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A man has come forward to say that a shop tried to charge him $290 for 3 extension plugs.
The incident happened in mid-August at a shop in Lucky Plaza, Orchard Road.
Twenty-year-old Mr Chen was a crew member for an event and had to help buy three extension plugs. These plugs are common household items and can be easily bought at supermarkets, hardware stores and even discount stores for a few dollars, or up to about $20.
Chen told reporters, "I walked into an electronics shop (in Lucky Plaza) to ask if they had extension plugs, and they replied that they don't. The shop assistant then offered to help me search and asked me to wait in the shop".
A while later, the shop assistant came back with three extension plugs and started to write a receipt without telling Chen the price of the items.
The man also told Chen that he could take part in a lucky draw and asked for his identity card and NETS payment card.
"I passed him both the cards and asked how much the plugs cost," Chen said.
He got a huge shock when the shop assistant told him the plugs cost $290. Chen felt it was too expensive and decided not to buy them.
But the man did not relent.
He told Chen that he had taken the plugs from another shop at a deposit of $45 each. He insisted that Chen must pay for the combined deposit amount of $135. The man also refused to return Chen's IC and NETS card.
Chen had no choice but to call his boss for help.
"My boss said his budget for the plugs is $40. When he found out my IC was confiscated, he called the police to help," Chen said.
While Chen waited for help, the store assistant continued to try to bargain with him and insisted that he pay up as the shop was closing.
"He eventually returned my IC but refused to return my ATM card. I didn't know what to do and in the end agreed to pay him $190," Chen said.
When Chen's boss arrived with the police, Chen had already paid the $190 for three extension plugs.
Chen's boss insisted that the shop should refund Chen and threatened to lodge a complaint with the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE).
In response, the shop assistant dared Chen and his boss to lodge the complaint. The shop also did not issue Chen a receipt until the policemen requested on Chen's behalf.
Afterwhich, the shop assistant issued Chen a photocopy of the receipt but added the words "The customer agreed to pay the above amount".
This is not the first time that shops in Lucky Plaza blatantly tried to fleece customers.
In 2008, a woman was charged $2,600 for a Playstation Portable (PSP) gaming console at an electronics shop in Lucky Plaza. The normal price of the popular console is about $300.
Lucky Plaza's notorious reputation has given Singapore a bad reputation on international travel websites such as tripadvisor.com. On the well-known travel guide website, Lucky Plaza is called the "House of Cheaters", with many tourists complaining of being fleeced at its electronics shops.
