Following the publication of an online article accusing Electronics City of selling fake Samsung phones, the local store is refuting the claims of the writer and will soon take legal action over it.
The article, “Samsung wary of fake mobile phones being sold by Guyanese company”, was published on September 16 in the online Epoch Times and was written by Guyanese Dennis Adonis.
However, the local electronics business is firmly denying all of the claims in the article and has deemed them “completely fabricated.”
In an interview with Stabroek News, Amir Ahmad, co-owner of Electronics City, maintained that the store sells completely authentic Samsung products though he admitted that it is not an authorised retailer. “We buy from a source in Miami who buys directly from Samsung,” Ahmad said. He further explained becoming a retailer is extremely expensive and Samsung primarily offers the title to service providers, such as Digicel and GT&T.
Ahmad believes the Epoch Times article is a deliberate attempt to besmirch Electronics City’s reputation, orchestrated by a “con artist” known to the business.
According to Ahmad, Adonis approached him several years ago while promoting a wrestling event in Guyana. Electronics City had taken on the task of selling a number of tickets to the public; however, when the event flopped Adonis disappeared, leaving the local business with the job of refunding millions of dollars for purchased tickets, Ahmad said.
Ahmad went on to say that Adonis entered the store a few days ago. When confronted, he immediately bolted, he added. He said the article defaming the store surfaced shortly after.
A report was subsequently made to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) about Adonis’ appearance, Ahmad added. “I guess after that incident he wrote this article to scare us or to get us to back off of him,” Ahmad said.
Owners of the store are planning on taking legal action against Adonis. “We’ll be filing an injunction against him and the website,” Ahmad revealed. He continued, “Obviously this is fake; Samsung has never contacted us about any inauthentic phones. We are 100% willing to have a full investigation launched into the products at Electronics City.”
Attempts by Stabroek News to contact Adonis for a comment proved futile.
Adonis had previously appeared in court slapped with fraud charges. He was notoriously associated with a number of failed ventures, including the provision of high-speed internet service through a company called SimNet Caribbean Mobile and the highly-anticipated Survivors’ Series wrestling event that never materialised.
Electronics City is urging all concerned customers to authenticate their purchased Samsung products on Samsung’s website or at www.IMEI.info. “We are urging all customers to check the validity of the Samsung phones they purchased from us at Samsung online. They can enter the IMEI number and Samsung will let them know if it’s real,” a statement from the company said.
