Serenity Spa billing practices leave customers red-faced

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – A consumer alert tonight from the Better Business Bureau on a skin care business. It’s not about the products sold but the billing that has left numerous customers shocked and angry.

When a $69 facial offer at Serenity Spa popped up out of the blue on social media, Karissa Trobec says it lured her into a financial commitment that left her red-faced.

“I’m frustrated, I’m just baffled. I was not expecting a credit card opened at all. I was not expecting a $4,800 charge. Just pay monthly cancel anytime no strings attached is what I was told,” said Karissa Trobec.

Angelica Neave did agree to let Serenity Spa and Facials open a Care Credit card in her name but it came with a blemish.

“She told me I wouldn’t get dinged because it was a medical purpose. It was not going to do anything with my credit. But it did. It went down 29 points that day,” said Angelica Neave.

Though a charge dispute with the Serenity Spa knocked her bill down to $2,900 Karissa watched her credit score drop 32 points.

When asked if she knew when she signed the contract, it was going to affect her credit, Trobec said, “I had no idea. This was not told to me at all.”

Richelle Hallgren used her own debit card, expecting a monthly withdrawal for Serenity Spa facials and still took a credit hit.

“The first month went by, and they took out $2,300 instead of the $194. So they took out most of my paycheck, and all of my bills were sent back,” said Richelle Hallgren.

Richelle says it took Serenity Spa a week to refund her money and demanding to know why she got a reply and made a copy.

“And she says why do we need to meet in person. They didn’t want to meet in person,” Hallgren said.

So I personally went to a Serenity Spa and an employee couldn’t answer any billing questions. We asked them to contact us.

That’s a week ago and so far no response.

“Clearly, it’s trouble whenever we bring complaints to a company’s attention and they ignore them,” said Jim Hegarty of the Better Business Bureau.

The Better Business Bureau gives Serenity Spa and Facial an F rating with 14 complaints in three years and 10 customer complaints in the last 12 months.

“They certainly didn’t understand that there was going to be a credit card essentially issued in their name for in some cases $2,000, $3,000 that they were on the hook for,” said Jim Hegarty with the BBB.

Part of the bait customers allege is a bag of skin care products handed out at the promotional pitch with no value listed.

“They didn’t tell me any instructions,” Trobec said.

“I’ve barely used it because it reminds me of what they’re doing to me,” Neave said.

“Don’t use your bank money on something like this,” Hallgren said.

Several customers say unexpected bills and credit rating hits need to be removed before Serenity Spa can smooth things over with them.

The three customers interviewed say that after their promotional visit they declined to schedule facials due to the unexpected billing issues with Serenity Spa. All say they’ll dispute future charges. So far messages sent to Care Credit haven’t been returned.

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