A saleslady of a beauty parlour was sentenced to 160 hours' community service order today (May 10) at the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts after an earlier conviction for applying a false trade description in the course of selling beauty services, in contravention of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO).
Hong Kong Customs earlier received information alleging that a saleslady of a beauty parlour in Tsim Sha Tsui made a false claim to a customer that the beauty treatment fee would be settled by interest-free monthly instalments. However, the customer later found that the beauty parlour had charged the whole treatment fee in one go.
After investigation, Customs found that a saleslady of the beauty parlour made a false claim about the payment method in the course of selling beauty services, which caused a customer to pay a treatment fee of $21,600 in one go.
Customs reminds traders to comply with the requirements of the TDO and consumers to procure services at reputable shops.
Under the TDO, any trader who applies a false trade description to a service supplied or offered to be supplied to a consumer commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.
Members of the public may report any suspected violations of the TDO to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
Ends/Wednesday, May 10, 2023