Secret Of The Himalayan review: Unfair Return Policy 29

Steve's number is 415.512.6776. Neer's is 954.288.6913, Good Luck.

I have just made a complaint at Westfield London about Onsen catcalling people as they go past!

I was also scammed at Westifelds, Straford, for a whopping £300.

The most serious part of it was that i have sensitive skin and can not use any perfumed products. The sales person (who flirted inappropriately the entire time) ridiculed me for using a high street fragrance free range and made me feel cheap and ashamed. He told me repeatedly that the onsen range was '100% natural and fragrance free'. On getting the products home they ALL CONTAIN PERFUME. I should of checked whilst i was there but they use such a pushy and manipulative sales technique that you dont know if your coming or going at the time. This is so dangerous if they are mis-selling products that could damage a persons skin if they have allergies.

WHY ARE THEY ALLOWED TO OPERATE OUT OF WESTIFELDS? THE ONLY PRESS ON INTERENT IS BAD PRESS- DO NOT BUY!

ONSEN - LONDON, WESTFIELD STRATFORD CITY
WHY IS NOT WESTFIELD DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?!
I felt under undue pressure by Onsen sales person and believe that my experience accounts to a classic example of misseling and false advertising. The company has a fake website with false prices on it just to be able to show customers on site what a great deal they are entering to if they purchase products from them at Westfield. The technique is always the same ‘I like you’ hence I want to offer you a great deal, constant repeating of ‘I tell you what’ (called anchoring in NLP), sales person pretending to call manager to confirm the great deal he is offering, shaming you into believing that you are being pathetic by constantly repeating how much money other people spent there (strangely enough they always mention the 2, 000 pound purchase by someone just before you) and of course the big hug at the end. Also, you cannot write reviews about the products on the company’s website without it being censored by the company. Hence, only 6 positive reviews about the product which apparently have been on the market for 4 years. But my favourite is that when you want a refund they tell you to contact the company’s ‘head office’ on a US number as the refunds would be processed from there! On first sight the phone number is a US number but it is actually registered in the British Virgin Islands. They don’t take calls but only have an answering machine and if you leave your name and details: you guessed it…. they will never call you back. PEOPLE SHOULD REPORT ONSEN TO WESTFIELD COMPLAINTS TEAM, OFFICE OF FAIR TRADING and WHICH?.

They accosted my oldest Daughter last summer. She was home from college for winter break this past weekend. We were at The Galleria in Houston for my younger Daughter's dance convention and a "similar salesman" with a tray of drinks approached us as we walked by- my oldest Daughter had a visible, physical reaction and practically ran from the man. At least here they take "no" for an answer unlike the Westfield "salesmen" . It is very sad that my once trusting Daughter has had to learn to be rude to all of these "salesmen" because of her traumatic experience at Westfield Center.

Thanks for all the postings regarding the Westfield Center shopping mall in San Francisco and 'the legend of the Hymalaya's' beauty product line. I too, was accosted, when visiting at the end of January 2011. The men at the kiosk were in my face before I knew it. For lunch, I had a juice in one hand and a pretzel in the other. He wouldn't let me go and just kept talking and putting eye serum around my eyes. After 30 minutes I finally got away, but not before spending $153.93. I ended up tossing the pretzel away.
I live in NH where people are friendly not pushy. I will NEVER go to the Westfield mall again. I also, will tell all my friends on Facebook and Linkedin to avoid the Westfield Mall or really get in their face and do to them before they do to you. I will call the concierge at the mall tomorrow.
Sara form New Hampshire

Thanks to all of you for posting your experiences.
I too had a similiar experience on a recent trip to San Francisco. Wanting to visit Bath and Body Works before joining my daughter for a final lunch before driving back to Texas, I was handed a small cup of Gogii juice.
I still think there was something in that juice!
The whole experience started with me on a cell phone and ended with me flying out of the Mall grateful to get away but feeling violated in some way.
Regretfully, I didn't get to Bath and Body Works and had to ride back on BART with alot of products stinging my eyes.
While I didn't buy anything I won't use as I actually like the products and got away with only spending $142.00, I am extremely nervious about returning next year to Westfield Mall.
Thanks to the internet and Amazon, I'll do some research and be prepared(hopefully) next time.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:hz8p0u_EN9MJ:waronyou.com/forums/index.php%3Ftopic%3D17510.0+onsen+scam+westfield&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

THE LINK ABOVE WILL TELL YOU WHO EXACTLY THESE ISRAELI SCAMMERS ARE.

PLEASE CLICK ON LINK BELOW TO UNDERSTAND MORE ABOUT THESE ISRAELI SCAMMERS WHO ARE ALSO APPARTENTLY PART OF THE MOSAD (ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE AGENCY).

THE OWNER OF WESTFILD MALL IS ISRAELI, NO SUPPRISE THRE! THOSE ISRAELI KIOSKS ARE ALL OVER THE MALL, LIKE A CANCER!

