Woman, 75, with hearing difficulties, charged S$880 for 12-session package at Yishun salon, thought she paid S$80 for treatment

One month after visiting a hair salon in Yishun to dye her hair, a 75-year-old woman who was hard of hearing was shocked to learn that she had apparently bought a S$880 hair dye and scalp treatment package.

She apparently thought the treatment cost only S$80 at the time.

Her son-in law lodged a police report after the salon refused to provide a refund.

In response, the salon said they had written the price down on a piece of paper, and repeatedly confirmed the details of the package with the customer.

Thought she paid S$80, turned out to be S$880 for 12 sessions

The man, surnamed Huang (transliteration), told Shin Min Daily News that his mother-in-law visited "A Salon" at Block 414 Yishun Ring Road on Nov. 14 to get her hair dyed for S$38.

Afterwards, salon staff tried to promote other hair treatments to her, telling her it would only take a few minutes.

Subsequently, Huang's mother-in-law opted for an additional treatment on the spot.

She heard it would cost her about S$80, and took out her card to pay, Huang claimed.

However, she ended up paying S$880 for 12 sessions of hair dye and scalp treatments instead.

"My mother-in-law completely didn't know what happened. She still thought that she only paid S$80," Huang said.

Salon refused to provide refund

Huang pointed out that his mother-in-law was hard of hearing due to her age, and found it difficult to hear what others said.

"Whenever we speak to her, we need to yell so she can hear," he said.

In December, Huang found out about the matter when he saw a notification on his mother-in-law's phone about the transaction.

Subsequently, Huang approached the store owner for a refund, but the owner refused to provide one.

Huang has since lodged a police report over the matter.

He accused salon staff of making use of his mother-in-law's hearing difficulties to upsell her a more expensive package.

Huang also claimed that staff did not ensure she knew what was buying before she signed up for the package.

Wrote down price for customer, repeated details 5 times: Salon

In response, the salon owner, surnamed Zhao (transliteration), told Shin Min that he was aware of the female customer's hard of hearing condition.

Zhao said that before she signed the package and paid by NETS, he repeated the details to her five times to confirm that she understood.

"I also wrote down the price on a piece of paper and showed it to her, and she said okay," Zhao added.

Zhao also showed Shin Min the customer's membership card, used by the salon to track the number of sessions used.

He said the customer personally wrote down her details on the card on Nov. 14, leaving her signature next to the package price and the name of the salon.

Additionally, Zhao pointed out that the NETS machine used for payment would display the transaction amount clearly for customers to see.

Zhao told Shin Min his salon has been in business for about half a year, and faces fierce competition in the neighbourhood.

"In this line of work, it's important to have business from regulars. There is no way we would cheat customers," he said.

Shin Min observed that within two rows of shops in the area, nine were hair salons.

Customer won't visit store to finish package

Huang shared that his mother was upset upon learning that she had spent S$880 on the package, so he transferred the same amount of money to her.

"She's a frugal person, so this is hard for her to accept," Huang said.

He added that despite having signed up for a package, she no longer wishes to patronise the store.

"We don't expect to get a refund. We just want to raise awareness and remind the elderly to be careful," Huang added.

The police confirmed with Mothership that a report was lodged.

Top image from Shin Min Daily News