The Attorney General for the US state of Ohio, Mike DeVine, is sueing a laser liposuction spa in Beachwood, accusing it of failing to deliver services that customers paid for through discount websites such as Groupon and Living Social.

Better Business Bureaus (BBB), an association of not-for-profit organisations focused on marketplace trust, issued a joint warning about Wellness Laser and Med Spas in the Ohio cities of Cleveland and Columbus in September 2013, according to local news website, Cleveland.com. The lawsuit is a result of 15 consumer complaints. Consumers say they each paid US$50 (€38, £30) or more online for detoxification products, weight-loss treatments and body-firming products, but buyers had to wait up to six months to schedule appointments and refunds were refused.

The state filed the lawsuit after the owner failed to provide the Attorney General with substantiation for claims in the spa’s advertisements, that its ‘laser liposuction’ treatments could help consumers “lose three to seven inches in just three weeks”.

DeWine’s suit claims the spa is also not using a licensed physician to perform the laser treatments, contrary to rules that only doctors can perform laser treatments and liposuction by incision – according to the Ohio State Medical Board.

Despite the spa’s website claiming services are performed by “certified techs”, the BBB claims that a woman from the city of Twinsburg complained that the lipolaser services were performed by “two young, inexperienced women who could not answer her questions.” The warning by BBB went on to say: “The location, an office building in the Ohio suburb of Beachwood, had no signage or professional certifications posted.”

The lawsuit, filed in the Delaware County Court of Commons Pleas, accuses Wellness Laser and Med Spa – and its owner Martina Flemings, also known as Martina Robinson – of multiple violations of the Consumer Sales Practices Act. The suit pleads that misled consumers should be reimbursed.