THE SAME PEOPLE THAT ARE SELLING THE HIMALAYA PRODUCTS ARE ALSO IN CHARGE OF "ONSEN" AND "DEAD SEA PREMIER" PRODUCTS. THEY ARE A SCAM FROM ISRAEL. THEY HAVE KIOSKS ALL OVER WESTFIELD MALL INCLUDING A KIOSK THAT SELLS SUNGLASSES BY A VERY PUSHY SALESMAN. THEY ARE A SCAM. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THEM. THE PRODUCTS THEY SELL ARE [censor]. THEY ARE A SCAM. STAY AWAY FROM ISRAELI SALES PEOPLE AT KIOSKS IN WESTFIELD MALL, OR ANY MALL FOR THAT MATTER. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD AND HELP RAISE AWARENESS. BY THE WAY, THE OWNER OF WESTFIELD MALL IS ISRAELI. HE IS ALSO BEHIND THE SCAM. I KNOW FROM PEOPLE.

THE WOMAN THAT TRIED TO SELL ME "ONSEN" SKIN PRODUCTS TOLD ME THAT THE POWDER TECHNOLOGY PRODUCT $400. I WENT ON THE "ONSEN" WEBSITE AND IT TURNS IT OUT THAT IT IS ONLY $129! I WOULDN'T EVEN BUY IT FOR ONE SINGLE DOLLAR, BECAUSE THE PRODUCTS HAS BARELY ANY INFORMATION IT, AND IT IS OBVIOUSLY A SCAM. STAY AWAY FROM KIOSKS AT WESTFIELD MALL. DON'T STOP FOR ANYONE TRYING TO SELL YOU ANYTHING. KEEP MOVING!

DON'T RUIN YOUR SKIN WITH WITH UNTESTED PRODUCTS THAT HAVE CHEMICAL INGREDIENTS. DON'T BELIEVE THE CLAIMS. YOU'RE BETTER OFF SPENDING $1000 AT SEPHORA THAN ONE SINGLE DOLLAR FOR SOMETHING THAT IS TERRIBLE FOR YOUR SKIN AND IS A TOTAL AND UTTER SCAM. LET US ALL SUE THEM. WE ALL DESERVE TO GET OUR MONEY BACK AND SHUT THESE SCAMMERS DOWN!

Dear All: Similar experience on my end! I wrote a summary of my experience to the San Francisco Mall Concierge. Please read and let me know if you have feedback or suggestions.

Dear San Francisco Mall Concierge,

I'm writing to report about aggressive and offending sales tactics
used at the Secret of the Himalayan kiosk in your mall.

I was harrassed last night after taking a sample of goji tea for about
45 minutes by the team trying to sell me overpriced products.

It started off by a girl who said her name was Marina, came up and
asked me to show her my hands. Then she proceeded to tell me that

I don't take care of myself and my body and I look haggard.At one
point, her male accomplice came later on in the experience and told me
my nose looked oily and that I needed

To use their products. Let me tell you how it started.

Being open minded and much too nice to say no, I listened to their
speel and tried some of their products. Marina proceeded to wash my
hands with a salt scrub, water, and then some body butter cream. She
kept wondering why I wasn't raving about the products … I agree my
hands felt softer, but it really wasn't something I wanted to
purchase, since Origins/Aveda and other skin care stores have a policy
that if you don't like something after testing it out, you may return
it. When I asked about the prices, she quoted me ~ 99$ per item. I
told him that I cannot spend so much money on a product and cannot
afford to as it is a recession.

I tried to walk away numerous times. They kept having discussions in
another language, and kept coming back with lower and lower prices.
They would both chase me down as I tried to walk away. I had also made
the mistake of saying I liked one of the products and I actually had
been in the market for new skin products. At one point she offered me
all 3 products for 80$, and said it was a special just for me. I am
very disturbed by the fact that she would start off trying to get me
to spend $300 . Finally they came down to offering me just one product
for 30$. He showed me a list of sales receipts from that day in which
previous "customers:had paid 65$ or more per item, and that I was
getting a steal. I have no idea if these receipts were genuine or just
part of their theatrics. To a vulnerable customer, one has no idea if
this is a reasonable price or not. I ended up purchasing the single
item, but mainly because I felt really pressured and wanted to get me
to leave me alone because I had to catch my train home. However, I did
tell them I didn't appreciate them insulting my appearance to make a
sale.

When I returned from home, I came across this complaint website where
other customers had shared similar awful experiences and were
convinced they should spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars. As
many people mentioned in their writeups, their products do sell for
much less online. I feel fortunate I got away with not spending so
much, however I thought it appropriate to bring this list of
complaints to your attention, and that you might want to do something
to prevent customers from getting harassed and accosted as they walk
past this kiosk in the mall. Additionally they should be upfront about
their prices, and offer the same base price with no negotiating rather
than trying to extract money out of consumers. They should also not
use insulting techniques to make a person feel inadequate or
unattractive in order to sell their products.

Secret Of The Himalayan — Unfair Return Policy

Please read these online complaints, and take them seriously.

One last point: If their products are as good as they say they are,
they should have no problems amending their return policy if someone
is not seeing results or being satisfied with their products, like
Origins and Aveda. The entire experience made me feel undervalued as a
shopper, and completely scammed. Especially after reading what others
have gone through.

