SINGAPORE: Hair salon chain HairFun has admitted to luring elderly customers with cheap haircuts and then pressuring them into costly treatment packages they didn’t ask for. Now exposed, commenters quipped it’s “no more fun” now, while others questioned, “Why do local salons like to use this kind of tactic?”
In October last year, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) launched an investigation after receiving multiple complaints from the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) regarding the sales tactics employed by HairFun employees.
Surprise visits to three HairFun outlets later revealed that staff had been targeting elderly customers with free or low-cost haircut offers, priced between S$4 and S$10, only to mislead them into buying unnecessary and expensive treatment packages.
In one case, an elderly man got an S$8 haircut at the Ang Mo Kio outlet but was told by a HairFun employee that his scalp was “haemorrhaging” midway through the haircut. The staff then applied a powder to wash his hair and later charged him nearly S$1,000 for treatments and a 10-session hair treatment package he never agreed to. The elderly customer only realised he was deceived when his doctor confirmed there was no haemorrhaging in his head.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (Jun 4), CCCS said that HairFun directors Mr Roland Teo Jian Hao and Mdm Chiong Hong Hioh have admitted to engaging in unfair trade practices.
The salon chain and its directors also committed to stopping all unfair trade practices, cooperating with CASE to resolve complaints, and offering a five-day cooling-off period for customers to cancel and get a refund on any prepaid packages. They also agreed to refund affected customers.
So far, HairFun companies have refunded nearly S$12,500 to customers, mostly elderly residents living in the neighbourhood.
Still, some online questioned whether the move was enough. One commenter asked, “What? No jail?” Another pointed out, “They are repeat offenders with a new company name doing the same unethical things. How can a refund be enough?” /TISG
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