My Smile Direct Club Journey So Far. Prepare for Your Patience to Be Tested....

I found a Groupon for $150 off of aligners and set up my 3D scan at the Cincinnati, OH Smileshop on Wednesday 6/20/18. I arrived about 10 minutes early, went to try to "sign in" or just let them know I had arrived. The Smileshop was located in essentially a Salon Loft type of building, where the "lofts" are rented out by hair dressers, manicure artists, etc. So when I arrived, I was a little confused. I checked the map and saw that there were two locations for Smile Direct, kind of diagonally across from one another. The light was off in one, then the light was on in another. I didn't want to barge in, so I stood and awkwardly waited in the hallway for about 15 minutes.. Then finally I knocked on the door with the light on, and the Smile Direct worker said her current appointment was running a little over and asked me to sit in the waiting room. So I sat in the waiting room for maybe another 10-15 minutes, then the girl came and got me signed in on her iPad and said I could just come sit in the back with her until her other appointment was over. No big deal, I know it's out of the workers control if an appointment was running late.

So finally it was my turn, the 3D scan only took maybe 5-10 minutes, the Smile Direct employee explained the process, provided a little tote, chapstick and whitening kit. She informed me I should receive an email if/when my smile plan was accepted and created which can usually take 3-5 business days. I opted to finance my treatment through Smile Pay, it was extremely fast.. I don't think there was a credit check or anything, you literally just pay your $250 down payment and I had to sign a paper, they take a photo of the paper and submit it.

I received an email regarding my financing that same day, but I waited and waited to receive an email letting me know if I qualified for the program. Finally after about two weeks I reached out to customer service who said I was qualified and that my smile plan had been created on 6/21/18 (literally the day after my appointment), they instructed me to create a SmileDirectClub.com login to view my smile plan which I wasn't told I could do.. Again, no big deal. I was still just excited. I also confirmed my email address and it was correct, but for some reason I just never received any notification.

My treatment plan is only for five months, which surprised me. I always assumed my teeth would take years to fix, haha. I have a feeling I will have to refinement trays, but it'd be great if my teeth shift according to plan.

I was told I should receive my aligners in 4-5 weeks from the day I was approved and my treatment plan was created, I'm coming up on week six and still haven't received my aligners.. I read so many reviews on the Smile Direct process and wait times so I half expected to wait, but once your first payment comes out of your account and you still don't have your aligners you start to feel a twinge of annoyance and frustration.

Last week, I did reach out to SDC on Facebook, it was on Tuesday 7/24/18 to see if they could provide an update as I was going to be out of town all weekend. I was worried I wouldn't receive a notification and my aligners would sit in direct sunlight for days and melt or something ridiculous. Customer service said they would reach out to the lab to try to get an update on when my aligners should ship. No time frame was provided for a response, so I followed up two business days later and was told they were still awaiting a response. Today is Tuesday 7/31/18, so it's been 7 days / 5 business days and no update.

Of course I am frustrated and anxious to receive my aligners, however I am trying to be positive and patient. I will update my review as I go. Hopefully soon I will receive my aligners and be able to begin my treatment.

I sent another message on Facebook to Smile Direct Club as it's been 8 days / 6 business days since I sent my original message requesting an update. I got a pretty fast response saying my order *should* ship by 8/5 and be delivered by 8/8. So assuming I receive the aligners by then, I will have been waiting 7 weeks since they were sent to production.. Again a little frustrating, having to continually b

e the one to reach out for an update that most companies would provide automatically.. and I was really hoping to be done with my treatment plan right before Christmas, which isn't happening now.. I'm still trying my best to be patient and positive. I'm just very ready to start my treatment.

So my payment due date was 7/28, the money has been in my account and I checked my online loan portal and my bank account and it looks like it has not been processed. Just to be on the safe side I called the loan company, Healthcare Finance Direct. Waited on hold for a minute to get connected, then once someone answered I was immediately put back on hold, then again once I gave her my info..

Apparently account are not made active until the aligners have shipped, and payments can not be made on inactive accounts. So if your aligners order has not shipped by your due date, you are automatically behind a month on your payments. So be very mindful!!

I was told that as soon as the order ships, my account *should* be debited. The customer service representative did say to watch my account and make sure the payment does post as sometimes it does not debit correctly.. so that was not very comforting, haha. I did also ask if I would be penalized or have to pay a fee for my payment not being posted by my due date, to which she said no, but if the payment is declined you would be charged a fee for that.

Besides having to wait about 7 weeks for my order, I'm also behind on my payments already. Pretty big flaw in the process / system..

Definitely annoying and inconvenient, but I'm glad I called. Hopefully I save someone else the trouble.