Misadventure in Hong Kong
Seven of us went to Hong Kong to attend two jewellery fairs. The first was for machines and other raw materials and the next was for finished products in which we participated. Seven. That’s supposed to be a magical number. We were four women and three men.
The women were pretty much the same though of different ages. I was the oldest, followed by Mia, our boss, her daughter and her designer. The men were pretty much the same. There was the oldest who was a technical consultant, then a Devoted Dad, then another designer. Every day we woke up, got dressed, had breakfast, walked to the shuttle bus, got shuttled off to somewhere near the airport and walked around that fair the whole day. At five we shuttled back to the hotel, sit together for dinner then maybe shop. What else is there to do in Hong Kong?
Our hotel was in Kowloon, behind Ocean Terminal. You could take the elevator down to the second floor, then walk through the series of malls, exit Ocean Terminal and catch the ferry to Wan Chai where the second fair was. It was fairly central in Kowloon and a great place to proceed from if, like Devoted Dad or DD, as I shall refer to him from now on, you had been asked by your son to buy him a beginner’s camera, a Nikon D90.
That became DD’s personal mission — to buy the right camera. So he went to Nathan Road and tried to shop around inquiring at camera stores like Modern Digital, Dyamic Audio and Video Center, A & B Photo and Audio, and Merit Digital, who played a somewhat unfair game with him.
He went asking, “Do you carry the Nikon D90?” They said, “Yes, the body, sure, come in, sit down.” He asked, “How much?” “Oh, around HK$4,500 to HK$5,500,” the different salesmen said. Finally when he hit Merit Digital DD was a bit tired he decided he might buy it there. They invited him in and eventually asked, “How will you pay?” DD showed his HK dollars and said, “In cash.” “Oh, okay. Sit. Give me your money. I’ll get the camera for you.”
So, naively, he gave the money and the salesman put it close to the cashier’s box while he went to get the desired camera. When he returned, he was showed it, how it worked when another salesman passed by and said, “Are you buying that? But that’s old. It is obsolete. Why don’t you buy this newer one? This is (another brand, another number) and it is newer, the latest. It will cost you HK$7,200, but it is the best thing you can buy.” So he bought it, paying another HK$1,700.
He went back to the hotel and texted his son about his purchase. His son did not like the camera. The deal was DD would buy the camera and his son would pay him back in Manila. Further research also said that the “newer” model was in fact old and not everything the salesman had told him it was. So DD went back to the store and exchange it, but they were rude to him, told him they were not going to exchange anything. To make matters worse, it was a weekend.
DD walked around some more asking how much the basic body of the Nikon D90 cost. This time, the prices had gone up. Everyone said between HK$7,000 and HK$8,000 when just days before it was between HK$4,000 and HK$5,000. DD’s alarm rate began to rise but he was determined to get at least most of his money back. He looked at his receipt and saw printed there a Fair Price Association Limited and its phone number. He called on Saturday afternoon and asked for help. He said he just wanted his money back. This organization, which sounded like it was made up of all the camera and digital stores, told him they would look into it. That same afternoon he was told that the store had said they would give him an extra lens. He went and verified this; this time talking to the assistant manager, who indeed offered him the extra lens. It still did not make him happy and he said he just wanted his money back because the model they had sold him was not the model they claimed it to be.
He spent a sad Sunday, but first thing on Monday he called Hong Kong’s Consumer Council. They agreed to help him. By that afternoon DD was no longer the morose, worried individual he had been while the problem was hanging in the air. He went back to Merit and they agreed to give him back his HK$5,500, while he agreed to let them keep his HK$1,700. He returned the camera.
What did this experience teach us? Beware when buying cameras or whatever big items. First, you have to know what you are looking for and decide that that is what you are going to buy. Nobody will convince you to upgrade because you don’t understand what they will upgrade you to, if it will be accepted by the one you are buying for or if it is, in fact, an upgrade. Second, trust the consumer associations set up to help you when you feel you have been cheated. They do help, in fact, but I saw how DD followed up. He did follow up very closely.
Finally, know the modus operandi. Apparently somebody first fills your need, then somebody else tells you it’s no longer good enough and sweet talks you into needing — and spending — much more. You cannot tell them to stop doing this because it is a democratic society and that means — buyers, be careful and beware — but you can know the process and watch out for it so it isn’t done to you. We must all learn to protect our own interests.
Me, I am just happy I went to Hong Kong with this group of people. It is a wonderful team and we learn to share each other’s lessons.
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