If someone standing outside this store offers you a free sample, my advice is simple: keep walking. Better yet, run in the opposite direction.
I like to think I'm not the kind of guy who falls for sales gimmicks. Apparently all it took was a pretty girl with a heavy accent, a translator, and a whole lot of charm.
Within about 15 minutes I had expensive skincare products all over my face, we were talking about our lives, exchanging phone numbers, and I had somehow spent nearly $1,000.
Go ahead and call me a dumbass. You're probably right. But I'd bet a lot of guys in the same situation would've made the same mistake.
I'm 50 years old. Between a brutal divorce, a colorful past, and more than 20 years riding motorcycles, life has weathered me a little. I'm probably exactly the kind of customer they're hoping walks through the door.
The salesperson told me she was from Israel, found out I was Jewish, had me talking about my bar mitzvah, saying the Shema, and even opened up conversations about my kids. It felt incredibly genuine at the time. Looking back, I honestly don't know how much was real and how much was part of the sales process.
I'll admit the products seemed to tighten the skin under my eyes at first.
Unfortunately, a few hours later my face started tingling, then burning, then swelling. The reaction became bad enough that I ended up at urgent care for treatment.
I went back to the store that same day with my receipt, hoping they'd help considering I'd had a reaction.
Instead, I was told there were no refunds.
While I waited, I watched another salesperson using what sounded like the exact same compliments and conversation on another customer. That's when it hit me that I probably wasn't as special as I'd been led to believe.
I was given a customer service number, but despite calling several times, I never reached anyone. After multiple attempts, it appeared my calls from my phone were no longer going through, although calls from another phone still rang.
Maybe I simply had an allergic reaction. That can happen. But what disappointed me most wasn't the reaction--it was the lack of customer service afterward. When someone spends nearly $1,000 and ends up needing medical treatment the same day, you'd hope the business would show at least a little concern.
So here's my advice: don't make an impulse purchase because someone you've known for ten minutes makes you feel like George Clooney. Take the brochure, go home, read reviews, and sleep on it before spending that kind of money.
My face recovered. My wallet recovered. My ego is still under observation. read more
