Baby event was a sales pitch

[Copenhagener]

Obviously nothing horrendous, but I’m curious as to what others would have done in my shoes.

I’m a member of a yoga studio that advertised a new mothers baby massage event. I’d been to other events there that were great, and my baby is a bit grouchy lately from teething and struggling to nod off, so I signed up hoping to learn some techniques.

It was quite expensive, but promised connections with other mums, practical guided massage therapy, breath work, and refreshments.

I showed up and there was only one other mum there. The organiser didn’t ask our names, the baby names, or really even welcome us.

She spent the first 35 minutes talking about her skincare brand - blasting ‘toxins’ and babbling about the wisdom of tribes in Africa. Her sister was also there and wandering around.

After 45 minutes of brand storytelling and literally no massage, I stood up, said thanks and left. At that point, there was only 20 minutes left of the event. I could tell the end would be selling, as I saw a box of the (very pricey) products by the door.

I felt bad leaving the other woman alone with them, but it felt so off.

I’m tempted to make a complaint to the yoga studio asking them if this was what they thought the event would be, as it seemed like nothing but a sales pitch and included no massage. It had nothing in common with the description at all, and I feel a bit irritated and miss-sold to. Or should I just let it go and mark it up to some people making a quick buck off new mums?

Basically I would expect a baby massage class, and the only skincare aspect to be some samples in a party bag they hand you as you're leaving.

From your description of what actually happened, that whole booking blurb is a lie! Either the event wasn’t what they had planned, in which case they should admit that and offer a refund anyway, or they were deliberately misleading people to get you through the doors. Not on, absolutely shocking really. Talk about ahimsa, satya, asteya in your email. They should be ashamed!

That’s outrageous!

Definitely complain! For £45 I’d expect a series of about 6 sessions of actual massage!

YANBU. I would complain.

It seems so many things are like this now - so many women pretending to support other women through pregnancy, new motherhood and then again on a brand new massive scale perimenopause and menopause, but actually only seeing the opportunity to separate women from as much money as possible at a time they might be feeling vulnerable.

Definitely complain to the studio - they hopefully don't know what a scam they advertised and hosted and if warned can decline to do so again.

@PurpleChrayn Im so sorry but your comment tickled me 💀 🤣

Assert yourself and ask for your money back or you'll burn down their yoga studio. Tell them you expected the event to be calming and informative instead of a hard sell.

Who are the crazy 2% that say yabu?!

Sounds like a pyramid scheme. If you’d stayed they might have tried to get you buying the stuff to sell on.

That’s really annoying. We did a free baby massage course at the local family centre! Got the key techniques which I still use sometimes. With Johnson’s baby oil!

The description sounds like it’s been written by chat gpt 😬

I'd be pissed off. What a waste of time. Definitely complain and ask for your money back. I'd imagine the organisers who booked them didn't realise that the massage class wouldn't contain any actual massage -I mean who would?

I've got sucked into a couple of these events unwittingly but they've always been free and it's still irritated me no end. Tbh, the price would have been a bit of a red flag to me that something was off, that's far too high where I live for a single session.

She left early so they would probably say she left before the massage

Sounds awful. I'd be asking for a full refund and compensation for a wasted afternoon. Bloody impossible to get anywhere with a baby sometimes I'd be fuming to have been misled into a sales pitch.

This.

A similar thing happened to me at an acupuncturist. Half of my session was spent listening to a sales pitch about supplements which she happened to sell. I looked it up afterwards and it was some sort of pyramid scheme thing.

I didn't complain at the time but wish I had just asked her to stop. I never returned.

I'd have stayed the last 20 mins to ensure there was indeed no baby massage, so I could confidently ask for a RF, as that's a lot of money.

Full refund, apology and hopefully the MLM flogger will be told to not bother them ever again.

Most definitely complain! Perhaps they hired the space to somebody without really knowing what they were doing. They will appreciate the feedback I’m sure. It’s hard enough to get your baby all ready to attend a class on time and then for it to not even be as described and that expensive is not on!

I thought those sales pitches usually included something 'free' to lure people in the door and keep them there until the end. To charge someone money for the privilege of listening to a sales pitch is next level cheekiness! I'd want a refund.

My first thought was this was some Hun mis-selling her 'event' to the venue so that she could market her Pyramid Scheme products at vulnerable mums. Please do not hold back in your complaint. Be really clear about what happened, how you were addressed and the completely and utterly misleading nature of the blurb.

I would also point out that you left early and that another mum was also certainly left getting a hard-sell of products that she neither wanted nor signed up for.

Even if the venue were misled about the nature of the session, it's their responsibility to deliver on their blurb. Hopefully they will be as pissed off as you.

Definitely ask for a full refund that's a complete con. Do you live in a country where regulation is weak and products/services are regularly marketed with quite misleading adverts? If so you may have a fight to get your money back.

Refund or go to Trading Standards. That’s awful - paying £45 for a timeshare presentation when you were expecting a baby class

Definitely complain. This is how charlatans like this person are able to get away with it, because decent folks are too polite to complain and are usually left wondering whether they are being unreasonable. I am outraged on your behalf. Really hope you get your money back!

Ask for a refund. Also, for the other mother who might not seek one for herself. Although, the event info referring to "mama" would have turned me off anyway.5