Instyler
Reviews and Complaints

Do Not Buy The InStyler! I purchased the InStyler October 2009, in the 2-for-1 deal. My sister and I wanted to give each other the InStyler for Christmas 2009. I have used it maybe 2 or 3 times since December 2009. This morning, with half of my hair straightened, the rotating iron part came loose, the top cap came off, and screws came out. I tried to fix it after the iron cooled, but to no avail. I pulled out my credit card statement from October 2009, and called the 1800 number. I was told that the 12-month warranty had expired. I said I understand, but is there anything they could do for me, since its only 13 months since I bought it, and less than a year since I actually could start to use it since it was a holiday gift. I was told there is nothing they could do, so I asked for the supervisor. I explained the story, noted that I understood the 12 months had come and gone, but surely there is something he could do for me. He said he could not, so I asked if I'm just supposed to be okay with shelling out $140 and having their product literally fall apart 13 months later. He said he was "sorry I feel that they cannot help me", to which I responded "well, I do nto FEEL you cannot help me, you literally are NOT helping me". I went on to say I would blog about this crappy product and evern crappier customer service, and email every woman I know...UGH!

DO NOT WASTE A DOLLAR OF YOUR MONEY! Biggest rip off ever and customer support suggestion is to give them another $100 plus buy an extended warranty. They have a product that they know is defect, they know the top of the barrel comes off. I used this item 5 i repeat 5 times not only did it fly across the room it burnt my face and hand. They sell this item as a buy one for 14.99 and get second one free trust me if you can even get it to work you will need second one it it last past 5 uses. Save your money give the 100 away money will be better spent.

I ordered this product which advertised for $119.00. If you purchased it for $119.00, they said that they would send you a free one. I received the two InStylers & my friend & I can't even get it to work. It is sitting in our closets. Now I continue to be charged for these things. I just got off the phone with customer service & I am being charged $207.00 for this product. They also said I ordered a chip to be put in it to heat it faster. They charged me for a trial ($14.99) of a product that I bought. They continue to send me hair products even though I have told them to stop sending them. I see new charges on my credit card statement every month. BEWARE of the website. They told me I approved items that I did not! They are also charging exorbitant shipping charges on items that I didn't order. The product looks great on the website, but this is the worst scam I have ever dealt with!I am reporting them to the BBB.

the instyler is a piece of ###. i bought mine direct through the website with that recieve 2 for 14.99 with a 30 day trail... i recieved my instyler within 5 days and was elated...but wen i opended the box i saw a used candle and a freebrezze air freshiner...this is ot the first time this has happend...wen i kaled the custermer service they said that they sent me this because they were all outta shoock and refused to send me a refund...PLUS THEY CHARGED ME FOR THE CANDLE AND FREBREZZE

I ordered instyler on December 22, 2009. It is now mid May, I have not recieved the product. But the reason I am very mad is because they charged me for it. 3 payments of 30 bucks for nothing. I keep tracking my order and it says that it is in the warehouse and will ship soon. I sent an email to customer service and it was completely ignored. I don't know if this has happened to anyone else who ordered instyler from their "official website". If anyone else had this happen and got the product please post what you did to fix it.

The Instyler is an expensive gimmick! It burns your hair off and gives you split ends and thats the good news. It is awkward to use and caused a 3rd degree burn that was 2 inches by 3 inches. Very dangerous product! Should not be sold to the general public! Customer service and the supervisor (Chris) are the absolute WORST! When I called to tell them what happened Chris actually laughed and said "well she'll be more careful next time"! Unbelievable.

