Why do hard-sell beauty tactics persist in Hong Kong – and when can consumers fight back?
From arrests linked to the Hong Kong operations of beauty chain Opatra London to a surge in online complaints against other skincare brands, high-pressure sales tactics remain widespread and continue to take a toll on consumers. Why do such malpractices remain widespread despite the city’s Trade Descriptions Ordinance, which criminalises aggressive commercial practices that significantly impair a…
Despite Hong Kong's Trade Descriptions Ordinance criminalising aggressive commercial practices, hard-sell beauty tactics persist, causing distress for consumers. Legal experts have shed light on common scenarios and the legal boundaries. Sales encounters that do not involve physical contact can still be considered harassment, coercion, or undue influence, impairing the consumer's freedom of choice.
Lawyers Eric Chan Pak-ho and Kenix Yuen Pui-kwan emphasize that exploiting one's position of power over a consumer to apply pressure, without resorting to physical force, is illegal. Snatching a customer's credit card or holding onto it after they decline to purchase is a classic case of coercion and undue influence. While applying products without consent may not breach the law, it can contribute to proving an aggressive commercial practice.
The location of the sales practice, whether in an enclosed room or an open-door store, can influence the court's assessment of whether the consumer was easily able to disengage. Evidentiary hurdles exist in cases of aggressive commercial practices, but convictions have occurred, such as in 2015 when three saleswomen at a beauty salon were convicted for coercing a woman to purchase HK$140,000 worth of body-care treatments.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post - Hong Kong's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
