An employee of Santa Fe Spa Center by Voupre stands outside the business Thursday on West San Francisco Street. The spa is facing a lawsuit alleging violations of the Unfair Practices Act.
An employee of Santa Fe Spa Center by Voupre stands outside the business Thursday on West San Francisco Street. The spa is facing a lawsuit alleging violations of the Unfair Practices Act.
A downtown Santa Fe spa whose employees prey on would-be customers from the sidewalk is accused of bilking unsuspecting patrons out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
State Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Santa Fe Spa Center by Voupre and its owner, Sahar Hori, alleging violations of the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act.
An investigation by the New Mexico Department of Justice revealed "Voupre charged customers for products they didn’t agree to or receive, using misleading claims and aggressive sales tactics," the agency alleges in a news release announcing the complaint. "Consumers were pressured into purchases, only to find their credit cards charged for inflated amounts, well beyond what was agreed."
Hori did not return a message left at the spa Thursday.
"His lawyer is on top of this," an unidentified employee said as Paula Abdul's "Cold Hearted" played over the spa's speakers. "It's false, false, false."
The lawsuit, which accuses the spa's employees of using "aggressive sales tactics to lure tourists and often older consumers into the store with promises of a free facial treatment," highlights a series of alleged high-dollar scams by the spa, which is near the Plaza on West San Francisco Street.
In August 2023, the lawsuit states, spa employees convinced a customer to purchase a skin cream, saying it would cost $2,800.
"Relying on the representation, the consumer agreed to the purchase," the lawsuit states, alleging the customer was instead charged $28,000.
The same month, the lawsuit states, the spa lured a customer from the street with the promise of a free sample of eye cream. Once inside, an employee offered the customer a refreshing face mask for free and used a device with "red light therapy" to perform the procedure.
"The employee then tried to sell the red-light machine to the consumer for $30,000," the lawsuit states. "The consumer balked, but after more and more aggressive sales tactics, the consumer relented and agreed to the purchase."
The suit alleges employees convinced the customer to open the box in the store. After regretting the purchase, the customer tried to return the machine the next day, but employees refused, saying the spa had a no refunds or return policy, which they had not previously disclosed, the lawsuit states.
The same employees who had instructed the customer to open the box in front of them "told the customer that they would not refund the red-light machine because the box had been opened," the suit states.
A year earlier, spa employees convinced another patron to go into the store by offering a free sample of eye cream. Once inside the store, spa employees offered a free facial treatment that was scheduled for the next day. The customer was "subjected to aggressive sales tactics and agreed to purchase a handful of products" and handed an employee a credit card and driver's license, the lawsuit states.
The employee "verbally misrepresented the price of products" and tried to sell additional items to the customer, who refused, only to discover the spa "had made unauthorized charges to her credit card multiple times, including unauthorized charges for $64,000, $16,000 and $17,280," the lawsuit alleges.
When the customer confronted the spa with the unauthorized and undisclosed charges, an employee said the spa would only drop the $64,000 charge, according to the lawsuit. The employee gave the customer a phone number to address the other charges, but the number was disconnected.
On Thursday, the spa was still open for business. Two employees stood outside the storefront trying to lure customers in.
"We don't pull them," one of the employees said. "We give them sample, then if they want, they can come in for another sample."
She expressed surprise at the allegations in the lawsuit, including inflated charges.
"In this store? What?" she asked. "But we don't do that."
Lauren Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the state Department of Justice, noted the lawsuit seeks an injunction against the business.
"The complaint requests temporary and permanent injunctive relief to prevent any further deceptive, unconscionable or fraudulent conduct," she said in a statement. "As the litigation progresses, the NMDOJ will take all necessary steps, including potentially filing a motion for a preliminary injunction, to ensure consumers are protected from further harm. We will also make additional claims if we become aware of additional consumer complaints."
The agency encourages consumers affected by Voupre Spa to file a complaint at nmdoj.gov/get-help.
Torrez, the attorney general, said in a statement the lawsuit demonstrates his department's commitment to holding businesses accountable and protecting New Mexicans.
"Thanks to consumer complaints, we launched an investigation that uncovered the fraudulent tactics Voupre used to extract unjustified amounts from unsuspecting patrons," he said.
