Rosedale Tanning Salon's Closing Leaves Customers Feeling Burned

Sheri Moore had hoped to take full advantage of a gift certificate her husband recently gave her to a Rosedale tanning salon.

The $65 gift certificate to Yucatan helped Moore, who lives in Essex, purchase one month of tanning. She got to use the membership once. When she showed up on Feb. 28 for her second session, the doors were locked, the lights were off and the business was closed.

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“Everything was just gone,” Moore said. “The business went under without any warning. They were there one day and gone the next. They stole our money.”

Moore said she knows of dozens of people who felt cheated by the sudden closing of Yucatan, which was located on the 8700 block of Philadelphia Road in the Ross Village Shopping Center.

“I had some friends that paid with a credit card and could challenge the charges,” Moore said. “But those that paid with cash or a gift certificate like me seem to be out of luck.”

The shopping center’s property manager,  Bel Air-based CM Commercial Realty Inc. would only confirm that the lease for Yucatan expired and that the owners closed the business. The phone number listed for the business was disconnected.

Maryland assistant attorney general Karen Straughn, director of the office’s mediation unit, said she was aware of the issues regarding Yucantan but no formal complaints had been filed yet.

Straughn said anyone who believes they had their money taken from Yucatan can file a complaint through the Office of the Attorney General’s website.

“No business has the right to take your money knowing they are going to close,” Straughn said. “Once a complaint has been filed we can try to work with the customers and the business to try and settle the situation through mediation. If that doesn’t work, we can then take enforcement action.”

Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland spokesman Jody Thomas said those who believe Yucatan improperly took their money can also file a complaint through her organization’s website.

Thomas suggest several steps consumers can take to avoid similar situations including always paying for memberships with a credit card so chages can be challenged, and using gift certificates quickly, especially when dealing with smaller, independent businesses like Yucatan.

“When you use a check, pay with cash and in some cases with a debit card, you have less recourse than with a credit card,” Thomas said.

“When you are dealing with an establishment that goes out of business, the consumers are often the low ones on the food chain when it comes to creditors. It’s the customers who are often the ones that get their money back last, if at all.”

Were you a member at Yucatan before it closed? If so, how much money did you lose? Tell us your story in the comments section below.