Post: #1

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapo...ne-6-sim-l

Quote:SINGAPORE - A Vietnamese tourist walked away from Sim Lim Square poorer by about three months' salary, and without the iPhone 6 he had hoped to get for his girlfriend.

The incident is the latest dispute involving a mobile phone shop that made headlines earlier after it reportedly refunded a customer in coins.

Mr Pham Van Thoai, a factory worker, was so desperate he knelt down to beg the shop employees to return his hard-earned cash, but only got refunded less than half of what he paid.

On holiday here with his girlfriend, Mr Pham wanted to get her the latest iPhone as a birthday gift.

He forked out $950 for the smartphone at Mobile Air, and was going to leave when he was asked to pay an additional $1,500 as warranty fees.

Mr Pham, 30, broke down as he spoke to a reporter from local Chinese daily, Lianhe Zaobao, on Monday.

"I'm only a factory worker, earning about $200 a month, $950 is a few months' pay. It's a large sum for me, I'm really very sad," he said.

He had been asked to sign an agreement, but did not scrutinise it as his English was not fluent, and he thought Singapore was a safe place to shop.

"When they asked me if I wanted one year or two years' warranty, I assumed that the one-year warranty was complimentary, so I said one year. He didn't say I have to pay," he told Zaobao.

He was told that if he did not pay up for the warranty, he could not leave without the phone.

Mr Pham said he knelt down and begged for his money back, but they just laughed at him.

They finally agreed to return $600 to him, but his girlfriend refused to leave without the rest of the money and called the police.

When police arrived, staff at Mobile Air said Mr Pham had signed an agreement with them, and offered to refund him just $70.

After intervention from the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case), he got a refund of $400, but was still short of $550.

"I am going home in two days, and I don't want any trouble, so I decided to accept the partial refund." Mr Pham said, adding that he was not sure Case would be able to get him a full refund.

Case says Mobile Air has 14 consumer complaints lodged against it from July to September, one of the highest among retailers here.

It made headlines last week for paying back $1,010 in coins to a woman who had won a claim against them in the Small Claims Tribunal.

This is way beyond pathetic.

TL;DR version: guy is only a factory worker earning 200$/month. Take girlfriend on trip to Singapore, decides to buy her an Iphone 6. The store scammed them and basically the guy gets no phone and loses his $. He went on his knees, crying and begging the store to give him back his money, while the girlfriend calls the police.

First, he spent a FUCKHUGE sum of money on a girl. Not counting the trip itself.

Second, he was clueless enough to buy from scammers and not checking the sale details.

Third, confronted with hardship, instead of manning up, he went down on his knees crying and begging for mercy, while HIS GIRLFRIEND had to play the tough guise and called the police.

Sometimes I just don't understand... I did stupid pathetic things during my beta days but this....

Post: #2

Quote:hey finally agreed to return $600 to him, but his girlfriend refused to leave without the rest of the money and called the police.

When police arrived, staff at Mobile Air said Mr Pham had signed an agreement with them, and offered to refund him just $70.

After intervention from the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case), he got a refund of $400, but was still short of $550.

He started out in a pretty good position at $600 back but then his girlfriend made a scene and he ended up with even less.

Post: #3

Game saves money.

Post: #4

The things men do for pussy.

Clearly this man doesn't have his finances in order or is a smart spender.

Also, FUCK that shop, I would've raised hell !

Post: #5

All so she can use that shiny new iPhone to communicate with other men.

Post: #6

Hate to say this, but I never have experiences like this; it's a good thing to be tall, jacked, and Black, you don't get fucked with like that.

I would have walked out with my money, a little extra for punitive damages, and two of their bitches.

Post: #7

Really no need to blame the guy here. He is a factory worker in Vietnam for god's sake. His English is probably non existent. He assumed that it was safe to shop in Singapore which to me seems like a reasonable assumption to make even if you're educated. RVF has a good number of posts of guys getting scammed (Beijing tea ceremony scam and so on). That doesn't mean they're all stupid and clueless. We just all let our guard down sometimes - and this kind of thing certainly should not be expected in Singapore. Let's not forget that his whole holiday got screwed because of this. I don't wish that on anyone.

