This
material concerns false advertising and misconduct by the Bosley Medical
Group, whose website is located at Bosley.com
Targeting Your Inbox Consumers need to be wary before ordering
the Bosley information kit (essentially an extended version of their
infomercial) as they will be treated as a sales lead. The information
that consumers
provide will set them up for an endless amount of spam email,
solicitations, and even telephone calls from Bosley salespeople.
Surgical Drawbacks Finally some honesty, not from the Bosley website but from their affiliate, the Aderans Research Institute. They outline what a bad option surgery can be stating that with Bosley's type of surgery: "there often isn't enough hair on the back of the head to make up for the loss on top, leaving the client with a make-do patchwork of thinly implanted follicles" (aderansresearch.com/ari_science.html).
Consumer Alert / First-Time Patients Desperate for sales Bosley continues to produce simplistic and misleading ads to try to get consumers into the operating chair while not disclosing the known risks and pitfalls of surgery or advising that the best choice may be to wait for upcoming medical advancements. Bosley's Medical Director on impending new treatments (hair multiplication): "It is the thing people have been waiting for. There have been so many remedies for hair loss that didn't pan out. This is one that really looks like it is going to happen, and happen in the next few years". Compromised blood supply...decreased scalp laxity...accelerated hair loss...the need for additional surgeries...these are all side effects of current Bosley procedures plus they can damage your ability to benefit from alternative treatments and future medical advancements. (see Procedures page)
Aderans Research Institute: Hair
Regeneration Available by 2014. The Aderans Research
Institute has come out with a timeline for finishing testing and
bringing to
market its Ji Gami hair regeneration method. They have indicated
a target date of early 2014. Hair regeneration can generate
an unlimited number of hairs from an individual's own hair cells. The
process is currently undergoing Phase Two testing. It is interesting to note
that patients who have undergone previous conventional hair transplant surgery have
been banned from clinical trials. ARI and
Bosley are owned by the same company: Aderans Co. of Japan. (see
link on Resources page)
Business Troubles / Office Closures Bosley's business problems have led to the recent closure of 10 surgical offices in the U.S. and the entire Medical Hair Restoration business. Cost cutting measures have included outsourcing call centers, which means when a consumer tries to get information they may not even be corresponding with a Bosley employee.
No-Refund
Policy Before
handing your credit card over to a Bosley salesperson (a.k.a. Counselor,
Advisor) for a deposit on a procedure make sure you know about
their policies. After canceling surgery ten days in advance a customer was
surprised when Bosley refused to return their deposit.
After disputing the
charge with the credit card company they got the response:
"We
regret to inform you that we are not able to assist you as the
merchant has a no-cancellation and no-refund policy".
This policy can discourage patients from backing out of surgery and penalize those that
want to change their minds or need
additional time to make a
well-informed decision.
(On a related note Bosley recently announced that it is running tighter credit checks on its clients due to "poor economic conditions".)
For
more updates see the bottom of the page.
Introduction: 10 things you should know about Bosley Medical
You may have seen their ads and thought, "It seems too good to be true". As it turns out, your skepticism is warranted. According to their own figures the Bosley Medical Group (BMG) spent almost a third of its revenue on advertising and promotion to lure patients into its hair restoration clinics. With all of the paid propaganda it can be difficult for a prospective patient to unravel the truth about this organization. In reality Bosley has been the subject of numerous patient complaints, lawsuits, and violations relating to their advertising, medical procedures, and business practices.
1.
Medical Board Violations. Larry Lee Bosley has been the subject of administrative and judicial
discipline for almost 30 years. His medical license has been put on
probation or surrendered in at least 20 states. In 1980 his medical license was suspended
for dishonest and harmful advertising. In 1981 the medical board filed to
revoke probation against Bosley for acts of dishonesty and corruption in
advertising. In 1983 the LA Superior Court entered a judgment against
Bosley suspending his license for one year. A Los Angeles D.A.'s
letter in
connection with the 1996 consumer protection lawsuit declared: "Although
Bosley has been given every opportunity to rectify his deceptive business
practices so as to comply with the law (and his probationary terms), and
despite the risk to his medical certificate, Bosley has persisted in
misleading the public." In
2002 the California Medical Board filed an accusation and petition against
Larry Lee Bosley to revoke his probation. In 2005 an Administrative Law
Judge ordered his license revoked, and then stayed in exchange for
probation extension for prescription drug violations and failure to keep
adequate patient records. Bosley was ordered to enroll in a course on
ethics.
