[raptor_diwan]

Hello Bhpians,

I need help getting a refund from MakeO Toothsi. My cousin contacted them after seeing online ads to fix her teeth problem. A person convinced her to pay upfront to start the treatment. She opted for an EMI plan and paid Rs. 54,900/-. However, after the payment, the doctor informed her that the treatment could not be processed further due to some baby teeth complicating the problem. The report was analyzed only after the payment, and she agreed to cancel the treatment and requested a refund. The company assured her she would receive it within 7-10 working days.

It has been a month since the EMI was debited for the first month. She contacted the company again, and they promised to refund the amount within 15 days. However, after another month, they stopped responding to calls and messages to the number 9136954106 (Subham). It has been six months now, and there has been no response from the company. There is still no refund, and they are not responding to emails or calls.

I have filed a complaint on the consumer complaint platform and shared the docket number, but there has been no response from the company. It is unclear whether this is some kind of scam or not, but there are several reviews about their cheating practices. Even though there are ads with cricket players endorsing the company, it is still not a guarantee of their legitimacy.

Kindly share your suggestions on how to obtain a refund. It appears that there is no physical office for the company in Chennai where my cousin resides, and we are unsure of whom to contact regarding this matter.

[antz.bin]

I hope you have some evidence of your communication stating that they will process the refund in n number of days.

I also hope you have some evidence of the fact that the treatment was cancelled. If the above is true, please visit the following website:

https://consumerhelpline.gov.in/

OR Call their helpline on 1800-11-4000 or 1915

They will help. It works as long as the company still exists.

[Everlearner]

If she has paid using a credit card, I think she can raise a dispute on the transaction. Please check this possibility as well.

[raptor_diwan]

Originally Posted by antz.bin

I hope you have some evidence of your communication stating that they will process the refund in n number of days.

I also hope you have some evidence of the fact that the treatment was cancelled. If the above is true, please visit the following website:

https://consumerhelpline.gov.in/

Yes, I do have all the evidence and I have already raised a complaint on that site a couple of days ago. So far, it is pending. I hope to receive a positive response.

Originally Posted by Everlearner

If she has paid using a credit card, I think she can raise a dispute on the transaction. Please check this possibility as well.

Unfortunately, the payment was made in EMI mode with ICICI bank, and the EMI is being deducted every month. I am not sure if there is a way to stop the EMI payments and raise a dispute. Are there any possibilities?

[GTO]

Will add your thread to the homepage to spread the word & warn others .

1. Personally, I don't trust "startups" with things crucial to my or my family's life. Health, insurance, education, property, investments, banking etc. are all done through traditional, entrenched players only. My dentist is someone who has been practising for over 40 years now and has a terrific reputation.

2. Never, ever go for the EMI plan directly linked to your bank account. They intentionally push that because it is very hard to stop the EMIs.

You can send an official letter to your bank to stop the automatic deduction. However, do note this is basically packaged as a loan. It shouldn't hurt your credit score. A friend was stuck in a similar rut with some online edtech company and the only way out for her was to close her bank account (again, not sure of implications on the credit score).

3. Send a legal notice to the company, their CEO, the legal department etc. How these scammers work is, they will only stop the EMI plan when they are forced to. Customer calls & complaints are an everyday routine for them. Only when they know you intend to go legal will they immediately stop your payment plan.

Their job is to make it as difficult as possible for you. It's part of their job training. Get a lawyer and send a legal notice. It's very cheap & effective.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by raptor_diwan

Unfortunately, the payment was made in EMI mode with ICICI bank, and the EMI is being deducted every month. I am not sure if there is a way to stop the EMI payments and raise a dispute. Are there any possibilities?

Have you tried contacting the back to stop the EMI?

Originally Posted by GTO

3. Send a legal notice to the company, their CEO, the legal department etc. How these scammers work is, they will only stop the EMI plan when they are forced to. Customer calls & complaints are an everyday routine for them. Only when they know you intend to go legal will they immediately stop your payment plan.

Shame them on social media (Twitter/FB) tagging their CEO and other top officials whomever you can find. After chasing a refund from an online flight booking portal for over a month, it took me just one tweet to get the refund and they even came begging to delete the tweet.