I hope you will take our comments seriously and into consideration.
Have them revise their busness and sales policies to reflect ethical
and honest practices. And if their behavior continues to violate mall
practices, please take the necessary action with fines or shutting
down the kiosk entirely so people can have a peaceful experience
shopping in your beautiful mall!

Thank you for your time, and would appreciate a response!

To "A Concerned Parent/Consumer" author,

What an absolutely horrific experience. I was outraged and indignant for you and your daughter as I read your post. And I am equally elated to read how strongly you stuck to your guns and how quickly your family banded together to protect your daughter. This is a great lesson both for those thieves and for your daughter. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with everyone.

I can't believe the extremes these salesmen will take for a paltry commission. I'm pretty sure the mall can fine them for the hand grab. When I had my encounter and contacted the mall's kiosk manager, it was to complain about the persistent calling-over and the detaining until well past mall hours so that I gave in just to be able to leave. The Mall's kiosk manager said they had an anti-aggressive sales policy, and the businesses renting their kiosks could be fined $250 for each transgression. With that information, I still suggest that anyone who has had to deal with these kiosks' aggressive tactics should convince the Mall to fine them. If they keep losing their ill-gotten money over fines enough times, they might lose the incentive to keep their current sales practices.

I also still believe that their practices are illegal, and it looks to me that there are enough similar complaints to make a legal case. Your experience is exceptionally egregious. Credit card identity theft, fraud, emotional damages, and maybe more that a lawyer could find worthy of litigation. I would be interested to hear if you decide to take your case to court. If anyone is considering a class action lawsuit against this business, let me know if my own encounters and complaints can contribute to the case.

For my part, I have all but stopped going to that floor of the mall. In fact, I don't go to shop at the mall much altogether. The Legends of the Himalayans have several kiosks all over that floor, most in essential pathways and near popular stores. This has left the shopping experience too unfavorable for me to repeat for that entire floor. Luckily the popular stores have other locations within convenient distance, so I'm not sacrificing anything.

On Thursday afternoon, July 22, 2010, my teenage Daughter( visiting/ interning in San Francisco for 5 weeks from out of state) was shopping at Westfield San Francisco Centre while she waited for BART . She exited Nordstom on her way to Fossil to look at watches and was approached by a "salesman" from Legends of the Himalayas. He offered her a drink from a tray then grabbed her hands and immediately started rubbing stuff into them( I just found out about the hand grab today from my sister or my conversations would not have been so "nice").He proceeded to tell her everything she "needed", took her debit card and swiped it without telling her the cost. He actually swiped it twice for "2 transactions" ( $206.96 and $206.97)- or at least that is what he told my Daughter. She walked away and immediately called me in hysterics to say that she had done a "stupid thing". After ascertaining that she was not physically hurt and getting her to calm down a bit- she told me that she had spent $412.00 on face stuff that she could not even use as she is under a dermatologist's care. I told her to take it back( she was 15 feet away from the kiosk, and had just glanced at the receipts to see how much she had spent- she was never told, the card was grabbed and swiped -twice). She told me that she could not as the slip said "No Refunds/No Exchange". She told me that they would not "leave her alone" and that she felt she had to buy something "to get away from them". She had no idea what she had "purchased".

I told her that I did not care what the receipt said, that she was to take it back. I told her that I would call her back and immediately called her father to try to have a hold put on the charges. I called her back and heard her explaining to the "salesman" that she was returning it, that he took her card from her hand and swiped it without telling her the amount, and that her dad was putting a stop on the charges. I then got on the phone with the "salesman" and berated him about his high pressure tactics and swiping my Daughter's card without telling her the amount. I then asked to speak to his manager. I then explained the sitaution to David, the manager([protected]).He told me there "were no refunds/no exchanges", and I told him that I had seen the "routine" before and that I did not appreciate his salesman's aggressive behavior and that she WAS returning the product. I then heard him have a "chat" with the "salesman", David then offered me a deal- "since she did not know that amount, I will give it to you for 50% off". I again said no, she did not want it, could not use it and we were returning it. She then handed the bag back to him and he said to me- "you win then", I said no- we are even- the payment has been stopped and you have your product back within 5 minutes of the "sale"- it never left the mall, let alone the shopping bag.

Her father then called me to let me know that he had talked to the bank and they were trying to stop it but since it was a debit transcation that he was not sure what could be done so he would also call David, the manager. There was then some confusion at that time as to the amount as our Daughter had mentioned $412 in her hysterical call, but a pending debit of 'only" $206.96 had shown up so far, so worst case it was $206, not $412.

An hour or so later, her Father forwarded this website to me, and we realized that our Daughter "was not alone"- it was a Legends/Secrets of the Himalaya's scam- AND Westfield San Francisco Centre was mentioned several times in the complaints. One of the complaints mentioned calling Mall Security/Concierge [protected], so we both did, and we both lodged complaints - several times/conversations- to date their response has been unsatisfactory.

