Sarah said staff often dangled special sales or a “VIP deal”. The packages piled up until they became difficult to track. Her last purchase, worth close to S$7,000, was made in December, barely two months before the spa closed.
When it did, she was offered S$1,000 in goodwill credit at another spa. “That’s definitely not enough,” she lamented.
After bringing her case to the Small Claims Tribunals, the spa was ordered to reimburse S$20,000 by last Saturday. But she has not received anything and is unsure about her next step.
Hers is not an isolated case. The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) received 2,113 complaints against the beauty industry last year. About one in five complaints involved practices such as pressure tactics and false claims.
At the same time business closures in the industry jumped from 1,377 in 2024 to 1,647. Why does the cycle keep repeating: hard sell, prepayments, sudden closures and new salons opening in their place?
WATCH: How do beauty salons trap you into prepaid packages? Diana goes undercover (22:33)