Beauty clinics collapse around Sydney, staff and customers left in limbo

The first sign something was wrong was when customers realised their appointments had been cancelled. That was just the beginning.

Authorities are investigating a beauty chain after it abruptly shut its doors, leaving staff unpaid and customers hundreds of dollars out of pocket.

News.com.au can reveal that Future Laser and Body Clinic, which had three stores in Sydney, has ceased trading.

Customers had forked out hundreds of dollars in prepaid laser sessions while staff who spoke to news.com.au on condition of anonymity said they are owed thousands in unpaid wages and superannuation.

Future Laser and Body Clinics is currently the second most complained about business in the state according to the NSW Fair Trading register, receiving 49 complaints from customers in the past month.

The only business that has received more complaints is Mos X, a struggling moss selling business founded by ex Married At First Sight star Brent Vitiello, with a total of 68 customer reports.

NSW Fair Trading confirmed they are investigating Future Laser and Body Clinic. News.com.au knows several employees who have also made complaints to the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Staff claim they were subjected to a “toxic” work environment where they were pushed to meet ambitious business targets or be fired, and that issues with the company’s solvency had cropped up as early as last year.

“Therapists weren’t showing up because they weren’t being paid,” said Amani, a 19-year-old beauty therapist who estimates she is owed between $7000 and $10,000 in unpaid wages.

Dozens of customers have lodged complaints with NSW Fair Trading as they have paid for services that haven’t been delivered.

Customers have grown increasingly desperate to get hold of the beauty business after it shut down.

Aesthetic Laser and Body Clinic Pty Ltd is the holding entity of Future Laser and Body Clinics.

Ibrahem ‘Ibby’ Sabra, a 33-year-old from Sydney’s west, is listed as the sole director and owner of the holding company, according to ASIC documents.

The business is still registered.

Bizcap AU, which provides loans to small businesses, lodged winding up proceedings against the business and three other company Mr Sabra directs in May.

Court documents state the businesses cumulatively owe $79,000 after a debt was taken out last year.

News.com.au understands Bizcap AU had made several efforts to recover their funds before taking legal action. They were contacted for comment.

This is not the first time a beauty business run by Mr Sabra has sensationally collapsed; in 2023, Elan Laser Clinics, with stores in Sydney and the Gold Coast, also bit the dust.

The Elan business was transferred to another man from Western Sydney. Although Elan is still a registered company on ASIC, it does not appear to be trading. Its emails bounced and its phone number is disconnected and it hasn’t made a post on social media since 2023.

Elan Laser Clinics and Mr Sabra have been contacted for comment.

Elan Laser was offering up to 80 per cent off laser services for customers who prepaid before it shut down with no explanation.

And a similar occurrence has happened at Future Laser.

Customers told news.com.au they were coaxed into handing over hundreds of dollars in prepayments because of a series of promotions that was advertised in the months leading up to Future Laser’s shut down.

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Ibrahem ‘Ibby’ Sabra, a 33-year-old from Sydney’s west, is listed as the sole director and owner of the holding company.

Mr Sabra featured on A Current Affair in 2023 for another beauty business of his, Elan Laser Clinics, abruptly shutting down.

Amira Hussein, 30, said she was a regular customer and used to drive more than an hour to get to a Future Laser clinic in Granville.

Ms Hussein, a single mum, saw a deal where if she bulk bought four sessions minimum, she got everything for half price – $150 instead of $300.

“I thought that’s actually good,” she told news.com.au. “I said I’ll do it. They said they would like my payment straight away.”

Although she paid for the treatments at the end of last year, Future Laser told her they were fully booked out until April.

But by the time her appointment date came and went, the business had shut up shop.

“Closer to the date I tried to call them so many times,” she lamented. When calls, texts and messages on social media went unanswered, she went to their Granville branch and saw it had shut down.

“That’s $720 down the drain. I haven’t even had one facial or laser,” Ms Hussein said.

Future Laser and Body Clinic had three stores in Sydney’s west.

Customers and staff have been left scrambling for answers.

Then there’s Tatjana Nikcevic, who jumped at the opportunity to get a full body laser treatment for $75 a session as normally it would cost at least $300.

The 24-year-old paid for 10 sessions upfront as part of the promotion in January.

Ms Nikcevic managed to get to one laser session but after that, every time she tried to lock down an appointment time, she received a text message informing her the treatment had been cancelled “due to unforeseen circumstances”.

She tried to call the business but its number had been disconnected. And when she visited the clinic, its roller doors were shut for good.

“I’m currently working in a warehouse. I work hard for my money,” Ms Nikcevic said.

She’s been left more than $600 out of pocket.

Tatjana Nikcevic is $600 out of pocket.

Ms Nikcevic said the promotion was too good a deal to pass up.

Staff claim they’ve had trouble getting paid as far back as last year – and have said the writing was on the wall given the pressure they were under to make money.

A number of women who worked at Future Laser – most of them aged between 19 and 21 – claim they were “verbally abused” during their shifts and were threatened with termination to incentivise them to push more treatments on customers.

Jacinta* has lodged a claim with the Fair Work Ombudsman claiming she is owed as much as $5000 in unpaid wages from November.

“I left in November,” Jacinta said. “They stopped paying me, so I stopped showing up to work. We were begging for our pay.”

Future Laser then began launching promotions to customers the following month.

Another beauty therapist, Amani, said the business set them insane KPI targets to meet.

“They threatened us. If we don’t make $1500 a day we’d get fired, we had to make that much money or we’d get told off or screamed at,” she said.

Amani is owed the most that news.com.au knows of – which could be as high as $10,000 – and has lodged a claim with the Fair Work ombudsman.

She said her contract stated that if she burned a customer, or if they otherwise left a complaint about a negative experience, then Future Laser would deduct $200 from her pay.

So when she ended up resigning after months of not being paid, she was shocked the discover the business was deducting more than $2000 from her final wages.

“When I was quitting, I had no customer complaints. I was not aware of anything (like that),” Amani said.

At least 49 customers have been impacted.

A small loan provider is trying to put the company into liquidation.

Emma*, 19, another beauty clinician who is owed thousands, claims the only payment she ever received was done through PayID, which she found “weird”.

She also said she sometimes worked 9am until 9pm with no breaks. And she was expected to get to work half an hour early, so was supposed to be there by 8.30am. If she got there at 8.35am, she was told off for being late. It led to long, exhausting 12.5 hour days.

Emma also said staff would be berated if they didn’t make video content of the work they were doing.

“It wasn’t the best environment.”

Staff were informed that the Wetherill Park clinic was undergoing renovations – but Emma said she later found out it had simply shut down.

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Originally published as Beauty clinics collapse around Sydney, staff and customers left in limbo