Several hours later, after my Daughter was with her Aunt, and had calmed down a bit, I was able to get more information from her. The amount was in fact $412 - she told me that the "salesman" told her that there were "2 transactions" and he swiped the card twice. She could not remember what exactly she had "purchased" as the products had been returned to David, and she never really understood what she was being sold- she just wanted to get away. I then called her father and told him about the "2 transactions". by this time the "second transaction" for $206.97 had hit her bank account. Her father then called David- he denied that there were "2 transactions" . When he was informed of the $206.96 and $206.97 charges his response was- oh yes, it was swiped twice as it did not go through the first time-although it obviously DID ( my Daughter was TOLD that it was two transactions, nothing about it not going through the first time- the transactions were $0.01 apart). After this conversation David apparently realized that their SCAM had been discovered and immediatley called back to say that there would be a full refund of the combined charges if her Father called with her debit card information the next day, Friday, which her Father did.

I would also note that this later phone call was when I found out where she was, where she was going, and that they approached her with a tray of drinks. At our Mall we are routinely approached with smoothie samples from a smoothie stand with absolutely no pressure to buy a $4.00 smoothie . I did not find out about the Hand Grab until today from my Sister, her Aunt, when we were discussing the events that transpired last night(desribed below) When I found out that she was on the way to Fossil to look at watches, I called Fossil, and let the manager, Dean, know what had happened and that he had lost a sale as my Daughter immedialtely left the mall and vowed NEVER to go back- she was that emotionally distraught. Dean asked nme to call Mall Security/Concierege and let them know-evidently customers had been complaining for months about their aggressive behavior as had Nordstrom, Fossil, and other stores in the vicinity. I told him that I already had called but that I would call again with his concerns. I talked with Rosalie again, she said that she "had not heard of Fossil's complaints", but that she would pass it on. I also asked for her Supervisor's name, and left him a message requesting a call back. Almost a week later I have still not heard from Steve Springle.

At this point it should be apparent to everyone that they swiped it twice- for $0.01 difference- there were not "2 transcactions"- this allowed them to immediately offer a 50% discount- they had already charged my Daughter twice for the SAME purchase. They are THIEFS. When confronted with a "No Refund/No Exchange" policy, no doubt the more insistent customers are offered the 50% off which would seem like a good deal at the time, when in fact they had already been "had" for the discount.

Yesterday morning, Tuesday, July 27th at 8:00 am PST, I was informed that the two charges of $206.96 and $206.97 had been reversed from my Daughter's Bank Account- score one for justice and the American way! NOT SO FAST. Yesterday at 8:30 pm PST, her Father called to say that he had checked her account again AND THAT A NEW debit CHARGE OF $205.70 had hit her account to "Vueling Airlines" a discount carrier that apparently flies out of San Francisco but is headquartered in Barcelona - the "Legends " people were obviously hell bent on getting their money from my Daughter somehow-perhaps they sold her debit card info last week-who knows. I do know that last night we immediately put another hold on the debit, cancelled her debit card and pulled everything out of her account. I also called "David", he was out but I let him know that we were onto him, he called my former husband back twice, but he was unable to take the call as he was on with our Bank's fraud department. I also left a message for Rosalie last night and another 2 hours ago-still no response.

A few hours ago I attempted to contact Vueling Airlines to see if they could give me a name for the airline ticket that was fraudulently purchased with my Daughter's Debit Card. I tried the "CheapOAir" site first as it listed Vueling flying out of San Francisco. I was transferred to their billing department in Las Vegas where I found out that the charge had not gone through "CheapOAir" but had been made directly through Vueling. The woman I talked to in billing DID tell me, however, that she had NEVER heard of Vueling Airlines before but that my call was at least the 4th she had received this week about fraudulent charges being made on Vueling Air. I then tried their Barcelona number-rang twice, then nothing, so I sent them an emai - I did receive an acknowledgement of the receipt of my complaint/inquiry an hour ago-but "good luck with that", I know.

SO, here is MY Conclusion, which I believe is backed up by the FACTS

1. Legends of The Himalayas at Westfield San Francisco Centre is not JUST guilty of scams, aggression, high pressure sales tactics and unfair return policies- they are THIEVES! They knowingly charged my Daughter TWICE, then offered a 50% "discount", then, once "caught" either used her debit info, or had ALREADY sold it - to other thiefs!

2. As of 1:40 pm PST on Wednesday, July 28, 2010, the Westfield San Francisco Centre's response has been UNSATISFACTORY and basically non-existent after almost a week, and mounting evidence as to the CRIMES being committed in their mall. Stay away from this Kiosk, evidently the product is good but can be bought online at a much cheaper price, and, given the Vueling Air avctivity it looks like the Westfield San Francisco Centre Legends of the Himalaya may be a front for a credit theft ring.

3. Despite being told that Westfield San Francisco Centre and the its "Legends" kiosk were specifically mentioned on this site- Mall management did not seem to care.

4. For action, complain to the legitimate stores, let them know you are afraid to pass by this kiosk to get to their store, boycott the mall - they seem to care more about the rights of "salesman" in the kiosks than those of legitimate customers.

Finally, I would mention that while my Daughter is of legal contractual age, she refuses to see the "bad" in anyone, and cannot believe that people would intentionally steal from her. She is too noce, and until last week, perhaps a bit naive.In hindsight, this may be the best thing to ever happen to her-learning that there IS bad in the world and that she cannot trust everyone- how truly SAD is that. While she might have been naive in the evil ways of the world, she is certainly NOT stupid. She will be starting her sophomore year at an Ivy League School in the fall

You think that's bad!

