Breach of Contract - Laser Hair Removal

Firemunchkin

Just over three years ago, I went into a skin clinic in London and asked for a consultation to remove the hairs on my neck. The background to this is that I have had dark single hairs growing on my neck and jawline for a number of years and it was affecting my confidence. I was getting married four months later and that had spurred me into making the decision to get the hair dealt with.

I had my consultation and was told that with my pale skin and the dark hairs the results should be really good. They also persuaded me that getting the "full body" would be worthwhile as they had a 40% off sale. So I ended up paying for "laser hair reduction" on my legs, bikini line, tummy, neck and chin. It was £1,800 for a course of six treatments. I was given a leaflet which said to not shave or pluck the hairs before a treatment.

I had two sessions before my wedding. The sessions had to be at least one month apart. I then went on honeymoon. I called them up to book my next appointment and they told me that I had to wait at least one month before having a skin patch test and then another two weeks before having the next treatment. During that time, I became very ill with a vitamin D deficiency for which I was prescribed heavy-duty Vit D replacement. The clinic said I needed to wait until I had finished taking that medicine before coming back for my next treatment. This ended up being about six months later.

At the third appointment I said that the hair wasn't thinning anywhere and I was told that this was because it can take a few treatments for the laser to fully kill off the hair follicle. I pointed out that new hairs appeared to be growing on my neck and I was told that the laser works by encouraging new hairs out so that it can zap them. I wasn't particularly happy about this but I had already paid my money and I still had faith the end results would be good - after all, I had pale skin and dark hair.

Before my fourth appointment, I went on holiday again - after which I had to wait four weeks before the skin patch and then again for the treatment. At the 4th appointment, I pointed out that the hair was still not reducing. They then told me that I was having too long in between treatments and that the best results are only achieved when there's only 6 - 8 weeks between treatments.

At my fifth appointment, I had a different person giving me the laser treatment and I said that I was not happy with the results so far. Still the hair was not reducing and I was not seeing any results. She said I might need to come back for further treatments after my course of six was finished. She also said that it could be that the hairs are white underneath the skin - so that they look dark above the skin but the laser cannot kill the follicle because it's not dark underneath.

After the sixth and final appointment, I waited to see what hairs would drop out and overall the only results worth mentioning were on my legs. For the most part my legs are hair-free now and have been for a couple of years. There are large patches which are not, however, which is very annoying, but mostly they are hairless up to just over my knees.

Everywhere else is exactly the same as it was before - and in fact, in some areas, there are more hairs there than I had before. The hair on my neck, i.e. the main reason I felt the treatment would be good, is worse than before.

I am understandably furious about this. I spoke with the manager of the clinic and explained why I was unhappy – mainly that I was sold the treatments on the basis that my pale skin and dark hair would produce excellent results. After the treatment began I was told various reasons why it wouldn’t be working so well. In my view that is changing the terms on which our original contract was based. Would I have purchased the course of six treatments had I known about the various things which could go wrong? If I had known that the laser can actually promote hair growth, that the hair could be white underneath the skin and it might not work at all, that if I leave it too long between treatments the results won’t be good, etc etc – would I have still purchased it? Absolutely not.

The manager did not understand what I was talking about and simply said that I should buy another round of treatment as this would probably solve the problem. She also stated that the machines they use work fine.

I am now looking to get some of my money back. I acknowledge that I probably wouldn’t be able to get the money back for the treatment on my legs, because the results were alright. However, I paid on my credit card and the last treatment was on 28th March 2013, so I think I can do something about it. But – I’m not sure where to start!

Any advice would be most appreciated!