The local beauty supply franchise, BEAUTY MAX- owned by a man named "Mr. Lee", deliberately profiles all of its customers as "thieves", and also skims money from unsuspected customers. I experienced this first hand this past weekend.
On the evening of Friday 2/12/16, I visited the Dunn Ave location to purchase some products. The next morning as I was reviewing my receipts, I noticed I was mysteriously charged an extra $5.99 for a product I did not purchase. A computer error I assumed, so I called the store to make them aware of the problem. The young lady who answered recognized my voice (because I was a loyal customer), and asked for me to return so the issue could be corrected. Once I returned to the store, the nightmare began.
The manager was not present, so the young lady had to contact the manager & owner at the home store located on Cassat Ave. She was informed to tell me that I would have to come back to the store 2 days later, so the store manager could review the video footage to see if I was "lying about making the mystery purchase". Needless to say I was floored at their response. I refused to waste more of my valuable time and money to return, and requested they handle the $5 situation at that time.
Approximately 30 minutes later, after several calls back and forth with the Cassat Ave store, the young lady called the owner back and apparently they were surprised that I stayed to get the issue resolved, and informed the young lady to tell me that they would give me back my money, but "they would need a copy of my ID and my contact info, and if they reviewed the tape and found that I was lying they would call the police". UNBELIEVABLE. I was a loyal customer who's spent thousands in this business over the last 12 years, I was the one who had $5 extra skimmed from my purchase, I was the one inconvenienced, yet I was also being deemed a liar and a thief.
The young lady was given instruction to go ahead and view the video herself, but "amazingly" the video footage for that day also wasn't working properly. I called back the Cassat Ave store myself, and the owner refused to speak with me. The young lady that answered claimed he had "just left", although the young lady at the store I stood in had spoken with him minutes before. The manager got on the phone in his place, and told me the procedure again, then rudely hung up in my ear.
After all of the embarrassment, inconvenience, being criminally profiled, called a liar, and time taken away from my day, I was finally given back my money (a whopping $6.41 with taxes) that was wrongfully taken from me. I have yet to receive a follow up call from the owner or anyone else offering me an apology.
This led me to think how many times has this happened in the past, and how often does their computer "mysteriously" overcharge unsuspected customers? I wonder how many extra thousands of dollars this establishment has made off of similar incidents, and how many other people have had this happen but have never said anything?
This isn't the first time I have experienced this business wanting to charge me more than advertised. on January 22nd, their location on Leonid Rd tried to charge me $3 more than the price advertised on their product, marked by their own pricing machine gun. When the error was pointed out, the young lady in charge informed me that they "could only charge what was in the system", and that their OWN PRICING that was on the product was incorrect. I left the store and their products on their counter and vowed then to never return, but recently forgot that vow and had this ordeal happen recently. I feel compelled that this is a story that has to be addressed.
The majority of the customers who visit these stores are young, African Americans who assume that the prices they are being charged is accurate, but they are also deemed as thieves the minute they walk through the door - racial profiling and preying on "the naive" at its best. Meanwhile, the owner makes MILLIONS off the backs of the very people that he puts through hell for a $5 refund.
As a local small business owner, author, volunteer, and a hard working tax paying citizen, it profusely bothers me that such slimy practices can take place and no one has addressed it - until today.
It is my hope that you will bring this issue to light in order to help educate our local consumers to be more mindful about their purchases by reviewing receipts before leaving these stores, or any store for that matter, as well as to make it known to the owner that we (the consumer) will no longer be taken for granted, taken advantage of, or automatically all deemed as thieves. It would also help for the owners statements to be audited as there is no telling how many people have had money skimmed from them for more than the advertised price, or in my case, for a product they never even purchased.
Thank you in advance for your time and attention to this important matter. Feel free to reach out to m read more