I was on holiday (vacation for you Americans) from England with my fiancée who was doing some work. The same hand scrub crystals thing happened but the sales girl 'accidentally' touched her boob with my hands when she was rubbing in the cream/crystal/scrub stuff. I was alarmed but thought it was an accident until it happened again. While still shocked and frozen, she did it again. I was afraid she was going to shout that I was a perv or something so I said I really have to go. She insisted that I bought something and I gladly handed over cash. I told my fiancée and she thought it was hilarious... I stayed well clear of those things for the rest of my visit. I have no idea what to do with it now. Still... at least it smells pleasant and I didn't end up in a cell.

These kinds of incidents are unfortunately blamed on the company. We are not affilliated with SWISA or THE SECRETS OF THE HIMALAYAN and I would like to make a comment.

These Kiosks sell the products producted by SWISA - they are individual operators and their tactics are theirs alone. All of us have had unfortunate incidents with Mall Kiosks but this does not take away from the fact that
THE SECRET OF THE HIALAYAN is an excellent product and does not deserve the rep these operators bestow on it.

Some operators ruin it for everyone else. If you check you will see that all Kiosks have different prices which tells you that's its not a uniform company operation.

I am an avid user of The Secret of the Himalayan, buy it from a reputable store all the time and could not be more pleased with the product and the prices. I have dealt with the same store ever since the products hit the market.

When I am in the vicinity of an aggressive Mall Kiosk, I just hold up my hand which means stop and when one of these salesmen laid a hand on my arm I just smiled at him and told him to let go "NOW' - end of story. If you ever tried the products you know they are truly exceptional so my advise would be look for a year-round store where they can ship it all year long and you get fair pricing. Stores operate differently, they have repeat business, not a one time hit.

I have not yet been scammed. Rather they now run when they see me coming. Recently I was in a mall in Florida with friends when one guy blocked our way and tried to get one of us to sit down. I kept walking, which made him angry because he wanted to make the sale to us all, and my friends were following my lead. He actually stood in front of me and would not allow me to pass. So I hit him with my bag and yelled "I'M BEING ACCOSTED! HELP!"

Well, the guy's face turned red as a beet and he backed off and returned to his kiosk.

As we were making the return walk, another person was standing at the kiosk and started to approach us. His friend grabbed him by the arm, whispered something in Yiddish at him, and they gave us all sidelong glances as they retreated behind their kiosk.

Of course, we all just laughed so hard, there was no way they didn't hear us. All in all, it was enjoyable turning the tables.

I agree with all of the complaints here. The same kiosk must exist in every major city across the country. There is one at the Riv in Las Vegas and the same type of sales tactics were used on me. I am embarassed to say how much I got nicked for before getting out of the booth. Now after getting home I find out they are not only available on their own website for a fraction of the cost I paid, but they are also available on Amazon.com for a fraction of the cost that I paid. I am really feeling stupid since I bought the products because I was duped. I guess we live and learn (hopefully). I must have been gambling without using a slot machine at that kiosk.

I had the same experience at Westfield Valley Fair . (I'm a 28 year old female.) I ALWAYS walk passed those girls (and guys) when I'm at the mall, because they are usually annoying. But for some reason this time I stopped. At first I was amused by the salesgirl's ability to pitch the product, which is why I did not cut her off right away. I felt sympathetic to her because, like me, she is an immigrant. Plus, I just happened to be in a good mood that day and in no particular hurry. Well...I had the same experience as EVERYONE else here. Even though I knew I was being scammed, there was no turning back. I was there for about an hour and a half! Totally UNLIKE ME! But...unfortunately, I was at the mall to ACTUALLY buy skincare products from Sephora. I guess, I was a bit suscpetible at that point. I knew most everything coming out of her mouth was BS, but I didn't know exactly how cheap the products are on Amazon. Luckily, I didn't get as screwed as most people ($65 for two product), but I'm a full-time grad student and don't need to be paying $65 just so I can move through the mall without being held against my will. This is a very stupid practice that Westfield is undertaking. It is annoying to the customers. It MUST BE annoying to the stores located nearby these pesky kiosks. It's bad business. It devalues the mall. (I used live in San Francisco and would avoid that area of the mall like the plague!--Westfield in SF is not doing well as it is. It certainly can't afford people trying to avoid it like the plague.)

I don't like them having my credi card info. I'm weirded out about using the products now, because I don't trust them and have no idea where the hell they come from. You can tell the products are cheap. How the hell are these people not shut down?

I have an idea for anyone who's annoyed by this and has some free time the next time they are at the mall. Next time you have 30 minutes of free time at the mall go back and pretend like you want to buy $1000 worth of products (because you enjoyed the ones you previously bought sooooo much!) Get really weird on them the way they got really weird on you. Slather some of the products on them, tell them how pretty they are, and how white their teeth are. Then, finish it off by gettig angry with how they scammed you. Then, do this everytime you go to the mall.

Ok, yea...that's too much of a waste of time, --- but it would be funny. Too bad I can't just hire a person to go to the mall every day to annoy the crap out of them. Hmmmm...

