Paying for two years does not establish that appointments will remain available for two years. Compare access dates, suspension, transfer, cancellation and closure risk alongside the discount. If you already want to exit, examine the contractual promise, services actually unprovided and payment arrangement. A news reference to a seven-day cooling-off period is insufficient reason to stop making payments.
Evidence to keep
Convert the discount into usable services
Ask which branches, evenings and weekends are included and whether changing branch, trainer or treatment incurs more fees. Map realistic visits against expiry and compare pay-per-visit costs. If a last-day offer pushes you towards extra years, take the terms away to read. Do not sign blank documents or a separate financing agreement before understanding the obligations.
A larger prepayment creates a larger unused balance. Check staged purchasing, pauses and whether cancellation reprices sessions already used at a higher rate. A chain's branding, another open branch or a proposed takeover does not by itself establish that a new company has assumed your existing contract. Request the undertaking and its limits in writing.
The 2026 cooling-off scheme is a policy proposal
CEDB's consultation launched on 29 June 2026 proposes a seven-calendar-day cooling-off period, a fourteen-day refund period and duration restrictions for prepaid beauty and fitness contracts. The official document describes proposals. This guide does not treat consultation text as an existing cancellation right. At purchase or cancellation, check enacted rules, commencement dates and any voluntary cooling-off promise in the actual contract.
For a contractual cooling-off period, establish its start, notice address and any effect of using sessions or receiving gifts. An expired contractual cancellation window does not remove the need to investigate suspected false descriptions or coercive selling. However, changing your mind and failing to receive a promised service are different disputes, so describe the actual grounds precisely.
Handle payment while requesting exit
- Write down the contract, sessions used, failed booking dates and requested cancellation or refund. Request an itemised calculation and preserve the contemporaneous service and response record.
- Ask the card issuer whether the instalments are a merchant arrangement or separate financing and about non-provision dispute procedures and deadlines. A merchant's cancellation agreement does not confirm that the issuer has adjusted the bill; do not stop instalments without an approved arrangement.
Example: eighteen unused sessions need an itemised account
Mei Ling purchases twenty beauty sessions and uses two before the branch closes. She gathers the original agreement, session dates, payment and closure notice and asks for a balance calculation. If transfer to another company is offered, she checks required additional purchases and a written assumption of obligations. She also asks her bank about dispute deadlines immediately instead of waiting months.
If agreement fails, provide the evidence to Consumer Council. Report suspected unfair trade practices to Customs with the actual words and conduct. Recovery after closure can also involve company and insolvency procedures. Conciliation, enforcement reports and card disputes cannot guarantee full recovery of the unused prepayment.
Calculate used and unprovided services and check cancellation terms and payment-dispute deadlines together.
Official information and enquiries
These are the reference and service entry points for this guide. Check current fees, eligibility, and schedules with the authority. The preparation date is not each source's official update date.
- CEDB: 2026 consultation on prepaid beauty and fitness contracts
- Hong Kong Customs: unfair trade practices and enforcement scope
- Consumer Council: prepayment, retailer insolvency and chargeback study (2017)
- Consumer Council: consumer complaints and conciliation
This is general information; an individual dispute depends on the facts, documents, and current law.