[raptor_diwan]

Originally Posted by GTO

Never, ever go for the EMI plan directly linked to your bank account. They intentionally push that because it is very hard to stop the EMIs.

You can send an official letter to your bank to stop the automatic deduction. However, do note this is basically packaged as a loan. Customer calls & complaints are an everyday routine for them. Only when they know you intend to go legal will they immediately stop your payment plan.

Their job is to make it as difficult as possible for you. It's part of their job training. Get a lawyer and send a legal notice. It's very cheap & effective.

Thank you for your suggestions. It was not easy for us to stop the EMI, and in fact, the interest is being piled up now. Even if I get a refund now, I will get the money that was paid for the company and not for the bank. As you said, apart from the auto-generated response from customer care, nothing else has been received so far. I will definitely go for the legal route in a couple of days.

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Have you tried contacting the back to stop the EMI? Shame them on social media (Twitter/FB) tagging their CEO and other top officials whomever you can find.

So far, I have not contacted the bank. After your suggestion I tried customer care, but they redirected me to reach the branch to stop EMI further. I will have to check with the bank directly on weekends. Thank you for the suggestion. Yes, I have done the same on twitter, but so far, there has been no response to my tweets. Will update the status.

[SS-Traveller]

Oh yes, finally someone on this forum has been affected by the company that promised to make orthodontists redundant!

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by raptor_diwan

I need help getting a refund from MakeO Toothsi. My cousin contacted them after seeing online ads to fix her teeth problem. A person convinced her to pay upfront to start the treatment. She opted for an EMI plan and paid Rs. 54,900/-.....

Caution: Contrarian point of view being served up by ''www.lackofcommonsense.com".

Frankly, I am having difficulty feeling sympathy for this person. I mean has the fixation with online sent common sense out of the window! What is next - heart surgeries being selected via 'www.mendyourheart.com'. Whatever happened to good sensible homework amongst your circle of friends and relatives before selecting a doctor or insurance agent or real estate broker or an advocate and other such mission critical professionals. I observe this trend even amongst my kids to my utter dismay. I view this as laziness that causes a person to select a doctor of all professionals via a damn anonymous internet site and to trust it enough to pay in advance before you are even examined.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Oh yes, finally someone on this forum has been affected by the company that promised to make orthodontists redundant!

Thus said a famous orthodontist!!! Well said SS-Traveller

On another note altogether. Aggregators IMHO are the lazy bottom scrappers of the internet world. When you don't have the brain power or skill to deliver a real service or invent a new product or have a real USP over your competition then you launch an aggregator site - basically old fashioned dalal giri without even the personal touch or ownership that the individual broker brings to the table. What value does a pure aggregator bring really? As an entrepreneur I fail to understand and have refrained from ever investing in any aggregator business or what I call aggregator+ models aka zomato.

[wheelnpaddock]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Caution: Contrarian point of view being served up by ''www.lackofcommonsense.com".

^^ +1 I would add that the amount should not be treated as lost but as an investment in learning how not to lose money. Most of us lose money when young in some way or the other and it teaches to be careful in future.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Aggregators IMHO are the lazy bottom scrappers of the internet world. When you don't have the brain power or skill to deliver a real service or invent a new product or have a real USP over your competition then you launch an aggregator site - basically old fashioned dalal giri

+1 And then find a venture capitalist to invest in the loss making enterprise whose valuation increases in direct proportion to the losses made.

[Sidban85]

I don't want to hijack the thread but I would also like to warn other members about another fraudulent startup: Bookmybai.com.

We paid them Rs 21000 for getting a full time maid in Bangalore who could come with us in Hyderabad. We paid as getting full time maid is more difficult in Hyderabad whereas in Bangalore, it was very easy and we had never had to use Bookmybai or any other agency.

Even though this was part of agreement, as well as a 6 month period during which they will provide a replacement 'bai', their person bailed out on coming to Hyderabad on the very last day.

Worse, Bookmybai people stopped replying to emails and phonecalls. Emails to the founder also were ignored.