I too was at Southcenter mall and went by the kiosk selling secret of the Himalayan and was on my cell phone with my daughter when the sales cleark came up to me and started talking as if I was not on the phone. She tried all these products even the mask on my face going over my make-up and I ended up buying the Humza apriot which she tried to get me to pay $99 for. I told her I am a single mother raising two girls by myself and could not afford it. She sold it to me for 1/2 price but then tried to get me to buy the Gojo Peel but I could not afford $175 so the she looked in her reciept book and told me that since she just sold almost $500 worth, she could sell it to me for $75. I told her no and she told me that I have to promise to come back next payday and buy it. She gave me her email and everything. She told me all about coming to this country months ago by herself (I think she was Irain or something, her name is Idet I think)nice enough girl but I somehow knew this was a scam. If you go to the website, the products they are selling for $99 are actually $39.95 on the website, talk about a mark up...

ha.

I had a similar encounter today at the Westfield Mall in SF. I looked up the company to see if anyone had complained (the whole experience was so surreal, and effectively resulted in paying a ridiculous amount for a product I didn't even want).

Luckily, I managed to get away with a single item.

Iris (the salesgirl) is an absolute master at coercive sales techniques. As soon as you take the tea, you're in for at least 15 minutes of theatrics... I partially ended up buying one product because she put so much work into the presentation that I felt bad leaving empty handed (and it seemed inocuous enough... some kind of exfoliating scrub at 4x what it would cost at a drugstore). It was a challenge to avoid the upsell (I think she stopped me three times with offers in the process of paying).

The whole thing was kind of entertaining... and reminded me of a street pitch that you might have wandered into in Manhattan circa 1920. Or snake oil off the back of a wagon. Totally novel experience. I was kind of worried that that have my credit card #, but it doesn't seem like there's need to worry.

I didn't really feel swindled, as much as impressed. If that girl is so good at selling overpriced cosmetics (I mean, she's *legendary*), She should be setting her sights higher... I felt victorious for only spending $65 on some face cream I'll never use. It was entertaining, though.

How do you get a hold of Steve? Do you call the Concierge? The same thing happened to me. I was told that "Neer" is going to contact me as that i can speak to him for a refund; however, i am yet to receive a phone call from him. Advice would be very much appreciated!

Ok, so I got a full refund today! I called the head of Westfield Mall, Steve Springer, and informed him of what happened to me. He told me the manager of the Secret of the Himalayan kiosk will call me. When the manager called me (I believe his name is Nero, or something like that), I told him what happened and informed him that I have yet to open any of the products. He said because I did not open any of them that I could get a full refund. I went down to the Kiosk and told the ladies that I talked with Nero. Nero came down to the Kiosk and gave me a full refund. He asked me to call Steve and tell him I was fully refunded, which I did.

If you are still mad about the products you bought, go complain about it! It's YOUR money!

The same thing happened to me. Yesterday, I was walking in the San Francisco Westfield Mall and one of the ladies from the Secret of the Himalayan kiosk came up to me and began talking with me(What is Dana or Iris, by the way?). Anyhow, when she was showing me the products, I asked her how much this is going to cost she was quiet and kept avoiding the subject. She talked me into a corner to the point I felt obligated to buy from her. SHe then brought me to an eye specialist who sold me the same thing. I tried to say I cannot afford this but she would not take "No" for an answer. She kept saying how she liked me and wanted to give this to me. When I said I could not afford it, she said I should treat myself. When I left with the products, I felt terrible and later that day tried to return the product. The lady said they except no refunds and showed me the sign. I was not aware of the no refund sign. She then said I should not have bought it and I left. I am now filing a complaint against them in the Westfield Mall and am in the process of speaking with the manager of the kiosk.

Update:

The next day (1/15/2010) I called the San Francisco Westfield Mall where I had the run in with Secret of the Himalayan kiosk, to file a complaint. It turns out some of that kiosk's sales tactics were against mall policy, and if they continue they can incur a $250 fine and other corrective action. Let the mall know if you had a similar experience with Secret of the Himalayan and Dead Sea Cosmetics. For the San Francisco Westfield Mall, contact Concierge 415.512.6776 and ask to be connected to the person who manages kiosk rentals, or whoever would be the person to talk to about complaining about a business renting one of their kiosks. You can also go to the Concierge in person. Of course, contact info and mall policies may vary based on your state and city.

In my case, I spoke to the kiosk rentals manager and told her exactly what happened yesterday (1/14/2010) from beginning to end, from the moment the salesgirl kept calling out to me to the moment they let me go 15 minutes after the mall closed. I also told her that they pulled the same thing on me in 2006 when they operated under the same Dead Sea Cosmetics, and that they've collected similar complaints in online complaint websites. I told her that as it stands, I will not visit that area of the mall or avoid the mall altogether, since the salespeople at this kiosk are so aggressive that I would rather go to these lengths to avoid a second experience with them, and that clearly they'll continue doing business like this indefinitely. She empathized to these points. She told me that she will talk to that kiosk's manager and let them know they have to stop doing the things that are against the mall's policy. She told me about the $250 fine they'd incur if they are caught doing it again. So if you went through the same thing at this mall, report it right away. Tell them exactly what happened so they see that Secret of the Himalayan does this to everyone who walks through their mall. More complaints will make it more effective. The reports and the reporter are kept anonymous.

