Interesting & Painful situation with tanning salon

[fladuck]

Florida

Let me start by explaining what happened

I called Tan USA and asked if they had any specials running. The girl asked me what type of bed I was looking to get special on, I told her high pressure. (High pressure beds are a special lamp that has very low levels of UVB rays, and therefore do not burn whatsoever, lots of info on google.com) She told me that the place had a special for high pressure beds running right now, five sessions for approximately 50 dollars. Hearing on the internet they would generally run twice that I figured it was a great deal and made my way down to Tan USA and signed up.

The pleasant attendant asked me what bed I wanted to use, the stand up or lie down, I asked if they were both high pressure, she told me they were, the only difference was that the standup one was nine minutes or so, and the lie down was 15 minutes. I chose the lie down one, and was escorted to the room where she showed me the controls. She told me nothing indicating it would be anything beside a high pressure bed, and I had no way of knowing it wasn’t… Then for fifteen minutes I baked under 20 thousand some odd watts of skin burning UVB radiation. Now I’m developing what I’m guessing is the worst sunburn I’ve ever had, when I would have never got in the thing in the first place had I been told it wasn’t a high pressure bed.

I can barely lie on my stomach, the back of my legs are killing me, I can not lie on my back, I've gotten little good rest and i'm up at 1:30 AM typing this because I think it's time I do something

- it’s a bad burn that could have been prevented… not only does the burn hurt now, but I've heard bad burns like this increase the chances skin cancer and early aging. Now I am sure I’ve never heard of a case like this, but I feel it’s something that could have been prevented and that Tan USA’s misleading and flat out ignorance of their products led to this.

Please let me know if this is pursuable, what I should do (take pictures etc..), and whether it’s worth the time.


thank you very much
fladuck

 

[fladuck]

anybody have advice?
thanks

 

[racer72]

Do you have a copy of the store's disclaimer? Did you read it completely before using their services?

 

[tammy8]

I have been a turn and burner in a bed for 11 yrs now and each and every year have to sign a waiver that the salon is not responsible for any burns, misuse, etc. Reread your contact.

BTW Even a dark tanner as I am, when I first start I never go the full time. It leads only to a burn.....that wears off in 2 or 3 days.

 

[fladuck]

they made me sign nothing what so ever

 

[fladuck]

I think the big point you're missing is...

They told me it was a high pressure bed. High pressure beds don't burn... I wouldn't have ever used a "standard bed" for that period of time, I may be pale, but i'm not crazy!

http://www.tanandtravel.com/uvatan.htm

there's some info, if I'd have seen pictures like that before I went in I might have known something was not right, but they told me it was a "high pressure bed" and I had no reason to doubt them, they do work in a tanning salon afterall.

duck

 

[fladuck]

I received this reply from somebody.

---I normally don't respond to direct emails, but yours is such a slam dunk that I will offer the following:
You have no case. You simply had an obligation to mitigate your damages by asking and CONFIRMING that the table you were on would be 'high pressure' and suitable for the purposes intended.


I sent this in response to his reply


To further reinforce the fact I mitigated as much as was possible under that situation, something maybe I shouldn’t have left out--- not only did she confirm upon me asking a SECOND time whether they were both high pressure beds, she also confirmed that they were what I was looking for upon me explaining to her in what I remember as these exact words I wanted bed with “special bulbs, UVA only, very very low levels of UVB so that you don’t burn”… I don’t know how I could have made myself any more clear to the attendant, and why the place could not be held accountable. I thank you for your response, maybe I should have gone into detail before, I’m guessing I could call them again tomorrow afternoon and still get “confirmation” they have high pressure beds when I know now for a fact now they don’t.

---------------------------------


Thanks again,
Duck

 

[ProResearch]

Whether you have a case or not, I do not know. But Iwill say that if you hope to prove your case, you probably should go to the doctor and get documentation that this is a very bad burn case.

Others have made comments on what they think regarding pursuing a claim against them -- perhaps an attorney here will respond who can give you the no-nonsense of it. But in any personal injury case, you need to go to a doctor and have the injury documented and to get some specialized care if it is as bad as you say.

Good "luck" to you!

 

[driftbuster]

my son said the girl did not know what she was doing. find out what the company policy is when it comes to exposure time, since this is a chain. the store that he runs might be a small chain but the process is computer controlled (all the beds). then all the sores are linked together to prevent someone from going from store to store and getting overexposed. a first tan should be no more than 4 min.

 

[fladuck]

I wasn't told that... She baked me for 15, however she did tell me I could get out if I wanted to- I didn't feel the need to since it was their "high pressure" bed

 

[fladuck]

Well now the actual pain is pretty much gone... It's mainly an irritated itchy feeling on my sides, back an legs. I don't think a doctor would do much now that it's subsiding