Marketing manager sold used phone gets a refund

Mohamad Akmal said he was shocked when the staff at the centre told him the phone was a pre-owned unit

JOHOR BARU: A marketing manager is happy after the Consumer Claims Tribunal here ordered a mobile phone company to refund RM3,290 for selling him a used mobile phone.

The claimant, Mohamad Akmal Sarjani, 25, from Batu Pahat, said he bought a Samsung Galaxy Note 9 mobile phone from the company at a hypermarket in Tampoi on Sept 14, 2018.

“I paid RM3,290 for the phone and line and assumed it was new,’’ he said when met at the Johor Baru Consumer Claims Tribunal at Menara Ansar here.

However, Mohamad Akmal said he was disappointed to find that he could not make calls or surf the Internet using the phone for almost three months.

As he thought there were some technical problems with the phone he took it to the Samsung Centre in Batu Pahat Mall on Dec 9, last year.

“I was shocked when the staff at the centre told me the phone was a pre-owned unit.

“I could not make calls and access the Internet as the person had not settled the bills, hence the telco company barred outgoing calls,’’ he said.

Mohamad Akmal said on Dec 13 he went to the outlet where he had bought the phone but the owner refused to replace it, citing that the two-month warranty had expired.

“The owner offered to settle the problem if I paid him RM500 but I refused.

“I felt cheated,” he said.

During the tribunal hearing, the mobile phone company’s representative, who declined to be identified, claimed that the salesperson told Mohamad Akmal that the phone was pre-owned and came with a two-month warranty period.

“We sold the phone to him at RM3,290 as it was pre-owned and he agreed to it.

“A brand new similar model will cost him about RM3,699,’’ said the representative.

Mohamad Akmal told Tribunal president R. Nadarajan that the salesperson did not tell him all this, adding that he thought he had a good deal.

Nadarajan ordered the company to return RM3,290 to the claimant within 14 days, with the claimant returning the mobile phone together with the USB cable, charger, earphones and casing in the original box also within 14 days.