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    Berman Skin Institute

    3.8 (184 reviews)
    Closed Closed

    By appointment only

    Services - Berman Skin Institute

    Nonsurgical hair loss treatment

    Skin condition consultation

    Berman Skin Institute Photos

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    Chargeback on my Visa that I WON against Berman Skin Institute.
    Danville B.

    I had the worst experience here with laser hair removal. I would advise anyone to avoid this office and company. I brought my daughter here twice for laser hair removal for her underarms. Her service was with Danna. She said it was extremely painful. They didn't offer her numbing cream or ice ahead of time. But it seemed to work, so I decided to book just a touch-up appt for my bikini as it had been a few years since my last touch-up appt elsewhere. Berman makes you pay for your service BEFORE you're treated, which is highly unusual, and backfired on me which I'll explain shortly. Sidenote: I got LHR 20 years ago in my early 20's and it worked fantastic so I know what I'm doing since I've had several treatments in the past and am nearly hair-free except for minor touch-ups every 3-4 years. Danna said if I made an appt, I was welcome to put my own numbing cream on at home, wrap myself in saran wrap, and come to my appt. I happened to check their website one day and saw they were offering 30% off a small area of LHR, so I bought it. They have a goofy system where if you don't pre-pay in the office, you have to buy your service online ahead of time to get their advertised discount. The website said the discount was only valid that day, so I went ahead and purchased the bikini service. I then made an appt w/ Danna for the next day at 1:50pm. So I put numbing cream on my whole bikini area, put saran wrap over it, get dressed, drive to my appt in Walnut Creek, pay for parking on the street, and arrive to the office 10 min early. I sit there for 15 min (so now 5 min past my appt time) and a nurse asks if I've filled out paperwork yet. Now I'm past my appt time, wearing numbing cream that's probably going to start wearing off soon, and I'm just now given paperwork to fill out. 20 min past my appt time, I'm finally called back. I get undressed from the waist down, wash off the numbing cream at their sink and wait for Danna. It's now been nearly an hour since I first applied my numbing cream and I know it's wearing off. Danna comes in and tries to adjust settings on the LHR machine and says, "There's an error code that I can't bypass. Let me call my manager." So she leaves the room for a few minutes, comes back, says her manager told her to reset it. So she turns it off, turns it back on, error code still there. So she does it again, error code still there. She says, "I'm sorry, we can't treat you. The machine won't let me get past this error code." So I had to get dressed and just leave. Danna was barely apologetic, just said sorry, you can drive to Pleasanton if you want and get treated there. I said I can't, I have to pick up my daughter at 3pm, I don't have time to drive from Walnut Creek to Pleasanton right now plus my numbing cream will be gone by that point. As I'm leaving, I tell the receptionist up front, Ashley, that I would like a refund of the $245 that I had prepaid for the bikini service. She was very apologetic and said she could imagine how frustrating this experience was for me to leave w/out treatment, and asked if instead of refunding me, could she offer me a free treatment area instead. I thought about it and reluctantly said okay. A few days later, I get an email bill from Berman saying I owe $350. What?! I didn't even receive treatment there! There is no invoice or explanation as to what the $350 bill is for! So I emailed Ashley back twice, and she doesn't respond. The e-mail said to call their Billing Dept at (650) 815-2131 which I did and spoke with Cathy Vandenburg. Cathy said she "didn't know what the $350 bill was for." So I forwarded her the e-mail and she still couldn't see what the bill was for. She said I actually owed $245. I said I do not, I had PREPAID $245 for my service which I didn't get to use because their machine broke while I was there! I then told Cathy I wanted a refund of the $245 as I would not be returning to Berman Skin Institute again. She put me on hold, came back and said she spoke to her manager and they would refund my money, but that she "wanted me to speak to their clinic manager" and tell her what happened at the WC office. I didn't want to re-explain my whole story all over again to someone else but I wanted my refund, so I said ok. Cathy put me on hold again where I sat on hold for over 10 minutes before I finally hung up. I don't think she ever transferred me, she just left me on hold forever! So I filed a chargeback on my Visa for the $245 since Berman hadn't refunded me like they said they would, and I just WON my chargeback (I always win!). As if my experience there wasn't bad enough, I was made to fight tooth & nail to get a refund for the service I didn't receive. Would never go back. Numbing cream can be absorbed into your blood stream and is not good for you, so to put it on for no reason & let it sit for an hour, & then not get treatment is beyond frustrating. Do not ever prepay for laser, lest their machine breaks down on you!

