People's park beauty rip off

[Beeroclock]

My mum's here visiting us and had a day out to people's park where she managed to get scammed by one of these beauty places.

It started off as a $5 eyebrow shaving, which managed to get her in the chair........ Then mum agreed to upgrade $8 to a proper eyebrow pluck/tweezering. After some arm twisting, she agreed to upgraded $100+ for the eyebrow painting (or whatever it's called), was supposed to take 20 mins max. Then halfway through this and with one eyebrow already done, the lady paints the second eyebrow a darker shade and says this is the $600 version, see how much better it is than the $100 version you have. Anyway now you have to take it, otherwise I can't correct the first eyebrow and they won't match. Only then my mum got really upset and said no. In the end she got out of there paying $200+ and after approx. 2 hours.

I'm pretty pissed about this. Obviously it's mum's fault for getting taken by this scam, but you know the way these people operate to exploit vulnerable people (tourists, elderly, etc). I am going to lodge a complaint (CASE??) in a vain attempt to prevent others getting scammed, but I wouldn't be surprised if the receipt given my mum is fake or to a wrong address.

[JR8]

The police likely won't be that interested, but I'd still give them a call just to see what they might have to say.

I'd also Google on several iterations of 'shop-name, peoples park, eyebrow, scam, rip-off + + ' and so on, to see what if anything else came up ...

[Beeroclock]

The police likely won't be that interested, but I'd still give them a call just to see what they might have to say.

I'd also Google on several iterations of 'shop-name, peoples park, eyebrow, scam, rip-off + + ' and so on, to see what if anything else came up ...

I don't think so either, these people walk a fine line of intimidatory/pressure selling and implied commitment, but I doubt they did anything illegal. Just very annoying and I hope they can be stopped/reprimanded. I've checked CASE website and it refers to the Singapore Tourism Board website for online feedback/complaint in tourist/business disputes, so I think I will take that route. It might even be taken more seriously if it comes as a tourist complaint ! This kind of experience can ruin a holiday, or at least a few days of it, and leave a poor impression of the country as a whole....

I think my mum learnt her lesson anyway, she won't fall for this again.

[Max Headroom]

This is something that has been getting my goat bigtime lately: the rampant pressure-selling everywhere you go here. You can't take 3 steps anywhere in Singapore without some brochure-toting sales-hyena urging you to buy this, that or the other.

And they're everywhere now; there were two obsequious cling-ons lurking outside our condo deli the other day. No one was spared.

I hope they introduce legislation soon to outlaw this aggressive up-selling and unsolicited sales-pitching in public places, because I reckon it's getting out of hand.

[Beeroclock]

This is something that has been getting my goat bigtime lately: the rampant pressure-selling everywhere you go here. You can't take 3 steps anywhere in Singapore without some brochure-toting sales-hyena urging you to buy this, that or the other.

And they're everywhere now; there were two obsequious cling-ons lurking outside our condo deli the other day. No one was spared.

I hope they introduce legislation soon to outlaw this aggressive up-selling and unsolicited sales-pitching in public places, because I reckon it's getting out of hand.

When I was looking around CASE website, they have a consumer alert for Delphin Singapore. (Accounts for 72 of the 127 cases against direct selling companies handled by CASE in the past few years). I've also experienced this company, they give you a free gift, ours was a useless vacuum seal container that didn't really work. And you have to sign up for a "complimentary" mattress clean. Fortunately in our case I managed to cancel the appointment and it never went ahead. According to CASE website....

Delphin solicits for such consent at shopping malls or exhibitions venues in the guise of giving out free gifts. Once consumers have given consent, the Delphin salesperson will call at the home to demonstrate the use of the vacuum cleaner. After the demonstration, consumers complained that the salesperson would use hard-sell tactics to pressure them into purchasing the vacuum cleaner. The salesperson would spend several hours trying to persuade consumers to buy the item and would refuse to leave the house.

Consumers have approached CASE because they felt that they were pressurised into making the purchase and wanted a refund. They also told CASE that they were not informed of the five-days cooling-off period for direct sales. As these consumers were unable to return the item and get back a refund, they filed their complaint with CASE for further pursuit.

[the lynx]

Here's my share of encounter of scams, under guise as HDB-approved contractors.

http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/sutra604691.html

[x9200]

This is something that has been getting my goat bigtime lately: the rampant pressure-selling everywhere you go here. You can't take 3 steps anywhere in Singapore without some brochure-toting sales-hyena urging you to buy this, that or the other.

And they're everywhere now; there were two obsequious cling-ons lurking outside our condo deli the other day. No one was spared.

