Thieving computer shop owner - what to do?

[onlycw]

A friend introduced me to the owner of a computer shop. 

 

I just bought a nice Thinkpad X230 and wanted it upgraded. SSD + 16 GB RAM.

 

Months went by and the excuses and lies were getting ridiculous. ("No drivers" for Win 10. But hey, there are hundreds of X230s running Win 10 on the Ebay websites... ** Then he needed "a cable, to make it go faster". Which I paid, like I prepaid the work)

 

The end of my stay in Thailand was approaching and I made it very clear that I would need my Thinkpad back.

 

He invented a "parcel" which was "returned". Yeah, my condo has a mail room and they dutifully sign for parcel, not turn them away.

 

In a nutshell, he stole some of the old RAM (not it has "3 GB") and all the new stuff. The SSD and the 16 GB.

...

A previous "installer" (who was a colleague at a government school) removed all new RAM and replaced it with low grade RAM to return the machines working, but ... Hundreds of Dollars were made that way.

 

Yet another installer claimed the "CPU was toast". I brought the same notebook, swapped the SSD and voila, no problems.

 

Am deeply shocked and want to warn you guys. Besides asking, is there a point in reporting such theft? I have FB messenger communications to back it up and would be prepared to make a sworn statement at the embassy.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

[Pib]

Well, there is no point complaining to your home country embassy....that's for sure.  Sorry to hear what happened to you, but me thinks you just let the installer keep the laptop way, way too long.  Months?   After a week I would have went and took it back versus letting him lead you on with delays and excuses.

[onlycw]

Tourist Police? While I can be told to pound sand, the cops having a complaint on file might make him reluctant repeating this act of fraud.

 

 

[JamJar]

The problem with your story is that the X230 is completely modular and you could have done the job yourself in less than fifteen minutes. Literally.
Swapping the HDD with an SSD; five to ten minutes. RAM; five minutes.

That's it. Then a clean install of the OS and restoring any data from your old HDD.

So why would you give it to a 'computer store owner' for months?

Perhaps you should learn to do these simple...and I mean simple, jobs for yourself.

[Sooo Upto Me]

Wasting ur time talking to any Embassy.

[Trentham]

I bought a brand new Acer PC a few years ago. A few weeks later it stopped working. I took it to the Acer Service Centre and was told there was no warranty because it contained a NON Acer motherboard and another non Acer part. An argument ensued of course and I won and they repaired it under warranty. To cut a long story short the motherboard broke down 4 more times over the next 2 months. I told them I was sick of taking it to the service centre and demanded they come to my home to fix it which they did for the 5th breakdown. All of this was under warranty. When they came to my home to fix it the guy unwrapped a motherboard from a dirty piece of greasy plastic and then I knew they were not installing new or good parts.  

 

I went to the Acer Head Office in Bangkok and tried to complain.  At first they said they could not speak English so I spoke Thai. That caused a few raised eyebrows and I demanded to see the sales manager. "Not here" I was told. "You must go home". I sat down and said I was not leaving until I could speak with a senior manager. Miraculously the sales manager appeared and I was told there was nothing they could do.

 

As I left their office I stopped and turned to him and said that I was emailing Acer head office in South Korea. He turned and walked away. I walked down to the BTS at Asoke and got on a train home and my phone rang. It was the sales manager telling me that a brand new computer would arrive at my home within the hour.

 

I had obviously uncovered some scam that Acer Thailand was pulling on the main company. Never had any more trouble and I am typing this post on that new computer right now.

[catman20]

1 hour ago, Sooo Upto Me said:

Wasting ur time talking to any Embassy.

i would of thought wasting your time talking to anyone full stop

[jerojero]

You waited months? Red flag! Suggest your friend own up and take some responsibility for recommending a dishonest shop.

[Estrada]

I have never had problems with ACER service here over the last 20 years. The repairs were carried out satisfactorily on every occasion. IT City handle their repairs if you do not want to go all the way to their 3 service centres.

 

For anyone who has a complaint with bad service or stealing parts and replacing them with substandard parts, the Office of Consumer Protection is in the basement below Chaengwattana Immigration Office Bangkok.

[performance]

Normally I knock at the door and say. Would you like to return what you stole and have Buddha forgive you ? No ok

Then I insert a screw driver sharpened into his thigh. Would you like to rethink ?

It normally works.

[davo2003]

Yep. Took my brand new Acer in to have the OS upgraded, got it back loaded down with unwanted software and the new OS . It was also minus the advanced Nvidia graphics card. A $200 lesson. Beware, seems this is common practice. I couldn't remedy the situation since I noticed the day I was leaving the country.

[ronaldo0]

Has happened to a few people in samui at one shop . They would drop it off and it would be returned with less memory in it.

