The losses came mainly from the beauty and travel industries, while complaints against renovation contractors have continued rising.
SINGAPORE: Consumers lost more than S$645,000 in prepayments due to sudden business closures in 2022 - mainly in the beauty and travel industries.
CASE said that notwithstanding the rise in complaints, the resolution rate for complaints against renovation contractors that were negotiated and mediated by the consumer watchdog improved from 38.7 per cent in 2021 to 47.4 per cent in 2022.Consumers in the beauty industry lodged the second-highest number of complaints - 1,434.
Complaints regarding pressure sales tactics included beauty salons not allowing consumers to leave the premises unless they purchased higher price beauty packages, as well as performing higher-end treatments on consumers without their consent and charging them afterwards. "We reiterate our call on the Government to consider mandating prepayment protection in industries which collect large sums of prepayment," he said in a Facebook post.
As of Jan 31, more than 1,200 businesses across the beauty, direct selling, jewellery, motoring, retail and renovation industry have been accredited under CaseTrust.
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