Many shady behaviors at some cosmetic facilities in Nghe An?

The beauty scandal cost more than half a billion dong

On June 30, a woman in Nghi Xuan district (Ha Tinh province) shared a video on social media and said that her relative fainted and had to be taken to the emergency room after getting a beauty treatment at the Mayo Clinic Nghe An branch (No. 12 Nguyen Phong Sac, Vinh City). The incident immediately caused a stir in public opinion, especially when this person said that the beauty bill was up to 513 million VND.

Specifically, on June 27, after seeing an advertisement on social media, Ms. H. (30 years old) went to this cosmetic facility to have her skin examined and melasma treated. However, there, she was taken to a private consultation room, described as a closed environment with "signs of hypnosis" or "psychological manipulation".

After receiving advice, Ms. H. agreed to perform some services and had to pay 513 million VND. The bill included many services with very strange names, especially the "Breast Augmentation" service, which cost up to 160 million VND.... After performing a few services such as nose thread implantation and breast injection..., she fainted and had to be taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. Two days after the incident, the beauty salon had not yet come up with a solution and had not provided relevant contract documents, so her family shared the video on social media to complain.

However, by July 1, Ms. H.’s posts and those of her relatives on social media had all been deleted. Ms. H. then posted a “correction” on social media, saying that “the incident was due to a misunderstanding between her family and the beauty salon.” Ms. H. was refunded most of the money for services that had not been performed. Therefore, the bill was reduced to 133 million VND.

According to the reporter’s investigation, this is not the first time this facility has been reported for shady activities. Also on July 1, the reporter received a complaint from Mr. Chu Minh Q. (36 years old, Vinh City), accusing Mayo Clinic of deceiving customers, “hanging a sheep’s head but selling dog meat”.

According to Mr. Q., on January 18, through an advertisement on Facebook, he came to this facility to use the waist slimming service. When he arrived, a consultant advised him to use "package 2 with Spanish technology" for 25 million VND. This beauty salon committed to using only modern, non-invasive machines, no injections, no drugs, and a minimum of 3 sessions, which would reduce from 7cm to 9cm/3 rounds. After paying the full amount, he was able to use the service for the first session.

Accordingly, a female employee used various machines to impact his abdomen. About 30 minutes later, another female employee introduced herself in the Sales department and continuously advised and persuaded him to inject a drug under his skin to help stimulate fat loss. This drug had an unknown origin, brand, and no label. After listening to the consultation, this male customer agreed to let the employee inject 3 times.

Meanwhile, according to regulations, this cosmetic facility is not allowed to perform invasive services, even just an injection or taking a pill.

After the first day, when he returned home, Mr. Q. reconsidered because he thought that this was not like what the beauty salon had initially advised and committed to, so he asked to stop using the service and return the money. "The consultant promised to report to the leader, but until now I have not received any response," Mr. Q. said.

Shady behavior

Not only Mayo Clinic, in Vinh City there is also Medic Skin Aesthetic Institute (No. 238A, Tran Phu Street), which often receives negative feedback from customers.

Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper reporter, Mr. Nguyen Hoang H. (residing in Vinh City) said that he was the one who directly “rescued” his mother-in-law and her friend while they were getting beauty treatment at this beauty facility. According to Mr. H., through an advertisement on social networks with a service price of only 1 million VND, on the afternoon of June 30, his mother-in-law and her friend came here for skin whitening. “When we first came for consultation, the staff said it would only take about an hour, but we waited from early afternoon until almost evening and still did not see my mother and her friend return. Because there was something going on at home that afternoon, after calling dozens of times, the staff there finally let my mother answer the phone once. She picked up the phone and said that her friend had just asked her to transfer money and that all the gold necklaces and rings on her body had been taken off. While she was talking, when she heard that sentence, the medical staff grabbed the phone and turned it off. I felt uneasy so I immediately ran to Medic Skin Beauty Salon. At that time, many staff strongly tried to stop me, but I still rushed into each room, searching and shouting loudly. Finally, I found my mother-in-law's friend in a closed room on the 4th floor. At that time, my mother-in-law was not conscious, it took a long time to calm down,” said Mr. H.

