SmileDirectClub

If I could give a zero I would. They lied to me to get me to purchase the treatment. "Scam" is just the right term for this company. The treatment failed, and they refused to refund. Please stay clear of them.

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

The same thing happened to me. First two impression kits were denied (never got the refund as promised) and then went to an actual center where they did the top and bottom scanning and reassured me I’d be approved and everything was great. Weeks later I get one top liner in each bag for six months. No bottom liner! They never discussed or mentioned only doing the top yet charged me the full price. Said something about my bottom teeth being too crowded. It’s fine if they can’t do both but they need to make it clear and tell you ahead of time before you pay and order! Scam company.

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

I’ve struggled with my smile for years, and never had the confidence to show my teeth in pictures. My parents never could afford braces as a child and as an adult in sales, I didn’t want to start wearing wire braces at 27 years old.

Side note: the SmileDirectClub invisible braces did not fix my overbite, which I knew going into it, and it really wasn’t too much of a concern to me (Invisalign can’t help either, only wire braces will help with an overbite)

My timeline is as follow:

3/6 - 3D scan at Smile shop.

3/7 - received smile plan/signed up and made my first payment (my 3D smile was very accurate and even showed each chip in my teeth).

3/26 - received kit (no update emails received during the two weeks, so I had no idea what stage my braces were in. Many people get updates as they are being made, trimmed and shipped. Since I received them in ONLY 2 weeks, I have no complaints!)

7/20, on month 5, day 2 - so far no problems with retainers fitting (had to trim ends on a few because cutting into gums), no mixups of wrong packaging. Results match my Smile plan, if not better.

7/20 - placed order for retainers (I had heard horror stories of people not getting them for months and not having them when their treatment plan was over, so I ordered a little early. My retainers came within 3 weeks. I previously moved around month 4 and updated my address in my profile, but asked customer service what address they were sending to just to be sure; they, in fact, had my old address, so we had to update it on their end. I didn’t have any issues, but I highly recommend contacting them directly if you change addresses).

9/14 - my 6-month treatment plan is finally over and my teeth are SO much better! I smile in all my pictures now! My teeth are also much whiter because of the care that you HAVE to take while you're wearing them.

Wear time/eating - you’re supposed to wear your retainers a minimum of 22 hours a day. I’ll be honest and say I wore them more like 20. I like to eat, so I took them out more than 3 times a day, but I always flossed, brushed and rinsed off my braces before putting them back in. If I wanted a drink other than water, I just popped them out, had what I wanted, then swished around some water and popped them back in.

Pain - the first 24 hours of most sets were the worst. Mostly just a lingering, really annoying ache and sometimes headaches, But after that, the pain and sensitivity went away pretty quick. My very first set, M1 W1, was the absolute worst, it hurt so bad I almost gave up right then! After the first couple days of my first set, I never experienced the pain like that again on my other sets.

Most people didn’t even realize I was wearing braces and you can’t tell in any pictures. It’s a little inconvenient since you can’t just have a cookie or a small snack without having to go through the whole floss, brush, clean process, but some people have said that helped them lose weight. In the end, any pain and inconvenience were so worth it! I never experienced any of the customer service issues or issues with switched packaging, or issues with the braces fitting that I’ve read elsewhere.

Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

This company usually does not do what they say they are going to do. First, they don't tell you it will take nearly 6 weeks to get your aligners. Then they took nearly a week to respond to my complaint that the bottom aligners were painful before they told me I could try trimming them, so I was not able to start the aligners when I wanted. Then nearly halfway through the aligners, I was about to start a new week, and the aligner was defective and they would have to make new ones. I believe they said it would take 3-4 weeks to replace them. So my average six months treatment time just turned into seven. They told me they would expedite them, which they did not until I called them back and told them I was going to give them a bad review. At that point, they did expedite them some.

Then I ordered retainers almost three weeks before I was going to be through with the aligners. They say it takes 2-3 weeks to get the retainers. You guessed it. It's been three weeks and they are still being "manufactured." I am so frustrated with them. If I had known before I ordered from this company that it was going to take this long, I would not have ordered them. I would have gone with another company. Really tired of wearing the aligners!

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

I'm towards the end of my treatment and I do notice a significant difference in my smile. It's great seeing it work. But I will say their customer service, website, and overall concept need a lot of "work."

I've had multiple issues with them. Their dashboard system is all over the place and can become very frustrating. It needs major work. Plus their "catch up if you're behind" concept is terrible. It's not as thorough as I thought it would be. I had to do a lot of the backtracking myself, and my dashboard screwed up the eta of my smile. And having to stare at "welcome to the club" (on end of 5th month by the way) for three weeks just because I ordered retainers, so I can't see anything, no progress or how many days until I switch or anything. That's ridiculous. And not having a very important item to the treatment process available online to purchase yet having water bottles, t-shirts, lip balm, etc. Each of my experiences is in detail below:

- My experience at the SmileShop was weak. I had to come back the next day to get my teeth rescanned. They messed up the 3D scanning, yet the way I found out was an email saying I needed to redo my home kit impressions (that I didn't do or even order) and that I basically screwed up. I had to contact the shop myself and make another appointment to fix their mistake. The problem there is that they don't have a better system on the case that THEY screw up the scan...not the customer. Plus they weren't that sorry about it when I had to go back, but I knew they should have been more apologetic because of the way I got that email saying it was my impressions' fault (which I didn't order at all), I'm guessing that shouldn't have happened on their part. It made me feel kind of like I was the first that's happened to or something because of the way that all went down.