I had the same exact experience as the last person who filed a report before me, Jonathansanfr in December 2009.

My incident happened at the Westfield Mall at 845 Market Street, San Francisco, CA, roughly at 8:30pm, just half an hour before the entire mall closed for the day. I was rushing to Victoria's Secret hoping to catch the store before it closes, but it was my bad luck that I had to walk past the Secret of the Himalayan kiosk to get there. The one kiosk girl, Natalie, kept calling out to me until I gave in and turned back to the kiosk, which interestingly read "Legend of the Himalayan" on its kiosk sign even though their product is "Secret of".

Once I was at the kiosk they didn't let me go. The girl insisted I sample the products. Rub this exfoliating body scrub on your hands, now feel your hands, now smell this body butter, put it on your hands, try this face peel on your wrist, and so on. All the while, she and her brothers (apparently the kiosk is family-operated) would flatter and flirt with me so over-theatrically that it was hard to deny their insincerity and agenda. She said things like, "You're from where? Wow! I like you!" and "You're single? Wow! Did you hear that?" in overly excited, loud tones, and one brother said, "In that case, I come free with that body scrub, " later, "You're how old? I would have guessed younger!" Yet though she was speaking so loudly she stood in my personal space, touching my hands and arm, her face less than 18 inches from mine. She told me I can buy the body scrub and facial peel for $110, which she said is the discount price because it was the anniversary of their company. She showed me the number on a calculator. When I said I did not want to buy and tried to leave, the girl argued and debated with me. "You care about your skin, don't you?" She saw the shopping bag of clothes that I was carrying. She pointed at it and said, "You can return your clothes. You can't return your skin. Now you buy the scrub and the peel. You enjoy it." She would repeat the last two sentences over and over during the course of the evening, the longer I held my ground. Soon the two sentences were said at every other sentence. I still kept saying no and tried to leave, so she started throwing in free products and discounts. She pulled me aside and told me in hushed tones that she doesn't do this for everyone, but since I'm her last customer, and she likes me, she'll throw in another body scrub for free, but that I must keep this to myself or else she will get into trouble with her boss and the other customers. This still doesn't work with me. She shows me a receipt pad and flips through it, telling me these are the sales from previous customers for the day, and they all paid full price. She pointed out how they paid hundred, some thousands of dollars, but for me only $110. I still said no. She then went over to her fairer haired brother, and after talking together in a foreign langauge, the brother gets in on the debate. "You don't like the product? You said you like the product, right?" he asked in a slight but noticeably combative tone. I still maintained that I'm not going to buy these products despite the discounts and freebies. He adds another free product, the body butter, saying he'll put it on his own employee discount code, as long as I don't tell their boss. The girl asks him, "Really?" in an overtheatrically shocked voice, like she's never seen him do this before.

This goes on for quite some time. Long story short, I bought the body scrub and facial peel at $110 ($120 with tax) with another free body scrub and body butter thrown in free. This of course is no deal, but a few dollars more expensive - per product - compared to what I'd have paid on Amazon. I was going to leave when they tried to sell me on some eye treatment. I just held my ground, until luckily it was so late in the evening that they had to let me go to close up their kiosk. But to my fury, it was too late for me to do any shopping that I was supposed to do. It was 9:15pm. They kept me captive for 45 minutes and charged me $110 for my freedom, and by then the mall was completely shut down.

As soon as I got home I googled Secret of the Himalayan. This is what I got:
The Secret of the Himalayan
http://www.thesecretofthehimalayan.com/

Apparently, Secret of the Himalayan has retail locations all over the country, and so is its shady sales practices. I found some online complaint sites with numerous complaints from customers in different states, and their complaints were very similar to the ones on this site.

The Secret of the Himalayan is a product line of the company Swisa Beauty Inc. Swisa Beauty Inc. has international locations, but I've listed the US contact info here for the Americans' convenience.
Swisa Beauty Inc.
Swisa Beauty, Inc. USA
525 International Pkwy Suite 601
Richardson Texas 75081

Tel: 1.866.794.7252
Sec: 214.698.7456
Fax: 214.698.7454

Email: info@swisabeauty.com
Sales: sales@swisabeauty.com
Support: support@swisabeauty.com

In addition to owning Secret of the Himalayan, Swisa also owns the Dead Sea Cosmetics product line. When I read this on the Swisa website, I realized I've run into this horrible kiosk before: back in 2006, in the same mall, when the kiosk was not called "Legend of the Himalayan" but "Dead Sea Cosmetics." Different labels, different fragrances, but essentially the same products with the same purposes... and most of all, the same overagressive sales tactics, misadvertisement, and misleading sales pitches. I might even have been the same salespeople working there at the time. And just like last night, I wasn't able to escape unless I ought something too. I remember trying the Dead Sea stuff to find that they do nothing whatsoever. Total waste of exorbitant amounts of money. I still have the jars, almost full, because of guilt that I spent too much on them to just throw them away.

