Retainers DirectReviews of retainersdirect.com

My impressions fell out while they were being shipped back to Retainers Direct; the seal must've broken on the Retainers Direct-provided envelope or something must've happened with USPS as I took care to make sure it was sealed before sending it off. It took a while for them to get back to me telling me the impressions fell out in transit, and I was relying on those retainers so now my teeth shifted far enough where I need treatment again. I accepted their offer for a refund on the retainers, but now they’re trying to subtract $20 from my refund to cover shipping and impression costs (as part of their 30-day return policy, but this wasn't applicable as it's not like I changed my mind or anything like that). They were the ones taking care of shipping and obviously shipping failed, so why is the customer paying for it? I’ve ordered from them before and always had issues (poor quality retainers, etc), so no longer coming back and couldn’t recommend them.

I placed an order, but immediately tried to cancel. Literally minutes later. Got no response. But they sent the retainer anyways. Then had charged me $20 for the return. Wish customer service could’ve seen the cancellation before they shipped it.

I am still working to get an acceptable sample mold of my teeth for mailing. I am very frustrated.

I purchased a set of retainers back in March of 2023. The initial box came with a couple sets of putty and my girlfriend and I attempted to create the mold. Upon a couple attempts, we weren't able to create a proper mold to send back to them. I sent them an email and they stated that we need to buy additional sets of 'putty' which are ($15/ea). We bought additionally sets, and upon mixing the 'putty', it got hard instantly and we weren't even able to attempt to create the mold the second time, this caused months of delay due to shipping, etc.. Finally, I decided that I no longer wanted to move forward with them creating my retainers as their system clearly isn't working. I emailed to receive a refund for the amount i paid for the retainers and they denied my request for a refund since the initial order was placed in March. Basically, they aren't giving me a refund for an item that I did not even receive. This company is an outright scam model, in which they give you putty that does not work, which forces you to buy additional putty and causes their refund policy time period to pass and you will be left with no retainers and -$250 in your bank account. Avoid them at all costs.

If you see my review from a few weeks ago, they claimed they were going to send me a replacement retainer after mine cracked after less than 2 months. Their quality is garbage, and no one has reached out to me to replace my retainer.

I reached out because my original retainer broke. My orthodontist retired and i just needed retainers. 1st one did not fit, 2nd one fit but not tight enough. I will go to orthodontist.

Everything this company does is designed to ensure that you cannot easily take advantage of their refund policy, even if the retainers they send you are faulty and painful to put on. Despite taking perfect impressions, sending photos of them in advance, and receiving written confirmation from the company that they were good, I received a note with my retainers that said that they had been modified because of distortions. Clearly, the impressions were damaged during shipment (in which case shipping insurance should have picked up the costs), or they were improperly handled during the tray removal process or beyond. The retainers I received were extremely painful to put on. I've been wearing retainers for over five years now; I know the difference between tight retainers and distorted ones. Wearing these ones would have caused long-term changes in the positioning of my teeth. Here are some tricky things about the company that I wish I knew about before I placed my order: 1. Customer service is very prompt and friendly before you place an order, but somewhat sporadic, rude, and cursory after you receive your retainers. After ordering, the emails I received from Darren Haltom were either generic form emails or one-liners that avoided directly answering the questions I had about what might have gone wrong in the production process. 2. The company does not take responsibility for faulty retainers and will not refund you for production errors. 3. You can only use their money-back guarantee within 30 days of placing your initial order, not 30 days of receiving your retainers. Given that you have to receive the impression kit, take impressions, get them approved, send them back, wait for the retainers to be made (8 business days), and finally receive them in the mail, this effectively means that you have about 24 hours to try on the retainers and decide whether or not you need a refund. If you reach out to customer service with an issue, they will stall you with advice, perhaps to try to get you past that 30-day time limit. When I politely explained my issue to Darren, for example, he asked me to send him photos of me wearing the retainers, then waited a couple of days, then insisted they were fine, then asked me whether my teeth had shifted, and finally told me to run the retainers under warm water. This last piece of advice probably takes the prize for "questionable thing you should probably not do." If you soften distorted retainers to try to get them on, they cool back down into their original shape and start repositioning your teeth according to their own distortions. Note that each of these emails with Darren takes time. I responded within minutes or hours to each of them, but he would wait a day or a whole weekend between messages, eventually pushing us past the 30-day refund policy. After that, he was like "gotcha, you lose!": "Your order was placed on June 21. The policy states that no shipping costs will be refunded." 4. If you are ordering only retainers and use the 15% off coupon code, you save just $2.50 because you no longer qualify for free shipping, which costs $20. This may seem fine, but if you opt for a refund, you forfeit all $20 of the original shipping fee. If you are absolutely determined to order from this company, you may be better off not using the promotional code and opting for free shipping instead.

I have a wide smile and requested the largest tray size be sent. From prior Ortho care I know that standard sizes are not compatible with my mouth. I contacted RD and had an email exchange with Darren who said the larger tray size could be sent upon request. The trays sent are too small. My teeth barely fit in, scraping it against the side of the tray. If I attempt to force my teeth in then the tray sits uncomfortably against my gums. I don't know why RD tray sizing is so limited when the company doesn't have the same overhead as in-person dental services and is catering to many people whom they can't access in-person, but I want my money back.