From a reader:
Yes, I did win the case, and now AMI (in Santa Clara) has not reimbursed my money yet, and overdue by a week.
Here is the summary of the case:
-I had requested a full reimbursement on THR, and AMI in Santa Clara gave me discounted offer on their ESTELUX.
-BBB got involved and we had about three to four correspondence back-and-forth. Although I did not send any of the material you had asked me to print, but kept it for the case (small claims or arbitration).
-During this correspondence AMI Santa Clara director wrote in his e-mail that “AMI never stated that THR for permanganate hair removal, only for hair reduction.”
-Big blunder on AMI’s part, I send the ads to BBB and claimed that AMI falsely advertised, since they are acknowledging that this was not a perm hair removal solution. I asked BBB what they plan to do with the company that has out rightly misled the consumers.
-AMI and I did agree for a BBB arbitration. I was counting on the false advertisement part. But something else worked on my favor.
-The arbitration was held a month ago. During the arbitration the contract was reviewed and my back was checked.
-During my review and signing (approving) of the contract, I had ??? the points that I understood and ?x? four points I did not agree on. What I did not do, as the contract states, is to initialize under each point, although the final signature at the end was signed.
-The arbitrator ruled that since the contract was not initialized at each point, plus per the advertisement (I also submitted a ad from the local newspaper during that time period), and visible checking my back and seeing still plenty of hair can be seen, a full reimbursement of the money by Aug 23.
-AMI has not paid me yet and I have informed BBB. This is a legally binding contract. I am not sure what I should do from here.
I did put a call to Wally, the founder of AMI, and he said that the Santa Clara branch is operated independently as RCDC corp ad he as nothing to do with it. This was surprising to me, since the AMI website has the Santa Clara as a branch.