This company needs to change its business practices. It needs to be brought to the attention of the authorities and law enforcement. I'm going to look into this some more and see what can be done. Perhaps people should report a complaint to Swisa Beauty, or the mall or store buildings where Swisa merchants are practicing these shady sales tactics. If a class action comes of this, I'll be interested to get an update. In the meantime, I'll be researching and spreading my story to as many people as possible.

Wow...I guess I feel a little relieved to know that I wasn't the only one who felt swindled by these himalayans...I'm a 27 yr male, and I was strolling by the kiosk when this girl summoned me over with an enticing "tea" (which may or may not have been drugged...it's still kind of blurry). All of a sudden my hands were caked with sea salt, and she was spraying water on them, while commenting on how white my teeth were, and asking if I had a girlfriend. No, I said. And she stops... How absurd it was that I was single!...lol yeah seriously... And this whole time I swear that she is literally 5 inches away from my face...The next 20 min are still fuzzy...I think at one point she listed all the critical items I HAD to purchase, while every few sentences, throwing in a "You're SINGLE? REALLY?" LOL Then at some point, she literally pulled me over to an uncomfortable corner near the 4th floor railing (I thought about jumping..) and whispered in my ear, "I'll do this for you only! (motion to cream) "this for 69.99" and this one for (really quiet whisper...)...free!" Except it was so quiet and awkward, I couldn't understand what she said. So i was like, huh? She looked around like there were skin-care spies lurking throughout the crowd, grabbed my head, and repeated, in my ear. At this point I'm practically leaning over the balcony. Finally I said fine! ok...Then her partner came over, to seal the deal, and showed me receipts of "earlier customers" who spent hundreds of dollars on products. (They suspiciously were a different shape and color from the one that I ended up signing...hmmm) She assured me that, because she liked me, and of course, that I was single, she would cut me a great deal. Now, the deal she gave me comes out to basically the same thing I can find on Amazon.com so I guess I didn't loose $$ per se, but I definitely wasn't planning on purchasing that many items...
In the end, I learned a good lesson, and my mom is gonna get a (hopefully) great Christmas present.

I had a similar incident today, December 14th, 2009 at the Roseville Galleria in Roseville, California. After spending 30 minutes with salesperson (male), who would simply not let up, and kept trying products on my skin, and I said I would need to go home and do search on the internet, he still wouldn't let up, so, I purchased the Apricot Treatment, and Body Butter (for a total of $113.00, which I discovered on thesecretofhimalayan.com website, only sell for a total of $80.00)...he then talked me into two other products which he quotes would be on sale for just $139.95 each, half off the normal price of $199.99 each)...we settled on both products for $250.00 total, with two free products thrown in (the Hydrosphere eye serum and the Line remover).

They make this seem like such a great deal, when in fact my purchase total of $373.00, would have been only $341.00 if I had gone the the web-site and purchased all six items from the source, no freebies. They simply lie about the prices, as they are no listed anywhere and make you think it is a one time sale.

These kiosks in the mall are a scam, and the salespeople are trained to make you annoyed into buying there products, acting like it is a great deal. I have no idea how the products will actually be, as I can not find any actual reviews of the products.

"buyer beware" comes to mind.

On December 2, 2009, m boy friend had the similar incident at the Beauty Skin Care at 71 Democracy Blvd, Bethesda MD 20817. He somehow was stuck in a small kiosk chair for at list 30 minutes listening to a sales woman and only way he was allow to leave the chair was to purchase the item. He agreed to purchase one item. Then the sales woman began to tell him that he needed 2 other items to be effective. At this point, he just wanted to leave the kisok and agree to purchase all 3. My boy friend at this point was not paying attention to the small "no return policy" and "small price sign" that was on the other side of the kiosk. He just wanted to get away from the sales woman. Without knowing how much each item was and not knowing the return policy, he was ready to sign his credit card bill. When the itmes were totled, the cost of three items were $319.96. He refused to sign the credit card receipt, and then he was told he had to because they have already rang the purchase and they have no way of refunding the money.

To make the long stroy short, I took the items back to the kiosk on December 3, 2009 for a refund since I am allergic to many beauty product and didn't want to try the items, that may not have been approved by FDA. I was told that they did not have a refund policy but would exchange. After my complint, they said they wanted to give me the same beauty supplies so that I would go away. I asked them why they are able to give me free beauty product for free, but unable to provide a refund to the customer who does not want the items any more. They continue to indicate that it was their policy. I told them I didn't want a free product, but want a refund. I didn't not take the free beauty product. Why would I want an extra product when I don't even want the one that we were stuck with?

While I was discussing my problem at the kiosk, I realized that the kiosk had two team. One female and one male. So when a man passes by, a woman grab the man and started her pitch. After 15 minutes, the man said that he wwill come back when he needed the item. The sales woman did not take a "NO" for an answer. She continue to work with him until after 20 minutes, he agreed to buy one item from thier kiosk.

This kind of business tacktic needs to be reported to Better Business Bureau and also to FDA. For a product as expensive as the Secreat of the Himalayan, need to be monitored and control. If you are allergic to their product, there is no refund policy.

Please if you have purchased the Secret of the Himalayan please report to FDA for testing to make sure they are safe for consumers and report them to Better Business Bureau so that their no refund policy can be changed for such an expensive item.