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Family claims beauty shop ‘took advantage’ of Alzheimer’s patient

"When I opened up the package, it was $7,500. I was very shocked, I was overwhelmed. I was angry because they took advantage of my wife," said Gene Maranzana.
Credit: Clancy, Samuel

ST. LOUIS COUNTY – "I was blown away, I spent the rest of the day sobbing. I just want to warn everyone," said Holly Meyer.

Meyer is fuming over what happened to her parents, Gene and Deborah Maranzana, while shopping at West County Mall.

They were about to leave, her 77-year-old father said, when he needed to stop at the restroom first. When he came back, his realized his wife had walked into SA Boutique, a cosmetic store formerly known as Adore Cosmetics.

"They had her in the chair. She was in there for two hours," said Gene Maranzana. When his 66-year-old wife Deborah eventually left, she had a large bag of purchases.

"With her condition, I said ‘Yeah you can keep it,'" said Maranzana.

As for that condition, just this January Deborah was diagnosed with Alzheimer and dementia. But a day later, Gene took a closer look at that bag, and found the store had sold his wife more than $7500 dollars in items.

"I was very shocked, I was overwhelmed. I was angry because they took advantage of my wife," said Gene.

It was just a matter of days before their daughter Holly also knew about the purchase.

"It's just heart-wrenching. You have a woman come in and yeah she sits in the chair, you put all this cream on her face, she walks out $7,000 later. They think they hit the gold mine,” she said.

Holly also claims the store’s employees should have known better.

“You can’t tell me anyone in their right mind would spend that kind of money in an hour or two at the mall on cream. It’s just heart-wrenching.”

In the meantime, Gene says he tried several times to get a refund but was told ‘no’. So the I-Team decided to pay the shop a visit.

"Your store sold almost $8000 worth of cosmetics to a dementia patient. Is that fair?" asked the I-Team.

"I am not the boss. Call customer service," said a young female employee.

"Is there anyway they can get their money back? I have the receipt right here," the I-Team asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said the employee.

According to the Better Business Bureau, SA Boutique, formerly known as Adore Cosmetics, has a track record of similar complaints.

"Consumers tell us they feel pressured to buy cosmetics that are very expensive and when they look for a way out of it, it is very difficult to do," said Chris Thetford of the BBB.

Thetford says the company has a long history of complaints, prompting the BBB to put out an alert about the business.

And as for what happened to Holly Meyer's mother?

"A business shouldn't be taking advantage of somebody who doesn't have capacity for whatever making a purchase," said Thetford.

For Holly and her father, what happened is a sad reminder of how Alzheimer's has made the woman they love so very vulnerable.

"It has gotten progressively worse. A lot is going on and this just sent me over the edge," said Holly.

Note: At press time, Holly Meyer contacted the I-Team and said that she met with SA Boutique just minutes before and that the business did indeed refund her family’s money.

Statement from SA Boutique Customer Service 3/26/18:

SA Boutique would like to take a moment to share some of the specifics in this recent and particular customers situation.

This has been a very confusing and difficult circumstance due to the fact that SA Boutique takes great pride in the service provided to our clients and level of our professionalism.

Mr. & Mrs. Maranzana both left SA Boutique very lucid, comprehensive, and satisfied customers on 03/12/2018 with their new treatment in hand. The following day, Mr. Maranzana returned to SA Boutique wanting a full refund. This would have been granted due to being within 24hours of the original purchase, however he did not possess the original credit card on which the purchase was made. As a reputable company we could not grant the refund at that time due to that simple fact of not having the original form of payment in hand. Mr. Maranzana opted not to retrieve his credit card from his home. At that point, to try and accommodate the inconvenience, SA Boutique issued Mr. & Mrs. Maranzana another 9 complimentary treatments in attempts to assist with the upkeep of the treatments specifically due to the health concerns expressed by Mr. Maranzana. Once again, Mr. Maranzana left SA Boutique happy.

Mr. Maranzana returned to SA Boutique a third and final time to ask questions, seek clarification on the receipt charges, and schedule his and his wife’s first treatment. A sales associate happily assisted him in understanding and scheduling the treatment. Again, Mr. Marazana left SA Boutique satisfied.

On 03/20/18 it was brought to SA Boutiques attention that a formal complaint had been filed by Mr. & Mrs. Maranzana accompanied by their daughter to the Mall Management and the BBB. SA Boutique promptly responded to both Mall Management and the BBB as well as Mr. & Mrs. Maranzana and even extended communication attempts to their daughter Holly Meyer.

SA Boutique made several attempts to schedule a meeting with Holly Meyer on behalf of her parents so we could in fact issue the full refund due to the extent this situation had escalated to. Unfortunately, SA Boutique never got a return call from Holly until today, 03/26/18, at approximately 1:10pm.

At this point, The Maranzana’s and Mrs. Meyer had taken even further actions of defacement to SA Boutique by inviting KSDK News Channel 5 into SA Boutique in attempts to have our place of business terminated.

SA Boutique have all intentions on issuing the Maranzana’s a full refund. With the confusion on both parties behalfs, SA Boutique simple wanted a meeting to better understand what went wrong from the happy, exciting, and fun experience to the current circumstance at hand.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

-Kasie Martin, SA Boutique

Additional request 3/26/18:

I would like to address that consent from anyone inside the premises of SA Boutique was not actually given to KSDK News Channel 5, so at this time we insist that no footage pertaining to any individuals inside SA Boutique directly, be released

We sincerely care for the personal privacy of the individuals who choose to affiliate themselves with SA Boutique. Thank you for respecting the privacy of others.

-Kasie Martin, SA Boutique

Management at West County Mall issued the following statement to the I-Team:

We were made aware of this customer’s issue after they brought it to our attention.

We have spoken to both the customer and the owner, and asked the owner to resolve the issue.

It is our expectation that the owner will find a resolution.

-West County Center Mall Management

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