The Institute of Instant Beauty

OMG! I was totally raped by this sales guy in the Riverside Tyler Mall! When I left (after spending $ 600) i could not believe it! But honestly i am not exactly sure how i feel about it. I like the product so far. But the tactic of my sales guy was kind of smooth. It almost felt like i was reeled in for a one night stand then was totally dissed to an empty bed in the morning! LOL He grabbed me from the middle of the mall (I always ignore kiosk people, never make eye contact), he then complimented me a little, insulted me a little, then picked me back up. Next thing I know he is bagging it all up and i hand him my ATM card. I got to the car and was like. WHAT THE HELL! i was even in a hurry trying to make it for dinner with my girlfriend after work. I think the product is good but i don’t spend that kind of money on body soap!!! and i still have tons of eye serum from my last Mary Kay order. Girls! Just beware! These blood sucking vampires prey on our insecurities! Oh, and i forgot to add this one… he made me promise to use this product every day and night and i won’t look so ‘tired’ with my black circles. Then he says he wants me to have his personal cell phone number to be sure i can call him anytime for updates or questions. and make sure to come back in a month so he can see my skin. When i looked at the business card the next day it was blank with a scribbled number including a lot of 6’s and missing one digit!!! I was defanately taken by this sales guy and i should know better, being in sales myselft!

The exact same thing happened to me except in Houston, TX. The sales person was REALLY PUSHY. He would not leave me alone. I bought the face gromage just to get him to leave me alone. The product is working so far. The sales person was also asking me very personal questions too. It was not a good shopping experience, but I am happy so far with the product. Beware. If they try and stop you the best thing to do is to KEEP WALKING AWAY!

Pushy? EXTREMLY! Annoying? VERY! Great product? YES!
The pushy israeli guy kept insisting that I try «Gommage» to remove dead skin from my face. He wanted $ 75 for it and I offered $ 25. He was angry that i made such a «ridiculous» offer. cut to 5 minutes later, guess who walked away with the product paying $ 25? ME!
The Gommage is excellent! I love it, it made my skin feel so clean, smooth and revitalized. The people who run the show leave little to be desired, but their product is great. Make sure to bargain and stay firm with your price. Worked for me!

These Israeli guys are extremely pushy and have an irritating way of doing business, but it’s not like they hold a gun to your head and make you buy the product or steal the money from your wallet.
I’m a little pissed because Gotan’s «manager» said he wanted to give me something for free and gave me jack all (SPANK SPANK) While he encircled my eye with collagen gel he talked about wanting to be my dance partner, and sun baking on beach together in Telavie until his girlfriend showed up. I left with one eye treated and one eye untreated :(
The body scrub soufflé is an excellent product — I’ve used a lot and this one is very impressive. I think it’s complete bull shit about coming from the Dead Sea though…
1) If you tell them you’ve seen the product advertised cheaper, you’ll get it cheaper
2) Tell them you think about buying the products again another day and they’ll back off.

I was so upset by my experience with these people yesterday and I actually created a Unilocal account to give them a negative review. I hated their sales tactics. The same thing that happened to Maggie C happened to me too! I didn’t speak to a manager or owner though. I kept trying to leave and the sales lady would literally not let me leave until I had purchased something.
Sure, the body scrub felt nice, but it isn’t something that I actually want. I can’t even look at the products I got sucked into buying yesterday.
I go to Westfield a lot and none of the other sales people at other kiosks in the mall are this pushy. It really ruined an otherwise pleasant experience. What’s WORSE is they do exchanges only!
I called the mall and complained (you get to talk to real people right away!), and they said that stores get penalized for having aggressive, pushy tactics. So I hope you all call the mall and complain too.
EDIT: The company’s website (from the boxes of the products) is not a complete website. The phone number leads to a phone tree that does work, and I have not received responses from the any of the email addresses I’ve used. I plan to call the mall and see if they can give me contact information for the kiosk’s home company.

