iPhone Saga

And it wasn't a good thing.

This happened on 27 Jun 2013.

A night earlier I dropped my iPhone when I stood up from my seat and the front LCD shattered. The protective film was holding everything together. I decided to head to Sim Lim Square where a local blogger blogged about his somewhat-good repair service.

We left my phone there while we walked all over the place trying to find a durable casing. We waited for more than his 30min and when we went back to him 1.5hr later... he told us that my phone could not display the contents on the screen. He did everything he could... from changing the screen back to my old one and system restore and whatsoever. It just wouldn't work. There's still the charging sound and vibration. Ivan suggested I should leave the phone with him for him to further work on it.

And... I didn't have any phone with me. No communication. And I desperately needed a phone (for the upcoming activities). At this time.. we were both very tired.

3 hours after we reached Sim Lim we had to decide what should we do. We were totally exhausted from all the walking to and fro.

My husband said we should just get a new phone and bill it to him as he indirectly caused my phone to shatter. :(  I didn't want to waste any more time, ok, let's go.

So we went around looking for good deals. Our first stop was at Song Brothers as we got our tok gong 4S Otter casing from them. A staff quoted 950$ .. and off we went to another store... $870... And finally the third one, $700. TAKE!

My husband went in and asked if there were any more fees to pay for apart from the 700$. Kim from Games Industries LLP said NO. All we had to do was to pay in CASH. Off we go to withdraw the 700
$... and I requested I want to see if there was any cosmetic flaws with it else I won't buy... and he said if he had to open the box we have to pay up the money first. And since he already said there's no additional charges we went ahead.

The phone was looking good... until I asked my husband to switch on the phone to check for dead pixels. He said he couldn't. I went .... huh?

Kim said "You have to let me activate the phone first... and before you can do that you have to pay the unlock charges."   WTF. I know we totally confirmed got conned by this shop.

Since when do Apple phones need to be unlocked and activated and consumers have to pay for it? It's just a plug and play phone! (SIM card is all you need)

He claimed that OTHER shops were doing the same thing.. so we asked. Song Brothers and Nuubox said no. Everything there is NETT-priced, consumers DO NOT NEED to pay unlocking charges.

That's when I realize.. I should always go back to the first shop that I patronise.

We felt helpless... all we wanted was a working iphone for me. And we ended up paying MORE for charges that shouldn't be there. We are very disappointed with such humanity. Yes, we were angry initially... but now, we we are ultra disappointed. Singaporeans cheating their own people.. or rather, humans cheating their own for greed.

At this point of time... 5 hours after reaching Sim Lim, I am totally exasperated.. I didn't have lunch and it was 7pm +

They even said it was a BRAND NEW phone, but apparently it wasn't. My colleague checked the IMEI number and said it was long registered in Jan 2013. WHAT?!!!!!! This is easily under the Lemon Law in Singapore!

The shop is highly evasive of confrontations... I knew it's useless to go to them head on. We will submit this dishonest vendor to CASE, Small Claims and Apple.

After we collected my new iphone we went for dinner... but I was already worrying.... whether the form I filled up earlier (they claim they will send the form to Apple for the unlocking features) would be misused. And they didn't give us a RECEIPT! Plus I didn't see them logging my apple ID out of their laptop! My backup too! My husband went back to oversee them logging out my ID on their laptop and also get the receipt. And the deletion of backup as well.

I broke down over dinner... I was so tired and am so afraid my details would be misused (like for loansharks, paying something electronically). I called up my good friends to quickly help me change my pass word and it was only then that I sighed relief.

And the time when we got home? It was 11pm.... Can you imagine the frustration and fear and the long wait we went through? It was certainly the darkest day of my life.


And 4 days later, we took back my spoilt 4S and this issue was solved just by paying a fee to my telco for a 1-to-1 exchange. T_T" We should have just went to my telco immediately when the technician said he couldn't start up my phone there and then... and this would saves us of the heart ache! And now I wouldn't be stranded with 2 phones now...

In case you are wondering how much I paid for the new phone at the 'black' shop.. it was 700$ + $532 (unlocking charges) Much much higher than what Apple is selling....

FYI, I did go to CASE for advice and we will soon report this shop.

(The above is my opinion of this shop that misleads consumers)