Received Instyler, couple weeks later had round cell go flying off while I was curlinh hair. Could not reattach end. Called, had a hard time because I bought it from QVC. finally after several calls and QVC having to call them on my behalf, I received an RA #. Shipped item the exact way I was told. I sent it certified. They received it, Feb 8, 2010. I called Feb12, was told they did not have it. I gave them the tracking number, was told it was not input into computer yet. Takes 24 hours. Told them it had been 5 days since they had it. Was told to wait one more day. Called on Feb 18, was told yes, they see that they received it and service rep said he would input thta info into computer and new instyler would go out that day or the next and I would get a conf # emailed. Fast Forward to March 3, still no email confirmation yet. Called customer service, talked to Jose, whom had NO CLUE what he was doing, surprised if he could tie his own shoe! I was told that they ran out of them! WHAT? I asked for a supervisor and I said, y'all are giving them away this month at buy one get one free and you can't get one replacement iron out! I am now told that I should have one shipped around March 8. We will see if that happens... Also, they pay for your shipping to send the defective item to them in CA. All you have to do is fax them the receipt with your RA # on it and they reimburse you immediately. I have faxed it 5 times now, on 5 different days, each time I call to check on it, they say they don't have it, or there was 2 comming in on the fax machine at one time and mine is in fax land or the machine somewhere. Really, do they think I am stupid or is their customer service just that stupid! YES, you guessed right, , , , , INSTYLER Customer Service Reps are CLUELESS! Itold them if two faxes are coming in at the same time, the second one will ring busy and my fax machine has it saved and will keep sending until it is a clear line...DUH...Any way, just got off the phone with dufus, JOSE again and I demanded that he go walk over to the fax machine, get my fax and input it into the computer as the supervisor told me they can do...JOSE was not too happy about that, put me on hold for 20 minutes then came back and said, THE FAX DEPARTMENT IS AT LUNCH, I should call back on Friday...WHAT? It is Wednesday, They take lunch from Wed to Friday? WHO ARE THESE REPS AND WHAT BODY OF WATER DID THEY FLOAT IN FROM? TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE...One month, still no replacement, no refund and no idea when and if I will get either! You better belive I will get my replacement but what a hassell i have to go through. I will let QVC know that Instyler is a terrible company to deal with and QVC will drop them if they get complaints. So send y'alls complaints about Instylerto QVC also! Thats, Debbie in Naples, Florida

The company issued a replacement product instead of the promised refund, requests return of the second item on my dollar and has not issued the first refund.

I received the InStyler for Christmas from my parents. They have advised me that they purchased it from InstylerBuys.com. I told the company that I would like to return it and have their account credited back as the item came all beat up and possibly missing parts--there was a smaller empty plastic bag in the box so I believed it was missing accessories, on top of that it didn't work on my hair properly.

I requested they advise the best way to handle the return so that my parents' paypal account could get credited. (I live away from my parents, so the preferred method was that I could ship it to them direct instead of via my parents)

I emailed twice over 3 days before receiving a response. They said there was a 15% restocking fee for non-defective products. Fine, I could accept they didn't believe it was defective--a lot of hair products are like that. But they didn't address the issue of the odd empty bag. But I went ahead and confirmed I would return it and I paid for return shipping + delivery confirmation.

I received delivery confirmation that they received the return and despite including the same information about who to credit, they sent me a replacement anyway, completely ignoring the request in the returned package.

When I emailed complaining about the replacement they sent me the following email: "You are contacting the BBB because we sent you a replacement? If you want a refund you get charged 20% Restocking fee and we cant do that until we get the package back, if you didnt open it just put return to sender, we'll refund the charge as soon as it arrives back."

I had already opened the second package because the package didn't indicate that it was from Instyler Buys on the outside, we didn't know what it was. Additionally, they were upping the restocking fee. I responded with my delivery confirmation details and complained about the restocking fee, and then they said it was only 15% for those who had ordered before Jan. 1.

Since the trail of email already clearly indicated that my parents ordered it well before Christmas, my restocking fee should only be 15% and I said so.

I requested the return be credit to my parents account and if they wished the return of the second product, they needed to pay for that as well which could also be credit to their account (after all, if they couldn't get a basic refund right, I certainly wasn't going to give them a second paypal account to credit, so I just used my parents again).

I notified them of my intent to complain to the BBB if my parents did not receive credit within 24 hours. I did not receive a response from them and of course, nothing in paypal.

The Instyler Hair Curling Iron/Straightening Iron DOES NOT WORK! I ordered the 2 at $14.99 for a 30-day trial, which I did not realize that it was a trial. When I started seeing money taken from my account, I called, couldn't get through. Now, to date, they have taken $182.86 from my checking account and I finally got through today and they absolutely refuse to refund my money because the "trial" is over and I said I have only used the product one time because it DOES NOT WORK, they still refuse. They need to be reported to the BBB. The company is a complete rip-off! I honestly feel like suing them.

