Hotstone Yoga, a yoga chain specialising in ganbanyoku (hot stone) yoga that had been operating for over 10 years, suddenly announced its closure a few days ago. Many customers reported that they were still being pitched courses last month. Hong Kong Customs said in response that as of 8 am today (Oct 5), it had received a total of 717 reports concerning the yoga centre, involving service contracts worth about HK$8.1 million.
Customs, after receiving related complaints and conducting an investigation, arrested a 61-year-old male company director of Hotstone Yoga. Customs said Hotstone Yoga was still selling service courses and accepting prepayments from consumers before its closure, and it is suspected that the company, when accepting payments, had no reasonable grounds to believe it could provide the relevant services within a reasonable or specified time — an offence of "wrongfully accepting payment" under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance.
Customs said it will continue to investigate the business and financial situation of the company before its closure, as well as whether there were any unusual sales activities. It urged affected members of the public to file reports as soon as possible, adding that further arrests are not ruled out.
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