Progressive Laser

After reading previous reviews, it is confirmed this place is a terrible business ran by unprofessional, inconsiderate idiots. I had the same experience with Julie as everyone else. I originiall bought a groupon for $ 199 for medium area (bikini) up to 10 visits. I went 4 times, but had to purchase a $ 25 piece to be attached to the laser. I forgot it one time, and had to pay $ 25 for another one. My last appointment was at the end of May, 2014. Julie advised that I was «too tan» and should not come back until the end of summer. The same day I purchase a laser package for $ 329.99 for full legs, 10 – 12 visits.
I called the first week of September 2014 to make my appointment. After scheduling for later in the month, I was asked if I was aware of the «20%.» I asked for an explanation and was told there is now a MANDATORY 20% tip for the retail value of the service, which would cost me $ 160 per visit. I was appalled they were trying to charge me that much extra when that was not the deal at time of purchase. Danielle, the receptionist, basically told me they almost shut down in the summer and this is the only way they can operate. She also explained how Julie went from owner to management, and the new management is being held by a group of doctors. Sounds like a bunch of BS to me.
Danielle was apologetic and told me she would knock down my discount from 20% to 10% which would be $ 80/​visit. I agreed and was extrememly dissatisfied so I emailed Danielle about it. She forwarded it to Julie who told me someone would reach out to me via phone or email. No one ever did. She even called me a week before my appointment and left a voicemail laughing about «some confusion with my service.»
I sent Julie an email cancelling my appointment altogether. I then was refunded $ 199 from Groupon and the full $ 329.99 from my bank after I explained what happened. DO NOT EVER GO TO THIS CRAPPY BUSINESS. Julie is a stinky smoker who harrassed me every visit on my appearance. This place needs to be shut down.

X

I bought a Groupon for Progressive Laser and fortunately have since gotten a refund. This place is run so unprofessionally. It’s difficult to make an appointment since they rarely answer the phones and if you leave a message it’s rare that you get a return call. After finally scheduling my appointment this is the email I received from Julie–
«Sorry for the delayed response, 20% gratuity is due prior to each treatment cash-​only. While we appreciate your business and will be sorry to lose you should you choose not to continue the decision is out of our hands as the business has new owners. Please confirm your appointment by midnight tonight (8.15.14) or your pending appointment will be deleted due to our extensive waiting list»
This email was sent to their client list without being blind copied which I found to be shocking coming from a business. This is usually something my crazy hypothetical Aunt would do! You will find no customer service here. When it comes to lasers and needles I expect to be their highest concern and with this place you are last in the list.

They are so unprofessional
I bought a discounted package from their website for laser hair removeal, Their treatment does not work, the Lady name Julie does everything and she is not professional
Also they enforce 20% gratuity of retail price, Beside the package that I bought I have to pay $ 50 for each session,
It was just waste of money, dont go there
Also they removed the negative review that I wrote last time in Unilocal

Well, my entire experience with this place has been a comedy of errors, and I suppose I’ve learned my lesson– never purchase a groupon for laser hair removal.
Long story short, for $ 300 I was promised 10 sessions. I’ve managed to get three before finally giving up on the complete disaster that is Progressive Laser. My first scheduled appointment was rescheduled by them once, and then I finally got in. My first sign to leave and never come back should have been Julie, who was a complete mess, utterly unprofessional and absolutely could not get herself organized. However, I scheduled my next appointment. At this point my money was nonrefundable.
This time, they rescheduled 3 times before getting me in (apparently the laser was broken?). I saw a different tech, who was great, and made a follow up appointment.
The next appointment was rescheduled once, and i’m fairly certain it was my tech’s first day. However, it was between her and Julie and I didn’t want to mess with Julie ever again. At this point, I should have just left and never come back, but I wanted to get my money’s worth! So I made a follow up appointment.
Which, of course, they rescheduled. But this time they were «so busy» (what? I never saw a single client in there except for myself!) that they couldn’t get me in for another month and a half.
When this appointment came near, we had a family crisis so I called the day before to let them know I may not be able to make it. «Oh, that’s fine,» they said. «But there will be a $ 25 rescheduling fee.» So apparently they can reschedule at will, but it costs money for me to do so. When, as expected, I couldn’t make the appointment the next day, suddenly the rescheduling fee was $ 50. What? Are you serious? Since I’m not paying more money for terrible service, I’m just cutting my losses.
So, in conclusion, Progressive Laser is merely a money making scheme where their lure you in with a great price, and then assume their terrible service will result in you giving up on your non-​refundable advance payment so they can pocket it without providing the promised services.
If you’re going to be spending $ 100 per session of laser hair removal, just go to your dermatologist. They’ll actually be qualified, professional and might actually let you keep your appointments.

