BIG BRAND CONMAN SKINCARE PLACE

context: i was looking for facial treatments online, and found a trial promo for a hydrating facial that was around 15% of the original price.

it was by a big local brand that uses local artiste as ambassador and i rmb seeing their ads on tv local channel regularly many years ago when i was a kid (i stopped watching local channels since many years ago too so idk if they still running ads on tv).

before booking an apt, i checked their google reviews for various outlets, naturally i looked at reviews starting from most recent, all were v good! given the big long-standing branding n good online reviews, i booked an apt. the facial was rly bad, my skin is actly v good (im 20 n take good care of it, i just wanted to treat myself to an occasional facial). it’s been days after the facial, and IM BREAKING OUT n my skin is so itchy.

I suspect either their tools were dirty or beautician didnt do extraction properly so its causing some aftermath. perhaps they purposely made my skin bad so they could keep me going for their treatments??

anyways, after the breakout, i started researching online even more, instead of starting their google reviews from most recent, i used the start from “lowest” function. oh god, that was where i found their “real” reviews! people were voicing the same experiences as me (unethical and aggressive hardsell, post-facial breakout, non-effectiveness of treatment, bullying by consultants, etc.) i then realised the numerous 5star reviews for all outlets were written by users with only 1 or 2 reviews! is the same thing for their sister brands under same big company. im a student (u can obviously tell from my looks n i told them also), when they wanted me to sign a package of few hundred dollars, they constantly pushed this pay-in-instalments app called “Atome”…. basically, their msg is: if cant pay in full now, just sign package, pay in instalments! i was reading their google reviews, another student echoed how when she said she has no xtra $ cuz a student, salesperson were asking her to use her pocket money! (we’re talking few hundred dollars here, hello students get allowance to buy FOOD n sch neccessities).

rn im so scared. i have read reviews that they were scarred (literally, on the face) from the horrible blackhead whitehead extractions during their treatments. im just wondering: yes we mostly know phone scammers, but how can we protect ourselves (esp women) from these kind of con places?????? they r a big local brand, advertises on traditional platforms w our mediacorp artistes, and have hundreds of 5star (highly likely fake) google reviews regularly posted to give themselves high google rating… but people r being hardsold in small little rooms (i wish i could expose the brand names so yall can read all the horrendous posts on google review, hardwarezone, tripadvisor, mummy forums).

pls dont laugh at me or these other women, most of us just want to take good care of our skin but these swindler corporations take advantage. plus, it seems to hv bountiful resources to do massive marketing to paint a good but false image of themselves before unsuspecting consumers. ps: if i say their brand name, as long as u r a sgporean who walks around sg malls, u confirm see before.

is there smthg we can do to expose their unethical methods?? buy multiple packages, will go up to tens of thousands of $.