    This is the provider Danna Young who choses the patients she want to have or not to have

    I have been a patient at this office for over 15 years . It's used to be a reliable place . This time in January of 2026 it's became a trashy and absolutely horrible medical office . I've made an appointment via internet with DANNA YOUNG PA-C and it was confirmed . However in an hour the office is calling me to cancel my appointment with DANNA YOUNG PA-C and the reason was because DANNA YOUNG PA-C isn't available and asked me to reschedule. I rescheduled the appointment for another time and got confirmation again . However once again they called to inform me that it's cancelled again the second time since the provider DANNA YOUNG PA-C is the only one at the office for cosmetic procedures & DANNA YOUNG PA-C is only accepting preferred clients and not everyone who needs medical help and who makes an appointment! So she is the one who decides who she want to accept and who she doesn't want to accept??????????? Is it normal procedure at the professional medical office ???? It's totally unacceptable and ridiculous. Please, save yourself time, your finances and Frustration & PLEASE DO NOT Go THERE ..NEEVER EVER . It's just another example of what you get in exchange of 15+ years of loyalty & spending thousands of $$$$$.Think about it !!!

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    Great experience on multiple visits. The doctors were very efficient and helpful. Parking is easy in the basement garage.

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    Review Highlights - Berman Skin Institute

    My daughter was so pleased and excited, she is currently standing over my shoulder making me yelp positive reviews about Diana.

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    Golden State Dermatology

    Golden State Dermatology

    3.9(126 reviews)
    2.4 mi

    Jared was super in assisting me b/c I am in a wheelchair; he explained m9hs treatment very wellread more

    I had a very frustrating experience with Golden State Dermatology this morning, and my biggest…read moreconcern is less about one individual employee and more about how the practice appears to be staffing and managing its front desk. I had a confirmed 8:00 a.m. appointment and took the day off work specifically to attend it. When I arrived, the front desk was clearly overwhelmed with multiple patients checking in at once. I gave the employee my name several times and my date of birth, but she initially told me there was no record of me in the system at all. She then told me I did not have an appointment that day and instead had an appointment on a Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. I explained that this could not be correct because, due to my work schedule, I only make medical appointments on Fridays. Unfortunately, I felt dismissed rather than having anyone pause to investigate what might have happened. After going outside, I checked my appointment history and confirmed that my appointment was, in fact, scheduled for that morning. There had clearly been some kind of scheduling or technical issue. I called the appointment desk to explain what I had found and happened to reach the same employee. Despite explaining that I had a confirmed appointment and had already taken the day off work, there was no attempt to investigate the discrepancy or accommodate me. I was simply offered the next available Friday appointment, September 11 at 8:00 a.m. I want to be fair to the front-desk employee: she appeared experienced and professional, but also visibly rushed and overloaded. That is why I believe this is ultimately a management and staffing issue. Golden State Dermatology's physician partnership and management team should take a hard look at how the front desk is staffed, particularly during the morning rush, and at the reliability of its scheduling system. When a patient has a confirmed appointment, rearranges their workday, shows up on time, and is turned away because of an apparent system error, there should be a process for investigating the problem and making a reasonable effort to accommodate them. Instead, I lost a day of work, made an unnecessary trip to the office, and left feeling dismissed. I hope Golden State Dermatology takes this feedback seriously. A medical practice can have excellent clinicians, but the patient experience begins at the front desk, and today that experience fell well short.

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    Berman Skin Institute - dermatology - Updated September 2026

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