I would be very careful about having anyone perform IPL on me… I would be especially careful at Progressive. My first visit (1 of 3) was fantastic. The girl who performed IPL on my face was fantastic! However, she quit before my next visit and I can’t say I blamed her one bit… In fact, I think I encouraged her too I only wish I had her to do my last two treatments… She was very informative and you could tell in addition to being well trained and paying more for additional credentials to perform laser (which is not required since the mfg of laser equipment train staff as well) she did a lot of research and continued to learn about commonly prescribed products by dermatologists that may not necessarily be good and more… She was very calm and easy to talk to and described everything she was going to do and what it would be like. BTW, if you have not had IPL, it is a little scary the first time, you don’t want a fast moving, loud women zapping the hell out of your face…
Anyway, what I learned from her and the rest of their staff since the same girl never did my IPL twice because they all quit is that Julie does not pay her staff, they work solely on tips! They are forced to find a way to tell you this or they just spent nearly an hour with you for free. The other two girls in her office were extremely overweight, their hair was a mess, they don’t wear any make-​up. They literally looked like they rolled out of bed and got in the car and drove to work with messy hair buns on top of their heads and ugg… just a bad scene, the techs at my vet look 100% bette on a daily basis. They are crass, harsh, not polished, do not speak well and more… I would go as far to say almost rude!
Now for Julie, here is the kicker. She is very sweet and I believe she may know her stuff but to see her, WOW! She looks like she has bad professionals perform hundreds of services on her. She is fast, loud and harsh, but nice. She reaks of smoke, her face has been very unevenly injected with what looks like a lot collagen. I saw her and almost jumped out of my chair and left before IPL treatment number two. The girl that day was kind and told me not to worry she knew what I was seeing and said nothing I was having done there would make me look like that… She was also very informative and had to find a way to tell me they work solely on tips. I felt badly for her because she had to find a way to calm me down after Julie came ripping through the room like the Tazmanian Devil. Also, I never saw a difference after the 1^st treatment. It made the most impace and then nothing… My face had many brown sun spots and the first treatment did a lot of good, but nothing changed after two and three. I tan very dark but was not tan at the time it was January. My dad is as dark as dark gets and my mom is very fair with freckles and I am a combo of them both… not sure if some of my spots are just freckles. My skin looked great the next day after number 1. The spots turned into little black spots like black heads and fell off in a few days… you would have to be really close to notice them. I mention this about Julie, not to be rude, but because my mindset was if she thinks she looks good, I don’t want her injecting my face at all. I went to Progressive of a groupon i bought it was for both IPL and Botox, I bailed on the Botox and never did it. As I understand it after askin a lot of questions, Julie is not a dermatologist and pays someone who is a dr. to be her medical director as required by law… for the machines she leases and her staff operates performing procedures on people.
The space is cramped and small and could be very nice, but I don’t think Julie would spend the money.
I since went to Dr. Youns office in Troy, he is a regular on the talk show networks, Oz, Rachel Ray etc… he is as you would expect top dollar. I went to his office for Refirm, I have to say what a different experience from his staff who perform laser treatments alone, not to mention he is in the top of Troy building and has a beautiful space there.
His laser techs, were in office clothes with lab coats over them, they had their hair done and make up and spoke well… they were kind and easy to deal with and organized and happy. They both worked on salary and had been educated, they had a lot of advice as well to offer. I was afraid at Progressive after the first two girls left, I would never go back… Peau Clair runs some great sales on their services and he is a dermatologist with well trained techs.. for sure worth watching out for his sales they are very competitive prices, get on their email list. Youns office was great but the prices were very high.

If you are looking for professionalism, good business practice, and a place «where the patient is the primary concern» — take your money and go somewhere else. I tried to reach out to Julie to speak about the concerns of my arms before it went too far with the phone calls and message that I was leaving for her to call me back. I FINALLY received a call back when I asked why she was avoiding me — I mean, I was the person literally burned here. I was the person that had to go to the dermatologist and had to buy ointments, creams, and had the embarrassment of hideous arms. Somehow Julie turned the tables on me and said that it was my fault that I was naturally «too tanned» (I’m olive complected) but she didn’t have any hesitation taking more money from me to not only do my arms — but I paid additionally to have my hands done, as well. It’s true that she said that I had dark (er) skin and the procedures may or may not work on our first visit — but it took 8 visits for me to receive 1^st degree burns. I’m still I’m a bit confused on how I am to blame when, at Progressive Laser, they are supposed to be the «professionals» — and let me know that I was still a bit too tanned from my vacation 5 weeks prior to this visit. The photos that I previously attached are the proof that something went very wrong.

Canceled my appointment and rescheduled it. Then they were 45 minutes late with no apology. So rude!!! They don’t value your time or schedule at all! Save your money and go elsewhere.

