Dispute over Sim Lim phone purchase blamed for M'sian diver's poor showing

Coaches for Malaysian diver Ooi Tze Liang said he performed badly at the Singapore Fina Diving Grand Prix 2014 finals yesterday after getting involved in a dispute over iPhone 6 purchases.

The Commonwealth Games gold medallist, 20, was expected to perform well, but finished fifth in the men's 3m springboard finals at the OCBC Aquatic Centre at the Sports Hub.

Malaysian coach Huang Qiang said Ooi paid more than $4,000 for two iPhone 6s at Sim Lim Square the night before.

The New Paper on Sunday understands that the Malaysian diver had gone to the Mobile Planet shop, and wanted to buy a 64GB iPhone 6 and a 64GB iPhone 6 Plus.

The price quoted to him was $2,500 for the two phones. The market prices for the phones are $1,148 and $1,288 respectively on the Apple online store.

However, Ooi claims that after paying for the phones, he was asked to sign up for an in-house warranty package which would cover damages such as broken screens and damage caused by water.

Ooi said: "We were told that the international warranty features would cover almost every (type of) damage but the shop owner did not say how much it would cost us."

He claims he realised it would cost a further $2,376 only when he saw the receipt after signing the contract.

"I had already paid for the phone and signed the warranty contract, so I had to pay the remaining sum to take the devices," said Ooi.

"The shopkeeper would not hand over the phones unless I paid for the contract. He said I would have to fork out $800 to cancel the contract."

According to Ooi's receipt, he paid a total of $4,876 for the phones, which included two power banks.

This ploy is not new and there have been previously reported cases. But as the customer has signed a contract, there is little that can be done by the authorities.

Shopkeepers at Mobile Planet refused to comment when approached by The New Paper on Sunday last night.