[louse1953]

2 hours ago, Trentham said:

I bought a brand new Acer PC a few years ago. A few weeks later it stopped working. I took it to the Acer Service Centre and was told there was no warranty because it contained a NON Acer motherboard and another non Acer part. An argument ensued of course and I won and they repaired it under warranty. To cut a long story short the motherboard broke down 4 more times over the next 2 months. I told them I was sick of taking it to the service centre and demanded they come to my home to fix it which they did for the 5th breakdown. All of this was under warranty. When they came to my home to fix it the guy unwrapped a motherboard from a dirty piece of greasy plastic and then I knew they were not installing new or good parts.  

 

I went to the Acer Head Office in Bangkok and tried to complain.  At first they said they could not speak English so I spoke Thai. That caused a few raised eyebrows and I demanded to see the sales manager. "Not here" I was told. "You must go home". I sat down and said I was not leaving until I could speak with a senior manager. Miraculously the sales manager appeared and I was told there was nothing they could do.

 

As I left their office I stopped and turned to him and said that I was emailing Acer head office in South Korea. He turned and walked away. I walked down to the BTS at Asoke and got on a train home and my phone rang. It was the sales manager telling me that a brand new computer would arrive at my home within the hour.

 

I had obviously uncovered some scam that Acer Thailand was pulling on the main company. Never had any more trouble and I am typing this post on that new computer right now.

Good onya mate.Sometimes you really have to push the issue,not often happily.The Thai throws them but i like to hold it back to hear them talk in front of me,surprising what you hear.

[Chicog]

2 hours ago, Trentham said:

I bought a brand new Acer PC a few years ago. A few weeks later it stopped working. I took it to the Acer Service Centre and was told there was no warranty because it contained a NON Acer motherboard and another non Acer part. An argument ensued of course and I won and they repaired it under warranty. To cut a long story short the motherboard broke down 4 more times over the next 2 months. I told them I was sick of taking it to the service centre and demanded they come to my home to fix it which they did for the 5th breakdown. All of this was under warranty. When they came to my home to fix it the guy unwrapped a motherboard from a dirty piece of greasy plastic and then I knew they were not installing new or good parts.  

 

I went to the Acer Head Office in Bangkok and tried to complain.  At first they said they could not speak English so I spoke Thai. That caused a few raised eyebrows and I demanded to see the sales manager. "Not here" I was told. "You must go home". I sat down and said I was not leaving until I could speak with a senior manager. Miraculously the sales manager appeared and I was told there was nothing they could do.

 

As I left their office I stopped and turned to him and said that I was emailing Acer head office in South Korea. He turned and walked away. I walked down to the BTS at Asoke and got on a train home and my phone rang. It was the sales manager telling me that a brand new computer would arrive at my home within the hour.

 

I had obviously uncovered some scam that Acer Thailand was pulling on the main company. Never had any more trouble and I am typing this post on that new computer right now.

 

I hope you emailed head office anyway.

 

[Retiredandhappyhere]

17 hours ago, JamJar said:

The problem with your story is that the X230 is completely modular and you could have done the job yourself in less than fifteen minutes. Literally.
Swapping the HDD with an SSD; five to ten minutes. RAM; five minutes.

That's it. Then a clean install of the OS and restoring any data from your old HDD.

So why would you give it to a 'computer store owner' for months?

Perhaps you should learn to do these simple...and I mean simple, jobs for yourself.

So it was the victim's fault for not doing the job himself?  Do you service your own vehicle?  Do you service your air-cons yourself?  If not and you get screwed by the contractor, is it your own fault?

[Pinot]

I won't be buying another Acer computer. The next time this netbook breaks down is it. Not one more satang on this POS. 

 

I've got a Dell backup and my main laptop is a Lenovo. If it died tomorrow, I'd get another. 

 

As far as this OP's little issue...forget about it. Move on. 

[LongTimeLurker]

6 hours ago, Trentham said:

When they came to my home to fix it the guy unwrapped a motherboard from a dirty piece of greasy plastic and then I knew they were not installing new or good parts

That's common practice with all computer manufacturers they replace parts with re-conditioned parts.

 

They will then re-condition the part they removed from your machine and put it in the next faulty one.

[surangw]

most likely   re-condition=  dust off and swap

[amjamj]

I never needed to let a laptop anywhere. They upgrade or fix it on the spot or they go to helll ! As easy as this. But I understand that some people always have problems whatever they do in this life.. Hopeless !

 

 

[peergin]

Is there really no way to name and shame such a thieving shop? It would help prevent other people (Thais, foreigners and tourists!) falling victim to such unsavoury characters.

[jacko45k]

It is just a way of life here.........

My girlfriend took her phone to a shop to have it fixed... they took out the OEM battery and put a copy in.

Another had his car in the garage and they swapped out the new battery for an old knackered one, when he complained he was told they removed it for charging and forgotten to replace it!

 

If you have left Thailand there is nothing you can do. Perhaps if the shop owner has a Facebook page you could complain on it.

 

 

[amjamj]

6 hours ago, peergin said:

Is there really no way to name and shame such a thieving shop? It would help prevent other people (Thais, foreigners and tourists!) falling victim to such unsavoury characters.

 

 

So many websites and forums to name and shame.

