How to shop wisely and get value for your money

 There are many people who moan daily on how they were robbed by confidence tricksters. In these woeful tales, the script is always the same. Some hawkers materialise with glittering mobile phones, necklaces, perfumes, designer watches and so on and make irresistible offers to their targeted victims. When the deal is done, the sellers go through the motions of packing their merchandise back in their boxes but they expertly exchange the real things with worthless items in similar packaging.

Less dramatic short-changing occurs in many daily transactions for buyers who are not keen. From the enthusiastic first-time car buyer who "forgets" to ensure that a spare wheel and a jack are part of the deal, to the novice real investor who, in a hurry to make millions of shillings, "bypasses" an official search before buying  property, there are many victims of con jobs in our midst.

Short-changing often results from some buyers' ignorance of the merchandise at hand. For example, laptop computers should ideally come with an operating manual, a carrier bag and a Compact Disc (CD) containing the backup of the computer's programmes and drivers in the package. But some buyers often overlook this when buying until the laptop develops problems.

Janet Njeri, a front office operator, narrates a case in which she was short-changed and ultimately paid more for a microwave oven. In her own admission, she never gets enough time for shopping and relies on the sellers' guarantee on the condition of many personal things.

No guarantee

"I bought a microwave oven at Sh10,000 and in my hurry, never bothered to ask for the operating manual," she says. "But two weeks later, I fiddled with the buttons and the appliance simply went dead," she says.

When she went back to the dealer to demand a replacement, the dealer jumped all liability on account of the fact that goods once sold are not returnable; Njeri should have raised the issue of a warranty when buying the microwave.

"I had to pay an electronics expert Sh3,000 to replace some faulty parts," says Njeri. She has since learnt to distinguish serious electronics dealers from upstart ones with no physical addresses and to sign up for all after-sales services where applicable.

Some electronic consumer goods like digital cameras and smart phones are another area in which buyers are likely to get a raw deal. Often, these gadgets come with a carrier bag and a dust jacket respectively but some wily dealers sell these separately! New DVD players come with free remote control units and free batteries to power them as part of the purchase. But cases where some unscrupulous sellers unpack the bundles and resell these accessories separately are common and buyers ought to be keen.

Buying things at outlets where there are elaborate arrangements for office or home delivery at little or no extra cost is smart shopping. Often, people think that they have struck the best deals in their lives at the purchase of some items, until they consider how to take these things home and often, cheap becomes expensive.

Photo: www.clemson.edu.com