UPDATE (27 Aug): QQ House salon has responded to the incident, saying that the boy was informed of the S$12 charge before the haircut, which he agreed to.
The article has been updated with the salon’s statement below.
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Back in May, a beauty salon in Ang Mo Kio came under fire for making false claims and using pressure sales tactics on customers.
A video posted on Facebook this morning (24 Aug) brought attention to yet another salon — this time offering haircuts.
In the clip, a woman can be seen and heard confronting the hair salon’s staff.
She alleged that they had asked her to pay S$12 for what was supposed to be a S$10 haircut.
The Singapore Incidents Facebook page posted the video on Thursday (24 Aug) with the caption, “Advertise S$10 but demand S$12 from a kid”.
In the video, a vexed woman stands outside the shop, QQ House, and confronts a seated staff member.
Referring to the young boy with her, she demands to know how the male employee could ask for an extra S$2 from an “innocent kid”.
Source: Singapore Incidents on Facebook
A female staff member then tries to defuse the situation, saying that it was “a small matter”.
The woman, however, is undeterred in her tirade. She says,
I’m just surprised that you tricked a kid for S$2.
She asks the staff to explain the difference between S$12 and S$10.
It’s implied that she is referring to the S$10 price quoted for a 10-minute quick cut, as clearly advertised on a banner at the shopfront.
Days after the incident, QQ House finally responded on Saturday (27 Aug), giving a detailed breakdown of events after finalising their internal investigation.
According to the Facebook post, the customer, a young boy, visited their outlet at Coronation Plaza at 3.45pm on 23 Aug.
As his hair was long, he was informed by the senior hairstylist that the haircut would cost him S$12. “The customer was agreeable to this, and the haircut went without issue.”
However, an hour later, the boy’s mother came to the outlet, visibly upset. “She raised her voice towards our staff and, according to them, pointed out that her son was only charged S$10 on their previous visits to our outlet,” the spokesperson said.
The mother reportedly mentioned that her son’s hair was still not short enough after the haircut.
As there was a significant language barrier between the salon staff and the boy’s mother, the staff still did their best to calm things down, pointing out that the prices were charged according to a customer’s hair length.
The staff also trimmed the boy’s hair further without additional charges.
QQ House’s management team also clarified several aspects of their service, stressing that the 19-second video was taken out of context.
The caption . . . which suggested that our company was dishonest in our handling of the matter is inaccurate.
As an outlet offering quick-cut services, the prices can vary depending on the customer’s hair length and desired hairstyle. The spokesperson said this was a common practice across many salons.
“The different price points are clearly listed on a poster located right beside the ticketing machine.
“Moreover, prices are determined pre-haircut such that if a customer is unhappy with the price quoted, they can choose not to have their haircut with us.”
However, QQ House acknowledged that the pricing list would be improved further to avoid such misunderstandings. “We sincerely apologise for this unfortunate incident and hope we have clarified matters through this post.”
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Featured image adapted from Singapore Incidents on Facebook.
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