Slimming centres are offering free treatment as enticement to ensnare unwary customers.
In the first 8 months of this year, the Consumer Council has received a total of 1,059 complaint cases concerning the beauty-service sector. Of which 86 cases were related to slimming complaints.
The complaints reflected the emergence of new a sales tactic - the offer of free slimming service and, more recently, the recruitment of "spokesperson" for these centres.
But the trick is that the offer is conditional upon payment of a deposit allegedly to "show your determination and sincerity". The sum is equivalent to what the purportedly free treatment would normally charge, for example, $20,000.
And the deposit is not automatically refundable upon completion of the treatment - but only if you can successfully reach a designated weight reduction of, say, 10 lbs in a month.
If you are among the exceptional lucky few to deliver the weight loss as stipulated, you still cannot retrieve your deposit in one lump sum.
Instead, it will be repaid by 12 monthly instalments requiring you to report back to the centre every month to check if you are able to maintain the weight loss. Otherwise, the instalment for that month will be forfeited.
Often in the course of the treatment, you will be persuaded to take on and purchase additional therapy such as detoxification products or Chinese acupuncture treatment on the pretext of ensuring prompt result.
In this (September) issue of CHOICE were highlighted two cases that fell victim of these new tactics by slimming centres.
In both cases, the complainants paid a total of $42,800 (deposit plus additional therapy) after being enticed to the so-called free treatment.
In one case, the complainant was approached in a sale call from the centre offering to recruit her as "spokesperson" so as to put her up as a success example of the slimming treatment.
Both naturally were unable to fulfill the conditions set in the contracts of such free treatments, and in the end paid a probably higher fee, not to mention the trouble they went through to claim their deposit to no avail.
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