EDMOND —
Tan and Tone America customers aren’t feeling so great in Edmond, Oklahoma City, Yukon, Midwest City and Moore.
After 26 years in the metro, the tanning salon and gym locked its doors and left a note to its customers and employees telling them the 11 stores have closed.
“We had hoped that the revenues would begin to increase, however they have continued to decline,” the note read both on the doors and on the company’s website. “We have exhausted every financial resource to save the company ... but were still unable to establish the necessary capital for the company’s survival.”
The letter went on to thank its customers and employees for their work and efforts, respectively.
At the Edmond Tan and Tone locations, 2121 W. Edmond Road and 310 S. Bryant Ave., all lights were off, but the inside looked as if it could still serve customers with tanning equipment intact and products and computers still on its shelves and countertops.
But the South Bryant location had a few decorations on its door in the form of two handwritten letters by displaced customers.
One woman accused the company of taking her money while knowing it was going to close.
“You people just took $57 out of my bank account on Friday as well as selling me unlimited prepaid tanning in advance through the first of the year,” Marci Warren of Edmond wrote.
“They have been pushing promotions like bring a friend, things like that,” Warren said when contacted by The Edmond Sun.
Another note read, “I’m very upset that you didn’t have the respect for your customers to let them know you would be closing your doors. I’m also upset because you deducted money from my checking account four days before closing.”
Both demanded with exclamation points to have their money refunded or they would contact an attorney.
The online petition website change.org had 35 people out of a desired 2,000 sign in order to tell Tan and Tone America owner Ed Shelby to refund customers’ money, saying they paid for services not received.
Nearby businesses also capitalized on the tanning vacancy and Tan and Tone’s unemployed.
At the Beach, a tanning competitor, was offering 25 percent off tanning at its location at 309 S. Bryant Ave., as well as a website for former employees to submit a job application.
The tanning salon has averaged seven to 10 old Tan and Tone customers a day since Monday, said the manager of At the Beach, who deferred all other questions to the company’s corporate offices.
Fitness 19, a nearby gym, offered no enrollment fees.
Phone calls to the Tan and Tone main offices were not answered and callers were unable to leave a message. Tan and Tone owners Ed and Becky Shelby could not be reached and multiple calls to an Edward Shelby of Oklahoma City got a busy signal.
The Central Oklahoma Better Business Bureau website showed the company had about 160 employees, but was not an accredited business through the bureau. The BBB does note that businesses are not required to be accredited.
But the bureau did, however, post some advice regarding the closing.
“Consumers, especially former customers of Tan and Tone America, should understand that, when a company closes, the customer generally loses any fees paid to that business,” according to the BBB website. “One exception may be if the company files for bankruptcy protection or if the customer paid via credit card.”
For more help, the BBB suggested people either call their credit card companies or seek legal advice.
Four Tan and Tone America locations are still open in Chickasha, Ponca City, Stillwater and Ardmore and are listed on the company’s website, tanandtoneamerica.com
tayers@edmondsun.com | 341-2121
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THAD AYERS | THE EDMOND SUN The Tan and Tone America location at 2121 W. Edmond Road and 10 other Oklahoma City metro locations closed its doors on Monday. Notes on the doors and online say the company didn't have enough money to remain in business.
Discussion
Tan and Tone closes shop in metro
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