I am not complaining against a specific forumer, but against a whole game store... I'm not sure if this is where I should post but it is a helpdesk so I figured why not, since I do need advice if there's anything I can do or if I should just treat this as a lost case. If I'm doing this wrong, mods feel free to move/remove this thread...

For the TLDR people, a short version of the story: Playtime Electronics (Bangsar Shopping Centre) is pretty much being indifferent towards my case, bought a PS3 from them, PS3 broke down after 3 months, sent it in for warranty services, absolutely NO contact for almost two years, suddenly they say "PS3 is disposed already lol". Yes, that's pretty much their attitude.

Long story:

So I was surveying the Games subforum for the best PS3 deal around August 2010. It didn't take me long to find a thread with a representative from playtime giving quite a good deal for White, slim 160gb ps3 for RM1130. I immediately made a deal and proceeded to the shop to purchase not long after. At first things were good, but after three months (November) the PS3 decided to die on me for no apparent reason. So I sent it in to the shop again, they said they would send it to Sony Singapore for warranty claim. I asked how long would it take expecting a month at most, and one of the guys simply said they can't really know, there's been a customer who had to wait a year for their PS3 and they have had a mouthful from that customer for taking so long. Having heard that, I decided that I should just wait patiently for it for now. As per usual, they gave a receipt, asked for my number to which I gave two, mine and my mother's just in case.

Skip to almost a year later, some time around June 2011 IIRC, went to the shop again and asked if my PS3's done. They checked it and said no it's not done yet so I was like seriously? 8 months? What could be taking so long? Then I just told myself to just wait a bit more, went off to buy an XBOX at this point since I've got 3 months with nothing to do until September. Come august, I PM'ed playtime's representative here asking about it again, and he said still pending from Sony Singapore... Sony singapore taking their sweet time blablabla.. I still have the PM even now.. He said that once he has any news he'll contact me ASAP.

And skip to almost a year later again, I PM'ed him again March this year, asking the same thing. I even scanned my receipt to present it to them here. He said he'll check with his boss/technician and get back to me later, which he never did. After 3 days, I asked him again what's up? And never got a reply.

Finally last week I went to the shop with the receipt and they're saying "lol this isn't our receipt. but we'll check anyway." apparently because they've changed their receipt design now. They asked me for my number and said they would contact me within 3 days, which they never did again. So I went again yesterday and had to face the news that "lol your ps3 has been disposed". The guy showed me this T&C thing that apparently if they hold a console for more than 6 months they have the right to dispose it since they dont have the space to store it. The thing is, I saw that those T&C things are only applicable after October 2011, if memory serves right, which doesn't apply to me since I sent it in way before. After a short outburst by my mother and I due to their total lack of concern (they were like "there's nothing we can do". "already referred to boss, nothing can do" bla bla bla) I had to leave the shop before I get way too emotional. The worst thing to me was we didn't even get an apology, well we did if you would consider a condescending, sarcastic "maaf ye, jangan marah ye" (which was said as we left the shop) as an apology.

So my question is, at this point, what can I do? I know this shop is rather reputable and many LYNners would vouch for it and this small plea from one person would perhaps have no effect whatsoever on their attitude, but seriously, what am I to do? I pretty much got ripped off of RM1k, it may not seem like a big deal but as a student, that's a pretty huge amount to me... Is there anything I can do or should I just treat this as a lost case and move on?

I've always found it ironic how the customer is always right, but almost always loses...

Edit: Just remembered something, I guess somewhere along the way, or all the way along the way (I'd think it's the latter) someone didn't do their job right as the guy yesterday said they didn't even have my PS3 registered in their database or whatever.

This post has been edited by Greenmon: Jun 26 2012, 03:20 AM

^Trust me, I'm not really much of a patient man, but having heard "it might take a year" from one of the workers himself, I just convinced myself that it would be simply be a futility, much less a waste of time to be persistent and ask them every week or something, to which it really would be considering how they said it was still not done after 8 months. Thanks for the suggestion.

Yeah, I guess those were some of the many mistakes I made, I guess I needed to be more persistent... But really, I had to go off to the UK September last year to further my studies and my only option to contact them pretty much was through here, which wasn't really that reliable. I was resting assured that they would contact my mother though if the PS3 was back and safe in their hands.

As for why I didn't send it myself, I didn't want to take the trouble of sending it all the way to sony singapore (as it is a singaporean set) seeing as they said they can do it themselves FOC. Again, it was my mistake too, should've just sent it myself, or should've just bought a Malaysian set.

It's times like this I wish time travel was possible. I jest, I jest.

Thanks for all the replies and positive feedbacks, I didn't expect too much support honestly 'cause I know a lot of people like this store and whoever manages it, judging from some older threads where a lot of people seem to vouch for this guy when there was some sort of misunderstanding I didn't look too deep into.

Anyway, as one of you suggested, I'll refer the "representative" to this thread and see if something can be done. If not, I'll do what most of you suggested and log a case in hopes that something can actually be done.

