My nightmare | SRM Custom-blended Skincare, The Gardens Mall

 DISCLAIMER

The information is based on personal experience and is not intended as advice and must not be relied upon as such. You should make your own inquiries and seek for alternative advice prior to making any decisions.

recently I purchased a Groupon voucher for [94% Off] Microdermabrasion Facial at The Gardens Mall for RM38. I was looking forward as they have de good intention to call to remind me about my appointment beforehand. they even called at 2pm on de day itself to inform me to depart early as de traffic towards Midvalley was bad. my appointment was at 330pm.

I did not expect de traffic to be so bad and I only managed to reach Midvalley at 4pm. thank god I was able to call to postpone my appointment to 4pm while I'm stucked in de car. I was told that last appointment was at 430pm. I decided to cancel de appointment initially but by coincidence I got a parking. it wasn't immediate as I have to spend for almost 40 minutes touring around de car park. it seemed Sultan Selangor came to Midvalley to celebrate his birthday. 

I reached SRM at approximately 410pm. being sorry, I apologized for being late and proceeded with registration but de bad things did not end here. as usual, I was told to fill in forms that covered general information, medical information and so on. de aesthetician then began by asking my occupation so I told her I'm a pharmacist. looking confused by saying to herself "pharmasis" I further explained my profession in Cantonese. I guess people just do not know what pharmacists do, right?  

what iz pharmasis? in Malaysia, you can find us commonly in de outpatient pharmacy of government hospital in white lab coats dispensing medicines to you (not ah moi, ah gu, missy, nurse or doctor). we are university graduates and it is definitely more than SPM level. and no, we are not de one standing behind de dispensing counter in most private GP clinics.

it took approximately 10 minutes or so for de aesthetician to brief me about SRM treatment that is superior to other beauty centres because they customized their products to tailor customers' need. furthermore, they use natural ingredients like pure and concentrated plant extract. I was told each product is customized and they even label customer's name on it. I remembered I only answered her question once on DO YOU KNOW WHY WE NEED TO CUSTOMIZED SKINCARE PRODUCTS by telling every individual has different skin characteristics. I received a hyper tone correct but eventually I decided to answer her following questions with my standard template of "I DON'T KNOW". sometimes I feel  that being stupid in certain situation may save you up with a lot of troubles and at de same time, give chance to study de intention of others.

a hydration test was carried out later on. as expected, I was told my skin was badly dehydrated with only 11-18% of water content (eye and face area). average to achieve is 50% hence my face is very, very dry (from what I saw in de form this was de upper range but I was not informed- if I'm not mistaken de normal range written was from 20%+ to 50%+). this followed by a skin cell magnifying test to compare my elbow, inner arm, and my face. why these parts? because inner arm is claimed to be de least exposed to UV while elbow is de one subjected to most wear and tear. by comparing it with my face, she claimed that my face cell alignment is losing (supposed there is an organized cell arrangement pattern), if not rectify sooner it may turn into cell similar to my elbow. 

lecture continued with WHAT IS SKIN MADE OF? she repeatedly asked for 2 to 3 times as I showed no response. again, after my I DON'T KNOW she told me de answer is.. cell (细胞).

she drew a picture of skin cell that is round in shape.

de black dot is DNA that controls skin cell formation. 

I was told SRM treatment aimed to change DNA information from bad to good, and at de same time help in skin ageing prevention by focusing on skin changes with time due to oxidative stress and inflammation. 

I'm not convinced- seriously, like how to?

DO YOU KNOW WHAT CAUSES SKIN AGEING AND PIGMENTATION? it is free radicals! I admit de "MELALIN" was a bit exaggerating but it wasn't "melanin" either. it was something in between "nin" and "lin". WHICH PART OF YOUR SKIN DOES NOT HAVE MELANIN (hint- 2 parts)? your palms and soles. she justified herself by giving examples of Indians.

de poker face for saturated pushy sales information.

and in fact, I don't really give a damn.

after all these exhaustive lectures, de aesthetician finally advised my skin is not suitable for de treatment Groupon offered. microdermabasion may be too in depth and after de treatment it may cause dry skin and I may be more likely to experience an outburst as my skin is already very dry in de first place (seriously, I would just think that microdermabasion is another term for exfoliation). as their objective is to provide customers with customized skincare / treatment, she ought to offer de best treatment. as my face cells showed "inflammation" in de skin magnifying test, I should opt for an inflammation plus repairing treatment. I was introduced with de selected treatments and each was priced at RM380 in de menu. with de existing Groupon voucher, I'm entitle for 40% discount. oh tell me this is not a pushy tactics.

things went on and on until I got irritated and she even told me if my enlarged nose pores left untreated, it will eventually lead to 酒渣鼻. I did not understand de chinese term until she explained it relates me to rosacea. omg, I admit I'm no flawless skin but come on. I think I need to consult a dermatologist.

I've almost lost my patience when she tried to push me further. you're saturating me with your every good things without even starting de treatment? come on. bravely, I asked why these are not stated in Groupon- shouldn't you display things like treatment subjected to skin condition? she mentioned everything has been stated clearly. furthermore, she claimed they do not receive a single cent for every voucher customer purchased (is that true?). and why put on Groupon? she claimed is only to gain popularity. when she finally started to realize I'm getting annoyed she then offered me with a hydration package with no extra cost required. BUT I was told that de hydration treatment will only provide temporary effect and de bad cell condition will remain de same.

okay it is not free but costs RM38.

getting fed up, I told her since my skin is not suitable for de treatment, I will not do it and I thank her for these informative sessions. she tried to hold me back for de hydration treatment but I refused to. it was tremendously exhausted to spend almost an hour to listen to these craps after 2 hours jam, and sorry, I was not even served with a glass of water. I know life is tough, but this is just not a good start to welcome your customers. perhaps my face just look so-Ringgit Malaysia to you.

I received a phone call from SRM after I left and de aesthetician claimed that she has already informed this incident (unclaimed voucher) to de management level. with hope by doing so, it could help me to proceed with a refund. seriously, I'm already tired for all these and I don't even bother losing that RM38. she claimed that de management people will contact me very soon. I'm not sure what happened eventually but what I do know is that I only managed to get my refund in de form of Groupon credits after I wrote to Groupon's customers feedback / suggestions to tell them about my story. to be frank, I really do not expect extreme pushy tactics to happen in a reputable shopping centre.

DO YOU KNOW: as from year 2008, de control of cosmetic products in Malaysia is through a notification procedure whereby companies are required to notify / declare their compliance to de ASEAN Cosmetic Directive to de National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (NPCB) prior to market, manufacture or import a cosmetic product. in short, notified cosmetic products will be given a notification number (NOT no.). for example, NOT123456789K. however, printing of NOT number on cosmetic labels is not a mandatory requirement. for more information on notified cosmetic products, you can click here. to check notification status, please click here but do bear with de slow system that happens sometimes. -sources from www.bpfk.gov.my

seriously, DNA repairing in cosmetic products, is this not confusing enough or I over-interpret it?

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