The Happy Castle indoor playground at Seletar Mall has allegedly closed on 22 August 2019, without prior notice, leaving many parents in Singapore feeling upset and cheated.
It was said that some parents had been encouraged to buy packages very recently—not being informed of the impending closure.
PHOTO: FACEBOOK/CAROL CHIN
Happy Castle Indoor playground’s sudden closure leaves parents unhappy and cheated
Mummy Carol Chin’s Facebook post on 22 August that brought the incident to light.
“They made a lot of mummies (I’m one of them, unfortunately) to sign package and gave news that they are expanding with a few new locations.“
“Just last week we went to use our package and signed a new 20 hours one because Aly enjoys it a lot! Sooo angry now!” she wrote.
We asked Carol—a mummy of 2—if she could elaborate more on the issue, and she told us that she was encouraged to buy a package on 12 August 2019. She also knows one mum who bought a package on 17 August.
“A lot of us are requesting for refunds but they refused,” Carol tells us.
“I honestly think that a company with ethics and social responsibility would stop selling their packages and inform their clients that they are moving somewhere else.”
In fact, when Carol voiced her displeasure on a parents chat group, she realised that many parents had gone through the same situation. The centre was allegedly aggressively promoting their packages at Seletar Mall even on the day before closure.
PHOTO FROM CAROL CHIN
“I usually don’t sign packages because I know the danger. And confirm it’s impossible to get a refund back from them. I signed the package (this time) because they obviously look so popular and look as though they are making money!” shares Carol.
The playground’s Tampines outlet too had apparently closed suddenly without notice, last year.
Another mummy, Uma Mahendra Prasad, tried approaching Happy Castle for refunds but was told that wasn’t possible.
“I bought the $78 package for the second time on 17 August 2019, and it was closed yesterday.”
“How can the staff not know the outlet is closing the following week!”
We spotted many complaints on Happy Castle’s Facebook page too:
SCREENGRAB FACEBOOK/HAPPY CASTLE
Meanwhile, in its latest Facebook post, Happy Castle invites members “to get your haircut fix at our Happy Castle Hair Salon located at Suntec City Shopping Centre!”
“We will be giving away one free haircut to members of our Century Square & Seletar Mall outlets. Kindly pm us to qualify for this redemption.”
But as you can see, not many parents were impressed:
SCREENGRAB FACEBOOK/HAPPY CASTLE
theAsianparent has reached out to Happy Castle for clarification but hasn’t received a response as of publication. We hope to get an update on this soon.
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