Their deal information explicitly stated that for P595, you will be getting P3500 worth of service, which meant an 83% worth of savings. This "discount" is the bait that made people buy more than 1,900 vouchers to avail of their promo. I bought 7 vouchers myself, which  amounted to Php4.1k.

I set an appointment last Monday, September 26, 2011 for my first (of seven) sessions of NuLight IPL Hair Removal Treatment. When I got there, the dermatologist explained to me that I will only be getting 10 shots of the IPL treatment (5 per underarm), instead of the 60 shots (30 per underarm) that regular sessions go for. I was like, WUUUT, since there was not a word in the deal that Cashcashpinoy posted that mentions this catch. When I purchased the vouchers, it was in the knowledge that I will be getting one session worth P3500 with an 83% savings, which basically is 60 shots of IPL.

This is really sick and disgusting. The Department of Trade and Industry explicitly states that "Sales talk should not misrepresent the product or service" which means that no concealment, false representation, or fraudulent manipulation should be done in any form of advertising.

To quote the article posted in DTI:

"What does concealment, false representation, or fraudulent manipulation mean? The law cites several examples such as the following:

• A consumer product or service has the sponsorship, approval, performance, characteristics, ingredients, accessories, uses, or benefits it does not have.

Retailers are encouraged to promote transparency to consumers among their ranks. All information about a product or service, especially those that concern pricing and quality, should be disclosed to the consumer."

I read everything in their deal information and never did they mention about this 10 shots per treatment. This is a gross exploitation of deals and promos. The law explicitly states that everything about a product or service should be disclosed, especially if there's a difference in the quality that would explain the mark-down in price.

What's even more gross about this is when you calculate the price per shot. I'm a nerd when it comes to deals and savings and calculate up to the last cent. Here's what I came up with:

PHP3500 (regular price) / 60 shots = PHP58.666

PHP595 (deal price) / 10 shots = PHP59.50

So... not only were consumers tricked into buying something not worth 83% of savings, THERE IS NO SAVINGS AT ALL.

I asked the dermatologist about why this was not stated in the promo and she admitted this by blaming the marketing department of Dermclinic. That's understandable (lol not really) but what's insane is that they expect me to go on with this craziness; even having the gall to tell me that if I want to avail of the full treatment, I should set another appointment for another day and bring all of my seven coupons.

LOLWUT?

I'm getting this shit refunded. If they give me a hard time, I'm planning to bring this up to DTI and have a lawyer friend get this resolved.

UPDATE:
October 6, 2011 - I was called by Jhing of Dermclinic this morning and she offered me a reasonable deal which I accepted. Read more here.