The InStyler is overpriced, leading consumers to believe it is an actual professional and functional product. The bristles (it has a row of them on each side) are too limp so it does not brush or separate the hair at all. The barrel does not grab the hair tight enough to dry and straighten it in the "short" amount of time the product claims. It takes twice as long to style the hair and it also requires the "help" of a blowdrier to do the job right. I purchased the product because the price suggested it was a functional, serious product. It cost me about $140 plus shipping for 2 in Stylers. The product is sold in stores for about $90. I called to return it and they claimed I did not "use" it properly and offered to send me a complementary CD with instructions (lucky me!) I was told that if I wasn't satisfied that I could then return it until December 17 when the trial expired (by the way I had paid in full). I sent it on the 17th and proceeded to call (it was after 6pm)customer service was already closed. When ifinally got a hold of them, they said I had to have called before the trial period expired to receive a CRD# or something. My InStylers are on the way back to me and now I'm stuck with 2 products I am ashamed to give away (although receiving it for free might make the recipient overlook all its flaws).

DONT ORDER THE INSTYLER! Half-rate product, POOR Management!

I ordered the instyler trial. Was unhappy because my units were cutting out as I was using it. I called to cancel at the end of the trial and spoke with a very helpful agent who said she would send out a dvd and super shine kit, which might help it work better and she would extend my trail for 14 days.

I never received the dvd or shine kit, I called on Nov. 3 to cancel. I spoke with a very kind gentleman who stated it sounded like my units were defective. He would send me out the dvd and shine kit and if I would send back the 2 defective units, he would send out 2 new units with a new 30 day trial. He also stated that he would delay payments until the new trial was over and *** one payment so there would only be 2 payments due.

I sent back the units, was shipped 2 new units. I noticed that I had a charge from instyler for $66.63. I called today to find out what the problem was and am very disappointed with the service I received.

First of all, CHRIS (the one that runs the california customer support center, supposedly) was quite rude and basically accused me of lying about the new trail period. I asked to speak with his manager. He stated he was the one in charge and no one else. The only thing I could do was write to corporate.

I will do this, but just wanted to let everyone know how poor the customer service is for a half rate product.

The instyler is a terrible product is not worth the 155.OO they charge you. You have to be out of your mind to pay 155.00 for this product. 14.99 trial then the charge you 59.95 for one installament plus shipping and handling then two more payments of 39.00. The product is hard to use, I've been burnt twice by it and when I tried to return it, I had pasted the 30 day limit by two days and they told me their was nothing they could do. I work in retail exceptions are made everyday.

I have had two Instyler's burn out after very little use. Now the company will not refund my money. I do not have the time or patience to return this product every time they fail to work. They want to give me another Instyler, I no longer trust the Instyler. The product is not made well if it can't stand up to minor usage. The product is unreliable. I purchased this product in the Spring of this year (2009)It didn't last 6 months. The product worked well when it worked. I would not recommend this product since the company will not issue a refund when their product malfunctions.

I received my Instyler with no return instructions (paid through PayPal)and no receipt was included. I was still very excited about my purchase. I plugged it in and it started heating up while I was applying my make up - it suddenly popped real loud and smoke came out. The indicator light went out. I checked to see if it would rotate - it would not. It is completely burned up and I never even used it. I am still trying to see if I can secure a refund and where to return it. This is dissapponting to say the least.

I am extremely dissatisfied with the InSytler customer service I received on October 22 from a lady by the name of Lynn in your order tracking department. I placed my order for the InStyler product on August 31, 2009 and was misled to believe that the shipping time would take no longer than 6 weeks.It has been almost 8 weeks now and the only information I can get from your website is that the product is in the warehouse and will ship soon. I decided to follow up on my own and that is when I had the short conversation with Lynn before she hung up on me. She seemed to have trouble finding my order using my last name and at that time I was welcomed with the dial tone. I called back and was able to speak with a manager by the name of Ted. He informed me that the $14.99 charge never went through on my credit card, and that is why the product was hung up in the system. As further development, I was told that my order was placed using an old software and that is the reason for the cancellation. He said that I would need to place a new order under his new system. How does your company operate like this? You must have lost a lot of sales with the way this transition between softwares was managed. I still can't understand as to why this was not brought to my attention earlier as opposed to me waiting an unnecessary amount of time. Also, I am not sure why your website never said that the order was cancelled instead of saying it would ship soon. As a new product in the marketplace severly relying on word of mouth marketing, you have not given me a lot of good things to share. Unfortunately, I would have to say that I'm very disappointed with your online ordering, and I would not recommend buying your product. Mainly because if your product is anything like your corporation it doesn't give me any reassurance in the quality.

Good Afternoon,

I decided to try the product which was advertised for $14.99 for a trial period of 30 days with a full refund if not satisfied. I was not satisfied and called to cancel trial and I received authorization number. I mailed the product the very next day. A few days later they charged my credit card 72$ and in Aug they tried to charge me again but thankfully I had my card number changed therefore the bank rejected the extra charge for 86$. I now get a letter from collection agency ask for 93$ for a product I returned months ago. I called them about it and customer service was very rude and hang up on me when I had asked for fax number to fax my postage receipt. this company is fraudenlent--they claim they did not receive my return however I know they received. their trick is to say consumers did not return product and report them to collecting agency. this happened to 3 of friends by far. I refuse to pay the 93$ for something I did not use. I call to speak with supervisor, he claimed his name was ted but I believe it was a false supervisor. Supervisor was rude as well. something needs to be done about this.

Last month I purchased an INSTYLER "hot curling iron" and took the free additional iron with paid shipping. The first thing that happened was they billed me twice and managed to credit me once. Then, after I seriously burned myself, the iron badly singed my hair. When I tried to return the item, the salesman offered me a $30.00 discount on the purchase and was very pushy. I declined the offer, obtained a return number and mailed the item back to the company at my cost of $5.70. When I received the credit it was $42.00+ short of a FULL CREDIT for two items I had in my home less than two weeks. I'm sure they have written their "contract" so that it includes phoney "restocking" charges (one of the items was NEVER out of the box), etc. This company's product is dangerous and the company is unethical.

I ordered the INSTYLER from www.instyler.com. I received my Instylers and I love them. The problem came when I noticed a strange charge on my statement yesterday. It said SAVEACE ( what the hell is that?) and I was charged$19.95. I called the number that shows up on my statements and they provide a bogus website for me to go to. The Instyler company sold my credit card info to a parasite company. It as simple as that. I looked over my past statements and saw they charged me 3 times. The first time being when I placed the order for the Instyler. I'm contacting my bank as soon as they open tomorrow.

My account was charged not only the special rate of $16.96 but then $71.50. And when I called in it was 3 days past my 30 days and they said nothing they can do. I asked for a corporate address as I was planning on having my corporate attorney send a register notice to them, and they don't have one - only a PO BOX?!?!?!?!?

I asked to speak to a supervisor who basically said he didn't want an argument and hung up on me - after I was on hold for 30 minutes.

It is ridiculous that the make you take 2, charge you nearly $200 and wait until your time is up to return so there is nothing you can do about it when you call.

This seems totally illegal to me. And I wish I would of read all of these complaints before purchasing. It would not have purchased the product. It is not worth this amount nor these people who don't want to help you in any way either. Nice customer service! The worst!

All the supervisor said was have you seen all the good things about us on Oprah, The View, etc... I'll bet they didn't have to pay for theirs. It would be great if it was free and worked properly. I'd like it then too.

I'm still in shock that a so-called supervisor hangs up on you. Very professional! What a class act!

My boyfriend bought me this as a birthday gift. Not only did he pay to much, he now wont try and return it. Since the product frizzes my hair. He saw the product being advertised on TV. Noticed I always had 2 irons in the bathroom. He thought it would help me get my hair styled quicker in the mornings. He meant well. This product on low burned my forhead and frizzed my hair. I explained to him that the models he seen on the TV allready had perfectly good hair to start with. THIS COMPANY WILL BURN YOU TWICE.