Singapore shop tricks woman into paying $1000 for PSP
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Aug 6th 2008 at 10:00AM }
Take this following story as a lesson on why you should be an educated shopper and do research before you head into a store. A 41 year old Singaporean woman went shopping for a new PSP at a Lucky Plaza shop. She met a courteous and helpful assistant who directed her to a Black PSP system. There are so many capabilities of the PSP, but he explained that with a "software upgrade," it can do much more, such as surf the Internet and play games for free. Fifteen minutes later, the clerk came back with a massive bill: $3500."Nicole," the unfortunate victim in this scam, refused to buy a system that cost as much as a laptop. However, the clerk said that they had already paid for the "costly" licenses. She asked why other shops only charged a few hundred dollars for the system ($300 according to the original article) and the clerk claimed the licenses "were not original."
After some haggling, she was able to get the cost down to $2600. Later, her brother informed her that she had essentially been robbed. She went back to the store and demanded a refund -- but she agreed to pay $1000. When complaining to the Consumers Association of Singapore, she was denied any further help because she had already agreed to pay the store.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
pat1202003 @ Aug 6th 2008 10:33AM
Always research before you shop. I can't believe she paid that much for a PSP.
Nate @ Aug 6th 2008 12:08PM
The thing is, it says she KNEW other stores sold them for $300. Who the hell pays 8x what they know other people are charging? I guess they tried to scam her into thinking the other ones were black market or something? I still wouldn't pay that much without first going to the other guys and looking more closely.
Yes, scamming people is bad, but it's at least partly her own fault.
Maverick Saturn @ Aug 6th 2008 10:53AM
Shes nuts, how much would she have paid for a PS3 then?
Ben @ Aug 6th 2008 11:23AM
It's Singapore. I doubt she's terribly well educated. I don't know how she got that money though o.0
Paul (PSN: heypaul) @ Aug 6th 2008 11:39AM
Are you kidding me? If you'd done as little as one minute of research (Wikipedia search, anyone?), you'd come to the conclusion that Singapore is no third world country. She was likely reasonably well educated - just not well versed in technology, similar to how you're not well versed in, say, knowledge of foreign countries.
Ben @ Aug 6th 2008 12:45PM
Which is what I was referring to. Did I ever once say she was living in some one-room hut cooking gruel on a pot suspended over a fire? I was saying that it wasn't likely she would have known what the hell the salesman was talking about. If you would hop off your "lololol I KNOWZ ABOUT ASIA LOL!" e-penis boosting train of thought you may have considered that people other than you happen to, you know, know things.
BLee @ Aug 6th 2008 3:22PM
that's what you were referring to? the context of your original comment doesnt come off that way, "It's Singapore. I doubt she's terribly well educated. I don't know how she got that money though o.0" So you say its in Singapore, then you doubt she's well educated without a qualifier and then you question her income or financial status..
Sounds like an ignorant comment to me..
Paul (PSN: heypaul) @ Aug 6th 2008 5:04PM
Oh, please. Who do you think you're fooling?. You assumed that the woman was both uneducated and poor because, well, "it's Singapore." Just man up, admit that someone caught you in a spoke-too-soon-about-something-I-knew-nothing-about moment, and create a new user account to save yourself the future embarassment. And yes, many people know about Asia, just not you, evidentally.
Brice Puls @ Aug 6th 2008 5:04PM
As a person who LIVES in Singapore, I can assure you, this woman was most likely a very well educated person. The country has a stellar educational system, and is one of the cleanest and most technologically advanced cities on the planet.
As for Lucky Plaza, I can see why this would happen there because several of those stores to deal in some rather shady business Before the crackdown on piracy here, that used to be THE place for fake Game Boy games, illegal software, and pirated DVDs. Other locations in Singapore have far more trustworthy service.
lonesomefolly @ Aug 6th 2008 7:35PM
She was what, 41? That's your god damned explanation. There IS civilization outside the USA, believe it or not (and they don't have to pay for college).
EphemeralBlithe @ Aug 15th 2008 3:03PM
As a lady born and raised in Singapore, i'd like to educate YOU and say that education is made compulsory by the law and that the woman in the article is most likely educated. Yes, we're an island nation but we're also a developed country with no trillion-dollar debt (unlike the states) and yes, we can speak English. I, for one, can say i speak English better than many Americans (I live in L.A. now and everyone's surprised at my fluency in the English language). We're not your typical 3rd-world or developing Asian country. Look up Singapore and maybe you'd learn a thing or 2 about how advanced our infrastructure and technology are. Sure, the woman in the article isn't very IT-savvy, but to say "It's Singapore. I doubt she's terribly well educated", displays your ignorance and lack of education.
Ben @ Aug 15th 2008 11:53PM
Not really, no.
