Spa closures in Singapore

Spa closures in Singapore is a notable topic discussed in the Republic of Singapore Parliament in 2010 and in 2011.
The Singapore government has announced that better consumer education is needed to minimise losses by consumers from sudden spa closures.

The topic is popularly discussed in many contract law classrooms in Singapore due to its notability as an illustration of the significance of the corporate veil or the concept of the separate legal entity. Spa closures in Singapore has been debated in many internet forums and reported in news articles
Report in Hansard on Spa closures in Singapore
An extract from the Hansard for 2010-11-22 from the Parliament is as follows:
CLOSURES OF SPA OPERATORS
The Member of Parliament Er. Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Trade and Industry in light of the sudden spa closures by spa operators:
"(a) what is the Ministry doing to protect the image of Singapore as a regional spa centre; and
(b) whether the Ministry will consider disallowing spa operators from signing up treatment packages that are more than six months to protect the interest of the customers. "

In response, the Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr Lim Hng Kiang answered:
"Imposing prescriptive regulations can restrict business flexibility, reduce consumer choice, and potentially lead to higher costs for consumers. A better approach to protect consumers is to help raise their vigilance through consumer education and industry accreditation of spas.

CASE has, with MTI's support, launched the CaseTrust for Spa and Wellness Accreditation Scheme in April this year to raise consumers' awareness of spa standards and to put in place good business practices. These include giving customers a cooling-off period of at least five working days to seek full refund of payments made for packages, and not allowing sales pitch to customers during treatment. These measures will help obviate cases where consumers are pressured into buying packages. CASE is also currently looking into requiring financial soundness to be taken into account in the accreditation scheme. We will monitor the situation and refine our approach further, if necessary."
In 2010 alone, over 300 Tribunal claims (amounting to more than 33 million Singapore Dollars) were made against wellness giants True Spa and Subtle Senses.
Currently, the number of people affected by spa closures in Singapore are around 50,000 people. The estimated total amount of money lost is around 1 billion Singapore Dollars. Each spa package costs around 1,000 to 10,000 Singapore Dollars. Some customers have complained they signed advance payment lifetime packages for 20,000 Singapore Dollars.
Victims of the spa closures come from Spa companies big and small. Some of the bigger companies are:
# Wax in the City
# Wellness Village
# Subtle Senses
# True Spa (part of True Fitness, True Yoga, True Dance, True Cafe group)
# True 'Est (part of True Fitness, True Yoga, True Dance, True Cafe group)
Groups of victims have formed self-help groups with volunteers setting up meetings at the Speaker's Corner and writing petition to the government to step in. These victims typically use Facebook and Google Mailing lists as the platform for communication and reaching out to other victims.
In response, the Singapore Spa Beauty Wellness Alliance 2010 was formed by other Spa companies which are going concerns to help victims of the numerous spa closures.
Singapore's independent Legal Advice website: www.singaporelegaladvice.com published a piece of legal advice article on Consumer Rights based on this incident.
News Reports & Internet Forums
Multiple reports can be found made by news agencies on True Spa Subtle Senses saga. The list below is not exhaustive as there have been several reports in print media not posted on the internet as digital news.
* Spa Woes continues for True Spa Subtle Senses customers
*No to "prescriptive" spa regulations
*True Spa spat goes to the courts
*Plight of True Spa victims
*Twists in Subtle Senses liquidation saga
*True Spa offers 'ex gratia goodwill solution' to customers
*Printed News on True Spa's offer
*Spa customers irate over closure of Subtle Senses branches
*Subtle Senses closed at the weekend
*SBWA to help Subtle Senses with overbooking situation
*Customers say they weren't informed
*Subtle Senses (True Spa) Ngee Ann City Shuts Down
*True Group sells spa business to HealthTrends with eye on IPOs
*Subtle branch closes subtly, upsets clients
*True Spa Review by TimeOut Singapore
*Complaints by True Spa Malaysia customers
*Wellness group gets flak
*Reputation comes cheap at True Group

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