SINGAPORE: Wan Yang Health Products and Foot Reflexology, a well-known and longtime establishment in the industry, suddenly shut down all of its outlets in the past few days.
On Sunday (Nov 23), Mothership featured a sign posted on the door of one of the outlets that read, “This company has ceased operations effective immediately and will commence formal liquidation proceedings. For any outstanding matters, please contact the liquidators who will be appointed in due course.”
A number of Wan Yang customers have been left in the lurch, however, specifically those who’ve bought prepaid packages for massages worth thousands of dollars.
Melvin Yong, who heads the Consumer Association of Singapore, wrote in a Facebook post the following day that CASE has received 15 complaints regarding Wan Yang’s sudden closure.
“In total, consumers reported losses of more than S$29,000 in unutilised prepaid packages. CASE has reached out to Wan Yang to seek clarification on how the company would refund consumers the unutilised amounts of their prepaid packages, as well as any other remedies,” his post reads.
Mr Yong added that customers who have unutilised prepaid packages with Wan Yang may reach out to CASE for assistance through its hotline at 6277 5100 or its website.
He noted that CASE has seen an increase in prepayment losses due to the sudden closures of beauty and wellness establishments such as Wan Yang, from S$19,000 in losses in the first half of 2024 to S$108,000 in the same period this year, or a substantial 464% increase.
“To address the perennial issue of prepayment losses, CASE has called on the Government to introduce a mandatory five-day cooling-off period for the purchase of prepaid packages in the beauty and wellness sector,” he added.
CASE also advised the public to patronise CASETrust-accredited beauty and wellness businesses, which offer protection for prepaid packages. Mr Yong added that accredited businesses also offer consumers a five-day cooling-off period,
What Singaporeans are saying
Many local social media users are saying that the news of Wan Yang’s closure appears to have one main takeaway: that buying prepaid packages is a risk they are no longer willing to take.
“Never sign any package. Rather pay per use,” advised one.
“Never EVER get pressured into buying packages,” another agreed.
“That’s the reason why I will never buy a package. Even is a well-known company. Play safe than sorry,” wrote a Facebook user.
“Same like those hair cut packages yada yada.. the risk of losing money due to the company winding up or under-utilised package is more than what you will end up saving,” a commenter chimed in.
A netizen pointed out that a prepaid package “is just like a loan,” and asked, “Shouldn’t it be regulated?” /TISG
