Won a beauty treatment ... Now I think I've been duped

[babyitscold]

Won a treatment at my local salon. Was delighted as I needed it badly.
The whole treatment was spent discussing the terrible state of my skin and all the products I needed.
Therapist said she'd put together a package for me ... I thought she was being generous.
I finished the treatment to be met by products for this terrible skin( I got two midge bites on my face yesterday )and was basically Pushed into parting with £100!
Before you say I could have said no thank you , I was genuinely shocked and was rail roaded into it .
AIBU.

It sounds like a con to me.

You just don’t pay and walk away 😂

@LittleDandelionClock

You've been conned. Sorry *@babyitscold* May be a good idea to name and shame them on facebook.

I hate this name and shame shite that people suggest. They haven't actually done anything wrong.

If it's any consolation I recently won a voucher from an oven cleaning company. The voucher is £50, the cheapest clean available if £85, and I don't have that spare, so it's oven gloves and Flash liquid for me...

[quote jelly79]@LittleDandelionClock name and shame a (possibly) small independent business? For what?? [/quote]
So that local people can eggs the windows and let the staff know that this will happen daily until our MN friend gets her £100 back?

@wavingwhilstdrowning

If you got the free treatment - ie a facial and then accepted the upsell it's not a con, it's a standard business practise. If you've gone there for years go back and talk to them, I am sure they will refund unopened products.

It is scummy and shitty and that's no better than outright conning someone.

What's wrong with just offering good products or services and relying on a small bit of marketing and word of mouth to make your money?

I would name and shame them. It's hard sell unethical methods. You won nothing. They got a hefty profit.

Just take it all back

@Viviennemary

I would name and shame them. It's hard sell unethical methods. You won nothing. They got a hefty profit.

She won the treatment that she had. OP has declined to specify the value of that.

OP has also not said why didn't say 'no thanks' to the products.

@Viviennemary can you explain why you think it's a con? And that the business deserve to be named and shamed

For selling products to a customer. Who agreed to buy!

Unless this is a drip feed and they said she could only have the free treatment if she bought something you are being ridiculous

Get a refund for the products

Because they unethically lured her in with saying she had won something. Its no better than these dodgy e-mails. You've won x amount of money. Send us x amount to process it. Reputable people don't use these methods. They don't need to. They are con artists of the worst kind and need to be called out on it.

The time to call them out on it was before handing over £100.

It's like anything else that you 'win'
There's always a catch and the catch usually leaves you out of pocket.
They rely on this nice smiley best friend routine to part you and your cash.
Say no and walk away next time.

@Viviennemary

Because they unethically lured her in with saying she had won something. Its no better than these dodgy e-mails. You've won x amount of money. Send us x amount to process it. Reputable people don't use these methods. They don't need to. They are con artists of the worst kind and need to be called out on it.

That's a terrible analogy, it's not the same at all.

OP won and received a beauty treatment. No idea what it was but assuming it was something like a facial, that's worth at least £40. She doesn't dispute that the treatment was provided free of charge.

Whenever you have a facial, the therapist will recommend products so you can deal with the issues identified at home.

It's not a con, it's the standard business model for any beauty salon. All OP had to do was say 'No thanks, I don't need any products today'.

Making our it is shoddy practice and trying to name & shame small businesses in this financial climate is despicable.

My neighbour 'won' a photoshoot and then bought a handful of not particularly nice photographs for almost £300 ..... She still thinks it was a great prize though and likes the photographs. You can still enjoy the products if you want to.

I was once told I won a keratin treatment!

I was so excited. I then found out it was £20 off and the treatment was still £300!!!

Needless to say I didn’t use it.

I have gone along with things like this in the past - bought a course of hair treatments at a local salon etc

Now I am much more firm. I say no thank you. Or my favourite - "its my birthday coming up. Please would you write the name of those products on a card and I will let my DH know"

@Viviennemary so what was unethical?

Showing their products and accepting her consent to buy? Shame on these retailers selling their products!!

I won a family portrait shoot and they tried to sell me stuff other than the 1 photo I had won. I said No, because I didn't want it.

YABU because businesses only donate stuff for advertising purposes and in the hope of getting new clients. As soon as they started talking about extras you should have clarified the cost and said you were not interested.

Not a con but extremely pushy and they’ve probably lost your future business.

You got a free treatment.

At the end of that, you should have said 'no thank you' instead of 'here's my card'. Simple.

The cost of each product should have been made clear when it was suggested that the OP should get it. It would have been good practice to make it clear that payment would be required, and it would have been better for the salon if the OP didn't leave feeling conned. She is much less likely to go back now, I would think, so may well be a lost customer all for the sake of a little clarity.

It doesn't sound like anything criminal happened, but for a business based on making people feel better when they leave than when they arrive, it's a bit of an own goal.

I was blind sided

Heehee - yeah right. I too was blind sided on Mumsnet recently. I read a thread about the M and S Beauty Advent calendar and then spent £70 - to be fair i did need the 2 bras I bought to qualify to buy said Advent Calendar for £40....

But really - it wasn't my fault - I just typed some things onto the computer and £70 came out of my Visa card

Obviously OP could have said no to the upsell, but I hate the upsell from some beauty salons. I always find it really awkward it puts me off having treatments tbh. Especially as there is rarely a price list displayed so you never know whether the bottle of miracle oil they are trying to sell you will be £20 or £200.

I used to help organise raffles for our PTA and hated it when businesses gave us vouchers for a 'prize' that was clearly going to cost the winner £££. I once won a free family photoshoot and framed photo- everyone seemed lovely during the photoshoot but when we went to see the photos they were quite aggressive with us about only choosing the freebie. Despite the fact that I had told them upfront that I wouldn't be looking to buy a package etc. I think they assumed that when we sae the photos we'd feel obliged to buy more.