Fearmongering, pressure tactics: Why it’s difficult to say no to hard selling in a nail salon

SINGAPORE: It was Ms Chelsey Chen’s first time at a nail salon. But when she was done with her manicure and pedicure, the salon’s employees refused to let her leave unless she signed up for a package.
“They didn’t allow me to stand up after the pedicure … There were two ladies and they were standing there cornering me so I couldn’t stand up,” said the 41-year-old housewife. 
The package cost S$1,000 (US$770) for S$1,200 worth of credits to use on manicure and pedicure services. She refused, but eventually gave in and paid before she was allowed to leave.
Nail salons and their sales tactics have come under the spotlight after the Nail Palace chain made the news last week for its unfair practices.
While Ms Chen’s experience was not at Nail Palace, other customers have complained about the chain. Investigations by the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) found that two of its outlets had made false or misleading representations in trying to sell an anti-fungal treatment package.
The two outlets – in Bukit Panjang Plaza and Eastpoint Mall – were ordered to stop the unfair practices and publish declarations in four major Singapore newspapers, but missed the deadline by nearly two weeks.
When the notices were published, the words were “extremely small” and “practically unreadable”, the consumer watchdog said.
Each outlet was fined S$15,000 and their managing director was sentenced to four months’ jail for contempt of court.
Getting pressured into additional packages and treatments is a common experience even after customers pay for packages at nail salons. 
On Ms Chen’s second visit to the same nail salon, she got a pedicure and the salon staff insisted she had nail fungus on her foot. They convinced her to add on an S$88 treatment. She also had to fork out another S$128 for an anti-fungal cream that they said was necessary.
“To me, they are like professionals. They probably see 100 feet a month, so you would think that … they know better than us because of their experience and what they see every day,” Ms Chen told CNA. 
The staff at the salon, which is located in Novena, tried to convince her to sign up for a separate S$500 package for six fungus treatments. Ms Chen refused, saying that she still had a lot of credits, and managed to leave the salon. 
“After that, I felt like something was not right. I actually asked my doctor and he said there’s no fungus.”  
On her next visit, she told the salon staff this, and they insisted that the doctor did not know what he was talking about. “There was a lot of fearmongering,” said Ms Chen. 
“(They said) your nails, if you do a pedicure, it’s not enough. You need to do the anti-fungal treatment to have clean nails. It’ll be very dirty, it’ll look very bad, when you wear shoes, the bacteria will multiply.”
Salons should not be allowed to give fake diagnoses or misdiagnoses like what she went through, said Ms Chen. 
“​​I was really worried. Then after asking for professional advice, I realised it’s part of their sales tactics.” 
The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) has received 89 complaints about nail salons so far this year. It received 114 complaints last year and 127 in 2022.
The most common complaints were from customers unable to get refunds for packages after salons abruptly closed, customers who could not get appointments after paying for a package and about pressure sales tactics, said the watchdog’s president Melvin Yong. 
 
CASE signed a memorandum of understanding with NAILS – the Nationwide Association for International Licenses and Skills (Beauty Wellness Singapore) – in April, aiming to get 50 beauty and nail salons accredited in the next three years. 
“This will enhance standards, resolve common consumer complaints and boost consumer confidence in the beauty industry,” said Mr Yong. 
Some beauty and nail salons already have the CaseTrust accreditation, but the accreditation is voluntary. 
Ms Rachel Tang, the founder of NAILS, which promotes the local nail and beauty services industry, said some salon owners have told her “they can’t control” what employees say to customers. 
Many employees may share “more passionately” while trying to hit their commission quotas, she said. Some who are foreigners may also have problems communicating with customers because English or Mandarin is not their first language and miscommunication over how packages are sold may arise. 
For example, although the CCCS has a list of fair trading practices for the beauty industry, these employees may not be able to understand the document, said Ms Tang. 
“As an association, we do not approve of hard selling. Our association’s push for better skills qualification aims to enable each service provider to attract customers via their technical skills and service quality, instead of only depending on packages, discounts and promotions,” she added. 
Some salons understand that their practices are “not so perfect” and are willing to change, especially since the industry is competitive and salons need to do what they can to survive, said Ms Tang, adding that there are more than 500 salons in Singapore. 
Like in Ms Chen’s case, nail salons may engage in unfair marketing tactics and hard selling to lock customers in, experts said.
Unlike banking or telecommunications services, it’s easy for customers to switch between different nail salons, said Dr Seshan Ramaswami, associate professor of marketing education at the Singapore Management University.
So they try to “purchase” loyalty by getting customers to commit to discounted packages of multiple sessions, he told CNA. 
“That has led to a lot of complaints in the past, especially when these services have closed down leaving consumers with unused sessions.” 
Sometimes, service staff are paid a commission for the sales they make, which may lead them to upsell to consumers, said Dr Ramaswami. 
Customers may feel compelled to follow recommendations from the staff to conform to socially acceptable beauty standards, said Assistant Professor Jane Wang, with the National University of Singapore’s business school. 
Some customers may also find the products and services “technical and ambiguous”, and may not know what they really need. Salon staff are seen as experts with in-depth knowledge, she added. 
The one-on-one setting in most salons may also pressure customers into agreeing with the staff’s recommendations to avoid confrontation or negative judgment, even if they think the services are not worthwhile, said Asst Prof Wang. 
After her second or third visit to the salon, Ms Chen began to realise that the staff were “very pushy”. They would ask her to top up her package even though she had at least S$800 remaining credits. 
“They would say: ‘Help me, I didn’t meet my target this month’.”
Ms Chen returned to the salon a few more times to try and finish her credits. She currently has about S$200 left on her package but does not intend to go back. 
She advised others to check online reviews of salons and try out their services several times before signing up for a package. 
“After my first visit, I was quite puzzled, so I went to Google search their reviews, and their reviews were bad. It was my fault that I didn’t check their reviews first.” 
Experts pointed to a few factors that make regulation of the beauty industry more challenging and said a softer approach may be more suitable.
“Nail parlours are a little more difficult to regulate as there are so many small operators and they are easy to open and to shut down,” said Dr Ramaswami.
The high number of these small businesses would make monitoring and enforcement of regulations difficult, said Asst Prof Wang. 
At the same time, these salons may lack the manpower or expertise to comply with regulations, and their “less formal, structured operation” could complicate efforts to regulate the industry.
She added that the personalised nature of nail salon services means it would be difficult to apply a one-size-fits-all standard across customers and businesses.
The prevalence of complaints and pressure sales tactics may suggest that there is a strong case for stricter regulation, but Asst Prof Wang said it may be better to educate businesses on the importance of fair practices and to promote the benefits of voluntary accreditation.
Customers should be aware and wary when they enter such shops, and be clear about what services they want as well as the price they are willing to pay. They can also check reviews and prices at other shops, said Dr Ramaswami.
“As it is an experiential product for the most part, often, just the first trial of a service will be sufficient to help consumers decide on whether to patronise the store again,” he said. “Market forces should take care of unscrupulous operators.”
Currently, NAILS is working with the authorities to put together a white list of 10 nail salons that meet industry guidelines, including workers’ rights, technical skills accreditation and hygiene management, said Ms Tang. 
She stressed that most salons she works with want to improve and change. 
Regulation should be used if offenders are “very stubborn” or recalcitrant and continue to cheat customers, but most salons are not like that, she said. 
“I prefer that we educate them. If we come to a point where they know already and after knowing they still do it, then yes, I feel that we should have more regulation. But right now, I don’t think this is the case for our sector yet,” said Ms Tang. 
“Salons work closely with the association to self-regulate our sector, and we believe that we can continue to do that.”