The Consumer Council (CC) said in a statement on Friday that until 1 p.m. that day, 124 victims had complained about a yoga centre that will close down for good tomorrow.
The incident came to light last Tuesday when a resident called a current affairs phone-in programme hosted by Ou Mun Tin Toi, the Chinese-language radio channel of public broadcaster TDM, and complained about the centre. One of the members said that they had found out the centre was closing down two weeks ago, but the person in charge of the centre did not mention any refunds. The member told TDM that the centre told members last year that they were going to increase the price of classes this year, adding that therefore many members had pre-paid their lesson fees by the end of last year. The member pointed out that she had renewed her classes for two years and lost about 10,000 patacas.
The council said that after receiving the complaints, it decided to intervene, mediate or arbitrate in order to settle the dispute.
The council urged customers who are affected by the incident to use “Consumidor Online” or other methods to file a complaint and provide the required information to proceed with the arbitration process. The council vows to help the victims protect their legal rights.
The statement also underlined that the council has already contacted the person responsible for the yoga centre and has told the person what the customers want. The council said that it hoped the two parties would be able to settle the case through mediation.
The council reminded consumers that there are risks involved when pre-paying for courses or items, adding that one should consider carefully before making any decision.
