Global Electrolysis Supply complaints


Consumer reports on Global Electrolysis Supply

I have received numerous letters from consumers who are angry with Global Electrolysis Supply, a company selling hair removal products on the net and through catalogs.

Global Electrolysis Supply should be avoided by all consumers.

In 1999, an angry consumer in Oklahoma had compiled an online collection of consumer complaints against Aavexx Electrolysis/Allied Distributors, and kept updating it through the time they changed their name to Allied Electrolysis Supply. When she began to get harrassed about her page, she took it down to avoid their threats.

This page picks it up from there. This company currently operates as Global Electrolysis Supply. Their name may change, but the complaints about their products and business practices never change.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration lists consumers who received facial injuries using "Liquid Electrolysis."

1999 Annual Report of complaints (file 08295 13-APR-1999)
2000 Annual Report of complaints (file 08437 06-JAN-2000)

From a consumer complaint site:

I have been ripped off by Allied Electrolysis Supply. Not only do they provide bad customer service, but their products don’t work. The product they sold to me looks like someone just stuck a label printed by computer just to give it a name. The product stopped working after 2 weeks of use. I have tried calling them, but staff doesn’t answer my questions. I asked them for a mailing address…staff’s reply was "I was’t given that information."
— Lourdes Banuelos, CA

From a hair removal bulletin board in October 2001:

I sent back Allied electrolysis’s lame laser "toy" within their 90 day period to get my money back. Now they are not answering me and im tired of calling them. My question is: Does anyone in this newsgroup know if i can take legal action against them. I have documentation from my first invoice to the day ups delivered my package to their bogus returns dept. I know that they are based in Vancouver but surely their are some kind of trade laws that prohibit this kind of unethical behavior…

I think I might write a letter to the Attorney General in my state about this company; basically stating how they have screwed me and others. Maybe I will get some kind of action through this channel. But I would probably need everyone who has been cheated by Global Electrolysis to also file complaints to make any kind substantial effect. Didnt someone on this board once write that they called the Canadian police and got something out of that.

I dont know how these people can live with themselves. I have to work two jobs just to support myself and having them steal over $2000 from me has just made want to go to Canada myself and find this Greg Manning.

Its just the way they totally disregard you when u call. The secretary actually told me that it would be impossible for me to talk to Greg Manning, that he usually does not take calls from customers.

Yeah, No wonder…..he knows that they are not gonna be friendly calls. As for the other "administrator", Linda Amos, she has convieniently gone on vacation although I had talked to her the day before.

I spent so much care in returning their package according to their RMA instructions so that they wouldnt use the "its broken" trick on me, but they just screwed me in another way. They just outright lied and said i did not get it back to them within the 90 days although i have the original invoice and the UPS tracking sheet for the return that shows it was well within that time frame. But unfortunately it seems that all the documentation i have been saving is worthless since these *******s have a safety net by being north of the border.

I think everyone in this newsgroup should jump in a van and take a trip up to Vancouver and have a little chat with this Gregg Manning guy since he is too **** good to talk to anyone on the phone.

I hope he burns in **** , him and his entire staff of cheaters.

From a hair removal bulletin board in late spring 2001:

DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY!!THEY ARE A SCAM!!!!!! THEY HAVE CHEATED ME AND MANY OTHERS OUT OF MONEY WITH THERE TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE PRODUCTS!!!! THERE WHOLE COMPANY IS A FRAUD!!! BELIEVE ME>>>THIS HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED!!!! PLEASE DONT MAKE THE MISTAKE I DID !!!!! THanks.

From a hair removal bulletin board in late spring 2001:

I MUST whole-heartedly agree with all of you! Allied and/or Global Electrolysis Supply is one of the greatest scams out there! Let me tell you about my unfortunate experiences. Being an amateur bodybuilder, I was interested in permanetely removing my body hair. Looking in the ads of a muscle magazine…i came across the heading.."Embaressed of your unwanted hair…we have the solution…transdermal, no-needle, galvanic, inhibitors, laser..and the only topical proven to kill follicles…see us at www.liquidelectrolysis.com" Well, I fell for it and what began was about a 9 month "war" with this company and there products. My first purchase was the Liquid Electrolysis…spent $500..and,…****! Next came Aavex 549 Transdermal..a "patch" that when placed on the skin will kill every follicle under it…..****! Luckily, I got my $500 refund on that one. Next came the Psoret 500E Inhibitor…looked promising, I thought since its not regulated by the FDA, then it must be real potent and work well….****! Out another $500. You think I would have learned my lesson. But Chris Williams, the sweet talking "man" behind the Canadian Hair Removal Scam…****ed me into the biggest purchase ever….the Laser Perm Photo Epilator and goggles at a total of $3300. He said he pulled a few strings to get me the machine, cuz he thought i was capable of handling it. My package finally came..opened it up..looked nothing like the picture..plugged it in..and no lie..you would have thought the machine was a childs toy. The beam was something out of a Star Wars action figure..it did nothing to my hair or skin….and the goggles wich were $300 were so cheap, my sunglasses could have protected me better..but hey, who needs real protection when your laser came from Toys-R-Us. I think you know…..****! I packaged it up and sent it back for my full refund, and after many emails to "Greg Manning"…and "Linda" they said the goggles broke during shipping so I would be chraged a 15% restocking fee on the whole machine. I WAS BEING CHARGED FOR SOMETHING THAT DIDNT EVEN BREAK! I settled with there offer many "fights" and got a $2500 refund. Alltogether this company cost me $1800 down the toilet. There should be a lawsuit and some sort of action upon this fradulent company. NO ONE TRUST THEM! Sorry I took so much time. It just angers me!

