Pretty Beauty Centre in Hong Kong rebuked over cases of unscrupulous sales tactics – including putting pressure on disabled people
- One victim was disabled after car crash but signed five contracts for a total of about HK$37,000 with firm’s Sheung Shui branch
- Consumer Council met with firm in April but since then has received further 19 complaints
The Consumer Council of Hong Kong has reprimanded a beauty service group over unscrupulous tactics after receiving more than 80 complaints over the past three years.
The watchdog said the 82 complaints against Pretty Beauty Centre recorded from 2016 to October this year had involved about HK$2.4 million (US$300,000), of which 50 cases – or 60 per cent – were related to improper sales practices.
Professor Wong Kam-fai, chairman of the council’s trade practices and consumer complaints review committee, said the company had obtained credit card payments without the consumers’ consent, and when it was found some of the victims were disabled, refused to refund them.
Wong said one victim was a man who had suffered a brain injury in a car crash and was registered disabled. He signed five contracts for a total of about HK$37,000 with the firm’s Sheung Shui branch.
His brother discovered it and asked for a refund. But the firm refused, insisting the man had paid voluntarily.
