Caveat Emptor

A few weeks ago, several of my Facebook friends mentioned a great LivingSocial deal, where you could get a $20 Amazon gift card, for only $10. These friends weren’t the type to get suckered into fake deals, so even though I wasn’t familiar with LivingSocial, I decided to give it a try. Everything worked out perfectly, I got my $20 gift card, and spent it on a cookbook I had been eying. Which I haven’t used yet, but am looking forward to checking out.

A few days later, after receiving and redeeming my Amazon card, LivingSocial had a deal that sounded pretty darned good…a home tooth whitening kit, valued at $299*, for only $68. It’s through a cosmetic dentist in Portland, OR, Dr. Frye at Bling Dental. I’ve been considering such a kit, through my own very humble dentist, whose assistant has the whitest teeth I’ve ever seen after using a kit the dentist fit for her. My dentist charges about $300 or so for the custom trays and the whitening gel, so this sounded like a good idea. So I paid my money and went online to redeem my certificate. Warning sign number 1. The $299 package includes trays that are actually fitted in Dr. Frye’s office. The home version is $199**. So already, I’m not getting what I was sold. Warning sign number 2, if you look carefully***, the $299 and $199 kits come with 4 syringes of serum. The LivingSocial kit comes with 2. Neither of these are a big problem on their own, but the fact that this was NOT what was advertised ticked me off a bit. But I had already purchased the kit, so I redeemed my coupon and waited. And waited.

3 weeks later, my ICING by Bling kit finally arrived. Step one is that you have to fit the whitening trays to your mouth. You take the trays, dip them into HOT water, and then bite into them so that they will conform to the shape of your teeth. You then put the tray into cold water, to set the shape. This worked pretty well for my top teeth, but the bottom set wouldn’t mold properly. It took a shape, just not really the shape of my mouth. The instructions say that if this happens, try again, dipping in hot water, then cold water. I got it closer to the shape of my bottom bite, but it still looks kind of crazy.

Next, I tried the whitening itself. Following the directions, I put a small amount of serum in the whitening tray, then put it in my mouth. The serum foamed up and gagged me. I’m not sure if I put in too much, or if this is how it’s supposed to work. I had to scrape my tongue a get rid of the foam. Now I’m wondering, did too much of it foam out? Is there enough still in the tray to whiten my teeth? I left it in for 90 minutes, then removed the trays, and brushed my teeth. Was there a difference? Yes, I think so. My teeth definitely look whiter, just not as white as promised in the ad. They did say that sometimes it takes 2 sessions to see the results you might want, so after giving my mouth a few days off, I went in for session number 2. Same foaming problem, same gagging. But at the end of the day, my teeth did look whiter, I feel more confident in my smile, and I didn’t experience any of the pain that the tooth whitening strips have given me in the past, before I can try them for a whole treatment.

Bottom line? I guess I’m glad that I did this. I am happier about my teeth. It’s kind of like if you were hungry, and you ate a completely mediocre meal. You’re not sorry that you ate, you’re glad that you’re not hungry anymore, you just wanted the experience to be more pleasant. I feel like I was misled as to what I was receiving. I blame both LivingSocial and Bling Dental. Bling misrepresented what they were offering on LivingSocial, and LivingSocial didn’t verify that what they were advertising was in fact what was being offered. I’m not sure if I’ll do business with LivingSocial or their vendors again. If I do, it will only be for either large, well known, and very clear offers like the Amazon deal. Or else through a local business that I can call and talk to about what I’m receiving.

*This is the ad that I first saw. See how it says $299 value?
**This is the form you fill in AFTER having paid your money, to receive your kit. See how it says $199 value? Nowhere does it say that you will receive 4 syringes of serum.
***Except here, on this page, it does say that the kit comes with 4 syringes of serum. Click around on the website, and you find different information on different pages. I’m not sure if they’re dishonest, or just disorganized.