Woman who lost her job demanded a refund from a beauty salon for unused beauty packages

SINGAPORE: A 50-year-old woman, who was a long-term customer of a beauty salon since 2008, was used to signing up for various massage and skincare packages, amounting to $100,000.

Unfortunately, when the woman lost her job, she was now unable to repay her card debts and asked the beauty salon for a refund of her unused packages. 

Case details

The woman used to work in a real estate agency with a stable income, and during this time, signing up for multiple beauty packages was not a problem. She would sign up for a new package almost every few months and would spend at least $7,000 $8,000 a year on average. 

However, the woman was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2010 and had to undergo surgery to remove her tumour. After this medical procedure, she was unable to continue going back to the beauty salon. 

After resting for quite some time, her health improved, and she returned to the clinic, but then she lost her job in 2023 and stopped signing up for packages once again. She explained that her income plummeted during the pandemic and that her health began to deteriorate, even after surviving cancer. These circumstances led to her poor performance, causing her to lose her job and income. 

Now faced with the pressure of monthly repayments of her credit card bills, the woman explained the situation to the beauty salon and asked them to refund her unused packages, amounting to more than $16,000. 

“I’ve been a customer of theirs for so many years, and I know there’s a contract in place, but I really hope they can be accommodating in this special situation,” the woman said. 

The woman hoped that the beauty salon would at least refund a total of $14,000 to help her get through her crisis, but the salon refused. The salon offered to refund only $1,500 out of goodwill and emphasised that further demands would no longer be addressed. With this, she refused on the spot, leaving her hopeless. 

Shin Min Daily News contacted the beauty salon for their side of the story but received no reply yet. 

In similar news regarding beauty salons, there was a report where a woman and her boyfriend recently went for a facial treatment that initially cost $32. However, the clinic persuaded the couple to undergo other treatments, including the removal of 149 oily blisters, and at the end, paid $1,200. 

Read more about the story here.