A woman says her elderly father was duped by a salon into getting an expensive treatment to remove creepy crawlies from his scalp that weren’t there.
The woman, Fiona Han, said her dad recently walked into a Yishun salon for a S$3 haircut only to end up with a hefty S$4,799 bill for a 12-session treatment package after he was shown what was said to be a live scan of “worms” wriggling around in his hair follicles.
“Apparently the hairdresser noticed some dry scab with redness on my dad’s scalp and did a scalp scan which showed some worms on his scalp. My dad was so frightened by the sight of the worms, he then was being duped to paying such exorbitant amount for demodex hair treatments!” she wrote online.
After hearing the news from her father, Han said she went to New Gen Studio to confront his hairdresser and demand a refund. While she managed to obtain S$4,500, she said S$299 was kept for the treatment he had received that day.
She confirmed that consultation with a dermatologist on Wednesday found there were no such worms on her dad’s head.
“In fact, the doctor was puzzled at the video of the scan done by the New Gen hairstylist, claiming it was impossible,” Han wrote in the post, which included a video of the scan purportedly taken of her father.
The “worms” resemble a mite called Demodex that lives in the oil glands of mammals and is usually easily treated.
“When my dad came home and broke this horrible news to us, we were furious! HELLO EXCUSE ME, this is a neighborhood salon and they actually charge a freaking S$4,799 hair package to an elderly who is half balding??!!! The treatment made of gold is it??!! We simply could not comprehend it!” she wrote.
A photo of the receipt showed that the package cost S$5,999 but was discounted 20% and included two free sessions. The receipt also stated that his purchase was “non-exchangeable and non-refundable.”
“We hope this post could raise some awareness of such atrocious scams. Please look out for your parents or grandparents because they love to target unsuspecting elderly!”
She did not specify her father’s age.
Coconuts Singapore called the Yishun store for comment but was told that the owner, Joe Zhuang, 30 of China, could not communicate in English.
It wasn’t the first time the salon has been called out for questionable sales tactics. Last year Facebook user Shanen Poon wrote that her grandmother was duped into paying S$99 for treatment when she only wanted a S$2 haircut.
“We had some commotion with them because they keep insisting that our grandma has given the consent of doing it,” she wrote.
“But the thing is, when we asked my grandmother, she [didn’t know] the price of the treatment.”
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