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's not a con but it is annoying, one of the reasons I don't like going for free treatments anywhere, because I'm so easily pushed to buy something I don't need or want!

''Blind-sided'' a bit OTT here no?

Like something out of Take A Break:
''Tina Was Blind-sided When She Saw What The Plumber Had On ... Her Own Knickers!''

(sorry to any Tinas)

You have my sympathies! I’ve never been able to say “no” and get absolutely trapped by hard sellers. Any chance that, with some big brave pants on, you can return them? I’d never be able to use that salon again either

I've felt railroaded into purchases like this in the past. As I've gotten older I've started saying "no, I can't afford it" even when it's not true. It usually makes sales people too embarrassed/uncomfortable to push further. For the odd ones that do a blunt "I really don't want to get into debt for [makeup, skincare, bloody wax melts]" seems to stop them in their tracks.

YANBU. I had this a few years ago when my sister 'bought' me a facial with a beauty therapist she knew (turned out that BT & my sister would regularly do favours for each other, so no money changed hands). I kept saying throughout the treatment how much of a treat it was for me, as I was unemployed, so would never have been able to afford it otherwise (about £40).

Facial done, I was still on my back, undressed, when she came forward with five bottles of things, saying 'So these are things I used on you today, which one do you want to buy?' I tried to bluster my way out of it, but oddly enough, in a strange house, half naked, my shoes two rooms away, and supposedly 'relaxed', my brain wasn't firing. So I ended up buying some shitty bastard cleanser for £25 just to get out of there.

I compared notes with other people who'd been 'gifted' a treatment with this woman by my sister. We'd all had the hard sell, we'd all fallen for it, and we all went out of our way to tell people how awful it was.

I wouldn't have gone along with it and paid. I would have just said 'no thank you'. If it became awkward, then I'd think so what? It's my money.

You went along with it and paid and now you need to suck it up. Just learn from it and don't do it again.

How much was the treatment worth?

Did you explain they were bites on your face?

Take this as an opportunity to practise assertiveness.

Just take it back and say on second thoughts you’ve decided you don’t need all the extras

Most companies work like this. You need to be on the ball going in expecting them to sell. However you can of course be caught off guard.

I was given a dental treatment voucher once (dental work in my country is VERY expensive and you'd take your own teeth out rather than pay the prices). During the consultation I came out feeling like I had the teeth from hell, like, how on earth was I walking around with theses gross things on show. The list came to 1k euros, I shit you not.... Never went back.

To be honest they haven't really done anything wrong. I find that salons tend to really give the hard sale after facials much more than any other treatment in my experience.

@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.

No they didn't. She did win something and she had it. If they had said she won and she was made to pay, then it's unethical, but they didn't. They showed her other products she could purchase and OP said yes. That's not unethical.

I think shock and embarrassment sometimes makes us behave uncharacteristically . I have done similar things before when I was younger.

My daughter “won” a photo shoot for her baby, with a free portrait included. The free portrait turned out to only be a 6x4 and any other photos she wanted were to be paid for, with 20% off for those chosen on the day! The “free” photo shoot” actually ended up costing her nearly £200!

When the photos were delivered they were actually no better quality than many we had taken of my dgs ourselves, plus the 2 frames that had cost her an extra £60-70 were similar to those you can pick up in The Range for less than a tenner (in fact I think that’s where they came from). She was actually devastated when she realised how much it had cost, and was really annoyed when she found out that another 2 parents at the baby group she attended had also ”won” the photo shoot with the same person!

OP I'm sorry this happened to you and that you felt too awkward to say you didn't want the products.
I've experienced similar situations and now tend to avoid going anywhere I think I'm going to feel pressurised. If you're not a very confident person (I'm not) it can be really hard to say no.
I find it really difficult even going up to a posh department store beauty counter unless I'm pretty sure I'm going there to purchase something.

It does feel awkward and embarrassing to have to say 'I can't afford it all at the moment ' as you feel they'll look down on you, especially if you are a regular customer.
If you can't return it the items ( you might find that even more embarrassing) could you gift some of them at Christmas so at least you could get a few gifts out of it and save the money you would otherwise have spent?
All good wishes x

I was once given a beauty salon treatment as a present - it was a genuine treatment rather than a “freebie” - but a similar thing happened. The therapist kept going on about how terrible my skin was and the products I needed to buy. I was young and didn’t have the money so declined. I remember she was really surprised and almost rude. It was a very unpleasant experience!

Giving away the odd freebie is just a form of advertising for these businesses. They do it in the hope that they can sell you something and/or you'll come back as a repeat customer.

It's shitty, but they don't do it out of the goodness of their hearts.

Its rubbish OP. You got something that made you feel good and then they've pretty much charged you for it with the hard sell.Just don't go there again. They've lost business by operating this way.
If you're a repeat customer a free facial without trying to sell you stuff would've made you want to go back there and support their business, so this model of selling is counterproductive IMO.

It’s up to you to say no to things op
Yabu

Go back and return them, OP.

It’s not a con or scam. The op could have said no thanks. The fact she didn’t and proceeded to buy the products is really on the op and doesn’t mean she was conned, not unless there is some back story about additional needs that the op hasn’t disclosed and the therapist knew.

Ah OP a similar thing happened to me recently. I'm usually on the ball and firmly say no, but I got a bit confused with what they were saying, and before I realised my mistake I'd agreed to spend £100!

They were doing quite a hard sell, more than usual, but I know that the business has struggled during covid (& some of the staff have had their hours halved) so decided to grit my teeth a pay it.

It's a horrible hard sell to present a customer with the things she should be buying at the end of a pampering session. Put a package together for you indeed. I know it's business, yadda yadda, but I still think it's dodgy tactics.

@babyitscold

I've been going there for years so am a bit disappointed in them . There were two of them at the desk packing up the products . I was blind sided .

Ugh that’s horrible! Hate that…it’s a bit shortsighted of them as well as I presume you are never going back!

Therapist said she'd put together a package for me ... I thought she was being generous

So you got a free treatment and then you expected her to give you some free stuff too??

It's absolutely fine to say 'I won't buy anything today' you can even say 'I'll think about it' at any stage of the treatment

People will say it wasn't a con, and they're right.

But people will also say you were daft and shouldn't have handed money over: that's true but it's a learning experience and you won't be as easily led next time I'm sure. See it as an expensive lesson, £100 is a lot of money but it could have been worse.

Remember next time, you don't have to pay money for anything you don't want to. The following phrases are fine:

I'll have a think about it and come back if I decide to buy.
I don't actually have my wallet or card on me, silly me!
I'm not interested, thank you.
I've already said no, you're not listening to me so I'm going to leave.

You absolutely don't have to buy something OP, they can't make you, and if they forcibly grabbed your purse and swiped your card you've been mugged which is a crime. But plenty of people fall for this stuff out of feeling awkward finding a way to politely decline. The key is to let go of trying to be polite, a hard sell certainly isn't in any way polite or respectful of you even though it's a tried and tested sales technique. So you can be brusque or rude in return, they're relying on you feeling put on the spot and paying because it's less hassle.

I guarantee a lot of people have done this!