A Vietnamese tourist was left in tears after a nightmarish ordeal when buying an iPhone 6 for his girlfriend at Mobile Air, a shop in Sim Lim Square.

Mobile Air made headlines recently for refunding a woman $1,010 in coins, which included one-cents and five-cents.

According to a report in Lianhe Zaobao, the Vietnamese tourist was on holiday with his girlfriend in Singapore and after some research, he found out there was ready stock for the phone in Sim Lim Square.

He is reportedly a factory worker with a monthly income of $200 and took months to save up for the phone as his girlfriend's birthday present.

The report states he was quoted $950 for the phone at Mobile Air and he excitedly made payment in cash. Thinking is was safe to shop in Singapore, he did not scrutinize the documents closely.

In addition, he was not fluent in English. When he wanted to leave the shop with the phone, staff members from Mobile Air then asked if he wanted a warranty package of one or two years.

He decided to take the one-year package, thinking it was complimentary.

To his surprise, he was asked to fork out another $1,500 for the one-year warranty package. He was told that he did not pay up, he could not leave with the phone.

Not knowing what to do, he knelt down and tearfully begged for a refund.

He said staff members at Mobile Air laughed at him and no passers-by were willing to help him.

Mobile Air subsequently agreed to refund him $600, but his girlfriend refused to leave the shop $350 poorer. Staff members at the shop also told her they will retract their offer of $600 if she called the police.

However, his girlfriend decided to call the police.

When the police arrived, Mobile Air showed them the signed invoice and offered to refund the couple $70.

CASE officers were called in subsequently and the couple got back a refund of $400. The tourist said he accepted the refund because he had to return to Vietnam in two days and was not sure if CASE could help him get back his full refund back.


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Watch video: Vietnamese tourist kowtows and begs for refund at Sim Lim Square shop

A Stomper sent in video footage showing the Vietnamese tourist kneeling down and begging for his refund at the Sim Lim Square shop making headlines recently, Mobile Air.

The tourist, who earns $200 a month as a factory worker in Vietnam, was asked to pay an additional $1,500 for a warranty package on top of a payment of $950 which he had already made for an iPhone 6.

He had intended to purchase the mobile phone for his girlfriend as her birthday present.

In the video, a man, presumably the shopkeeper, is heard asking the tourist how he is "going to settle (his) money".

In tears, the tourist said, "I don't know. I borrowed (from) my friend, so I want to give (it) back to my friend, you know?"

He then bowed his head to the ground, looking helplessly around. He did this twice before standing up.

The Stomper had written in an email to Stomp:

"Here is the video of the Vietnamese tourist kneeling down and begging at the shop.

"I hope you can post it on Stomp to show people what Mobile Air is doing to tourists."

Mobile Air has spurred the outrage of netizens previously with news of the shop refunding another tourist, a female Chinese national, $1,010 in 5 and 10-cent coins.

The internet is also currently abuzz with stories of scam cases in Sim Lim Square, with The High Court of Singapore granting a permanent injunction against another shop there, Cyber Maestro Pte Ltd, prohibiting its employees and agents from engaging in several unfair practices under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act.

singaporeseen.com