Looking for a confidence booster, Lucrecia Manrique went to New Life Plastic Surgery Center in Miami to get a tummy tuck.
“They set the appointment with one doctor, after three weeks, she told me that I cannot do the procedure because of my condition… you are diabetic,” Manrique said she was told. By then, she says her surgery had been paid for. New Life had helped her get financing and she was responsible for a hefty line of credit.
“At the beginning they charged the whole amount of 4 thousand four hundred something,” she said.
Since Manrique had paid for the surgery, she waited to see what options she had.
“Then they sent me with another doctor, the doctor asked me to lose like 40 to 45 pounds. Then after three weeks the guy called and said, you know what I’m not going to do the procedure either,” she explained. Manrique says a third doctor with the center offered to give her that tummy tuck but by then she had lost faith in the entire process so she asked for a refund and said the representative she had been dealing with, agreed.
“She told me yes, Lucrecia you’re going to get everything back, don’t worry, if you don’t want to do it, it’s fine,” Manrique said.
Weeks passed and the person Manrique spoke with no longer worked at New Life. Manrique still hadn’t gotten her refund, so she said she talked to someone else at the clinic.
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“They told me you can leave the money here for one year, you have one year to decide what are you going to do and I said I don’t want to do that. I want my money back.”
When more time went by, Lucrecia said her patience ran out.
“They gave me a lot of excuses and then I remembered your name and I called you,” she told NBC6 Responds Consumer Investigative Reporter Myriam Masihy.
When NBC6 reached out to the center to find out about their refund process, a sales representative told us the process time depends on how the client paid. If it was cash, the refund is processed immediately with a check. But with financing, it can take up to 45 days. In Lucrecia Manrique’s case, a few days after NBC6 called New Life, she was issued a full refund.
“Because of you I got my money back, thank you,” Manrique rejoiced.
It’s important to note that contracts like the ones New Life patients sign state that the deposit is non-refundable, so you should keep that in mind when going in for surgery.