I hope they introduce legislation soon to outlaw this aggressive up-selling and unsolicited sales-pitching in public places, because I reckon it's getting out of hand.

Is it also annoying to Singaporeans? I somehow doubt it is or it is much lesser than to the "Westerners".

[ecureilx]

Is it also annoying to Singaporeans? I somehow doubt it is or it is much lesser than to the "Westerners".

sometime ago a local comedian theorized that the birth rate of locals are dropping also do to lovey dovey couples being distracted / disturbed by too many sales promoters everywhere

[JR8]

Is it also annoying to Singaporeans? I somehow doubt it is or it is much lesser than to the "Westerners".

Mrs JR8 says you're wrong... 'annoys us just the same, why you think different ah?'

[x9200]

Is it also annoying to Singaporeans? I somehow doubt it is or it is much lesser than to the "Westerners".

Mrs JR8 says you're wrong... 'annoys us just the same, why you think different ah?'

'was guessing based on this: Singaporeans rely much more on the shop assistants than the Westerners meaning the primary source of information from them seems the points of sales. The hyenas, as MHR nicely named them, are the field representative of the points. This, plus, they seem to be interested very much in all sorts of offers and promotions. Are they not?

[JR8]

'was guessing based on this: Singaporeans rely much more on the shop assistants than the Westerners

Wife reaction:

meaning the primary source of information from them seems the points of sales. The hyenas, as MHR nicely named them, are the field representative of the points. This, plus, they seem to be interested very much in all sorts of offers and promotions. Are they not?

Perhaps you need to differentiate 'Singaporeans'. There are suckers for anything here, that we see, but that by no means all of them are.

[x9200]

Oh, I refer to those I see every day on the streets and in the shops. I don't expect your wife to be one of them, or if she is, she may simply don't see it this way. My opinion is based on observations. I have seen dozens of situations where shop assistants, usually incompetent, "recommended" this or that product and they(the potential buyers) were listening to them like they were some source of divine knowledge. It is similar to the tv in public syndrome. Do you know any other developed country where a TV in a public place always attracts a small crowd of people?

Of course I could still be completely wrong, but this is what I concluded.

[ecureilx]

Oh, I refer to those I see every day on the streets and in the shops. I don't expect your wife to be one of them, or if she is, she may simply don't see it this way. My opinion is based on observations. I have seen dozens of situations where shop assistants, usually incompetent, "recommended" this or that product and they(the potential buyers) were listening to them like they were some source of divine knowledge. It is similar to the tv in public syndrome. Do you know any other developed country where a TV in a public place always attracts a small crowd of people?

Of course I could still be completely wrong, but this is what I concluded.

well, in heartlands ... a lot of bored folks listen to the divine interpreters

and people listen or pretend to listen because it helps increase the time spent shopping than go home where there is no aircon ...

in all reality when i tried to put my Marketing Diploma to practice in my previous place I was told this ... marketing in Singapore = finding ways to increase sales, hard sell (like the saloon story), discount, push and push and promote, promote .... , put more sales staff ...

that's marketing 101 in Singapore ... almost all FMCGs are doing this

[GSM8]

Similar thought occurred to me also some time ago and I concluded that in crowded places where more merchandise is stuffed into smaller area, they want to get you to buy something and get out so the next potential customer has space to get in. So they compensate shop assistants by commission and the shop assistant is all over you giving whatever advice he feels you want to hear. On the other hand, in many western countries where shop spaces are likely to be larger and crowding is not an issue, customers are better left alone to browse without being badgered by shop assistants and they end up buying more. By coincidence or design it also seems that small size shops tend to have louder blaring music that you want to get away from quickly, whereas the larger stores have soft mellow music thats conducive to people lingering around longer.

[Sporkin]

Hmm fascinating observation, I could never stand those small shops blasting loud music but since their patronage is largely by teenagers i attributed my aversion to "being old", didn't occur to me that it could be by design.

Similar thought occurred to me also some time ago and I concluded that in crowded places where more merchandise is stuffed into smaller area, they want to get you to buy something and get out so the next potential customer has space to get in. So they compensate shop assistants by commission and the shop assistant is all over you giving whatever advice he feels you want to hear. On the other hand, in many western countries where shop spaces are likely to be larger and crowding is not an issue, customers are better left alone to browse without being badgered by shop assistants and they end up buying more. By coincidence or design it also seems that small size shops tend to have louder blaring music that you want to get away from quickly, whereas the larger stores have soft mellow music thats conducive to people lingering around longer.