CASE says Wan Yang customer losses now over S$900,000

SINGAPORE: In an update to the sudden closure of Wan Yang Health Products and Foot Reflexology, the losses that customers who bought prepaid packages have incurred have reached more than S$904,000, according to the Customer Association of Singapore (CASE) on Wednesday (Dec 3).

On Nov 24, CASE president Melvin Yong wrote in a Facebook post that the association had received 15 complaints regarding the abrupt 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.

And now, a little more than a week later, Mr Yong said that the number of complaints has ballooned to 439. He added that the company’s three entities, Wan Yang Holdings, Wan Yang Foot Reflexology Centre, and Wan Yang Health Product & Foot Reflexology Centre, ended operations on Nov 21.

Moreover, all three are undergoing liquidation proceedings, CNA reported.

The liquidators are scheduled to be appointed next Tuesday (Dec 10), with the company proposing that liquidators from RSM SG Corporate Advisory take charge of the proceedings.

Mr Yong added, “CASE has established a dedicated communication channel with the proposed liquidators so that affected consumers with complaints about their unutilised prepaid packages lodged with CASE can be directly referred to them for more efficient processing.”

Customers of Wan Yang who have been affected by the closure may reach out to CASE for assistance through its hotline at 6277 5100 or its website.

Closure came as a surprise to Wan Yang staff

A Wan Yang worker named Ms Huang, who had been with the company for 18 years, spoke to Shin Min Daily News, saying that the staff had no idea that the outlets were about to shut down.

Although they had heard rumours from customers, they dismissed these, thinking that they were just fake news.

The staff heard that after the outlet at Tampines Hub was closed last month, the outlet at HarbourFront Centre would shut down next April. The three other branches, however, were believed to be unaffected by any closure.

Ms Huang, who is now unemployed and therefore has no income, told the Chinese daily, “We all thought it was just a matter of making a few adjustments to some stores. We didn’t expect it to close down completely.”

Another employee concurred, saying she thought the company would keep on going at least until Chinese New Year next year. /TISG

Read related: Takeaway from Wan Yang closure: Some say they’ll never get prepaid packages