Groupon - Pearl National Teeth Whitening SCAM!

brook2jack

If it is in a salon , is it a qualified dentist who assesses your mouth and teeth as healthy enough to whiten?
What chemical and what concentration did they use?
Was it a dentist or dental hygienist/ dental therapist working to a dentists direction who did the treatment?

If it is in a salon what sterilisation and cross infection measures are there? What training do the staff have in CPR etc?

If done by beauticians this salon is breaking the law too and is just as dodgy as any other illegal whitener.

[Deleted User]

This is a question to all the people who managed to get a refund from groupon. After being refunded how did you then go about getting your teeth whitened? Did you find another clinic, do it through your dentist, buy a home kit or something else? I am not sure what to do.

Toothsmith

Go to your dentist.

Manclad

A bit of detective work would suggest that they are dodgy from the outset, the "registered" address on their website is 74 mortimer street, London however a quick check on companies house comes up with no results for "Pearl National" there is however an entry for Pearl Teeth Whitening Limited which registered address is a private street in Doncaster and it was first registered on 17/01/2011.

It would be interesting to see if anyone finds any more information about their dodgy dealing...with a bit of luck Watchdog or similar program will pick it up!

hols5

my daughter bought a pearl national teeth whitening coupon from groupon and booked an appointment for monday 14 nov.she received a text cancelling her appointment an hour before.she tried in vain to get in touch with them by phone and email.apart from the inconvenience she cannot afford to loose this money.I was surprised at how long this problem has been going on.

class11

i wish i'd looked this up earlier. I bought a voucher on 10th November and tried to conatct Pearl by phone and email yesterday and got nowhere. I then googled this deal and found threads relating to this going back to August. Totally hacked off that Groupon still promote a company with this sort of history. Have emailed them requesting refund - no reply. Just phoned them and they offered me a credit note. I have said no as I do not want to have to go through another scenario like this. They said they will try to sort a refund. Any advice /feedback gratefully received.

amybeast

After receiving a text the evening before my appointment saying they're having to cancel alarmed me somewhat and ever since then I have made several calls to reschedule but am held in a queue and then finally get through to a voicemail saying their inbox is full.

I've emailed Groupon alerting them to this and since found this thread of complaints highlighting it is in fact a scam!

I paid £89 for an appointment at their Trafalgar Square branch in London and really hope Groupon refund me - fingers crossed! I've never had a problem with Groupon before but this has made me a little more sceptical about the integrity of the companies they're advertising - I won't be so quick to buy a 'deal' off them in future.

shairsine

I too bought this groupon voucher for Pearl National in Leeds back in september and having made 4 appointments and had everyone cancelled the night before by text I pursued groupon for a refund which i recieved back into my paypal account yesterday. I had to contact pearl national via the email address on their website as asked to do by groupon to get confirmation that they could not keep my appointments, they sent me an unapologetic email telling me to sort it with groupon but essentially confirming that I am entitled to a refund which i forwarded onto groupon.
As for Pearl National, everytime they cancelled an appointment via text I had to keep trying to get intouch with them to rebook and everytime the next available appointment was for 2 weeks time so this dragged out for 10 weeks until I asked what they are planning to do for 2 weeks without any product as thy had advised me was the reason that they had cancelled their appointment, would they be closing? She just said, 'yes'. and clearly wasnt bothered so I told her I was contacting trading standards and lodged a complaint with them before sorting it out through groupon. Groupon were ok and did sort my refund but really do have a responsibilty to vet these offers and if a company is seen to be taking advantage then they certainly shouldnt be allowed to readvertise a deal. I imagine they have made thousands from people being unable to make appointments, forgetting etc so even without providing the service that they advertise, it must be extremely fruitful for both Groupon and Pearl National!

Sass_UK

Thank you for all those who have posted in this thread. I have an appointment with PN on Thursday and as I work in the same building in Birmingham I thought I would check them out after reading this thread. I was told today they left weeks ago, despite me arranging the appointment last week! I was also told the company had gone bust. Reception put me on to someone from Right Smile who was aware of Pearl National and the Groupon voucher as people had been turning up for their appointments. He has asked me to book with them, I'm going to try and get a refund from Groupon then go and check out Right Smile, I will post my findings. So far can't find any reviews on them.

brook2jack

It is very common for illegal tooth whiteners to go bust and re open under a new name but same old way of working.

It is illegal for anyone other than a dentist to assess or provide tooth whitening ( unless they are a dental hygienist or dental therapist working to a dentists prescription).

There is no such thing as a "cosmetic tooth whitening qualification" and beauty therapists are breaking the law providing treatments.

Trading standards have recently been cracking down on suppliers supplying whitening products to non dentists.

For safety's sake before considering tooth whitening read this advice http://www.gdc-uk.org/Newsandpublications/Publications/Publications/GDC_Tooth_whitening_leaflet%20(2).pdf