 

 

[Crossy]

Or just PM our OP, no rules against naming the place in a Private Message.

[catman20]

10 hours ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

So it was the victim's fault for not doing the job himself?  Do you service your own vehicle?  Do you service your air-cons yourself?  If not and you get screwed by the contractor, is it your own fault?

ive been screwed by a very well known plc company Sxxsxxx that sells TV's when the engineer come to fix my TV  he said the screen had blown 17,000 baht got a second opinion it was the mother board 4,500 baht, the TV was only 18 months old.

 had the same thing with the air con engineer from Dxxxn he said everything was burnt out 22,000 baht got a second opinion 2,000 baht it was only the electrics burnt out i complained to head offices by email to both companies nothing happened, only got a reply saying they would look into it, when i chased up the reply as to what was happening they never replied to me again. licence to print money for the engineers, always get 2 opinions.

[shaurene]

I learnt long time ago never take your lap top or computer to get repaired here in Thailand. I go back to New Zealand couple times each year and take them back if need fixing. I have a top guy there who does them. My last visit I took my 2 Acer laptops back he fixed them A1. Cost me NZ$130. 3,250 Baht.

[themerg]

Pay the thief, get your computer.

You let the thief rob you, now get over it. In the USA, a thief would have your computer and $2000.00.

Be happy you got robbed in Thailand at a much lower cost.

Take your computer problem to a reputable store like Power Buy, IT City.

[mike324]

On 1/28/2017 at 4:23 PM, Trentham said:

I bought a brand new Acer PC a few years ago. A few weeks later it stopped working. I took it to the Acer Service Centre and was told there was no warranty because it contained a NON Acer motherboard and another non Acer part. An argument ensued of course and I won and they repaired it under warranty. To cut a long story short the motherboard broke down 4 more times over the next 2 months. I told them I was sick of taking it to the service centre and demanded they come to my home to fix it which they did for the 5th breakdown. All of this was under warranty. When they came to my home to fix it the guy unwrapped a motherboard from a dirty piece of greasy plastic and then I knew they were not installing new or good parts.  

 

I went to the Acer Head Office in Bangkok and tried to complain.  At first they said they could not speak English so I spoke Thai. That caused a few raised eyebrows and I demanded to see the sales manager. "Not here" I was told. "You must go home". I sat down and said I was not leaving until I could speak with a senior manager. Miraculously the sales manager appeared and I was told there was nothing they could do.

 

As I left their office I stopped and turned to him and said that I was emailing Acer head office in South Korea. He turned and walked away. I walked down to the BTS at Asoke and got on a train home and my phone rang. It was the sales manager telling me that a brand new computer would arrive at my home within the hour.

 

I had obviously uncovered some scam that Acer Thailand was pulling on the main company. Never had any more trouble and I am typing this post on that new computer right now.

 

Acer is a Taiwanese company. Thailand is their regional center, so I am very surprise if they can't even handle complaints like this. They have resellers which doubles as service centers too. I would suggest you find the contact for the Taiwanese manager in charge. Taiwanese are pretty anal with being scammed themselves too.

 

In my opinion ASUS laptops are far superior than Acer. Acers are crap. Laptops normally have 1-2 year warranty, so you said you bought it couple years ago which would most likely not be in the warranty?

 

On another note, Its so common for technicians to scam its own company. Even ones own by Thais. I've been approach by technicians on call from the main company offering to replace parts for fridges/ AC at a lower cost.

 

 

[Trentham]

41 minutes ago, mike324 said:

 

Acer is a Taiwanese company. Thailand is their regional center, so I am very surprise if they can't even handle complaints like this. They have resellers which doubles as service centers too. I would suggest you find the contact for the Taiwanese manager in charge. Taiwanese are pretty anal with being scammed themselves too.

 

In my opinion ASUS laptops are far superior than Acer. Acers are crap. Laptops normally have 1-2 year warranty, so you said you bought it couple years ago which would most likely not be in the warranty?

 

On another note, Its so common for technicians to scam its own company. Even ones own by Thais. I've been approach by technicians on call from the main company offering to replace parts for fridges/ AC at a lower cost.

 

 

Don't be too hard on me. I am getting old you know. I realised the moment I posted this that I had emailed Taiwan, not South Korea. Anyway they never got back to me. The replacement PC [ it is not laptop ] is 4 years old now and has never given any trouble. I could not be bothered to chase it up now with a Taiwanese manager. Too long ago. Anyway they will probably pick up on it from this forum.

[ajarngreg]

 

 OP, the best shops in Thailand are Advice. You can find them in all provinces and they usually have quite good staff.

 

   And you can buy any parts at their shops. https://www.advice.co.th/

[JamJar]

On the other hand, I have receive nothing but excellent service from the ACER service centre in Chonburi. Given that I supply them with my own parts, but all the work done while you wait and perfectly executed. 321 baht earlier jobs. 428 baht later jobs.
Entirely reasonable, considering you literally had to take the machine apart to fit the parts.