I have not had this experience. I typically brush in one stroke though from their shoulders to their tail. I know their heavy shedding spots though and thin those out, but they still have plenty of fur left.
Esme will also let me know when she has had enough. You want to be careful to not use it too hard or too much in the same spot because it can irritate their skin.
I have three short-haired cats. One of them was shedding a lot. I use brush her a couple times a week and she does not have any bald spots. One of my male cats has short fur but it is pretty thick. There is a spot near his tail that gets mats. I brush him a couple times a week too. They both love being brushed. My 16 year old male short hair dislikes being brushed and he really does not need it.
Yes, I have had this problem :anon: I found I was using the furminator WAY too much during shedding season. Last year both Perkins and Pipsqueak got really thin hair near their shoulder blades. It really does thin out the coat on short haired kitties. You have to be gentle and only furminate for a few minutes. After I get the under coat out, I only use the ZoomGroom and a slicker brush (gently) to finish up. I groom my cats at least once weekly and have no hairball issues.
I don't brush my kitties too often, maybe once/week or once/2weeks so I've never encountered those problems. I have experimented with many different brushes including this one. We typically have thick med-long hair cats and found it works great at obtaining their under coat as well as excels at removing mats (YAY) especially when they are close to the skin (you brush around in a circular fashion and it loosens the knot and it pops right off).
We just brought home two new kitties: one short-hair and another fine long-hair, and on them I don't find it as useful. Its not bad on the short-hair, but horrible on the fine long-hair because its much to heavy and I feel as though its going to hurt her body if I put too much pressure. So for her hair I use a cat comb mainly or a bristly brush.
I bought a furminator after the talk on here about it. I have long hair and short and thick coats. I part the hair for more. Everyone seems to like the brushing event. We do have curry comb vibrator to use afterwards. Eight cats waiting for their turn