Friggin Singapore

Fat Bob · Post by **Fat Bob** » 8th Sep, '12, 15:47

There are some things I love about Singapore. There are some things I hate. Today, I came across one I hate.

My Xbox360 has given up the ghost. Halo 4, Call of Duty Black Ops 2 and the new Modern Warfare are all out by the end of the year. So went looking for a new one.

Didn't want to spend $$$$ as I've figured out I don't need 250GB HDD or a Kinect movement system. I just want to shoot Germans/Aliens/Taliban or whatever else the various games above (and their predecessors) allow me too.

Can I find a bog standard, 4GB, XBox without Kinect, with no extras in any of the stores? Can I buggery.

Can I find the above but with some of the extras? Yes, in some far off reaches of the island.

Ever other store is selling the same old crap: always with the Kinect system. I don't need it for crying out loud!

The we come to cost. Amazon has it at US$200 (which should work with Asian games - and if not, I'll just buy from the States in future).

Singapore minimum cost is SG$400. J27, I know you always say I don't understand, but what is there to understand? Singapore is much more expensive than other countries, and is throwing cheap shit in I don't need just to increase cost.

Fat Bob · Post by **Fat Bob** » 8th Sep, '12, 15:54

So should I buy from Singapore or get one from the States and ship it in. If I can wait until Feb I may be going across there so could bring it back in a suitcase.

Joseph27 · Post by **Joseph27** » 8th Sep, '12, 16:07

Fat Bob wrote:There are some things I love about Singapore. There are some things I hate. Today, I came across one I hate.

My Xbox360 has given up the ghost. Halo 4, Call of Duty Black Ops 2 and the new Modern Warfare are all out by the end of the year. So went looking for a new one.

Didn't want to spend $$$$ as I've figured out I don't need 250GB HDD or a Kinect movement system. I just want to shoot Germans/Aliens/Taliban or whatever else the various games above (and their predecessors) allow me too.

Can I find a bog standard, 4GB, XBox without Kinect, with no extras in any of the stores? Can I buggery.

Can I find the above but with some of the extras? Yes, in some far off reaches of the island.

Ever other store is selling the same old crap: always with the Kinect system. I don't need it for crying out loud!

The we come to cost. Amazon has it at US$200 (which should work with Asian games - and if not, I'll just buy from the States in future).

Singapore minimum cost is SG$400. J27, I know you always say I don't understand, but what is there to understand? Singapore is much more expensive than other countries, and is throwing cheap shit in I don't need just to increase cost.

In Singapore the margin on an Xbox 360 is about 7%. The games and accessories are where the money is - now in the past that was fine but as customers get more savvy - it is becoming more important to give them what they want or they don't come back. Throw in the mix - rents that are crazy and increasing wages and it really is a shit business. Get one from the northern neighbors

Lichtgestalt · Post by **Lichtgestalt** » 8th Sep, '12, 16:54

Fat Bob wrote:There are some things I love about Singapore. There are some things I hate. Today, I came across one I hate.

hey... if you don't like it you can always leave Singapore

Jedi · Post by **Jedi** » 9th Sep, '12, 07:56

Well actualy the Amazon version with kinect is $290USD = $359 SGD, so the local $400 price is fair. If you get it from amazon you won't get any local warranty.

Lichtgestalt wrote:hey... if you don't like it you can always leave Singapore

I did, and have never looked back!

baloo · Post by **baloo** » 9th Sep, '12, 08:22

Any on the 2nd hand market FB?

Often the vendors sell in bundles that the local distributor package and their hands are tied.

Jedi · Post by **Jedi** » 9th Sep, '12, 09:17

What's actually wrong with your current 360? Perhaps a service is all it needs to get it running again?

Fat Bob · Post by **Fat Bob** » 9th Sep, '12, 11:42

Yeah, I was trying to find either authorised or unauthorised 360 service centres. There is no Microsoft service centre, all done by phone/web and pick up and drop off. There are a load of people who will happily meet you at an MRT station and bring it back to you in an hour.....

Found one in a shop in Golden Mile so am heading down there today.

Fat Bob · Post by **Fat Bob** » 9th Sep, '12, 11:58

Jedi wrote:Well actualy the Amazon version with kinect is $290USD = $359 SGD, so the local $400 price is fair. If you get it from amazon you won't get any local warranty.

Lichtgestalt wrote:hey... if you don't like it you can always leave Singapore
I did, and have never looked back!

I don't want a kinect though. So the amazon price of USD190 for a standard console = SGD250. The local price for that is SGD400.

I'll admit the kinect price isn't that bad at $470 but still a bit eeeck.

Will see what the service guys says today. If I could have got a $400 console yesterday I would have - but none were in any of the 4 shops I visited and only one knew of any stock in Singapore and could only get one by next week.

So it was a mix of price, availability and packaging off excess crap that is just not needed/wanted.

Jedi · Post by **Jedi** » 9th Sep, '12, 12:00

Fat Bob wrote:I don't want a kinect though. So the amazon price of USD190 for a standard console = SGD250. The local price for that is SGD400.

I thought you said you can't find a local set without Kinect, so the $400 is with kinect?

Fat Bob · Post by **Fat Bob** » 9th Sep, '12, 12:03

$400 without kinect, and not available in most places. And not in the 4 stores I tried.

$470 with kinect.

Fat Bob · Post by **Fat Bob** » 9th Sep, '12, 15:39

All sorted, finally got to somewhere where they could test my system and power supply brick - it was the brick.

So another part of the issue was the lack of authorised service centre for Microsoft.

The link for the guys is: http://playurconsoles.com/shop/meetup.php

They also do ipod, iphone and laptop repair. No idea how good they will be on repair versus supply of new power supply.

chocolate · Post by **chocolate** » 13th Sep, '12, 19:10

And I was just about to volunteer to post it to you if you sent it here! Glad you got it sorted

Calatrava · Post by **Calatrava** » 26th Mar, '13, 16:23

New rant - why is it that when you go to places like lucky plaza or sim lim, people see us as a walking fat wallet. $900 for Xbox? Are you kidding me.

BoD · Post by **BoD** » 27th Mar, '13, 05:38

Well yes, but is there actually a reason to go to Sim Lim?

Jedi · Post by **Jedi** » 27th Mar, '13, 07:06

I wouldn't shop at Sim Lim for games consoles. They are all crooks.

There are better places in Funan, but i've forgotten their name.

ps. Lucky Plaza is for tourists, never shop there.

Fat Bob · Post by **Fat Bob** » 27th Mar, '13, 07:31

Lucky Plaza is not full of crooks. Well, at least the police say so.....

iPhone 5 over charging

slinky · Post by **slinky** » 27th Mar, '13, 08:20

That's a crazy story, FB! If the story is true as written, that's unbelievably brazen. I can't believe the police would essentially go along with something like that - who would agree to that kind of price? And they guy would have been standing there telling them he didn't. You would think it's so obvious what the shop is doing that they'd at least tell them to back down on that case since they were called out.

Add Far East Plaza on Scotts to the list of places not to buy electronics. We had direct experience of a Nokia phone that they swore was new and under warranty only to find out 6 months later when it stopped working that it was from Bahrain and was not under warranty and was probably refurbished when we bought it.

In general, I don't like shopping for things that don't have prices listed on them here because I always feel like I'm going to get taken advantage of.

Jedi · Post by **Jedi** » 27th Mar, '13, 08:51

As stated, Lucky Plaza is full of crooks. However in that particular case, if the buyer is so stupid as to pay such a rediculous price, then too bad for them. Caveat emptor people!! I don't think its the job of the Police to save people from themselves.

Pinklepurr · Post by **Pinklepurr** » 27th Mar, '13, 10:24

Thanks FB for allowing me to spend (waste) half an hour of my time reading Stomp...I needed the laugh this morning! Especially the story of two uncles fighting on the train over one of them watching porn on his laptop with the volume up!

slinky · Post by **slinky** » 27th Mar, '13, 10:46

Jedi wrote:As stated, Lucky Plaza is full of crooks. However in that particular case, if the buyer is so stupid as to pay such a rediculous price, then too bad for them. Caveat emptor people!! I don't think its the job of the Police to save people from themselves.

Yes, generally I agree with caveat emptor, but that doesn't really apply in this case as he apparently didn't originally agree to the $10k cost - they tried to slip a bogus charge of 'registering the phone' on him. Seems obvious they were not up front about it, as no one would agree to such a thing. He paid the agreed charge up front - which doesn't sound all that out of line for buying a phone with no contract - iPhones generally go for about S$1k if you are buying without a contract. They were clearly taking the piss and that's why the police were called in the first place.

"My friend was told it cost S$1,150 per phone and he agreed and paid them cash S$2,550 including GST for 2 iphone 5s. After that they asked him for his passport to register his iPhone with the Apple Store.

"When they returned his passport and handed him a receipt to sign and he did, after that the shop people demanded him to pay the balance of S$7,500 for his purchase of two iPhones. My foreign friend was shocked to learn he had to pay so much money before they could release the phone to him.

Lili Von Shtupp · Post by **Lili Von Shtupp** » 27th Mar, '13, 10:56

Mr VS shops at Sim Lim for things when he knows exactly what he wants, what model, and how much would constitute a bargain. He's got some good buys there but only because he goes in armed with research and does his Phua Chu Kang all over those guys.

sluggo · Post by **sluggo** » 28th Mar, '13, 06:07

"taking the piss", Slinky you've been there too long. I know you didn't grow up in Indiana saying that.

slinky · Post by **slinky** » 28th Mar, '13, 08:58

sluggo wrote:"taking the piss", Slinky you've been there too long. I know you didn't grow up in Indiana saying that.

No, in Indiana we would have said 'taking a piss' -- but it meant something very different

BoD · Post by **BoD** » 30th Mar, '13, 02:47

Do Americans get pissed at pissed Brits, or Brits get pissed when they meet pissed Americans?

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