Acid Cake @ Aug 24th 2008 12:30PM
Hey Ben, you know something? I'd really like to preserve the name of my country and all that shit but what you said really fucking ticks me off. The fact that you stated "It's Singapore" really pisses me off. So can I ask you something jerkwad? Have you been to Singapore? Have you conversed with Singporeans? Have you in any way been related to a Singaporean? Who the fuck are you to describe another one's country as an ineducated state, if you say no, then wtf was up with the "not really, no". You uncaring incoherent cock mucher, in the end it does not boil down to a arguement of the civility of a nation it's a fucking talk about your cold ass attitude to the outside world if you simply assume the rest of the world is like that then I'd like to see what kind of background you've hail from. Your life must've simply comprised of people living in a fucking barrier, potemkin bitch. No country is fucking perfect but Singapore does no comprise of a bunch of retarded old people, and I'll give you that, if you can't even get that into your head then shut the fuck up, stop judging people by their country and fuck off. By the way you talk it sounds like your country comprises of whining adolescents and bunch of motromouthed IT-savvy judgemental bastards. How does that sound? Just because one 41 year old lady gets scammed for a psp doesn't mean they all fucking pay 1000 for it. It's a fucking global thing getting scammed, just ask your self how man old ladies in your country have been scammed for shit.
Ben @ Aug 24th 2008 2:41PM
A ton of them have? Well. Post succesful. Massive trolling achieved. I bet my friend 10 bucks I couldn't get my comment chain this long. Awesome.
Paul (PSN: heypaul) @ Aug 6th 2008 11:31AM
Unfortunately, this isn't really uncommon at mom & pop shops in Asia. I bought my PSP in Hong Kong and though I got the system reasonably priced, the guy tried to sell me a standard mini USB cable for $30. When I told him I already had plenty of free standard USB cables from various other devices I had, he told me that they were all different so I should buy it anyway. I just laughed and said "No, thank you," but I wonder how many people get conned into it. Pretty different from the view of mom & pop stores in America, huh?
greensoul @ Aug 6th 2008 1:09PM
i cant believe Consumers Association of Singapore did not help.....it is obvisely that the shop assistant was cheating and lying to the woman in the begining.
kanauru @ Aug 6th 2008 4:14PM
"She went back to ths store and demanded a refund -- but she agreed to pay $1000."
She already was informed that she was being ripped off but still agreed to buy it for $1000. But if she tried to get a refund and they didn't pay her back, then she could complain.
Kherka @ Aug 6th 2008 11:52AM
I think that thats 1000 Singapore Dollars.
She made a wrong decision by going to that "Lucky Plaza" because opposite to the Lucky Plaza, there's Sony Center. She could have bought genuine PSP from there.
3 years ago I went to Singapore and bought one from Sony.
The real difference is cost and origin of the PSP. They mostly sell PSP-2000s that are Japanese models.
asdasd @ Aug 6th 2008 12:22PM
LOOOOL ROFLCOPTER SHE GOT OWNED, that's way to much
Gl4cier @ Aug 6th 2008 3:47PM
lucky plaza, sim lim square those are the same, sometimes they just rip apart everything in box and hell they can even sell you the manual book already included in box haha
btw they will also lied to customer like the custom firmware are made by them -___-
asuma08 @ Aug 6th 2008 5:35PM
Look at the end of the article.
'My friends all say I'm so stupid,' Nicole said.
ROFL!!!!!
Almadi @ Aug 6th 2008 6:01PM
Sounds like a typical day in Saudi Arabia. It's the poker faced clerks you should be wary of, with the grinning ones, its easy to sense a scam.
Jeremy @ Aug 6th 2008 11:00PM
It actually sounds like she had custom firmware put on it.
"play games for free." Anyway, is pretty much the give away.
Kelvin Liow @ Aug 7th 2008 12:28AM
Most likely the woman is a Caucasian or x-pat or from the elite society living in Singapore as these are the ppl who earns more money a month then the average local in 5-7 years. These ppl are always so busy with their "work" or job that they don't do any research before purchasing anything unlike the rest of us; the cash-strapped. They will basically go to a shop and just buy anything and the only question they will ask sometimes is: if the product comes in a diffrent color. Anyhow these ppl are always suckers in any Asian country. Basically it boils down to business & sales ethics at the end.
aj @ Aug 7th 2008 4:16AM
There is a store that I know of that is completely and utterly evil about pricing.
I watched a woman ask the clerk "how much for a Nintendo DS"?
He said 200$. She said that other stores sell them for a lot less, but then he explained that those other stores sell the "old ones" that aren't as good. The woman told him where the clerk could shove the Nintendo DS, and my laughter helped.
So if you're ever in the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, AB, don't go to the video game shop.
adryan @ Aug 7th 2008 8:01AM
It's probably a modded PSP with a big stick & preloaded games.
psychohare @ Aug 8th 2008 4:06AM
it's her fault.
I know Singapore more than most ppl, having been born and bred there for 16 years...
I'm not trying to defend any side, but obviously she made a huge mistake, and thank god she only lost money...
Can't expect anyone to help her, coz she did pay for the "services" that she received, I mean she "agreed" to pay at that price.
furix @ Aug 8th 2008 2:40PM
Damn, she got ripped off bad. But oh well, what can I say.. She is from Singapore, she's probably not very well educated.. still... That's so weird where did she get all that money from!?! D: