Legal Question in Consumer Law in North Carolina

I do not know. I would have to see the offer. There may have been something on the card that said in fine print "see terms and conditions" or "this offer only applies to certain services" or a certain date, although you say there were no restrictions and no fine print.

Did you confirm any of this before you enjoyed the services? I would have found out whether this offer was for real before I used the services and if it wasn't, I would have left and not bought the services.

There are a couple ways to resolve this depending on what you want to do. What are you looking to get out of this? One, you could look up the contact information at the BBB and write or speak to the contact person. Show or send them the card. They may not be willing to let you have a freebie for past services, but they may be willing to accomodate you some other way - maybe a 10% discount off 10 future sessions, or a free facial or something else that would be acceptable.

If that will not work, you could try contacting the consumer protection division of the Attorney General's office or the BBB complaint line and file a complaint. If it truly is deceptive advertising, the attorney general will send a letter on your behalf and see if you can get a refund. The BBB will try to mediate the dispute. Neither agency has any teeth and if the business does not respond, then your remedy is to sue.

For a fee, I can also send the business a letter, but first I do need to see the card to make sure that this was truly deceptive. If it was, you can sue for unfair/deceptive trade practices. If successful, you can recover up to 3 times your damages and attorneys' fees. They might be willing to just refund your money to make you go away.

Write the business a letter before you sue. Judges like to see that you did try to resolve this before you went to court. Date it, ask for a response with 15 or 30 days. Do not threaten; simply explain that you will seek out further action if they fail to respond.

If you sue in small claims, sue in the county where the business is located. Make sure that you find out if the business is a corporation. This could be a franchise and not the parent corporation in which case you will have to look in the fictious names index at the courthouse to see who the real owner is. Serve the lawsuit on the registered agent or an officer of the corporation. You can find out this information from the NC Secretary of State online free of charge.