Lest you’re unaware of the ‘Great Opatra Incident’, which happened just days ago by the way, here’s a rough backstory, courtesy of my colleague:
On 10 Sep 2020, a 63-year-old woman who works at Suntec City was coerced into making payments of $13,180 on products and equipment.
She was brought into the beauty salon, Opatra, where three shop staff reportedly pushed products to her aggressively.
At first, she was convinced to pay $1,180 for beauty products, which she paid for via two NETS payments.
Then, she was convinced to purchase another $12,000 worth of equipment and beauty products.
For the second payment, she was only able to pay $2,000 via NETS. Despite the daily spending limit, the shop staff told her to withdraw $10,000 from the bank, and they even followed her to the bank.
When she was there, the bank teller felt something was wrong and tried to warn her about scams targeting the elderly, but it was to no avail.
In total, she spent 5 hours at the shop and was alleged to have felt confused and intimidated.
For the full story, you can peruse this link.
A Report Was Lodged
Subsequently, Madam Tay reached home and confided in her son, Lim, about the incident.
On 6 Sep, they lodged a police report.
The next day, Lim, as well as his girlfriend and Madam Tay, headed back to the shop.
Initially, the meeting didn’t go smoothly, and Opatra insisted on their “no-refund” policy.
However, on 9 Sep 2020, the shop made a full refund to Madam Tay.
Nonetheless, Lim is reportedly in the midst of lodging a report with the Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE).
Suffice to say; the Internet was irate, and Opatra’s reputation took a serious hit.
It should be noted, however, that the shop is reportedly operated by a franchisee, and not by Opatra London.
Company Accused of Pressuring Elderly to buy $13k of Products Has Responded
On 12 September 2020, Opatra Singapore finally gave its side of the story.
According to its Facebook post, Opatra described the aforementioned customer transaction as one that has been “painted in a different light”.
Apparently, the customer had purchased their products after a routine facial and consultation session but changed her mind three days later.
Opatra then states that they complied with the customer’s decision, and refunded her the full amount on the same day to bring across a positive customer experience, a notion which is supposedly of “utmost importance” to them.
They also added that they are working closely with their service team to ensure a quality experience for all customers, and are currently in the midst of an internal review to make sure that they can improve.
“Opatra Singapore is committed to being a premier beauty solutions company that is here for the long term and we welcome all suggestions for improvement,” Opatra Singapore wrote in its post.
“For any queries, please feel free to email us at [email protected].”
You can view the full Facebook post here.
But Netizens Were Not Convinced
In the comments section of the post, many Netizens expressed their disapproval towards Opatra Singapore’s statement…
With some not bothering to mince their words.
And though one did recognise the company’s effort to “improve” things…
It’s safe to say that as a whole…
Nobody really bought Opatra’s version of events.
Pressure On The Elderly
Incidentally, Opatra Singapore is far from being the first set-up to incorporate such ‘monetisation’ tactics.
In July this year, an elderly man somehow ended up paying an exorbitant $1,980 for a hair treatment package, despite initially turning up for a mere $5 haircut.
It was not of his own volition.
At one point, the man was going through a hair wash, and as such was unable to accept or refuse a request for payment.
According to him, the employee then took Mr He’s wallet from his pocket without his consent and brought it to the counter.
And back in 2019, a man turned up at a salon for a $5 haircut, only to end up paying $4,799 for a hair treatment package.
The man’s daughter later accused the hair salon, that’s also located in Yishun, of ‘coercing’ her father into purchasing the hair treatment package by showing him “worms” on his scalp.
Be Wary
As the pandemic-induced recession lingers on, more companies may be tempted to resort to such crude monetisation tactics. And while some have managed to fight back in the form of lodging a police report…
Others may not be so keen on the prospect of ‘stirring up’ trouble for themselves.
And so, it’s vital that we educate the elderly about such matters as soon as we can. After all…
They have worked their asses off for far too long, to lose their hard-earned money in a matter of seconds.
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