Just yesterday, I visited the annual IT EXPO as I planned to get an older Windows 7 base laptop which was advertised in a leaflet.
I visited the booth, I asked for the laptop and a sale personnel presented to me a $399 forth generation i5 HP Windows 7 laptop with 1 year OEM warranty which they did not have sample of because he said its limited stock daily in the show. I decided to buy it though.
When I was about to make the payment, a staff behind the counter told me this is the last one for the day and the package was opened only for the purpose of the customer to take a look at the color and he promised its a brand new unit. As I was in a rush, I just made a minor inspection for any visible damages then I bought it.
Then later I tried to mess with the newly bought laptop.
I saw plenty of chinese characters in an english environment setup.
To my surprised its an i5 but M520 chipset, a first generation i series not the forth as promised!
I realize it was running on Windows 7 Ultimate version!
Its only then I realize something was seriously wrong because its not possible that OEM will include the Ultimate license for that laptop's configuration, its simply under power.
So I look around the laptop for the Windows license sticker which must be visible usually at the bottom of the unit. Not to my surpised, its nowhere to be found.
Its not a genuine Windows 7.
The worse part is yet to be over.
When I took a closer look at the HP logo under the display, I realize the printing looks uneven!
Then I close up the lip, guess what? The circular HP logo which was unique to pavilion series fell off from its sticky tape!
My closer inspection concluded that it was not an authentic HP product as the plastic feels cheap and none of those HP labels could found on the unit.
You can imagine how I felt, so I went right back to the show and ask for refund.
They agreed to refund me like immediately. They are basically telling me they know they're selling counterfeit HP product by doing so.
I checked, the company of that booth is Atrix Dynamics Pte Ltd, the main store is located at Sim Lim Square level 6.
This was my first experienced for being scammed in a trade show and hopefully the last.
I visited the booth, I asked for the laptop and a sale personnel presented to me a $399 forth generation i5 HP Windows 7 laptop with 1 year OEM warranty which they did not have sample of because he said its limited stock daily in the show. I decided to buy it though.
When I was about to make the payment, a staff behind the counter told me this is the last one for the day and the package was opened only for the purpose of the customer to take a look at the color and he promised its a brand new unit. As I was in a rush, I just made a minor inspection for any visible damages then I bought it.
Then later I tried to mess with the newly bought laptop.
I saw plenty of chinese characters in an english environment setup.
To my surprised its an i5 but M520 chipset, a first generation i series not the forth as promised!
I realize it was running on Windows 7 Ultimate version!
Its only then I realize something was seriously wrong because its not possible that OEM will include the Ultimate license for that laptop's configuration, its simply under power.
So I look around the laptop for the Windows license sticker which must be visible usually at the bottom of the unit. Not to my surpised, its nowhere to be found.
Its not a genuine Windows 7.
The worse part is yet to be over.
When I took a closer look at the HP logo under the display, I realize the printing looks uneven!
Then I close up the lip, guess what? The circular HP logo which was unique to pavilion series fell off from its sticky tape!
My closer inspection concluded that it was not an authentic HP product as the plastic feels cheap and none of those HP labels could found on the unit.
You can imagine how I felt, so I went right back to the show and ask for refund.
They agreed to refund me like immediately. They are basically telling me they know they're selling counterfeit HP product by doing so.
I checked, the company of that booth is Atrix Dynamics Pte Ltd, the main store is located at Sim Lim Square level 6.
This was my first experienced for being scammed in a trade show and hopefully the last.
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