Bought A Hot Water Heater--Scam Or Not?

[Dante99]

To confirm it wasn't a scam by the installers, the wife went to the see the original salesman. He was very relieved, very appreciative that she came in--turns out he was the one who made the mistake and he was on the hook for it.

The heater we purchased was the one we were shown; the one that was originally installed; and the one on the receipt. But the salesman apparently just screwed it up and quoted/wrote up the wrong price.

We allowed the installers to come and remove the unit and replace it with the inferior model. The difference is negligible enough that it still suits our purposes.

Our karma is in good condition, and we accept that it was an honest mistake rather than a scam.

However, as someone else pointed out, what are they going to do with the unit that was already installed and used? The packaging was already destroyed even if it was only used for a couple days.

I am in the market for a flat screen TV and was set on Siam TV before this. But considering the amount of additional time I spent on the issue, and the lingering doubts as to the condition of equipment sold as "new", I will have to reconsider.

Thanks all for the input.

7even

So the salesman was the fall guy for an incorrect invoice prepared by a cashier/accounting staff on a computer which/who should have input the correct price. The reason not to have the salespeople prepare invoices and collect money is to get it done right by giving responsibility to someone else to oversee the process. The responsibility was not on the salesman because someone else had authority to check and approve his work. You do not really think that the invoice preparer is told just to put on any price that the salesman suggests, do you?

[LivinLOS]

It is not about how they feel, it is about whether or not they were scammed which is easily verifiable by checking the model numbers on the unit and on the receipt. If the receipt is not for the unit they were shown, they should have caught it before paying.

Who checks their receipts? A lot of people do carefully. It is not different from checking your bank book to confirm that your deposit was credited properly before leaving the teller window.

Thai companies often deliver the wrong thing and this is common knowledge. The ones who get it right consistently are exceptional.

The heater we purchased was the one we were shown; the one that was originally installed; and the one on the receipt. But the salesman apparently just screwed it up and quoted/wrote up the wrong price.

Well in the above case I fail to see how you would be expected to return it.

People make mistakes.. And it seems whenever I make a mistake, I am expected to eat the cost and pay !! Here quite clearly you were quoted an item, agreed a sale, the correct item was delivered and installed, and later you got an inferior item for the same price. This would be bait and switch in the west and an illegal practice.

Someone has to lose in this arrangement and I dont see the mistake as being on the part of the buyer here. If the person who makes the mistake doesnt have any cost involved why not make the same mistake again on the next sale, higher margins all around for a bit of acting and playing up the jai dee purchaser.

[lannarebirth]

It is not about how they feel, it is about whether or not they were scammed which is easily verifiable by checking the model numbers on the unit and on the receipt. If the receipt is not for the unit they were shown, they should have caught it before paying.

Who checks their receipts? A lot of people do carefully. It is not different from checking your bank book to confirm that your deposit was credited properly before leaving the teller window.

Thai companies often deliver the wrong thing and this is common knowledge. The ones who get it right consistently are exceptional.

The heater we purchased was the one we were shown; the one that was originally installed; and the one on the receipt. But the salesman apparently just screwed it up and quoted/wrote up the wrong price.

Well in the above case I fail to see how you would be expected to return it.

People make mistakes.. And it seems whenever I make a mistake, I am expected to eat the cost and pay !! Here quite clearly you were quoted an item, agreed a sale, the correct item was delivered and installed, and later you got an inferior item for the same price. This would be bait and switch in the west and an illegal practice.

Someone has to lose in this arrangement and I dont see the mistake as being on the part of the buyer here. If the person who makes the mistake doesnt have any cost involved why not make the same mistake again on the next sale, higher margins all around for a bit of acting and playing up the jai dee purchaser.

i can't speak to the circumstances of the OP, but you are certinly not wrong in your observation.

[powderpuff]

You handled it a lot differently than I would have.

I would have got his manager involved immediately.

I would see what that person had to say.

"We are gonna come out & replace your heater with a smaller one" would not be acceptable under any circumstances.

Had the manager not offered to let you keep the better heater I would have offered to pay maybe an additional 1000 baht,

If that was not acceptable I would have told them thanks for your time & I'm keeping what I got. Mutter some nome nah as you're leaving.

[cmsally]

A little confused as to how this would have happened. Siam TV have all the water heaters on the wall with price marked beside them. Bought one the other week.

Check the price beside the unit and when the salesman comes back, check you've got the right one and away you go.

The salesman would have had to switch the prices to screw up, in which case its not your fault. You agreed on that item at that price.

[scorecard]

Smells like a scam to me, perhaps not from Siam TV but rather from either the installer or vendor. Perhaps the installer was supposed to try to sell you an "upgrade," and has found that the easiest way is to install the good heater and come back, thinking that most will simply pay the extra 2k baht.

You say the replacement one is "inferior." Well, if the one installed is as advertised and the one that the "are going to replace it with" is not as advertised--that's pretty much proof of a scam.

Sounds like a twist on "bait and switch," but in this case it's "switch and then bait." Very weird.

Wonder if the more senior management of Siam TV even know that their staff have approached you on this?

Wonder if the sales staff did make a genuine mistake in telling you the model you actually got was the cheaper price when in fact they were wrong about which model was cheaper? And now trying to cover their mistake before there's a stocktake?

Is it possible the salesperson is an outside sales presenter for the manufacturer or a middle man, and not an actual employee of Siam TV, and if so, is this person playing games / scamming customers with Siam TV not realising what's going on?

[nikster]

The salesman would have had to switch the prices to screw up, in which case its not your fault. You agreed on that item at that price.

Yes of course. You could simply hold on to the device, and rest well in the knowledge that you relieved a lowly paid sales person of 2000 Baht. Great feeling, right?

Today you, tomorrow me... read this great story http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/elal2/have_you_ever_picked_up_a_hitchhiker/c18z0z2

[cmsally]

The heater we purchased was the one we were shown; the one that was originally installed; and the one on the receipt. But the salesman apparently just screwed it up and quoted/wrote up the wrong price.

The more you look at it the more it doesn't make sense. The salesman would have to quote wrong price when they seem to be marked and then the cashier would have printed the wrong price to the model number when surely they must be marked correctly in a database/computer.

If it were me I would go back and see how the wrong price comes up on the printout. In which case it seems more like the shop could be screwing the salesmen

Presumably its not the call of the salesman as to what is charged and appears on receipt.

Either way maybe should be talking to someone higher up.

Geez, maybe bring back the days when Siam TV was a hole in the wall shop on the north east side of the moat and receipts handwritten!

[JetsetBkk]

The salesman would have had to switch the prices to screw up, in which case its not your fault. You agreed on that item at that price.

Yes of course. You could simply hold on to the device, and rest well in the knowledge that you relieved a lowly paid sales person of 2000 Baht. Great feeling, right?

Today you, tomorrow me... read this great story http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/elal2/have_you_ever_picked_up_a_hitchhiker/c18z0z2

Great story, nikster. Why can't people on this forum write stuff like that? Brought a tear to my eye.

[mild7even]

The salesman would have had to switch the prices to screw up, in which case its not your fault. You agreed on that item at that price.

Yes of course. You could simply hold on to the device, and rest well in the knowledge that you relieved a lowly paid sales person of 2000 Baht. Great feeling, right?

Today you, tomorrow me... read this great story http://www.reddit.co...chhiker/c18z0z2

Awesome story!