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Months after an Upper East Side spa was accused of fleecing an elderly customer out of tens of thousands of dollars, a second woman — this one 84 — says she walked out of the very same salon with a five-figure charge she insists she never wanted, and a blunt warning for other women her age.
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The woman, Dede Rothenberg, says she was strolling up Madison Avenue after lunch when someone standing outside of Olle Beauty Clinic waved her over with the offer of a free product sample, according to her son David, who relayed his mother’s account.Once inside the 5th floor salon at 22 East 65th Street, a salesperson dabbed something on her upper lip, complimented her appearance, and suggested she could “look even better,” Rothenberg says. The pitch quickly turned to a roughly $500 light-therapy device, which she bought. From there, she says, she was led to a back room where a different employee pushed a far larger package of treatments. Surrounded by two or three people who never quite let her leave, she says she grew worn down and eventually signed for about $10,000 — close to $11,000 with tax — on her credit card.
The persuasion, by her telling, leaned heavily on her age and her marriage. Staff asked whether she didn’t “think she was worth it,” she recalls, and suggested that a husband who cared about her wouldn’t object to spending that made her feel good about herself. “SUCKER THAT I WAS!….I AGREED!” she later wrote in a review, describing how the beauty advisors in the showroom kept insisting the money would be well spent.
By the time she reached the sidewalk, Rothenberg says, she knew she’d made a mistake. She called David immediately. The next day, she and her husband tried to undo the purchase, only to be told the store had a strict no-refund policy, she says. Repeated efforts through American Express and a string of phone calls and letters went nowhere, according to her account. It was only after she mentioned taking her story to the press, the family says, that the business called back about a week later — offering $1,500, a figure she dismissed as insulting.
“A warning to all of you women over 75, strolling on Madison Avenue…don’t get sucked in, as I did!” she wrote.
Rothenberg’s account closely tracks an earlier complaint against the same company. In February, the spa was named in a lawsuit filed by a 77-year-old woman who said she was flattered on the street, lured inside, and ultimately charged more than $65,000 for treatments she repeatedly said she couldn’t afford — a case first reported by the New York Post.
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East Side Feed was unable to connect with anyone at Olle Beauty Clinic, despite calling three of its listed phone numbers, leaving a voicemail, and sending a message via Instagram. In a public reply to Rothenberg’s online review, however, the business said it was “very sorry” to hear about her experience and regretted that she felt pressured, “especially given how vulnerable that must have felt.” The company said it takes allegations of high-pressure sales “very seriously,” had escalated her case to an Executive Customer Care team to review the contract and her refund request, and pledged that someone would contact her within 48 hours. “We are committed to resolving this promptly and ensuring our practices protect all guests,” the response read.For now, the family says it’s weighing its options — among them complaints to the Better Business Bureau and the state Attorney General’s office. David is careful to frame the effort as a push for accountability rather than revenge, and stops short of accusing the spa of anything illegal, describing it instead as an aggressive, predatory sales operation that preys on older customers.
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