Later, Mr. H. was told by this woman that after coming to the beauty salon, the staff here convinced her like “pouring honey into her ears”, so she agreed to the 20 million VND beauty package. However, because she only had 7 million VND on her, the staff took off her necklace and gold ring. A while later, these staff came in to report that the ring and necklace were still not enough, still missing… “After we arrived, threatening to report to the authorities, these staff took out the necklace and gold ring and returned them,” Mr. H. said.

As for Mr. H.'s mother-in-law, after being consulted at Medic Skin, the medical staff transferred her to Mayo Clinic Aesthetic Institute on Nguyen Phong Sac Street to continue other services.

“These two beauty salons seem to be in the same system or have a close connection with each other. As for my mother, because she is ashamed of her children, she has not yet told me how much she spent on beauty treatments,” Mr. H. added.

Similarly, Ms. Tran Thi Nh. (37 years old, Cuong Gian commune, Nghi Xuan, Ha Tinh) said that she and a friend initially only went to get eyelid surgery for 299,000 VND at Medic Skin, but were later advised to get additional face-lift services at higher prices. Initially, they advised her to get a Korean face-lift package for 25 million VND to plump up her face and temples to match her feng shui, but later advised her to get more expensive service packages, up to 65 million and 115 million VND. The beauty salon promised to let her pay in installments of 3-4 million VND per month, but after these treatments, there was no significant improvement.

Ms. Nh. said that after the service, the beauty salon staff pressured and forced her to pay the full amount at once, and then even forced her to deposit gold and did not let her leave until 9 pm. The situation became more tense when they threatened and demanded that she pay immediately, to the point that she threatened to call her family for help.

On the morning of July 2, Nghe An Newspaper reporters worked with representatives of Mayo Clinic Cosmetic Institute, located at 12 Nguyen Phong Sac Street. Ms. Pham Thi Thiem - who introduced herself as the manager of Mayo Clinic Cosmetic Institute branch in Nghe An admitted that Ms. H. from Nghi Xuan district (Ha Tinh) came to this facility for beauty treatment on June 27 and spent 513 million VND. However, Ms. Thiem denied that this female customer fainted and had to be taken to the emergency room after using the service.

Ms. Thiem said that the large amount of money was due to the customer registering for many services. After receiving feedback from Ms. H., the beauty salon returned the customer the money for the unused services. However, Ms. Thiem refused to disclose how much of the total amount of 513 million VND was returned to the customer.

Regarding some service names listed on the invoice, such as "Breast Augmentation" which costs up to 160 million VND, when the reporter asked what service this was, Ms. Thiem did not answer specifically but said "this is full body cosmetic surgery".

Regarding the case of customer Chu Minh Q., Ms. Thiem refused to answer and said that "there was no basis" even though the reporter provided full name, address, and date of visit to this facility to use the weight loss service.

Although she claimed to be the manager, when reporters asked many questions, Ms. Thiem answered that she did not know. In particular, this female manager did not even know whether this cosmetic facility had been licensed to practice medicine or not?!

In addition, Ms. Thiem also admitted that this cosmetic facility does not list prices.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tran Nguyen Truyen - Chief Inspector of the Department of Health said that after receiving the feedback, the Department of Health Inspectorate coordinated with Vinh City Police to go to this cosmetic facility to inspect.

“This beauty facility is not licensed to practice medicine. Therefore, invasive services such as injections or lasers or giving customers medicine are all violations. That means you can only use services that have been registered for business and external care. First, we will check to see if there are any violations of unlicensed medical practice as customers have reported. In addition, we will also check the price list. As for money issues, if there are signs of fraud, the police will investigate,” said Mr. Truyen.

As for Medic Skin Beauty Institute, reporters have visited many times but have not been able to contact the management. The staff here said that the manager here is often absent and refuses to work.