The only dumb thing here is buying something worth three months' salary for a girl. But that's how things work in Asia. Material value over anything. At least the girl stood up for him and tried to help. I wouldn't complain about that at all. At least she's not a passive, entitled princess then. Oh, and there's a silver lining: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/we-ne...an-iphone6

Post: #8

(11-05-2014 12:42 PM)jariel Wrote:  Hate to say this, but I never have experiences like this; it's a good thing to be tall, jacked, and Black, you don't get fucked with like that.

I would have walked out with my money, a little extra for punitive damages, and two of their bitches.

I'd have disguised myself as a 6ft 2 Singaporean man, and infiltrated their shady iPhone swindling operation, then brought it down from the inside.

Post: #9

If the phone doesn't bend over, neither does she. He needs to learn a lesson from Skittles man.

Post: #10

This isn't an issue of the guy being beta. This couldn've happened to anyone who went to that store.

The problem is that he didn't do this due diligence and read the contract. And the store knows they don't.

Damn! He spent a quarter of his annual income. My last date cost 8.00(3.99 Jiffy Pop and 4.00 to wash her poosy juice off my sheets).

Post: #11

(11-05-2014 02:01 PM)atlant Wrote:  Oh, and there's a silver lining: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/we-ne...an-iphone6

Holy shit. They raised nearly $10,000 for this guy. Assuming they pass on the full amount to him, he just scored 5 years salary.

Post: #12

(11-05-2014 05:02 PM)RawGod Wrote:  

(11-05-2014 02:01 PM)atlant Wrote:  Oh, and there's a silver lining: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/we-ne...an-iphone6

Holy shit. They raised nearly $10,000 for this guy. Assuming they pass on the full amount to him, he just scored 5 years salary.

Good for him, but $5 says she'll go on the trip then eject from the relationship when they get back.

I just can't see a man groveling on his knees still getting respect from his lady.

Post: #13

(11-05-2014 05:29 PM)kaotic Wrote:  

(11-05-2014 05:02 PM)RawGod Wrote:  

(11-05-2014 02:01 PM)atlant Wrote:  Oh, and there's a silver lining: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/we-ne...an-iphone6

Holy shit. They raised nearly $10,000 for this guy. Assuming they pass on the full amount to him, he just scored 5 years salary.

Good for him, but $5 says she'll go on the trip then eject from the relationship when they get back.

I just can't see a man groveling on his knees still getting respect from his lady.

Yep. And he'll be able to take her on dates from his new-found wealth but I doubt she will be impressed.

Hope things work out for him.

Post: #14

Getting down on one's knees is not the way to go when being scammed like that.

At the very least, walk out with your money. If that's not possible, return with police or a crew and express your displeasure to the scammers.

Post: #15

That's a tough one to handle. Since this store scams people on a regular basis, its employees are probably experienced with facing down angry customers. If this guy had tried to strong arm them, the Singapore police likely would have arrested him. Also, this store's owner may be this arrogant because he/she has already paid off the local wise guys for top cover.

Perhaps after calling the Singapore police and CASE, he would have told them he wasn't going to leave the store until he got a full refund, then called in some take out food to show them that he meant what he said. In the meantime, his girlfriend could have been busy calling the local newspapers seeing if they were interested in coming down for the story and sending mass tweets complaining about it.

Post: #16

(11-05-2014 12:42 PM)jariel Wrote:  Hate to say this, but I never have experiences like this; it's a good thing to be tall, jacked, and Black, you don't get fucked with like that.

I would have walked out with my money, a little extra for punitive damages, and two of their bitches.

I would have fast-roped onto the roof from a helicopter. Then I would have fixed shaped charges, and then blown a hole in the roof. Then I would have dropped concussion grenades into the lobby.

In the chaos, I would have taken my money and a hostage as well.