No stars but coz the product is ok — 1 star. The sales people wreck it!
I was cruising the mall one day, enjoying my ice cream when a salesman from one of the sales stands at the Westfield Mall in San Francisco stopped me and asked me to sample his product.
Initially he put some body scrub on my hand, it was nice. Then he let me try a skin/​dirt remover product on my inner arm. The products were nice so I bought them — I paid $ 80 plus tax and received a free body butter. I was ready to head off then he insisted that he show me some of his other products.
I let him show me two face masks and an eye cream and he said that he would work out a special deal. I asked him how much the products were and he said that it depended on what I got and how much I bought and that he likes to spoil his customers… He kept saying that his prices were the real deal and that I could check out the website to see that he was not lying to me. He said that the eye masks were a two year supply and that the eye cream was a one year supply. The products seemed really good so I said that I was interested in the the eye cream and the two face masks.
He then said that the one face mask was $ 250, the other $ 175 and the eye cream $ 150. I was astounded and let him know that I didn’t have anough money left in my credit card so he said that he would give me a discount. He gave me additional products as ‘free gifts’. The total for these products was $ 460. He said that he was really spoiling me as I had not really spent alot and most of his sales were for much more. I paid but felt ripped off… sure, the products seemed good but really worth $ 540?
A while later, out of curiosity and in search of a night cream, I went to the website and saw that the original product prices he quoted me were not the real prices! The ‘$ 250 mask’ was in fact $ 175, the ‘$ 175 mask’ was in fact $ 130 and the ‘$ 150 eye cream’ was in fact $ 100.
While the products are good and I did get my money’s worth with all the ‘free gifts’, these were in fact not all free and actually built into the overquoted price he charged me. I guess in the end it was ok but I can’t help stopping to think that $ 540 for face creams and body butters from a mall sales stand seems really ridiculous!
They are real pests who bug shoppers. I try to avoid them when I walk by and as they call ‘Miss, miss!!‘
The products are good products but the prices are ridiculously inflated and the salespeople overquote the prices then ‘give freebies when you order more’ i. e they make you get more products and actually pay for them all…
So while the products work well… beware of all the salestalk!

Actually, if I could, I would give this place no stars. Or, if I was really being honest, negative stars. Black holes of stars.
The saletspeople (all Israelis — not to say anything bad about Israelis but they can be pushy) are rude, pushy, and dishonest. I was pressured into buying a mask a week ago for $ 30 because the salesguy asked me why such a beautiful girl like me had dry skin? So, I was sucker – punched into it and promised I could return it if I had any problems.
Well, I did have problems. That mask was designed for the polar opposite of dry skin! My face felt like jerky afterwards — tight and dry and rough. So, I went all the way back to that stupid stall to try and recoup my money and was I able to get my money back? Just guess, was I? Or course not. Not only did the irritating guy keep saying over and over, «So why aren’t you smiling? Why aren’t you smiling,» he wouldn’t give me my money back and tried to push more product on me. My thirty dollars and dry skin are why I’m not smiling. Bastard.
Never had a worse experience. I’m not an angry person and I’m fuming.

Make it three for three — I was lured in by the attractive salesgirl– and didn’t put up much of a fight when she sold me the nail file for 50 $ (ON SPECIAL OF COURSE) — she then threw in another for free when I got suckered into another purchase. I felt cornered and had buyers remorse 2 minutes after the purchase… I don’t consider myself gullible but guess I fell for this one– don’t let it happen to you. Their website is even sketchy– don’t doit. Good Luck trying to return the ones you have Val — I’m certain that they will not let you– chalk it up to experience.

Pushy, dishonest sales tactics. Perhaps the products may be wonderful, but I have never felt SOOOO pressured and ANGRY in my life when shopping. I have been pushed to the point where I had to RAISE MY VOICE at the sales people who kept cornering me and pressuring me to buy.
Here’s what happened: I was walking by their counter (not noticing them at all) when a sales person asked me to try a lotion. Sure enough, I felt bad and bought the lotion. After that, he still would not stop selling me products for 15 mins even though I said I had to run. When I was about to go, the sales person started criticizing my pores, asking me my age, and my profession! I said, for the second time, that I had to get back to work; he then introduced me to his «manager» and cornered me to the chair to try this mask. I literally could not leave and I am not exaggerating. After I tried the mask, I said, I’d think about it, then this «manager» introduced me to his «manager» and said to me that this 3^rd manager can give me some discount. I told him NO and called them out by asking them why their manager would need managers? He then said, oh, he’s the owner. I then started walking away. The 3^rd «supposed» manager then said that he was the owner and he would be able to give me a discount on the mask. I was VERY annoyed at that point b/​c I told them that I had to get back to work and to stop blocking my way! I literally had to be raising my voice to tell them to back off. I hate to be rude, but these people would NOT stop. I felt so harrassed.
So guys and gals (they target any human being), BEWARE of their sales tactics. Once you sit down or try their products (they will come and get you even if you’re not looking or really want anything), they will NOT let you go! Also, I was told that this mask would last a year when clearly, it says it’s good for 6 months after opening on the product box. They said, oh it’s Ok to use for a year (hello?). Besides, they have NO idea what is safe or not for pregnancy and in turn asked me what was wrong with the ingredients and smirked at me.
I’m sorry, but organic does’nt mean anything unless the sales people know what they are talking about. Organic does not equal «pregnancy safe»! Plus, what are they talking about with organic? Again, I have no complaints about the products apart from them being overpriced, but their sales people just want you to buy and don’t really know much and they are very dishonest. You’ll never know whether these people are managers, plus there are no price tags on their products, so how do you know whether they are quoting you the right price? The products are also sold on the internet, and if I need to get more lotion I would go online instead. AVOID THEM AT ALL COST!
Update 6/20/08…yes, to all those people who gave more than 1 star and felt that the sales people did not push them… it’s because some of us took the time to contact the kiosk manager to tell them to calm down.