SmileDirectClub

I've been wearing my aligners FOR OVER A YEAR (including refinement months since I was not happy with the results).

I've seen minor adjustments but not straight teeth. My aligners actually CREATED SPACES BETWEEN MY TEETH THAT WERE NOT THERE BEFORE. They pushed my smile out which I'm assuming was to help to crowd, but my teeth are still crooked and have gaps.

I've decided I'm done and it's taking OVER A MONTH TO RECEIVE RETAINERS. They advise you to continue to wear your existing tray but I've had three aligners break (crack) and now I'm wearing previous trays for a smile that I am not happy with. At this point, I'm fairly confident the retainers won't even fit because of how much my teeth have shifted as I wait for them to arrive.

Unfortunately, I feel this has been a WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. My dentist is concerned with the impact on my gums.

Overall I'm disappointed.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I started my journey with SmileDirect in 2017. Received aligners in early 2018. Was promised retainers prior to leaving the country for a summer at graduate school; after numerous calls and emails and getting a different answer EVERY SINGLE TIME I interacted with a SmileDirect associate, it was determined that my retainer order had never happened. And yet, it had.

So, my teeth shifted back. I returned in August of 2018 and spent months trying to get a reevaluation to go through the process again. Finally got impressions sent in in May, and have now been waiting and misinformed several times by the team at SmileDirect. "We need your impressions." You have them. "You need a scan." I was never told this and I am at graduate school now and can't get one. "Your case has been escalated and your aligners will be in production in 3-5 days." That was 3 weeks ago. "We need impressions." Again, sent them in May.

This company does not communicate internally very well, and is trained to shift blame to "other departments." Their FB page boasts immediate resolutions via PM yet the responses are automatic and delayed. I'm currently trying to get a refund issued and of course, getting a runaround about who is going to contact me about what and when. Currently, I am waiting to be contacted by the "business team" who will discuss how much of a refund I can expect - but anything less than a full refund is unacceptable unless I can get my aligners in my hands before I leave the country in 2 weeks since the company has had my impressions since May.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

This is a shameful company. They con their customers with false promotions and offers. When first scheduling an appointment I validated a price lock with them when scheduling. Once I arrived at the store I was I reaffirmed that price lock and offer of a $25 Amazon gift card. I never received neither the promotion or the gift card. I contacted customer service 10 different times and spent hours fighting with customer service AFTER GIVING SOLID PROOF! Both the emails and the receipt! These people are crooks.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

If your aligners break or start to wear down early they really can’t help you. You’re screwed. And after ordering my retainers so my teeth don’t move back (they’re not as straight as I was made to believe they would be), there was a delay. So I’m on week 6 of wearing my last set of aligners. Those cheap aligners barely last two weeks. So at 6 weeks, they’re barely hanging on. And I don’t have my retainers or any idea when they will be here. After arguing with the foreign person on the phone all they could tell me was "keep waiting." If my aligners break and I can’t wear them my teeth will move back and it will be a waste of my money. Save yourself the headache and go through an orthodontist.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

The six-month plan that they initially gave me was not working by month five. After much back and forth, SDC sent me for another scan and gave me a new plan for an extra two months. I told them immediately that the plan would not address the crooked teeth on the bottom and the concave bite line on top. They insisted that it would work, so I kept going. By month seven, I told them it was clear that it was not working. At the end of eight months, my bottom teeth were still very crooked and my top teeth were not improved, in fact, they had moved around my front top good teeth and left gaps between my teeth that make it difficult to eat. I am in the process of working with a local orthodontist on a new plan. Of course, I have to pay for that. I requested a full refund from SDC. They negotiated for some time, switching to a new person every time (the hallmark of a scam), offering a million excuses including, oh, we can't really move teeth like that without traditional braces (which they never say when taking your money). They eventually offered a refund of $487.47, which was 65% of what I paid. I insisted on a full refund, I had paid more than $700 and I could not believe that they were trying to cheat me for $300. Finally, they agreed to a full refund. I waited. Then, my refund came: $250! I assumed it was a mistake and reached out. No mistake. For the first time, they said, oh, you have to get your refund from the finance company, here is the number. Of course they did not mention that when they offered me the initial $487 or the full refund. They flat out lied to me! Now I am going to have to sue them but fortunately, I live in a state where we have a consumer fraud law that allows triple damages. For all the aggravation it should be ten times my damages.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