2. False and Misleading Advertising. In 1996 the California Attorney General, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office and Consumer Protection Division brought forth a consumer protection lawsuit against Bosley Medical. This was prompted by the medical board's extensive investigation of of Larry Lee Bosley and BMG based upon numerous consumer complaints alleging false and misleading advertising and medical malpractice. In The People of the State of California v. Bosley Medical Group, Bosley was fined almost $650,000. The D.A.'s office alleged that BMG engaged in a widescale advertising campaign heavily based on false and misleading representations and found evidence that BMG used retouched and false "after" photographs in its advertisements- hairlines were altered or "airbrushed". The photos that appeared in a brochure as "after procedure" photos were actually taken of a Bosley Medical employee who had never had any procedures done. Additional allegations included misrepresentations of pain, scarring, and results, and non-doctors performing procedures. In 2002 a former Bosley Medical doctor testified that they continued to engaged in illegal conduct and violate laws despite the medical board's probationary terms and stipulations put in place after the People v. Bosley consumer protection lawsuit.
3. Poor Results. Dateline NBC aired an report titled: Splitting Hairs; undercover investigation of Bosley Medical Clinics. The report, which included interviews with former employees and patients, told about botched surgeries and broken promises. Interviews with former Bosley employees revealed that there was a big gap between what Bosley Medical sold and what it delivered.
4. Low-balling Costs and "First Starts". (from court documents) A Consumer Protection Division letter stated that BMG's primary goal was convincing potential customers to get into the surgical chair where they became a First Start. "First starts are very lucrative to BMG because initial work is often unsatisfactory to patients, and they are hooked into long-term financial commitments that often exceed the initially represented costs". Patients have sometimes been told that it will cost tens of thousands of dollars more to treat them. "They tell you that occasionally their diagnosis has to be revised somewhat, and there's 'touch up work' they call it."- explained a former patient. How much touch-up work did they end up doing on him? Seven touch-up surgeries, seven different procedures and $50,000 later. "That was the idea" concurs Dr. Stan Szaslo, a former BMG surgeon. "Get them in. Get them started. Get them hooked."
Updates, cont.
Aggressive Marketing Tactics Bosley's financial reports reveal that they are more concerned with converting leads into sales and maximizing revenue than objectively serving patients. Measures to boost sales and increase customer spending include: introducing alternate hair care solutions to attract clients into their offices (where they can pitch them on surgery), reviewing the incentive program -employee compensation based on the number of surgical procedures sold, and improving the contract (sales closing) ratio.
Targeting Women Bosley has adjusted their marketing efforts to take advantage of women as another way to sell more surgeries. Unfortunately we have received numerous reports from women saying they are extremely unhappy with their results and are far worse off than they were before even from a cosmetic standpoint (not to mention the physical damage the procedures cause). They say Bosley's staff failed to warn them about side effects including damage to their preexisting hair. Even if you're assured by a Bosley "Counselor" that you're a good candidate for surgery keep in mind this may merely be a sales tactic to sell you a procedure. Most "Counselors" have no formal medical credentials whatsoever and are not qualified to give out medical advice.
From a recent WebMD article: "According to experts a very small percentage of women are candidates for hair transplant surgery. About 2% to 5% of women with hair loss will benefit from this type of procedure." - Source: American Hair Loss Association
(Note: As of 2012 Bosley has closed all MHR offices)
Bosley Absorbs MHR In recent years 9 out of 10 patients have gone to other doctors and medical groups besides Bosley. In an attempt to increase market share the business Medical Hair Restoration was purchased in 2007 (at the time MHR held 5% market share). MHR's business practices including the use of unlicensed consultants have also been criticized. In June 2010 Bosley and Medical Hair Restoration merged under the Bosley name.
Internet Censorship Bosley's modus operandi of hiding information from consumers continues in the cyberage. Their campaign to squelch Internet free speech included threatening former patients with legal action and trying to bring down websites that reveal them in a negative light (a UDRP Panel concluded they were engaged in "cyber-bullying"). Other practices include spamming search results, creating mirror sites (duplicate sites), and registering negative domain names like bosleysucks.com to keep others from using them.
Bosley Sees Huge Drop in
Inquiries and Contracts Revenues for the Hair-Transplant
Business dropped thirty percent compared with the same period the
previous year. For
MHR the "percentage of inquiries leading to counseling sessions and
further to surgical procedures deteriorated".
Among reasons blamed was the "poor conversion rate from inquiry to medical procedure". The second consecutive year of losses for both has meant implementation of cost cutting measures including office closures, reduction of employees, and moving call centers overseas.
Note: Bosley is owned by Japanese wig-maker Aderans.
Sources include California State Attorney General, California State Medical Board, Maryland BPQA, Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), Los Angeles District Attorney's Office: Bureau of Special Operations - Consumer Protection Division, NBC News, Former Bosley Medical patients