On 11/25/18 walking through the Mall of America an aggressive sales person outside of Gold Elements bombarded me with a sample of cream, he rubbed it on the top of my hand and speaking very quickly raving about his anti-aging products brought me in to the store for an eye cream demo.
It appeared to be somewhat effective so I inquired about the price, when he told me the price I promptly said no. The sales person then said he wanted to check his computer for any discounts. When he came back to me the product was magically reduced with an 83% discount, down to $300 from nearly $1,500.
To which I still said no I could not afford it, however the sales person than raised his voice, got short with me and said I could not afford not to buy this product and that my skin looked like that of someone in their 40’s. At the time I was 36. After the sales person insulted and shamed me, I reluctantly purchased the eye cream.
While checking out I was approached by another sales person offering to demo a mask. Already feeling embarrassed I reluctantly agreed to another demo of Gold Elements products. I was told the price was $5,000 and I immediately said no. He instantly responded saying they could do a 1 year supply of masks and 4 years of free refills of 7 different products, all needed for a daily skin care regiment.
3 products for the morning and 4 products for night time, as well as 4 free facials a year. All for $1,200.00 this peaked my interest having free refills for 4 years. I specially asked the sales person what the limitation was on the refills.
He responded that there were no limitation and to simply come into the store with the empty container anytime I ran out and they would refill it for free. After doing some quick math the $1,200 would equate to just about what I was already budgeting for and spending on current skin care routine. I went ahead with the purchase.
In late January or early February 2019, I went back to Gold Elements to return the products. They were not working as the sales persons claimed they would and the products were not moisturizing enough for my skin. I informed the manager the products did not work for me and I was not seeing the results as promised.
The manager then told me their refund policy is 7 days. I asked the manager how was I supposed to know if the products worked in just 7 days? (Industry standard is typically between 30-90 days) She did not respond.
None the less, disappointed, I accepted that I was outside of Gold Elements return policy and resolved to just use the products for my 4 years of free refills and not repurchase after the 4 years. The manager refilled a few of the products I had run out of and even gave me a different moisturizer to try to help with the dry skin I was having due to the other products.
*Note: Gold Elements themselves state in a response to another consumer’s complaint with the BBB that quote “we do carry anti-aging items among other skin care items which take time to yield results. As with any cosmetics a weeks’ time of using an item is not enough time to see significant results”.
On 4/29/19 I returned to Gold Elements for a refill on some products. In particulate 2 of the night time use products. The manager informed me these 2 particular products were not part of the refill program. I explained that is NOT what I was told at the time of purchase and that ALL of the of the products I purchased back in November would be refilled for free for 4 years.
She recommended I call customer service to see if there was anything that could be done. I left the store very frustrated and suspecting that I had been scammed at the time of sale. Upon arriving home I left a voice mail for customer service and got on the internet to look up reviews and possible complaints for Gold Elements. I was shocked and horrified at what I had found. Countless consumers all over the country had been duped just like me.
On 4/30/19 I received a call back from customer service. I explained the situation to which customer service stated Gold Elements does not consider night time to be part of a daily skin care regiment. Customer service also stated they actually have a zero return policy because they allow products to be tried at the store. I reference you back to the BBB response. The customer service rep said they would do nothing for me.
On 5/10/19 I filed a complaint with the MN Attorney General requesting a refund.
On 6/13/19 Gold Elements responded to my complaint with even more contradicting factors to what I was told at the time of sale.
On 6/20/19 I sent a response to Gold Elements pointing out and asking them to address all contradictions between what I was told at the time of sale to now.
After waiting several weeks on 7/30/19 I reached out to the AG to see if a response had come in yet from Gold Elements. The AG confirmed no response had been received.
On 8/16/19 I emailed Gold Elements directly including a copy of my response and inquired about the refund.
On August 18thI received a response from Gold Elements that they would not be issuing me a refund and that NOW they actually have a computer system in place to track customer’s refills and would enter all my refills into their system as an advance on the refill plan.
Gold Elements also states I am “abusing” the products and that they last 6-8 months. Gold Elements does not dictate the needs of my skin. I know my skin and I know it needs heavy moisturizing which is why I know I specifically asked the sales person at the time of purchase if there was a limit to the amount of refills I could receive.
By this time I have now gone back to the store on 3 different occasions. Each time I went out of my way to mention my 4 years of refills and not 1 time did the manager correct me to only 3 years. I also received no push back on the limit of what I was refilling. Each time the manager simply asked me for my receipt, reviewed it and gave me the products no questions asked.
Never was an account for me looked up in their computer system. I was blatantly lied to at the time of purchase by the salesmen so that he could make a sale. Based on the countless other consumer complaints this appears to be a trend in the way Gold Elements does business.
I filed a law suit against Gold Elements to which these crooks suspiciously dodged the court summons. I refiled a 2ndlaw suit. This time they will not dodge the summons. Having the Sheriff serve this one personally.
Gold Elements Cosmetics Reviews
On 11/25/18 walking through the Mall of America an aggressive sales person outside of Gold Elements bombarded me with a sample of cream, he rubbed it on the top of my hand and speaking very quickly raving about his anti-aging products brought me in to the store for an eye cream demo.
It appeared to be somewhat effective so I inquired about the price, when he told me the price I promptly said no. The sales person then said he wanted to check his computer for any discounts. When he came back to me the product was magically reduced with an 83% discount, down to $300 from nearly $1,500.
To which I still said no I could not afford it, however the sales person than raised his voice, got short with me and said I could not afford not to buy this product and that my skin looked like that of someone in their 40’s. At the time I was 36. After the sales person insulted and shamed me, I reluctantly purchased the eye cream.
While checking out I was approached by another sales person offering to demo a mask. Already feeling embarrassed I reluctantly agreed to another demo of Gold Elements products. I was told the price was $5,000 and I immediately said no. He instantly responded saying they could do a 1 year supply of masks and 4 years of free refills of 7 different products, all needed for a daily skin care regiment.
3 products for the morning and 4 products for night time, as well as 4 free facials a year. All for $1,200.00 this peaked my interest having free refills for 4 years. I specially asked the sales person what the limitation was on the refills.
He responded that there were no limitation and to simply come into the store with the empty container anytime I ran out and they would refill it for free. After doing some quick math the $1,200 would equate to just about what I was already budgeting for and spending on current skin care routine. I went ahead with the purchase.
In late January or early February 2019, I went back to Gold Elements to return the products. They were not working as the sales persons claimed they would and the products were not moisturizing enough for my skin. I informed the manager the products did not work for me and I was not seeing the results as promised.
The manager then told me their refund policy is 7 days. I asked the manager how was I supposed to know if the products worked in just 7 days? (Industry standard is typically between 30-90 days) She did not respond.
None the less, disappointed, I accepted that I was outside of Gold Elements return policy and resolved to just use the products for my 4 years of free refills and not repurchase after the 4 years. The manager refilled a few of the products I had run out of and even gave me a different moisturizer to try to help with the dry skin I was having due to the other products.
*Note: Gold Elements themselves state in a response to another consumer’s complaint with the BBB that quote “we do carry anti-aging items among other skin care items which take time to yield results. As with any cosmetics a weeks’ time of using an item is not enough time to see significant results”.
On 4/29/19 I returned to Gold Elements for a refill on some products. In particulate 2 of the night time use products. The manager informed me these 2 particular products were not part of the refill program. I explained that is NOT what I was told at the time of purchase and that ALL of the of the products I purchased back in November would be refilled for free for 4 years.
She recommended I call customer service to see if there was anything that could be done. I left the store very frustrated and suspecting that I had been scammed at the time of sale. Upon arriving home I left a voice mail for customer service and got on the internet to look up reviews and possible complaints for Gold Elements. I was shocked and horrified at what I had found. Countless consumers all over the country had been duped just like me.
On 4/30/19 I received a call back from customer service. I explained the situation to which customer service stated Gold Elements does not consider night time to be part of a daily skin care regiment. Customer service also stated they actually have a zero return policy because they allow products to be tried at the store. I reference you back to the BBB response. The customer service rep said they would do nothing for me.
On 5/10/19 I filed a complaint with the MN Attorney General requesting a refund.
On 6/13/19 Gold Elements responded to my complaint with even more contradicting factors to what I was told at the time of sale.
On 6/20/19 I sent a response to Gold Elements pointing out and asking them to address all contradictions between what I was told at the time of sale to now.
After waiting several weeks on 7/30/19 I reached out to the AG to see if a response had come in yet from Gold Elements. The AG confirmed no response had been received.
On 8/16/19 I emailed Gold Elements directly including a copy of my response and inquired about the refund.
On August 18thI received a response from Gold Elements that they would not be issuing me a refund and that NOW they actually have a computer system in place to track customer’s refills and would enter all my refills into their system as an advance on the refill plan.
Gold Elements also states I am “abusing” the products and that they last 6-8 months. Gold Elements does not dictate the needs of my skin. I know my skin and I know it needs heavy moisturizing which is why I know I specifically asked the sales person at the time of purchase if there was a limit to the amount of refills I could receive.
By this time I have now gone back to the store on 3 different occasions. Each time I went out of my way to mention my 4 years of refills and not 1 time did the manager correct me to only 3 years. I also received no push back on the limit of what I was refilling. Each time the manager simply asked me for my receipt, reviewed it and gave me the products no questions asked.
Never was an account for me looked up in their computer system. I was blatantly lied to at the time of purchase by the salesmen so that he could make a sale. Based on the countless other consumer complaints this appears to be a trend in the way Gold Elements does business.
I filed a law suit against Gold Elements to which these crooks suspiciously dodged the court summons. I refiled a 2ndlaw suit. This time they will not dodge the summons. Having the Sheriff serve this one personally.