From a hair removal bulletin board in 2001:

DO NOT I Repeat DO NOT buy from them they are one and the same as liquidelectrolysis.
a COMPLETE rippoff. go ahead and TRY to talk to somone other than a phone order taker.. they truly **** ************
I have only heard bad bad bad rom them.. lets put it this way..
they have a number in colorado, but the order is taken in NJ and they are actualyl in Canada… sound fishy??? gee.. I WONDER why……

From a hair removal bulletin board in 2001:

global/allied.. is commanding to be subjected to a witch hunt… who’s interested?

From a hair removal bulletin board in 2001:

WOW!! me too!! IF and I mean that in all extremes… IF you get tot lk to another human being again .. PLEASE get some LEGIT contact numbers.. they owe some people a lot of money,… I copuldnteven get a credit card guarantee cuz they waited to send the unit until it was too late after billing

From a hair removal bulletin board in July 2001:

anyone know how to get money back from them CROOKS ? they owe me $1000 dollars……….or and is anyone there want to build a ANTI ALLIED STIE/GLOBAL ELECTRONICS SITE? is so email me……thanks

From a hair removal bulletin board in February 2001

Please do not purchase anything from Allied Electronics, as they are running a scam.
http://www.liquidelectrolysis.com/epitron.htm
We purchased an Epitron 35Watt unit from them, and had no results after 3 months on facial hair.
The unit is advertised as operating at 27MHZ at 35 Watts. This was entirely false. Upon connecting the unit to an oscilliscope, we found that the unit produced no frequency at all. Even if it did, the FCC requires that you have a licence to operate 27MHZ at over 5 Watts. 27MHZ lies in the commercial band. It is actually the same frequency as channel 14 on a CB.
So we got curious, and opened up the unit. We found $10 worth of radio shack parts hand soldered onto a cheap perf board. It looked totally different than the circuit board on their website. This unit in no way could produce 27MHZ at 35 Watts. I can say this because I have a degree in electonics. This unit was just a cheap galvanic unit sold in disguise. No RF energy at all.
So I called, and e-mailed Allied Electronics with our situation. They told me through an e-mail that I had violated the warranty by opening up the unit.
Then I contacted the Better Business Bureau of Canada. They told me that no one has any jurisdiction over companies located in Vancouver. Just our luck.
So the first rule of business is to only do business with companies in the US, where US laws apply. Forget about Canada.
I am sure that there are good companies in Canada, but they have not done a good enough job at cleaning up their industry. It is better to keep your money here in the US anyway.
The second rule of business is not to buy anything from Allied Electronics.

An email I got from an angry consumer on 10 April 2001:

I purchased a blend tone electrolysis machine from Allied late last Summer.

Since I know quite a bit about electrolysis I had a feeling that it wasn’t working properly. I have experienced a permanent scar on my wrist from the wristband shocking and burning me. I haven’t put the machine to much use as I was afraid of being burned again. This weekend I took it out of the drawer to remove a few hairs and the thing fell apart in my hands! I put in a call to Allied/Global yesterday and have not heard anything back from them. After reading your website I have a feeling that I won’t ever hear from them and that I have no chance of getting a refund.

An email I got from an angry consumer on 16 April 2001:

I saw the name Chris Williams on your website. He is the one who helped me on the phone when I ordered my machine. He tried to come on like he knew something about electrolysis and then when I asked a question he didn’t want to answer he told me this was his first week on the job. I found that to be kind of strange for him to be working in customer service if he doesn’t know anything! I should have known better.

An email I got from an angry customer on 24 June 2001:

hi.. i saw your homepage about Global Electrolysis Supply. Actually I am the one of the victims…let me explain my situation. I bought a electrolysis remover($567.99 in cluding shippment fee). when i received the product, it was already broken and didnt work at all. Then, I decided to returen the product to get a refund and they gave me some instructions to return….and then, I properly packed the product even though i actually didnt follow their stupid instruction ( do this, dont do this, use this…something like that) because i though it is not necessarry…..Now they are saying they cant refund because i didnt follow their instruction and the product have been seriously damaged. They sent me several pictures to show how badly the product got damaged…..according to these pictures, the inside of the box is very very messy …everything is scattered everwhere inside the box….But it’s impossible for the product and its accesarry to be scattered like this because i properly packed so that anything would not move inside of the box. I am really not sure how to deal with this problem…..actually i submitted my complaint to FTC. but are there other things that i can do….I am wondering if i can get a refund. I am very happy to give you more information if you need….I would greately appreciate if you could tell me what I should do as a first step. Thank you very much..

An email I got from an angry customer on 8 December 2001:

I am extremely upset! I just discovered your "Warning Page" regarding Allied/Global Electrolysis. I, unfortunately, ordered form these people. I have been wondering why I haven’t been able to contact anyone. Needless to say, my Aavex 349 did not work… and also left minor scarring. I didn’t mind paying almost $400 if it had worked! This is my second bad experience with electrolysis…. The first was at a "salon" , which I did finally get re-imbursed 70% of my money paid. (Not including my time, travel, and babysitter money) They probably had an Aavex machine, too.