- The "Get back on track button" is useless. I didn't think I would need that button ever, but I unexpectedly became pregnant and couldn't keep the aligners in due to morning sickness. I tried as long as I could but had to stop for two weeks, thinking well, at least they have a "get back on track" button. Wrong. It's not as thorough as I thought it would be. I had to do a lot of the backtracking myself, and my dashboard got screwed up my eta of the treatment. They don't tell you what aligners to start back with or how long you were off track, nothing that helpful on truly getting back to treatment. Literally, the only thing they had was having you put in what day are you starting on again...Well, how would the customer even know which aligners to start back on since missing that long, there's just not much help there, so I don't know why they'd advertise that button when you have to talk to a dental professional anyways to start up again.

- Three weeks ago I ordered retainers since I was close to the end of treatment. Since ordering it, my dashboard has been back to the page "Welcome to the club" that I saw when I first began before even receiving aligners. I asked someone about this and they said it was because I ordered the retainers and that my page should go back to normal after they shipped out. Well, it's been three weeks and I haven't been able to see my progress this whole time! It's become frustrating, and I'm not amused at all. It's unacceptable that a customer wouldn't be able to keep track of their progress simply because they ordered an item! That is a MAJOR flaw on their part. I think it's an insane excuse.

I got the email about three days ago that the retainers shipped and I still can't see progress today, so I contacted them again. A new representative responded that it was an easy fix, that all they had to do was update my page. She told me to log back in, but all I saw was a "your aligners have shipped." She responded saying she was going to escalate my case and within 24 hours should have my dashboard back up. I appreciate her taking care of it, I'm just wondering why someone else couldn't have done the same weeks before! It seems like the reps are very inconsistent with their knowledge about what is possible to help someone and what is not.

I'm hoping my page does come back up. This has angered me the most about SmileDirectClub...it's extremely unnecessary to have this happen and be an inconvenience to a customer. They couldn't even tell me my progress when I asked them if they could at least just let me know from their end if they could see it, but it seems they weren't even able to.

- The Chewies are wearing out after five months, I asked a rep if I could get replacements. She said I could purchase them through the accessories. I told her I looked and they weren't there to buy, everything else was there. She looked into it and told me I was right and that she didn't see them either. This is minor, but I can't believe something really important for the customers' treatment isn't available, yet t-shirts and water bottles were. I was able to order through the customer service. I hope the dashboard doesn't freak out yet again just because of this new order...

Again, the treatment is working quite well. These are major complaints toward the technical part of them that need attention. I'm hoping someone in the company reads this so that they can address these issues I've faced because they seem to be pretty avoidable if they just realized the position of the customer and all these small things that are frustrating for our end.

Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

I've been scanned seven times, went downtown seven times and I live 45 minutes away. I was sent trays that were bubbled or cracked, wouldn't fit my teeth, made my gums bleed, and I spent a ton to not have my teeth straight. They charge my card but don't send the correct product trays that work. So what is the point to waste peoples time and money? My mistake by not going to a real Orthodontist, but I guess I'll have to pay a real one to get the job done because this company is incapable of doing so. I have pictures and my trays if anyone wants to see before you buy.

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

Very poor experience. SmileDirectClub provided misleading information about insurance coverage (including an email that said, "Good news about your insurance! Your insurance savings are waiting!"), and then when that turned out not to be true, they hid behind fine print and asterisks.

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

I wanted to get these for my daughter who really needs help with her teeth. At first it was great. I paid the $40 for the impression kit, and went downhill from there. She did the impression and I took the pictures for her. They made us retake them three times. Finally they were approved, and we thought we were doing good, until we saw prices they had never mentioned before. A total of over $2100 and we would do all the work? The commercial says "get the impression kit and have your new smile in 6 months", not $40+$250+24 payments of $79. This is a slap in the face to those of us who cannot afford fancy insurance but are desperate to help our children with their oral health and self esteem. Oh yeah, when I told the chat representative that I wouldn't be ordering anything he told me that I was "denying my daughter the smile she deserves". That is so cruel...

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

I wrote this many weeks ago. I was mad that it took a few days to call me back. The day after I wrote this a specialist called to help me navigate the issue. They were very caring and stayed in touch. They were amazing. So even though it didn’t work for me I read a lot of success stories. So their customer service was amazing, which means a lot. Thank you, SmileDirect Customer Service gets an A+. I will give customer service 5 stars.

Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

Two weeks later and I have not received my aligners, they have no been expedited as was promised, I have not received the $200 discount that I was promised, and worst of all have not received a call from the account representative who promised to call/email me back on May 30th (Tim). I've contacted customer service three times asking to speak with him and each time they said they would leave him a message and he would get back with me asap. No calls and no messages, no clarity on what's going on and it honestly seems like they just don't care to deliver on what was promised.

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

6/26/2019 - I'm still waiting to get that magical elusive email saying that there is some movement towards getting my revisions. All the company responded back in the "private" message that it says they send you in response to your review here - "Sorry to hear about your experience, let us know if we can do something." YES! Send me my revisions aligners!

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