^Yeah, to be completely honest it's not really a scam, just really bad service IMHO.

That's what I figured, Sony is a huge multinational company, their customer service can't be THAT bad now can it? Moreover, it's Singaporean, I've pretty much only heard good things about singaporean service, much like the western parts, reliable and responsible.

He's not trolling you dear, nor is anyone else here. It wasn't really emphasised but I did say that I had hoped that they would contact my mother for when I went overseas, as for things like this I always, always give at least two phone numbers, mine and either of my parents (usually my mother) just in case, considering that I usually stay up nights and sleep through the day and never really pick up morning calls. And trust me, they never really did attempt to make calls with either of us throughout these two years.

I already PM'ed the "representative" (rocket_jet), no replies whatsoever. It doesn't seem that he (or they) want to bother with this case anymore.

Anyway, another fellow forumer who'd like to remain anonymous PM'ed me expressing a similar experience back then, he did get his PS3 back though it took some "complaining" to actually have the workers look for it (they initially said that it has been disposed ==)

I guess I'll log this case to the NCCC thing. Thanks for the responses so far guys.

What a load of bull. Now I feel the need to attach our entire conversation throughout the two years through PM right here on LYN. Do check it out.

It "seems" it has been "redeemed"? What a vague connotation. They themselves said that they would have a "collected" brand stamped on receipts for collected consoles. I'd imagine that they would take and keep/get rid of the receipt once consoles are returned though. But nope, I still have the "invalid" receipt, still pretty much in the same condition as when it was handed to me, except with the inevitable kedut2 after two years of course. It's really unbelievable how they claim the receipt to be invalid; even hinting that it's not theirs when their stamp is clearly visible there. In case someone brings it up, yes there are no phone numbers on the receipt I have, but I remember writing the phone numbers and my name on a plain paper which they kept together with the PS3, and handed me this receipt instead.

And now what bull is he spewing? As far as their records go the console has been sent back to them 2 years ago? When barely 11 months ago (note the date from the PM: Aug 6 2011) they claim that it's still pending from Sony Singapore? Such incompetence.

Regarding the other person with a similar experience, apparently he's also received the same excuses from them "will call you back lol" but never really get a call back. Everytime have to go to the shop to check for himself. It's disappointing, really, it's a nice shop in a nice place, but they can't even live up to their tagline "not cheap not fast but will be reliable lol". Yes. Very, very reliable.

Anyhow, thanks for the effort Apis_LuaLua, sorry a mod got dragged into this, but I did PM him and never got responses, didn't even bother to reply here, need a mod PM baru mau reply... Sigh.


Attached thumbnail(s)

Hello guys, I'd like to apologize because it seems that I have abandoned this thread but I have to admit that I have pretty much abandoned all hope that justice will be served on these playtime guys involved with my case.

If you've read this thread in its entirety then you are probably aware that I am not in Malaysia, hence the reason why I haven't logged into lyn for so long, and life has been quite hectic in university so far, courseworks for a 2nd year undergrad isn't a joke... Anyway, not to drift off topic, a lot of you suggested that I report this case to the tribunal or something but I didn't really see that as a possibility back then when I was still in Malaysia because my holidays were coming to an end and I had to come back here for university soon. The soonest I can do anything about this would be next june when my summer break starts but by then I imagine it would already have been too long to do anything, so to be honest I've almost given up all hope on this case.

However, I'd like to mention cwl_ykh's REALLY similar case (pointed out to me by another forumer, and kelvin's own post in this thread), except the fact that he was dealing with the boss himself, and that he was much, much more persistent than me. I guess that helped a lot in him retrieving his vita back. Kelvin presented his conversations with playtime's tim in his own thread, and you can see a really similar pattern with my own case. Unreplied texts (PMs in my case), the same excuse ("the problem lies with sony lol") and how they kept delaying things, check next week, check next month etc2. I think kelvin's case is much stronger than mine because it was really recent, this year still and hence could be solved without them giving shitty excuses like "not our receipt lol! suda tukar staff lol!" so I'm glad that it turned out fine for kelvin in the end.

Having said that, I'd just like to advise people that with all the things I have shown in my thread, and what kelvin also showed (the boss himself calling his customer an *******, despite the customer being really polite when asking? seriously?) it's not that hard to justify that playtime has a hierarchy of unethical workers currently, so please guys, there are plenty other gaming shops in malaysia with much much nicer staffs (I've had pleasant experiences with some of them) so to avoid problems like this, think carefully before you buy. Go for retailers with an actual reputation and superb after-sales service.

That's all I'd like to say for now, thank you for all the support so far.

Well even with a dispute tag it's not like they will want to do anything, to quote themselves, "it's been too long dy". IMO it's enough that this thread remains to raise awareness on their unethical business.

Luckily PS3s aren't too expensive nowadays what with the new super slim released, there were some retailers selling it for ~120 pounds = RM600 here in the UK around new year sales time. Thinking about getting a new one for Ni No Kuni, amongst others if I have extra cash :/