TRINITY, N.C. — Vincent Ashley was looking for a boost, a jolt, if you will, to get him going. He was skeptical but optimistic after meeting with people at the clinic.
Ashley has low testosterone and was looking to increase it.
“That is normal for a man my age. We need a little help as the saying goes,” he said.
The plan was for Ashley to receive 100 shots to help increase his testosterone. In hindsight, Ashley feels it was probably not the best decision from the outset.
“I felt they pushed me into a contract, selling me a product they had,” said Ashley.
The shots are self-administered, and patients are trained on how to do it. On his initial appointment to use the medication, Ashley was given a single dose shot while at the office.
“He said (I would) receive results in 10 minutes. He came back 20 minutes and I was still not at point (I expected),” said Ashley.
It was not the results Ashley hoped for, but he was still willing to give it another shot at home. Ashley would take two more shots over the course of the next week or so with the same results.
“It wasn’t working,” said Ashley.
At that point, Ashley reached out to the clinic and asked for a refund. He returned all the medicine, telling staff it was not working as promised. The clinic, unfortunately for Ashley, was not willing to provide a refund.
“I told my wife we are not going to get our money back,” said Ashley.
A couple of weeks later, Ashley reached out to his credit card company for assistance. Again, he was told there was nothing it could do.
"They (credit card company) say because I signed it, I agreed to it, so I’m stuck with it,” said Ashley.
Frustrated and upset he should have to pay more than $2,700 for shots that didn’t work, Ashley reached out to our Call for Action volunteers.
“I basically told her (volunteer) I need help,” said Ashley. “It felt like someone was listening and trying to get the issue resolved.”
Our team worked with Ashley and helped him communicate with the clinic. Ashley sent a letter to executives in the corporate office and contacted other people in the company. Our team also reached out to the clinic and spoke with someone in management.
Ashley would get a call from one of the new regional managers and was asked to come down to the clinic in hopes of working this out. The manager and Ashley met and the gentleman agreed to give Ashley $2,100 back.
"We shook on it, I signed the paperwork, had it not been for you (our volunteers) there would have been no getting this resolved," said Ashley.
It only took about a week before his $2,100 was put back on his credit card.
“That was a good day, a very happy day,” said Ashley.