Latest news with #customercomplaints
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Beauty chain suddenly closes down as staff and customers are left in limbo and an investigation is launched into complaints
An Aussie beauty chain is being investigated after it suddenly closed down following complaints from customers and workers. Future Laser and Body Clinic, which had three stores in Sydney, has ceased trading. Employees claim they are owed money in both wages and superannuation with several complaints made to the Fair Work Ombudsman. Among those to complain is Mos X, a moss selling business founded by ex-Married At First Sight star Brent Vitiello. NSW Fair Trading confirmed to it was investigating Future Laser and Body Clinic. Future Laser and Body Clinic operated out of three stores in Granville, Chester Hill and Wetherill Park, with the latter closing months before the final two ceased trading. Frustrated customers have shared their negative experience on social media as they remain desperate for answers. Tatjana Nikcevic revealed she prepaid $760 for ten laser sessions at the Granville clinic as part of a promotion in January. She claimed to have only one session on March 13 and said she expect a refund. Ms Nikcevic said she 'works hard for her money' and the beauty chain 'needs to be held accountable'. Customers have branded the business 'disgraceful' and 'unprofessional' in several one star reviews online. Aesthetic Laser and Body Clinic Pty Ltd is the holding entity of the beauty chain and Ibrahem 'Ibby' Sabra, a 33-year-old from Sydney's west, is listed as the sole director and owner of the holding company. It's reported Bizcap AU, which provides small businesses with loans, launched winding up proceedings against the holding business and three other companies Mr Sabra directs in May. Mr Sabra featured on A Current Affair in 2023 after another business of his Elan Laser Clinics suddenly shut down.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Beauty clinics collapse around Sydney, staff and customers left in limbo
Authorities are investigating a beauty chain after it abruptly shut its doors, leaving staff unpaid and customers hundreds of dollars out of pocket. can reveal that Future Laser and Body Clinic, which had three stores in Sydney, has ceased trading. Customers had forked out hundreds of dollars in prepaid laser sessions while staff who spoke to on condition of anonymity said they are owed thousands in unpaid wages and superannuation. Future Laser and Body Clinics is currently the second most complained about business in the state according to the NSW Fair Trading register, receiving 49 complaints from customers in the past month. The only business that has received more complaints is Mos X, a struggling moss selling business founded by ex Married At First Sight star Brent Vitiello, with a total of 68 customer reports. NSW Fair Trading confirmed they are investigating Future Laser and Body Clinic. knows several employees who have also made complaints to the Fair Work Ombudsman. Staff claim they were subjected to a 'toxic' work environment where they were pushed to meet ambitious business targets or be fired, and that issues with the company's solvency had cropped up as early as last year. 'Therapists weren't showing up because they weren't being paid,' said Amani, a 19-year-old beauty therapist who estimates she is owed between $7000 and $10,000 in unpaid wages. Aesthetic Laser and Body Clinic Pty Ltd is the holding entity of Future Laser and Body Clinics. Ibrahem 'Ibby' Sabra, a 33-year-old from Sydney's west, is listed as the sole director and owner of the holding company, according to ASIC documents. The business is still registered. Bizcap AU, which provides loans to small businesses, lodged winding up proceedings against the business and three other company Mr Sabra directs in May. Court documents state the businesses cumulatively owe $79,000 after a debt was taken out last year. understands Bizcap AU had made several efforts to recover their funds before taking legal action. They were contacted for comment. This is not the first time a beauty business run by Mr Sabra has sensationally collapsed; in 2023, Elan Laser Clinics, with stores in Sydney and the Gold Coast, also bit the dust. The Elan business was transferred to another man from Western Sydney. Although Elan is still a registered company on ASIC, it does not appear to be trading. Its emails bounced and its phone number is disconnected and it hasn't made a post on social media since 2023. Elan Laser Clinics and Mr Sabra have been contacted for comment. Elan Laser was offering up to 80 per cent off laser services for customers who prepaid before it shut down with no explanation. And a similar occurrence has happened at Future Laser. Customers told they were coaxed into handing over hundreds of dollars in prepayments because of a series of promotions that was advertised in the months leading up to Future Laser's shut down. Do you know more or have a similar story? Get in touch | Amira Hussein, 30, said she was a regular customer and used to drive more than an hour to get to a Future Laser clinic in Granville. Ms Hussein, a single mum, saw a deal where if she bulk bought four sessions minimum, she got everything for half price – $150 instead of $300. 'I thought that's actually good,' she told 'I said I'll do it. They said they would like my payment straight away.' Although she paid for the treatments at the end of last year, Future Laser told her they were fully booked out until April. But by the time her appointment date came and went, the business had shut up shop. 'Closer to the date I tried to call them so many times,' she lamented. When calls, texts and messages on social media went unanswered, she went to their Granville branch and saw it had shut down. 'That's $720 down the drain. I haven't even had one facial or laser,' Ms Hussein said. Then there's Tatjana Nikcevic, who jumped at the opportunity to get a full body laser treatment for $75 a session as normally it would cost at least $300. The 24-year-old paid for 10 sessions upfront as part of the promotion in January. Ms Nikcevic managed to get to one laser session but after that, every time she tried to lock down an appointment time, she received a text message informing her the treatment had been cancelled 'due to unforeseen circumstances'. She tried to call the business but its number had been disconnected. And when she visited the clinic, its roller doors were shut for good. 