Elderly Aunty Coerced To Spend $13,000 On Skincare Products, Outlet Returns Money After Report Made
The recent alleged scamming of an elderly woman went viral and if it sounds familiar, it’s because there are a few skincare and beauty companies in Singapore that engages in aggressive sales tactics to hit sales targets.
Mdm Tay, the elderly woman in question was coerced into spending over $13k for Opatra skincare products that she doesn’t need. The items includes a facial scrub, body butter, day cream, night cream and a body scrub which costs $1180. She was then later convinced to buy another set of equipment and facial products amounting to $12k.
The catch? The products are “non-refundable or exchangeable”.
According to her son Lim, his mother was too confused and intimidated by the persistence of the 3 sales staff who hounded Mdm Tay for 5 hours to make a sale.
A police report was lodged on 6 Sept and Lim went down to Opatra at Suntec City on 7 Sept to ask for a refund. The boss came down for a meeting with them.
Opatra initially insisted on their no-refund policy and claimed that Mdm Tay was well aware of what she bought. However, considering that Mdm Tay is a low wage worker who is illiterate in English, Lim mentioned that there was no way his mother understood what she was paying for.
Opatra eventually refunded the money on 7 Sept but Lim said that he plans to pursue the report with the Consumer Association of Singapore. (CASE)
Reporter’s Opinions: In 2016, over 18 complaints were made to CASE against such companies including Orogold, Forever Flawless and Dead Sea Premiere.
The similarity? All of these companies are well known for their aggressive sales tactic. They lure you in with sweet words and when that fails, they start pointing out the flaws on your face to pressurize you into getting their questionable products.
Run a google search and you will find countless skin care experts who will say that there is little to no scientific proof that these ingredients like gold and diamond helps with skin regeneration. If the product works, it is because of the other premium ingredients like salicylic acid, algae, etc. Yeah stop being so gullible.
Opatra is similar. Opatra London has since clarified saying that they are not affiliated with the salon here and it is run by a franchisee.
The salon here is allegedly run by a company called Anake Group and they own a few companies under that name.
Gotta agree that the whole thing sounds shady. Especially when a few clicks on a search engine revealed that they were previously known by a different name.
Opatra itself is a shady company as they were in a class action lawsuit about two years ago for patent infringement. And the item in question is still being marketed.
Yeah, it looks similar to what the poor aunty was coerced to buy.
Why are these companies still operating when so many complaints have been made to CASE for their shitty ass behaviour? Why aren’t they taken to task?
When they can’t get sales from regular people, they target older folks. It is despicable. But then again, rumor has it that the sales personnel are forced to hit the target or they would be on the receiving end of verbal abuse.
So is anyone going to take a closer look at the owner(s) of such companies?
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