Apryl Pearson of Bellevue and Jinnie Bus of Redmond both thought they were lucky when American Laser Centers offered each of them $300 off treatments.

"I got a call saying I had won $300 worth of work," Pearson said.

"I got a call saying that you've got a $300 discount for treatment," Bus said.

Bus had learned about the company at a local health fair and Pearson online.

Both went into the office on 116th Avenue Northeast in Bellevue to find out more about their so-called "free" work and they were given what they call, the hard-sell.

"She was really sell, sell, sell. She told me all the things that I needed to do, and then she handed me all these papers and I filled them out," Bus said.

"She threw all sorts of packages at me of what I should have, thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of work," Pearson said.

Both signed-up for laser hair removal. Pearson was quoted a cost of nearly $2,000. Bus also signed-up for skin tightening -- her bill totaled more than $5,000.

KIRO 7 Consumer Investigator Amy Clancy asked Pearson what she thought when she went home after her appointment. "I made a big mistake. I went home and talked with my boyfriend and we both said this probably isn't a good idea."

Pearson -- who's 25 -- cancelled the treatments. So did Bus.

"I called the very next day, within 24-hours, and she said, well -- she would send an e-mail to the main company, American Laser Centers," Bus said.

The 75-year old widow thought the matter was over -- that because she didn't have any treatments done, she wouldn't owe any money. Pearson thought the same thing.

Until they both received bills for the full amount -- thousands of dollars.

"It scared me to death to think that I owed this kind of money for nothing. I didn't have any treatments,” Bus said.

"Did you ever have any work done?" "No, I had absolutely no work done. In fact, I never went in after the consultation, so they had no reason to keep my money," Pearson said.

Both women received bills from CareCredit, the same financing company the women say American Laser Center employees pressured them into using.

I asked the women if they could use their own credit cards.

“It wasn't even an option. They didn't even ask me for my credit card," Bus said.

Pearson said she could have used her own credit card, but they never brought it up.

“She just pushed for care credit. She didn't even talk about using my own credit cards or using cash, she just kept pushing care credit," Pearson said.

The Washington State Attorney General's office told KIRO 7 that 11 complaints against American Laser Centers in Bellevue and throughout the state -- have been filed within the past three years. Five of the complaints are similar claims to that of Bus and Pearson, but both women have not filed formal complaints with the AG's office. The documents detail how customers visited American Laser Centers initially because of giveaways and that financing through CareCredit was "pressured." In some cases, financing through CareCredit was even done without the customer's consent.

When a refund was requested, for whatever reason, it became more complicated because of the financing, and many were sent to collections.

"The complaints that we've received here at this office, regarding this company, are that people haven't received services or they've only received partial services and they had great difficulty getting refunds. Because of the nature of their contract included this financing, they were turned over to collections and they're being asked to pay for things that they've never received. Obviously, that's a concern," said Kristin Alexander of the Attorney General’s Office.

KIRO 7 went to American Laser Center’s Bellevue office wanting to find out more information about the company’s refund policies, but was kicked out of the office.

American Laser Center's public relations firm said it could not comment on individual cases, citing confidentiality laws, but they did reveal that personal credit cards or debit cards are the "preferred method of payment."

The representatives said they do not prefer financing through CareCredit or any other third party because American Laser Centers says it must then pay "finance charges."

The statement goes on to say "We are unsure why a member of the American Laser Centers staff may not have offered all the available payment methods to a customer. We apologize if this standard company protocol for customer consultations and payment was not taken in the case of the customer(s) in question."

Pearson who now blogs about her experience with American Laser Centers was able to get all of the charges removed.

"I told her that I wanted a refund within 24-hours or I was calling an attorney," Pearson said.

After KIRO 7 started asking questions all of Bus' charges were also dropped.

Both could have been out at least some money because of the contract that all potential ALC customers are asked to sign that clearly states "if no services are performed under this agreement, a refund will be issued at customer's written request minus a 10-percent administrative fee."

Kristin Alexander of the AG's office says that contract is binding and that "once you sign, you owe." She warns to always read the fine print before you sign a document, even if you think it's a free offer.

"I would be scrupulous of too good to be true, or seemingly too good to be true offers. Check them out first, know what it is you're getting. Because, chances are, you're going to be paying a lot more to get whatever it is that's free."

Bus wishes she had never been enticed by the free offer in the first place.

"I had nothing done. Isn't that illegal to charge you for something when you haven't had anything done?" Bus said.

According to the AG's office, it's not illegal because once you sign a document, you've given your consent to what's in those papers and in this state, there are no guaranteed refunds if you back out within a certain time period, like 24 hours.

A spokesperson for Care Credit told Clancy that the company takes all consumer disputes very seriously, and, as of just last month, "discontinued its agreement with American Laser Centers."