All is fine until you need their help. Don’t expect retainer to arrive before your teeth have gone crooked again. Worse, roots loosen, teeth wiggle so watch what you eat and brush lightly. Don’t expect an honest answer to any question or concern. I called several times daily for over a month and was given different responses and false promises that never matched in any call. If I’d asked for the moon, I’d be told no problem, shipping today. Save your teeth and go with "ANY" other company. Good luck to those waiting on retainers. They won’t come in time to keep teeth aligned. Save your money for an honest investment. SmileDirectClub got too big to care about those signed up. FRAUDULENT, FALSE PROMISES, HORRIBLE ORDEAL.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Disclaimer - my SmileDirectClub experience was in 2017/2018. My Candid experience was in 2019. Maybe they have improved.

I had minor crowding. SmileDirect (SD) built a 7 month, 21 tray plan. SD delivered only 6 trays to start, promising others would follow on schedule. Trays were flimsy (thin) and rough, causing bleeding and irritation. Scheduled deliveries were HORRIBLY late, trays wore out before deliveries that were over a month late arrived. Ill-fitting trays along with late deliveries resulted in me having to abandon the treatment. My teeth just moved back to their pre-treatment positions.

I tried again later with Candid. 4.5 month, 9 tray plan. All trays delivered at once. Trays were sturdy and VERY comfortable. No irritation. Worked perfectly. 5 stars.

Most importantly, I had a chance to compare the actual planned movement of my teeth. SD plan in retrospect made no sense. Protruding tooth to be aligned without first making room for it!

Candid plan made room first, then aligned teeth. In shorter time.

In hindsight, it looks like my SD plan was made by a technician. It looks like my Candid plan was made by an orthodontist.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

16 years ago, I had an incident that messed up my front upper teeth, and knocked out my bottom front teeth. I have a partial on the bottom, but the upper teeth are still there and look bad. I have been embarrassed by my smile ever since, but couldn't afford regular/traditional braces. I'm finally at a point in my life where I am able to spend money on myself instead of my (now adult) children, and I was SO excited to learn that SmileDirectClub was willing to help me with this! They said that me having a partial on the bottom wouldn't matter, since they were going to only give me alignments for my upper teeth. I sent in the photos and the impressions, and was then sent an e-mail stating that they wouldn't do it. I called to find out why, and I was told that it was because I had a partial on the bottom. I actually shed a couple of tears, because I honestly thought my days of being embarrassed by my smile were about to be over.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

As of today, which should have been my first day without requiring liners and the completion of my 5-month process...

I did get the liners from month 4-week one, but I'm still waiting for the second set that was wrong from month 5.

They are more than happy to reach out and ask what they can do to help, as long as it doesnt involve providing you a date that they will fix their mistakes.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I have been emailing with SmileDirectClub for months now about concerns I have and each time I receive a response with explanations of what steps to take, I go ahead and do that. Then a different person responds with some other steps and I do that and when I ask for updates on what is happening all I get is another different person saying they haven’t received anything from me and it just keeps going that way and nothing has gotten resolved. I've literally given up on trying to get any sort of help or assistance. Why don’t they have account teams that take care of this and actually check and follow up with people to make sure they are happy? The straightening works but you are on your own after it’s over.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

The process of the aligners was fine, but as soon as I got my retainers, everything fell to pieces. My first set of retainers was lost and I ordered a new set that was supposed to take 2-3 weeks to arrive, however, it's been two months and I just received them today and they're the wrong set. This company has been absolutely miserable to work with the last two months. Every time I called, they had no record of any previous calls or even that the retainers hadn't arrived and we would start the process all over again. They would tell me they would follow up in 3-5 days, which never happened, and was even told that they would arrive on a certain date, which also never happened. Needless to say, my teeth have shifted back. What a waste of time and money. This has been a terrible experience. Will never recommend them.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend