SDGILL 58
25-11-2013, 22:28
Dear Sir
I am writing regarding my experience at the hands of aggressive Asian shopkeeper’s, whom in my opinion, have taken money from my account fraudulently when I came to Tenerife on the 27th march 2013. I purchased yashica camera for 436.50 Euro's on the 28th of March. The salesmen named Thomas told me he could not get the instructions in English until Saturday the 6th of April and that the battery and memory card where only demo one's which would enable me to take no more than twenty photograph's when I went to the Island of La Gomera. He also said the video was sent up in Spanish and that I must not use the video as he would then be unable to convert it into English. The battery had to be charged up for 8 hours’ and only lasted a couple of hours in use but he said he would insert a Lithium battery and a 1000 memory photo card when I returned on the 6th of April.
When I returned from La Gomera I asked a young Essex man called David ( who ran a diving place in the marina of Puerto colon) for his opinion of the camera as the pictures appeared lacking in colour. He thought the camera to be of poor quality.
Sadly my husband who died on the 25th of May was rushed into hospital on Saturday the 6th of April and my son and Stepchildren thought he was going to die before I returned home.
I was terribly upset and returned to the Swami shop for the camera accessories incase I could get an earlier flight home.
To cut a long story short I was in the shop for over 2 hour’s. Thomas, the salesmen produced a pack with two batteries and a memory card in. He told me the batteries were 1276 euro's each, at which point I told him to stop, that my son would buy the batteries in England. He then told me I had to buy them as he had cut open the pack. At which point I burst into tears.
At this he apologized, said that he had obviously misled me and would give me a multi-media tablet and travel pack which I told him I did not want.
Finally, I was asked to produce my passport and he would add the tax to avoid any trouble with customs duty.
I just signed the bill (which he does not know that I photocopied the next day) and I was glad to leave the shop.
The next day, Sunday the 7th of April, my husband had improved and I was able to speak to him and being in a better frame of mind, took some action and phoned the bank to cancel my MasterCard and my friend accompanied me to the Adeje police station.
The desk sergeant said that they had hundreds of complaints and in any case I needed an Interpreter. He was of no help what so ever.
I then went to the young man from Essex and showed him the bill and he said come with me and took me to his Romanian friend, who sat me down phoned the police, who turned up in a police car and he acted as my interpreter.
The two policemen accompanied me into the shop. The conversation was in Spanish and the owner turned to me and asked me to at least keep the camera, but that he would refund my money if I returned the other good's.
My friend then returned to the shop with me and witnessed me return the unwanted items. The following day, I returned to the shop at 11am and told Nash another assistant that I was not prepared to wait until 3pm for my refunds. I wanted to see the owner immediately or else I would go to Adeje town hall to make a complaint.
He returned at 2.30pm and gave me 3 receipts, none of which were refunds. I got him to write cancelled refund to be made and sign the original bill. I also told him that I had priced the camera elsewhere at 100 Euros and he produced a fake camera and took a photo of some clothes in the adjoining shop which he owned and showed me how faint the colour was. He then took a photo with the camera he had sold me to show me the difference. He said he had sold me the genuine camera. I believe he had exchanged it.
When I joined my friend on the seafront I sorted through what he had given me to find he had not given me the original cancelled bill. He had torn it in half and crumpled it up and made out another bill for 1276 Euro's, which the amount is shown on the 3rd supposed refund receipt.
LLOYDS TSB said that none of the 3 receipt’s he gave me where refunds. They later received 2 refund receipts for 325.48 EUROS + 784.50 EUROS.
The fact remains that I have a camera worth approximately £80-100 and the total taken from my account in sterling was £391.65 under the name Trendz . (Probably the clothes shop) and £2,026.08 under the name Swami.
I have received refunds of £275.62+ £ 664.31 totalling £ 939.93
£ 2417.73pence - £939.93= £1477.80 the total paid for an £80-£100 camera.
The bank will not recover the money without proof.
I am returning to Puerto colon with my son and two friends on the 29th of October and am writing to ask you for advice on any further action which can be taken during my 9 day stay.
I am writing regarding my experience at the hands of aggressive Asian shopkeeper’s, whom in my opinion, have taken money from my account fraudulently when I came to Tenerife on the 27th march 2013. I purchased yashica camera for 436.50 Euro's on the 28th of March. The salesmen named Thomas told me he could not get the instructions in English until Saturday the 6th of April and that the battery and memory card where only demo one's which would enable me to take no more than twenty photograph's when I went to the Island of La Gomera. He also said the video was sent up in Spanish and that I must not use the video as he would then be unable to convert it into English. The battery had to be charged up for 8 hours’ and only lasted a couple of hours in use but he said he would insert a Lithium battery and a 1000 memory photo card when I returned on the 6th of April.
When I returned from La Gomera I asked a young Essex man called David ( who ran a diving place in the marina of Puerto colon) for his opinion of the camera as the pictures appeared lacking in colour. He thought the camera to be of poor quality.
Sadly my husband who died on the 25th of May was rushed into hospital on Saturday the 6th of April and my son and Stepchildren thought he was going to die before I returned home.
I was terribly upset and returned to the Swami shop for the camera accessories incase I could get an earlier flight home.
To cut a long story short I was in the shop for over 2 hour’s. Thomas, the salesmen produced a pack with two batteries and a memory card in. He told me the batteries were 1276 euro's each, at which point I told him to stop, that my son would buy the batteries in England. He then told me I had to buy them as he had cut open the pack. At which point I burst into tears.
At this he apologized, said that he had obviously misled me and would give me a multi-media tablet and travel pack which I told him I did not want.
Finally, I was asked to produce my passport and he would add the tax to avoid any trouble with customs duty.
I just signed the bill (which he does not know that I photocopied the next day) and I was glad to leave the shop.
The next day, Sunday the 7th of April, my husband had improved and I was able to speak to him and being in a better frame of mind, took some action and phoned the bank to cancel my MasterCard and my friend accompanied me to the Adeje police station.
The desk sergeant said that they had hundreds of complaints and in any case I needed an Interpreter. He was of no help what so ever.
I then went to the young man from Essex and showed him the bill and he said come with me and took me to his Romanian friend, who sat me down phoned the police, who turned up in a police car and he acted as my interpreter.
The two policemen accompanied me into the shop. The conversation was in Spanish and the owner turned to me and asked me to at least keep the camera, but that he would refund my money if I returned the other good's.
My friend then returned to the shop with me and witnessed me return the unwanted items. The following day, I returned to the shop at 11am and told Nash another assistant that I was not prepared to wait until 3pm for my refunds. I wanted to see the owner immediately or else I would go to Adeje town hall to make a complaint.
He returned at 2.30pm and gave me 3 receipts, none of which were refunds. I got him to write cancelled refund to be made and sign the original bill. I also told him that I had priced the camera elsewhere at 100 Euros and he produced a fake camera and took a photo of some clothes in the adjoining shop which he owned and showed me how faint the colour was. He then took a photo with the camera he had sold me to show me the difference. He said he had sold me the genuine camera. I believe he had exchanged it.
When I joined my friend on the seafront I sorted through what he had given me to find he had not given me the original cancelled bill. He had torn it in half and crumpled it up and made out another bill for 1276 Euro's, which the amount is shown on the 3rd supposed refund receipt.
LLOYDS TSB said that none of the 3 receipt’s he gave me where refunds. They later received 2 refund receipts for 325.48 EUROS + 784.50 EUROS.
The fact remains that I have a camera worth approximately £80-100 and the total taken from my account in sterling was £391.65 under the name Trendz . (Probably the clothes shop) and £2,026.08 under the name Swami.
I have received refunds of £275.62+ £ 664.31 totalling £ 939.93
£ 2417.73pence - £939.93= £1477.80 the total paid for an £80-£100 camera.
The bank will not recover the money without proof.
I am returning to Puerto colon with my son and two friends on the 29th of October and am writing to ask you for advice on any further action which can be taken during my 9 day stay.