DiGiTaLmAnIc

It was their advertizements which lead me to give my laptop for servicing at LaptopClinic at Cochin. Unfortunately it was a horrible story for me. I have the bill and enough proof to prove I am not trying make false allegations against this shop. If somebody want, mail me at praveenATliveDOTin.

I do not know whether this shop still exists there, I write this story just to keep it in my mind so that I will not face similar issue in future.

Here is the story:

1. Got phone number from one of their electric-post advt. board.
2. Calling - One lady attending the call and since I was speaking ‘technically’, she handed over the phone to another guy
3. I was interested in chip-level service as I did not have plans to spend much money for this laptop as I already bought one for my personal use
4. They informed me, Chip-level service will take only < Rs. 3500/- and they can deliver it in 4 days time.
5. Gave the laptop and exactly after 4 days, I got a call informing it is not possible to do the chip-level service since it was already serviced by somebody else. Of course, I had a visit to HP servicing center before and they opened my laptop in my presence. HP guys simply informed from their experience, it is a display chip problem and they do not do chip level servicing and need to replace the mother board which is going to be costly (Around Rs. 14000/-). I did not know what this LaptopClinic guy meant by ’serviced by anothe company’, Even if it was a ’serviced one’, what was their problem?
6. I went to LaptopClinic to get my laptop back. But they told me, they will replace the mother board with a ‘brand-new’ mother board which will cost Rs. 8000/-. I was happy as it was a better price than HP’s price. They told me they will need 1 week to replace this.
7. But surprisingly it took more than a month, and a dozen phone calls to get me the laptop.
8. Now, the funny story…..
9. The guy swiched on the laptop and typed password 12345. I checked the menus using my mouse and shutdown the system.
10. Problem 1: There was an LED elumination at the adapter jack of laptop, it was faulty in my old mother board and it used to blink. - Same problem exist for ‘new motherboard’ also. I pointed out this problem and they said it is because it is not a part of motherboard and they used some exisitng LED. (The statement was not true!)
11. Problem 2: There was an LED elumination near the touch pad which was faulty earlier. ‘New motherboard’ also behaves same.
12. Problem 3: …. there is many such problems which remains unchanged from my ‘old motherboard’
13. Since I was in a hurry, I paid the full amount and I thought at least the box started working now.
14. BIG PROBLEM: I asked my old motherboard. Their FUNNY reply - They sent the old mother board to HP, Singapore and they returned the new motherboard! - WHAT THE FUCK? - So my old mother board is now with HP!. I do not know what HP is going to do with my ‘faulty’ old motherboard. How can this LaptopClinic guys can give me back my ‘old motherboard back’ as my ‘new’ and ‘old’ motherboard is fitted inside my laptop case?
15. So my conclusion is this LaptopClinic people did a chip-level service on my old motherboard and sold it to me for the price of new one.
16. BIGGER PROOBLEMS: That day itself I had to travel to Trivandrum. At my home I found these very annoying problems.
17. 1) Left hand keys only works fine - Since the password was 12345, it worked fine, from 6 to 0, Y to P, G to L etc. are not working. That means, it is because of my faulty ‘old motherboard’ or they replaced my ‘old keypad’ too.
18. 2) System is not stable. It restarts the machine automatically after 20 minutes of use. Trust me, I had this problem exactly for my old laptop too at its last days.
19. Now my laptop got no use and it is sitting inside my shelf.
20. My God forgive them for this cheating.

Btw, If this shop can return my Rs. 8000/-, I am ready to give the whole laptop to them without any extra cost.

A quick script to calculate percentage of amount.

Store: Smartfones, Saga Towers, Pulimoodu, M.G. Road, Trivandrum

Issue: I gave my Nokia cell phone for servicing 5-6 months back. There was no proper communication and at last I was fed up. I demanded my phone back and went to their store.

I got the mobile phone without servicing but the battery was missing.

Their explanation: ‘We do not keep battery here’.

Since I have nothing to do with a phone without battery, I told them to keep it with you.

I still have their acknowledgement receipt with me. I wanted to go to customer court but since I had time problems and was not aware of formalities, I did’nt go.

Beware of this fraud mobile servicing center.

This story happened two years back. But I remembered this now after getting a call from this so called City Finance stating “Sir, we can provide up to 10 lakhs”

Venue: City Finance (Claiming loans section of City Bank), Vazhuthacaud, Trivandrum (Kerala, INDIA) 

Simply this bank is a new generation form of our old ‘blade’ agents.  There are many new generation banks in this list.

About Blade agents: They are those who give money for high interest rates. Say, you need Rs. 100/-, they will give you Rs. 90/- in the morning and you will need to repay it as Rs. 100/- by the same evening. If you need bigger amount on monthly basis, you can get it for Rs. 6/- to Rs. 10/- per Rs. 100/- per month depends on your ability of negotiation. If you default the payment, you will need to face Gundas (people who will do anything for money).

Story

An agent from this finance company calls me every week twice even after informing I do not need a loan. His name was Rajesh if I remember correctly.

Not sure where these frauds get the phone numbers. One bank employee friend told me it is shared by the private banks itself.

After some weeks he informed me they ‘created’ a very special interest offer for me. Since I felt they are trying to giving me ‘free money’, I told them we will discuss. At their office I faced 3-4 executives with ‘tie’. I was impressed with their behavior but still I was not interested to take loan from a private bank since I heard much bad stories about them. At last I decided to take a small loan. Rs. 20,000/- was their minimum loan limit. They told me they can avail it for 16%. I gave them 36 cheque leaves for EMIs.

public sector banks offer interest from 14%.  But it is difficult to get a loan unless you can impress the manger with English speaking, job etc.

But private banks can give you loan without any inconvenience.

But one must understand ‘nobody will give you anything for free’

I took that loan for 3 years tenure and I realized the real fraud face of City Finance only after getting the ‘welcome letter’ from them. Nobody from the bank branch was able to explain the calculation method used in the EMI printed in the letter. Or they are not ready to explain it to me. For Rs. 20,000/- loan I had to re-pay nearly 1,00,000 in three years.

After some quarrels (even lady staff was there to quarrel!), I decided to close the loan and since I was angry, I wanted to close that day itself. Now their explanation of closing.

1. One month EMI will be charged
2. 15% will be charged extra as pre-closure charges
3. Blah blah charges (documentation etc.)
4. It will take one more to get back the EMI cheques

I had no options and I wanted to save myself from future dangers. So I deposited nearly Rs. 6000/-. I had to give my latest bank statement for the proof. Suffered a lot to close the loan.

After that they refused to give me any kind of recept/document saying I closed the loan. It was an extreme limit and I called a knowing police friend for help. So the fraud people promised they will give me the EMI cheques in one month. I went to my bank branch and gave request for cancellation of the EMI cheques.

After one month they called me and handed over the cheques.  But surprised to see 5 cheques were missing. After enquiry they said it is their policy to keep 5 cheques of all their loans.

I did not want to go before that anymore and I was mentally prepared to go through their path… pay money to Gundas… if they again make unnecessary problems.

So friends, I request all not to take any loan from these private sector ‘new-generation’ banks and go for only public sector banks.