So anyone thinking of using Bookmybai, please stay away. Local contacts like society watchman, etc. are still more reliable as that is how we finally got a 8 hour maude in Hyderabad.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

On another note altogether. Aggregators IMHO are the lazy bottom scrappers of the internet world. What value does a pure aggregator bring really? As an entrepreneur I fail to understand and have refrained from ever investing in any aggregator business or what I call aggregator+ models aka zomato.

Toothsi is not an aggregator. It is dental startup that has its own product/service. Their USP is that their teeth aligners are "invisible". It is backed by large private equity investment and the company has signed up this couple as their brand ambassador

https://makeo.app/toothsi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds0scQSVFRE

Perhaps tagging Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma on Twitter will help

[raptor_diwan]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Caution:
Frankly, I am having difficulty feeling sympathy for this person. I mean has the fixation with online sent common sense out of the window! What is next - heart surgeries being selected via 'www.mendyourheart.com'. Whatever happened to good sensible homework amongst your circle of friends

Thus said a famous orthodontist!!! Well said SS-Traveller

On another note altogether. Aggregators IMHO are the lazy bottom scrappers of the internet world. When you don't have the brain power or skill to deliver a real service or invent a new product or have a real USP over your competition then you launch an aggregator site in any aggregator business or what I call aggregator+ models aka zomato.

Well, we all have our own ways of doing things, don't we? Some of us prefer to rely on the wisdom of the internet, while others rely on the time-honored tradition of asking our friends and family for recommendations. In fact, many of us do rely on the internet and online reviews now, and this person verified the service through Google reviews and made a payment based on the fact that one of her friends had received a service from them.

treatment could not be processed further due to some baby teeth complicating the problem.

As you can see, they did process further after the payment, but the process was stopped due to complications with the baby's teeth. As a result, the process was halted and moved back for a refund. Unfortunately, it is during the refund process where these fraudulent practices are happening. It is quite concerning to think that her money has been held for six months and they could potentially earn more money by investing it elsewhere. Hopefully, the refund process will be completed soon if there is no service provided.

Originally Posted by wheelnpaddock

^^ +1 I would add that the amount should not be treated as lost but as an investment in learning how not to lose money. Most of us lose money when young in some way or the other and it teaches to be careful in future.

Well, of course, we can learn from our mistakes, but being scammed or defrauded is not something that anyone should have to accept as a "lesson." It's just not right for any business, whether big or small, to scam people and get away with it. That's why governments everywhere have strict laws and regulations to protect consumers and punish fraudulent businesses. While losing money can teach us to be more careful, it's not fair to suggest that someone should just accept being scammed as a way to learn a lesson.

Originally Posted by wheelnpaddock

^^

+1 And then find a venture capitalist to invest in the loss making enterprise whose valuation increases in direct proportion to the losses made.

If everyone starts thinking that all startups are scams, then it would be challenging to start your own business in the future. Starting a business is not the problem; it's the quality of service that needs to improve. This can be achieved by spreading awareness of the fraudulent practices being conducted by such companies on various online platforms, forcing them to improve. While I can understand that some people may hate online businesses as they may affect their own businesses, such as an orthodontist who may be affected by Toothsi or an auto-rickshaw driver who dislikes Rapido, it's essential to hold all businesses accountable for their actions and demand better services.

[frewper]

When a startup is able to sign India's (one of) most expensive cricketer and actress together but are not able to take care of a customers needs, what the heck are they doing anyways.

Gone are the days when starting a venture meant catering to customer needs in order to make a profit. When you gained a customer you had them for life and the customer meant something to you.

Now a customer is just a statistic.

Customer Acquisition, Customer Retention are all stupid buzz work to hide your inefficiencies to an investor. Now its more like take the money and vanish. If the customer gives up to get the money back, then you consider that a profit.

[SmartCat]

One idea that might work is negative online publicity wherever they have presence (Twitter/Youtube/Instagram/Facebook). Retail/consumer facing startups are usually petrified of this. After all, most of their marketing budget goes into online advertising.

For eg: Toothsie twitter account has regular daily posts
https://twitter.com/makeO_toothsi



Raise your issue in comments. If you keep raising your refund issue in every post, it will eventually reach the top management.