Complaint Review: PERFUME DE PARIS LAS VEGAS - Las Vegas Nevada

While vacationing in Las Vegas with my husband, we were walking through The Paris hotel/casino and were ushered into PERFUME DE PARIS by someone handing out samples of a product. I was actually in the market for a new perfume, so we decided to go in. Immediately, a young lady, who later told me her name was FRAY, came up and asked how we were, and told me she could help with the puffiness under my eyes.

Interested, and being a little familiar with the science behind the current craze of puffiness reducing eye serums, I decided to let her show me. My husband and I both sat down and she proceeded to apply the serum to one eye on each of us. And sure enough, it worked. She didn’t tell me how much it was, she just spoke positively, quickly, and right in my face.

She also had another serum that "needed to be used” right after the first one to get the full effect, and also gave me "FOR FREE” the choice between a night moisturizer or a day one. I said I would probably go with the day one since I’m not very reliable with my nighttime skincare routine. She told me how great we both looked and that I only needed to use the serum 3 times/month for the first month and then once a month after that.

Next thing I know we have 3 products in hand and a receipt for $433 ($400-products, $33-tax). At the time we entered the store we were waiting on a table at a restaurant nearby in the hotel, and it was at just the moment we checked out that our buzzer went off. As we were leaving, she said, "When you’re done with lunch, come back by and I’ll give you a free facial.” At this point I was totally fine with everything. Even though I had kind of felt hurried, and no price was either displayed ON anything, nor displayed anywhere in the store for a single product, I liked FRAY and I thought I looked better.

So after lunch we went back. Ugh. Why? Just why. Fray sat us both down and proceeded to show me a video "on their website” (which, by the way, doesn’t exist) of this "FDA Approved” infrared facial wand that is "so powerful” that it should be used no more than once a month, and started putting several different lotions (exfoliator, Gold neck cream, some mask and who know what else) on my husband and me, and wiping it off and then using the wand.

Her power of suggestion had me actually believing that I was seeing IMMEDIATE changes to our skin!! And I am NOT what I would consider to be a gullible person. On the contrary, I am generally a skeptic. But with the little bit of information I DID know about skin care, she used that to influence me. And she said I needed to use "a year’s worth” of these creams with the wand and then I didn’t need the creams ever again.

Just the wand. Which, by the way, had a LIFETIME GUARANTEE. She said I could even pass it down to my relatives in my will. Say what??!?Totally didn’t make sense, but I was in Las Vegas, and in a state of temporary suspension of disbelief. I was on vacation! They count on that! So she wanted me to have the wand and a year’s worth of the creams/lotions. BUT, since she also wanted my husband to be able to benefit, she "threw in” ANOTHER year’s worth of the same lotions/creams.

FOLKS! We all know this, but if it sounds too good to be true, IT IS! So I looked at my husband and he said go ahead and get it if that’s what I wanted. It was going to be around $2500. At that point I was so caught up that I said okay, even though that was a chunk of money. But two years’ worth of product and the FDA approved wand with the lifetime guarantee must be worth it.

I opted to have the items shipped to my house since I would be leaving the next day and didn’t want to have to pack. This choice SAVED ME which I will explain below. I gave the girl my American Express (which also saved me), she ran it through and had me sign a blank line with my finger on an iPad. I didn’t ask what the total was or ask to see before I signed.

I just signed a blank line on a little iPad. I didn’t think twice about it. So we left, and went on about our activities and then back to our hotel. At this point I decided to look at the products I had bought earlier. I had never even tried the day cream. So I’m testing them out on my skin and I did like how they made my skin feel.

Then I looked at my receipt for the other bigger purchase I had made. She had said the items would be FedEx shipped to me (which was ANOTHER save) and I wanted to check and see if there was an ETA. As I looked at the receipt I first noticed that none of the items had prices listed. I also noticed that the total price had jumped from the $2500 price to $4830. I was dumbfounded. And it also just listed one final price. No subtotal, no tax, as the first receipt had shown.

I immediately called the number listed on the receipt and card Fray had given me. It was an answering service who said they would "pass the message along.” Then, to my horror, I noticed at the bottom of the receipt that there were no returns and no refunds. I freaked out and called American Express right away.

I told them what had just happened, and that I wanted to dispute the charge on my card. They told me that because it was a pending charge there was nothing they could do, but once it became an actual charge then I could dispute it. They asked me to please call the merchant and try to work it out with them, which I told him I did.

This call to American Express took place about one hour after this purchase. Because I was having the products shipped to my home there was no way I could take them back to the store anyway, myonly option was to wait for the charge to go through, and to open a dispute. About two days after I returned home, I got an email from Federal Express giving me a tracking number.

I immediately called Federal Express and told them that I did not want the package delivered to my home. They said that they could cancel the shipment and have it returned to the original location from which it came. So at this point I am canceling any delivery of any product to my home. So in my mind, it’s not even a matter of no returns no refunds.

It is simply a canceled purchase. This is what saved me my money. The tracking number shows that immediately after it left the facility from which it originally came it was turned around and there was an attempted delivery back to the retailer. THEY REFUSED THE RETURN OF THEIR PRODUCT THAT WAS NEVER DELIVERED.

I continued to track the package, and once it was denied delivery to the original location, I called Federal Express and asked them what would happen with this package. She called the local Las Vegas federal express warehouse, and they were very very familiar with this company and all of it’s returns.

I was then informed by the Federal Express representative that that local location would keep the box for six months, and if the retailer did not retrieve it, it would be destroyed. At this point I had proof that I never received the package and therefore was not responsible for any purchase.

The process with American Express did take a couple of weeks, but eventually I was credited back the entire purchase amount. If it were not for my credit card backing me and Federal Express having tracking, my story probably would not have turned out so well. This company uses unethical sales tactics, is not transparent at all about their pricing, and they trick you into purchasing products you don’t want and you pay way more than what they are worth.

I actually like the products that I purchased in the store and took with me, and I’m using them. I have no problem with the products themselves. What I have a problem with is the company and how they take advantage of vacationers they know will never be able to bring their products back once they get them home.

As a sidenote, when I was starting the dispute with my American Express card I did ask the representative if there were American Express customers who had similar disputes, and was told that there were others. I questioned the representative as to why they would allow this particular merchant to use them as a payment method. Maybe they’ll look into that...

I hope my story helps even one person, but my bigger hope is that the Nevada Attorney General does some digging and puts a stop to their unethical, scam artist sales tactics.