Malay Mail : Officer and reporter went undercover |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Written by Administrator |
Friday, 11 September 2009 14:32 |
6 November 2007
THE Malay Mail Hotline received more than 25 complaints from consumers against the company since July. Complainants also claimed that they were left in the dark over their investments.
They claimed that they went to the company’s office for a business briefing after receiving ‘an invitation’ via calls from the company staff. They were also asked to surrender their credit cards, which were later swiped without their permission. The complainants were told that this was for the purpose of verifying their cards’ credit limits. Some also claimed that the machines were not delivered to them and in some cases, the machines were installed without the customers’ knowledge. Acting on the complaints, Hotline contacted Federal Territory Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry and an undercover operation to validate the com- plaints was arranged in August. In the operation, a female enforcement officer who posed as a potential customer was accompanied by this reporter, who posed as the officer’s sister. The officer was ‘invited’ by the company courtesy of one of the complainants who had recommended her as a potential customer. We arrived at 3.30pm at the company’s premises in downtown Kuala Lumpur and were greeted by a female staff, who brought us into the office, which appeared legitimate and professional. On the way in, she asked several questions to verify that we had been invited to the premises. A male staff asked the undercover enforcement officer to fill in a form for potential customers before we were led to the presentation room. In the room, we were received by another staff who gave a persentation on product marketing strategies. This staff, too, checked our background. He said that only invited potential customers would be entertained. The presentation took about an hour, but he failed to convince us on their marketing strategies as he could not give good answers to our questions. He then asked us to put down a minimum down payment of RM1,000 to book a machine that was being offered at a special price on that day. The undercover officer then told him that she had only RM50. The two employees appeared unhappy with her decision, but the officer convinced them that she was interested to invest in the business and would come back soon. We left the office at 4.30pm. |
NCCC NEW OFFICE
National Consumer Complaints Centre | |||||||||||
|