Not that I am of any help in regard to OP's question, but I do 100% believe face pulling can work. I would be doing it now if it weren't for the fact that I'm considering a type of midfacial surgery and don't want it to accidentally be too effective and push me outside the realm of what a surgeon would consider worth operating on.
NCR is in my mind a bit more doubtful. I would only ever pay for that if the practitioner agreed to taking surgical before and afters, and if no changes occured I would not be made to pay.