is taught at the elementary level, I just laughed. I even loved how the 'VP' added the 'if you cancel after june 1st' part...still, no signature. The best part about this experience has been interacting with the young minds of this tanning company. I've been working in the customer complaints field for 8 years. I don't need any refunds from this company, just to let other consumers know..BEWARE. They are a tiny unsucessful chain...if you move, you won't be able to transfer- because they only have 3 stores in like a 30 mile radius. If you buy more than the 1st level of tanning...please know that the 'mist' on the level 3 beds will NEVER work. Not even once. Also, the teenagers they hire to work the front, don't let them overbronze you with their uninformed lotion sales. I've found several outlets to complain about this companyt too. Luckily, stating FACTS isn't slander. I will continue to voice my opinions.