Dear Editor,
I speak on behalf of the Guyanese consumers who traverse the city every day to ensure value for money in their purchasing of goods and services. On Tuesday, July 17, I went in search of a tyre and tube for a wheelbarrow.
I found the size of tyre and tube displayed for sale at a large store and I then proceeded to do the purchase. The attendant blew up the tube in front of me and asked me if I am satisfied with the tube, and I told him it’s OK. After paying $1,400 for both items, I immediately took the tyre over to the vulcanizing shop where I had the tube put in tyre, and everything was OK.
I later drove up to Diamond on the East Bank to deliver the rim with the new tyre and tube, so one of the workers could get the use of the wheelbarrow. Lo and behold the tyre had gone down. I then drove back to the city and told the tyre shop man that something went wrong as I never got the use of the tyre; it was soft.
On checking it was discovered that the tube was porous. I checked it and found a two-inch opening on the inner part of the tube which tells me that it was not where a tube would burst if it is pressured beyond the recommended specification.
I then decided to return the tube, and that is when I got a good Guyanese royal runaround, beginning with the security guard, then the supervisor who signed on the receipt and sent me to the manager to deal with the matter. The manager was not very helpful as he advanced an argument that the tyre man had blown up the tube resulting in it being damaged.
I told him I sat right there and watched the tyre man who has over fifteen years experience in the business. I had by this time decided to buy another tube which was just $500, to avoid any vain talking with this disrespectful manager, as I indicated to him that I am a good customer who is also a Minister of the Gospel, but he kept on resisting.
Finally, he suggested that I wait and see the “boss man,” who would decide whether to replace the item or not. This was the most detestable, abominable experience ever for me, and it is hard to believe over a five hundred dollar transaction.
The boss man never for one moment considered that the maker could have been at fault in manufacturing this item, or the time it was stored in a particular bond could have resulted in the tube being defective. Instead, he chose to assert that I was being dishonest and he was not prepared to suffer the loss of four or five hundred dollars. Suddenly, I heard coming from this man’s mouth an expression that revealed a heart that is not only mischievous, but a mentality that is brutish. He insinuated that a man who commits murder will never say he did it.
This statement sent me reeling into a high intensity mood, and I had to control myself. I immediately replied to him letting him know that what he had just said was totally irrelevant to the issue at hand. I then attempted to leave his office as I had heard enough of his arrogance.
After a waste of my precious time over a five hundred dollar transaction, I was just contemplating preaching a sermon right in his office on ‘Do unto others as you would like done to you,’ when he offered to replace the tube.
I left his office with mixed thoughts. How is it that a man that is sitting on billions of dollars in investments, brings himself down to the level of a market vendor’s mentality? Is there no mission statement or guiding principle that will help to relate to customers? There is a definite problem with consumer goods in this country, and over a short period of time I have had to return items at the local market because of expiry dates. But those items were readily exchanged without any resistance from the dealers.
The reason why I chose to pen this letter is because consumers are at the blunt end of every business transaction, whether it is a five hundred dollar item or a five hundred thousand dollar item. It is unfair! They should receive value for money, especially the pensioners.
With replacement tube I received the same result as in the first purchase; the second tube after the tyre shop man blew it up it spent one hour in the tyre and then just loosed up, and up to now I cannot get the use of my wheelbarrow.
I would rather suffer the loss than take it back to “the boss man.” This, to my humble way of thinking, is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Yours faithfully,
Apostle Vanrick Beresford
