A bankrupt retailer is now costing customers big money after being unable to fulfill several processed orders.
SmileDirectClub apologized to patients after announcing the closure was effective immediately earlier this month.
The company offered vague answers to existing customers about the future of their treatment.
“Unfortunately aligner treatment is no longer available through the SmileDirectClub platform.
All orders that have not yet shipped have been canceled at this time, and you will not receive your aligners,” the company wrote in a statement.
“If you wish to continue treatment outside of our platform, please consult your treating doctor or your local dentist with any questions around future aligner treatment.”
Despite no longer offering service, SmileDirectClub said that SmilePay customers are expected to continue making monthly payments until their plan is paid off.
Ouch!
The company added that information about refund requests will arrive “once the bankruptcy process determines next steps and additional measures customers can take.”
SmileDirectClub was in business for nearly 10 years, providing direct-to-consumer dental products, including aligners that were sold as an alternative to traditional braces.
The company’s telehealth aspect made it a fierce rival to traditional dentistry tools like Invisalign.
However, the dental company was close to $850 million in long-term debt, according to a report from Yahoo! Finance.
After the initial bankruptcy filing, the founders of the company pledged $20 million to recapitalize the business.
The brand has reportedly been un-profitable since September 2019, per the Dental Tribune.
SmileDirectClub also received heavy criticism from dentists and orthodontists since it was founded by Alex Fenkell and Jordan Katzman in 2014, per The New York Times.
The brand fought back by suing some critics before receiving more backlash from customers who accused the brand of violating Food and Drug Administration regulations and creating false advertising with its mail-in teeth molds.
Then in 2022, The District of Columbia Attorney General’s office sued SmileDirectClub for allegedly blocking customers from filing complaints involving claims of harm from the brand’s products.
A settlement was reached in the case, resulting in the company being forced to pay $500,000 to the district and release around 17,000 customers from agreements.
SmileDirectClub denied any wrongdoing.
Also Read: A US Company Now Declares An Unexpected Bankruptcy
Other Economy News Today
A US Bank customer now loses all of their money after an unexpected account closure, according to a Reddit user report.
The US Bank customer says $59,000 of their own money has gone missing after their account was abruptly closed.
The customer says they have been trying to get their money back for four months now.
Posting to the community r/personalfinance, the consumer wrote: “US Bank closed my account at the end of August and still hasn’t returned the funds back to me.”
In their post, they recalled that their account was closed following an audit, and that US Bank sent a check for the balance of $59,000 to the address on file.
“The address that was on file at the time is a non-functional address, so any mail sent to that address would have been returned to the sender,” wrote the Redditor.
They say they called “multiple times” to update it to a new address, but were told by US Bank that the new address is not on file.
“Every time I call it’s a different story,” wrote the customer.
“First they said they had to mail me paperwork in order to put a stop payment on the check. I never got that paperwork.
“Then they said there was fraud on my account and I had to step into a physical branch to resolve this.
“There are no physical branches in the state I live in,” they added.
The Redditor added that they also contacted his old bank from which he wired the money to US Bank to recall the transaction, but US Bank told them the account was closed and there were no funds in the account.
“I had just spoke to somebody else over the phone just now and she said that she put a request in to have a cashier’s check mailed to my correct address; I had given her my correct address,” said the customer.
‘This is the third time I have given them my address to update my account. She said I would get a check in 15 business days.
‘I told her that I was told before I had to step into a branch to resolve this, I asked if I still needed to do that she said, “no.”
“I have heard the same nonsense from them for 4 months now so I do not believe they are going to send this to me,” concluded the user.
Also Read: A US Bank is Now Denying Customers Access to Money
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