SINGAPORE: It’s not unusual for beauty salon staff to hard sell prepaid packages that cost thousands of dollars, especially to older clients who might have more easily succumbed to such tactics.
In a review posted on Google, a man named CK Leong issued a warning after a particular salon allegedly pressured his 71-year-old mother into buying a 12-part scalp treatment package for $1,294.92.
The establishment in question is called Salon One, which has a number of outlets across Singapore. Mr Leong’s mum had gone to the one at Clementi Avenue 3.
His mum, he explained, is a cleaner who is “usually very frugal,” and the family only found out that she had bought the package when they saw the transaction on her bank statement.
Upon talking to her, they learned what happened, and what worried the family the most is that she was asked by the salon staff to sign a document that the family believes contained the terms and conditions of the package she purchased.
His mum said, however, that the salon claimed the documents were “merely ‘for GST purposes’,” and she was not given a copy of the document.
“It is heartbreaking to know that someone who works so hard for her money was targeted and misled in this way,” Mr Leong wrote, adding that their family has already lodged reports with the police and CASE, the Consumer Association of Singapore.
“I hope by sharing this, other families can remind their elderly parents to be wary of such tactics,” he wrote.
He also provided a screenshot of the payment his mum made to the salon on January 3.
The Independent Singapore has reached out to Salon One for comment or updates.
Under Singapore’s Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (CPFTA), pressure selling or other such hard-selling tactics are considered an unfair practice, and sales staff should not use coercive means to enforce a sale.
The government’s Competition & Consumer Commission Singapore (CCS) site says that enforcement action can be taken against retailers who persist in these types of unfair practices.
In May 2023, CCS issued a media statement saying that it had found that between 2017 and 2022, Salon One Beauty Salon at Ang Mo Kio and seven other related entities had engaged in unfair practices, including, “persistent sales talks which caused consumers to feel pressured to purchase certain services or products, even though the consumers had already declined or expressed no interest to purchase these.”
The statement added that Salon One would take reasonable steps to make sure that their staff would cease doing so.
While Salon One’s Facebook page is full of positive reviews, negative ones, including those that involve the kind of pressure tactics that Mr Leong’s mother was subjected to, may be found on Google and Facebook. /TISG
Read also: Netizens warn against beauty salon packages trap after Ang Mo Kio salon shut down
