Scumbags Walk Amongst Us

THIS IS NOT A FOOD POST

There are.......unscrupulous businessmen on this earth......still!!

I sent my laptop for repairs recently to a computer service centre (which occupies a corner lot on Jalan 1/23E) in Pandan Indah.

 

After diagnosis (which I was told would be chargeable at RM30 if I decide not to go ahead with the repairs), the boss/owner discovered that the graphic chip was faulty and the cost of replacement and repairs will be RM350 with 1 month warranty. 

 

I decided against doing the repairs as I felt it was expensive and subsequently informed the boss of my decision.  He told me to come and collect my laptop the following morning.

 

I paid the RM30 and took my laptop home.  Later in the evening, when my husband checked it, he said that the power adapter and cable were not the same ones.  My son came and had a look and he, too, concurred that it was not ours:

 

1.  Our adapter had a green indicator light when turned on....the one returned did not.

2.  Our adapter had a L-shaped power connector....the one returned was straight.

 

We took the adapter and cable back to the computer shop and told the boss/owner that they didn't give us back the right adapter and cable.  He insisted that those were the ones we gave him. 

 

This is the pic of the one we got back.

 

But our one should actually look like this (photo provided by my sister-in-law who bought the same Acer laptop as me around the same time as well).

I believed he swiped my original adapter in the hope of making a few bucks off it (by selling it off as second-hand, maybe) since I didn't want to proceed with the repairs and he couldn't make money out of me.  He couldn't have mistakenly given it to someone else because:

 

1.  He didn't even once said he could have mistakenly given it to someone else (as if he already knew what he did).

 

2.  I looked at his order book and he's got like only 3 repairs in a week.  I saw chits dated 1 Mar, 27 Feb and 25 Feb (so there's no way he could have mixed it up because he hardly got any business).

 

3.  When I put up a fuss (for not getting back what I originally gave) and requested that he returns my RM30, he returned it without much of a confrontation (and that made me believe even more that he's not as innocent as he seems).

Not once did he offer to look around for it (in case he had mistakenly given me the wrong one) but just kept insisting that's the one I gave him.

 

I don't know if he or someone else (he's got only 2 staff in his shop) swiped it intentionally or not...I don't really care as it's his responsibility to ensure he returns the right stuff to his customers, otherwise he's got no business to be in business!

 

I cannot believe that there are such unscrupulous and unethical people (the scums of the earth) among us still with no moral principles whatsoever.  This act of his was so 'low' just to make a few miserable dollars....shame on him!

 

I am so mad, not because of the value of my adapter/cable that I've lost, but I just don't like to be cheated and made a fool of (read my earlier post on being cheated on my "long yoke" purchase).

 

Lessons Learnt:

 

1.  Send your computer/notebook for repairs to shops/people recommended by someone or those that you know or have dealt with before.

 

2.  Take photos of your adapter (especially the serial no.) and cable.

 

3.  Stick something (that cannot be easily torn or peeled off) on your adapter and cable to indicate that it is yours.

 

4.  Trust no-one and safeguard yourselves at all times!!

 

5.  Can't believe that there are still unscrupulous cheapskate businessmen (aka 'scumbags') in this world who are out to make a quick buck at any expense!!!

 

As I had no physical proof (since I didn't do step 2), there was nothing I could do...it would be my word against his.

I write/share this in the hope that others don't get 'taken for a ride' by these scumbags who still walk amongst us!  A little bit of consolation (not much) is that I got back my RM30 (I would much rather have gotten back what belonged to me and not the RM30).
 

Update:  This computer repair shop has since closed down...deservingly so coz when you're a cheat and a scumbag, don't expect to stay in business for long!!!