'I'm currently working in a warehouse. I work hard for my money,' Ms Nikcevic said. She's been left more than $600 out of pocket. Staff claim they've had trouble getting paid as far back as last year – and have said the writing was on the wall given the pressure they were under to make money. A number of women who worked at Future Laser – most of them aged between 19 and 21 – claim they were 'verbally abused' during their shifts and were threatened with termination to incentivise them to push more treatments on customers. Jacinta* has lodged a claim with the Fair Work Ombudsman claiming she is owed as much as $5000 in unpaid wages from November. 'I left in November,' Jacinta said. 'They stopped paying me, so I stopped showing up to work. We were begging for our pay.' Future Laser then began launching promotions to customers the following month. Another beauty therapist, Amani, said the business set them insane KPI targets to meet. 'They threatened us. If we don't make $1500 a day we'd get fired, we had to make that much money or we'd get told off or screamed at,' she said. Amani is owed the most that knows of – which could be as high as $10,000 – and has lodged a claim with the Fair Work ombudsman. She said her contract stated that if she burned a customer, or if they otherwise left a complaint about a negative experience, then Future Laser would deduct $200 from her pay. So when she ended up resigning after months of not being paid, she was shocked the discover the business was deducting more than $2000 from her final wages. 'When I was quitting, I had no customer complaints. I was not aware of anything (like that),' Amani said. Emma*, 19, another beauty clinician who is owed thousands, claims the only payment she ever received was done through PayID, which she found 'weird'. She also said she sometimes worked 9am until 9pm with no breaks. And she was expected to get to work half an hour early, so was supposed to be there by 8.30am. If she got there at 8.35am, she was told off for being late. It led to long, exhausting 12.5 hour days. Emma also said staff would be berated if they didn't make video content of the work they were doing. 'It wasn't the best environment.' Staff were informed that the Wetherill Park clinic was undergoing renovations – but Emma said she later found out it had simply shut down.
Daily Mail
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Aussie fashion label sparks outrage for tone-deaf move less than two weeks after issuing a grovelling apology to customers for overdue orders
An Aussie clothing brand has sparked outrage yet again despite issuing an apology to disgruntled customers who slammed the online store for failing to deliver orders. Peppermayo, a Sydney-based online company that ships globally, faced a barrage of criticism in recent weeks from angry customers. Customers claimed their orders were weeks or months overdue, while others said they had not received their refunds nor any communication from the brand. The brand faced intense backlash after it shared videos of a sponsored luxury influencer trip to Coachella. Despite issuing a public apology at the end of April, Peppermayo has enraged customers yet again with another brand-sponsored trip to Texas over the weekend. Aussie influencer Sophia Begg, 21, revealed her last-minute trip to Austin in a video shared to her TikTok account just days after the apology. 'Not me saying I wasn't travelling and settling down for a bit and now I'm flying to Texas and I found out like 30 hours ago,' Begg said in a TikTok video. Vlog posts suggest Ms Begg flew first class before meeting with other influencers including British reality star Lucinda Strafford. Peppermayo customers voiced their concerns that the costs of Ms Begg and Ms Strafford's trip to Texas were covered by the brand. It comes after Peppermayo sent a group of influencers on a lavish campaign to the Miami Grand Prix following Coachella on a lavish campaign. Frustrated customers have commented under several Peppermayo TikTok videos with the phrase: 'whereismyorderpeppermayo.' 'Paying influencers to travel over prioritising refunds/orders for loyal customers,' one person wrote. 'When they thought sending two influencers away on a brand trip, using their resources was a good idea, instead of hiring more people to fix the thousands of the complaints they r getting about orders,' another person commented. 'It's a shame seeing influencers associate themselves with this brand, if they look at every post the comments are filled with customer complaints,' a third person chimed. 'Just keep ignoring people and sending influencers places!! literally a college student with no money to spare and cannot get ahold of anyone to help,' a fourth added. Other customers begged Peppermayo to respond to their long-standing order issues. 'Can you guys respond to my email about the order I placed in February?,' one person wrote. 'Can you please ship the second half of my order I've been waiting 3 months,' a second person commented. Another frustrated customer explained she bought a dress during the Black Friday Sales in November, last year, and has not received her order. 'Can you please explain to me why your customer care is telling me that they are out of stock and is waiting to be restocked but on your website it is readily available to purchase,' she wrote. Other customers have escalated their complaints to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The brand responded to select comments, advising each customer to 'send us a DM and our team will look into your order' followed by a love heart or kiss face emoji. Peppermayo founders Georgia Wright and Huayi Huang also issued a public apology to their customers in a post shared to Instagram in April. 'We understand that seeing our recent Coachella event may have been upsetting during this period. Please know these campaigns were planned months in advance,' they said. 'We want to sincerely apologise for the recent delays experienced by our amazing customers in receiving their orders, and for our lack of transparency during this time.' Peppermayo's founders Georgia Wright and Huayi Huang posted an official statement on social media in April apologising to their customers about the order delays The brand's statement cited unspecified 'external macroeconomic factors' which caused 'major technological and integration challenges'. They said the backlog is due to be cleared and the supply chain issues have been stabilised. The statement also acknowledged there was a lack of customer service staff to address complaints, but said more employees have since been brought on. The founders said 'as a small way of making it right' they were making the 'gesture' of offering free express shipping for a month from May 5 to the US, UK, Australia and Canada. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Peppermayo for comment. The Adelaide-born brand describes itself on its website as a 'Sydney based fashion biz with a diverse, trendy, female customer base'. Its Instagram page has 1.2million followers, while its TikTok account has over 327,000 followers.
