Sunday, February 11, 2007
The wheels of industry
Hello,
The tricks of the trade or the roll of the wheels of industry.
There is now such a great proliferation of secondhand handphone vendors that it would be interesting to know how they manage or compete for business. Surely some of them must have develop new tricks to be at least in some way up over the others.
Indeed there is one trick of theirs which came to my knowledge. I was told that they could simply and surreptitiously deactivate or disable some function of the handphone by making some entries and then tell us that the phone is spoiled. When that happens we are at their mercy because it cannot be used unless it is repaired.
An old handphone has some residual value, and when I was given a better old one I had a little dilemma. The other one was too good to throw away and yet who would want it other than one of these Buy & Sell pavement vendors. So, I tried to salvage some scrap value out of it.
This time I took it to Bedok North Central. The first vendor offered me forty dollars. The battery itself costs me twenty five dollars and so I handed it over agreeably. I waited for him to check its working condition, looking at his showcase display. That was my mistake, because he turned it over to me saying that it has an LCD malfunction. It was working when I took it out with me.
So, it was true; they have a new trick. He then told me that the LCD repair would cost me twenty dollars, meaning that I could only get twenty dollars or half the price he offered earlier. I realised that there was not much I could do about this crooked vendor other than not to let him take advantage of me further.
After I thought it over I decided to see what else they would do. I went over to another vendor whose business sign include Repair. Handing it over to this second guy I asked him how much the repair cost. He took one look and said twenty dollars. I offered to sell it to him and he quoted me twenty five dollars. I agreed happily, after which he opened it up and checked it thoroughly. Then he made a call, talked a bit, and then told me that his boss told him to reduce his offer to twenty dollars.
Well, that was how it went. The phone was worth forty dollars initially, but this amount was whittled down to twenty. I figured that if I had been vigilant I could have got thirty dollars or more for it. As it was, the first shark tried his trick, but I would not let him get away with it, and the second guy benefited. I am not totally convinced that the so said damage was not reversible; it was just that innocent people would not know how to do it.
But it was interesting to see how the wheels of industry turns.
Have a nice day,
Ronald
The tricks of the trade or the roll of the wheels of industry.
There is now such a great proliferation of secondhand handphone vendors that it would be interesting to know how they manage or compete for business. Surely some of them must have develop new tricks to be at least in some way up over the others.
Indeed there is one trick of theirs which came to my knowledge. I was told that they could simply and surreptitiously deactivate or disable some function of the handphone by making some entries and then tell us that the phone is spoiled. When that happens we are at their mercy because it cannot be used unless it is repaired.
An old handphone has some residual value, and when I was given a better old one I had a little dilemma. The other one was too good to throw away and yet who would want it other than one of these Buy & Sell pavement vendors. So, I tried to salvage some scrap value out of it.
This time I took it to Bedok North Central. The first vendor offered me forty dollars. The battery itself costs me twenty five dollars and so I handed it over agreeably. I waited for him to check its working condition, looking at his showcase display. That was my mistake, because he turned it over to me saying that it has an LCD malfunction. It was working when I took it out with me.
So, it was true; they have a new trick. He then told me that the LCD repair would cost me twenty dollars, meaning that I could only get twenty dollars or half the price he offered earlier. I realised that there was not much I could do about this crooked vendor other than not to let him take advantage of me further.
After I thought it over I decided to see what else they would do. I went over to another vendor whose business sign include Repair. Handing it over to this second guy I asked him how much the repair cost. He took one look and said twenty dollars. I offered to sell it to him and he quoted me twenty five dollars. I agreed happily, after which he opened it up and checked it thoroughly. Then he made a call, talked a bit, and then told me that his boss told him to reduce his offer to twenty dollars.
Well, that was how it went. The phone was worth forty dollars initially, but this amount was whittled down to twenty. I figured that if I had been vigilant I could have got thirty dollars or more for it. As it was, the first shark tried his trick, but I would not let him get away with it, and the second guy benefited. I am not totally convinced that the so said damage was not reversible; it was just that innocent people would not know how to do it.
But it was interesting to see how the wheels of industry turns.
Have a nice day,
Ronald
# posted by chunmu @ 8:05 PM 