Probably the most sketchy place I have ever been to. It was so bizarre. Of course not every experience can be a good one — especially when purchasing a Groupon. I love Groupon, but sometimes I feel they should have detectives that check each place out to make sure it’s legit before posting on their website. I have so many things to say about this «Medical Spa» I am not even sure where to start:
Location:
Their first location was a dump. It was behind some salon in the middle of Berkley. The place was incredibly unkempt. Their second location is considerably nicer — it’s in Birmingham, and the place looks a lot cleaner and more appealing. If I had started coming to this location my review would probably have a different tone.
Misleading:
I initially called in asking questions about the laser hair procedure that was advertised on Groupon. On the Groupon it said something along the lines of: $ 99 for a small area which consisted of a number of body parts including underarm. Anyway I asked Julie some basic questions. She then said that I wouldn’t need to purchase the Groupon — I could just pay when I got there. On the phone I told her I was interested in having my underarm lasered. When I actually showed up for my appointment I was scared. Anyway I decided to go through with it. In the end she decided to tell me that it was $ 169! Of course my innate response was «the groupon said small areas were $ 99», she said «yes I know they made a mistake on there. Underarms are actually considered medium areas». Being non-​confrontational — I paid nonetheless. I didn’t even get a receipt! It’s funny — they also advertise on Living Social and a number of other sites, and on those sites they all show the «wrong» information. I even called back (months later) asking for clarification of the areas. They did list underarms as a medium area and gave the same response when I inquired about the Living Social — it’s incorrectly stated on those websites. I wonder what happened to people who actually purchased a Groupon for underarm.
Tips:
On every email they feel the need to remind us how much tips are appreciated since the prices are so «greatly reduced». I am a firm believer in giving tips when I am blown away by a service — I don’t need to be reminded to tip. I don’t think hounding people about tipping is good customer service at all. Beyond that isn’t is supposed to be a «medical spa». Isn’t she supposed to be a doctor? What kind of doctor do you tip? Do you ever hand your dentist money after going for a checkup — even if that checkup is found on Groupon?
Reviews:
I’m pretty sure all the positive reviews from this place have been doctored. Not only am I in disbelief that someone would write them a legitimate positive review — the people that «review» them also only «review» Salon Miracles — the ghetto hair salon it was a part of in the previous location.
I actually did have less under arm growth because of it. I was so uncomfortable though that I doubt it was worth it. Are they even credible?
What a ridiculous «company”/“medical institution». I wrote this review after my second appointment, but decided not to publish it until after I was finished with all my sessions (that I did consider to just «miss out» on). Anyway, now I am done with Progressive Laser and will never return.

Progressive laser has one of the worst business practices I have ever experienced. I bought a groupon for laser hair removal. FYI to everyone, I had initially placed a review on google but it looks likes progressive laser has now chosen not to list their place on google maps so you can no longer see the 4 reviews that were written by several people speaking about their deceptive business practices. My issues with them include the following:
1) Unable to make appointments — To make my initial appointment, I called them probably 30 times throughout a week span in order to get a hold of someone to make my first initial appointment. After emailing and calling without any response, I decided to contact Groupon. Once I went that route within one day I had a phone call stating oh we are busy but are now ready to make that appointment. I went for my initial appointment, I would not leave without having a subsequent appointment made. In between my first and second appointment, they moved to a different location which I only find out because I used Google maps for directions. On my fourth appointment, I show up to the location around 1030AM, find the door to be locked, called several times, and emailed with no response. Waited for about an hour and left after no response. They didn’t bother calling me, emailing me etc and I tried to contact them probably another 50 times to find out what happened, and then I contacted Groupon again regarding this and the business was unable to answer as to what happened.
2) NO HAIR REDUCTION — Although I realize that nothing is guaranteed to remove or reduce hair, I noticed no difference in my hair growth. This was surprising to me considering that I have done laser before and noticed a reduction within three treatments. Being well versed in medical research and papers published, I decided to do some research on the laser. The office kept stating that they were increasing the laser joules applied slowly at every appointment. I noticed that I started off at 10 joules and went up to 12 on my final laser appointment. When I looked up the medical research behind the laser, I found that almost all the studies done started off with a minimum of 15 joules and then would progress from there and noticed a difference in all patients. So basically they have been wasting my time and groupon value, because by the time I would have hit 15 joules the minimum in all the studies, I would have hit the six treatment limit for my groupon. At 15 joules I would have finally seen a small reduction and my next best guess would be that they were going to offer me a GREAT DEAL and state that I just needed to buy some more treatments at their great deal price. Extremely dishonest! In summary I would never recommend anyone waste their money at Progressive laser. The groupon is not worth it and they are dishonest. You will not see any difference because they are not even applying the minimum laser intensity used in most published studies. STAY AWAY FROM THEM!

The staff is horribly unprofessional. The salon recently moved to a new location which is much better than the old building but still extremely small and cramped. I went in for the first time because I had a groupon, I sat in the lobby for 10 minutes before i was even acknowledged. I then had to wait another 30 minutes while the receptionist told me the laser tech, Julie, was ‘having a cigarette.’ I thought that was extremely unprofessional considering I had already been waiting 45 minutes, and they could have just said ‘she’ll be with you in a moment’ without saying ‘she’s smoking.’ She then lasered me without an apology but made sure to say that tips were appreciated.
My 2^nd appointment I waited in the lobby for AN HOUR before Julie finally appeared, once again no apology, but once again she stood there waiting for a tip. I still have 4 sessions left with my groupon but I’m gonna say myself the frustration and cut my losses and NEVER return again.
(PS This is my first review I’ve ever written, I was just so incredibly frustrated with the customer service and lack of professionalism of a MEDICAL spa that I had to warn others)