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Consumers often set up when buying services
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A beauty salon I regularly visit opened its door again after a two-month renovation, its third makeover in two years.
My barber stood at the door chatting with someone when I went in during the weekend, but some of his former colleagues were not there.
“Do you have a new boss?” I asked him. “Yes,” he replied when I sat in the chair.
It is entirely new. I looked around. Then a shampoo girl brought me a tray with some biscuits and a glass of soda. “Please enjoy them, sir.” I refused because I don’t like eating breakfast at a hair salon.
However, I was told they were totally free and included in the service. Just let it be, I thought, and had my hair closely cropped as usual.
“Your hair is quite long,” my barber said. “Sure, as I decided to wait until you open the door again,” I answered.
I used to visit the salon every three weeks. My barber, in his late 20s, has managed my hair for the last three years. From my second or third visit, he started lobbying in an attempt to persuade me to buy the salon’s prepaid card.
During this period, the salon, which sits on a street corner of my neighborhood, closed and reopened several times with different owners. Some of the staff left, but my barber was still working at the same place and still doing his lobbying.
I graciously declined his invitation on each occasion, because I knew it was a fundraising scheme and customers are always losers in the game. I also understood that new bosses would never endorse old cards.
However, more and more businesses around us have launched their prepaid card promotions Even people like me cannot resist every time. I was once given a prepaid shopping card for the domestic telecom giant I’ve used for many years. I was told the card had 50 yuan (US$8.06) worth of stored value and could be used at several local chain shops.
On a hot summer day, I went to a convenience store with the card to buy some drinks. However, a shop assistant told me their barcode scanner could not recognize the card even though the store was a member of the payment service.
I had no choice but dialed its hotline immediately and was told to deal directly with the shop operator. The 50 yuan worth credit is still in the card, untouched.
On another occasion, I applied for a prepaid card at a food court because each restaurant there accepted the card only, instead of cash. After having a meal there, I went to the counter to refund the unused portion. I was told balances of less than 10 yuan wouldn’t be paid so I should keep the card for use another time. But they also said I might have to apply for a new card at that time if the balance on this card was not enough.
What a ridiculous rule! But in accordance with the clauses printed on the card when you apply for it, you accept the rule. We customers are usually in a weak position, and the prepaid cards only made things worse.
There used to be a bakery not far from my home. Sometimes I went there for a cup of coffee with a croissant. When I passed through it a few weeks ago, I was surprised to find that it had closed. Customers holding its prepaid cards might suffer losses as high as several hundred or even thousand yuan. But no one knows the owner’s whereabouts.
A similar story was reported last week when a yoga center shut down its business without notifying any of its members who prepaid thousands of yuan for its lessons. The two owners apparently were enjoying their summer holiday at a luxury hotel somewhere unknown. One even said on WeChat, “Wise up if you want more money.”
People like the wise guy need to wise up or spend time in jail. I just remember a story about an American man whose small bank went bankrupt during the Great Depression (1929-1933). But he repaid all his clients with wages he gained through hard labor during the rest of his life. That’s a trait many of us lack nowadays.
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