Going to buy a mobile phone accessory? Dont get fooled..

Many of us buy mobile accessories from either the shops located in our locality or from the mobile market in the city, whatever you do, please make sure that you are not fooled by the so-called shop keepers when you go to make your purchase.

What I’m narrating here is a small true incident which happened just two days back with me for a simple thing such as a tempered glass. Either its because of my better understanding of the pricing, my experiences in the past or my ability to enter into a debate with shopkeepers on things which I know a bit better, but which they’d think that they know better. It all comes down to price and they can try to fool you if they sense that either you don’t know or you have a very urgent need. The tempered glass on my redmi note 3 shattered to pieces just few days back and I was looking to get a new one. I went to a shop, unfortunately he didn’t have that one, but he told me to check his another shop, which was nearby. Now this is the actual conversation as it happened-

Me: I want the tempered for Redmi Note 3

Shopkeeper: Redmi Note 3’s manufacturing has stopped, the tempered doesn’t come now.

M: It is manufactured even today, it’s another thing that you don’t stock it, so  don’t pass the buck on the company if you don’t have the particular stock.

S: Well let me search. (He searches the box) Got it but it’s a bit expensive, would cost you 299

(He doesn’t know that I have used tempered glass over the years from as low as 100 bucks which have the same quality as the premium ones, both will eventually break saving the mobile phone screen).

M: 299 ?? Tempered come for as low as 100. 

S: Well, the ones for 100 don’t have that quality, these save from scratches.

M: What I will do with scratches? I don’t have to do fingernail sculpturing on the tempered glass. It has to save the screen, will do that.

By now, my mobile phone was with the shopkeeper, he had taken off the silicon case and  was ready to apply the glass if he found it. Another person working in the shop apart from the owner suggested the idea, “let’s try the one for redmi note 4 on this”.

S: 1st show it to him.

The compatible boy places the glass manufactured according to the layout of the Redmi Note 4 on my Redmi Note 3 and tries the adjustment of the glass on the screen.

Boy: Its okay.

M: How? Don’t you see the speaker on camera layout on my phone? The one for the note 4 is much wider, there is still a finger thickness gap between the glass and the receiver layout on mine.

Silence.

M: If you don’t have it, then leave it. There is no compulsion.

I take my phone from the counter, take two steps forward towards the exit, realise that the silicon back cover is with the applicator.

M: ohh.. Just give that back cover back.

S: Let’s final it at 150

M: I’m not going even 1 Rs. above 100

As I near the door, the shop owner now speaks up: Arey Bhai sahab try it, who knows, you might like it?

M: What is there to like in a tempered glass? I have used so many that I’ve lost count, 300 one is not unbreakable, it breaks just like the one for 100 so why to invest in extra 200?

As I pulled the door, stepped out, there is a collective shout from all three in the shop : Arey come come, we would do it for 100 but I unheard it and started to get into my vehicle. The boy from the shop came running and said to me, “Come, we would do it for 100” and I was surely not in the mood to go into a shop which thinks that they can rip off as much money as they like. I simply replied, “This you should have quoted in the first instance, I am not interested now.” and leave.

You can see that there is a huge margin for mobile accessories and the shopkeeper came from 299 to 100 for the same product in a matter of few minutes and few solid counter arguments when he realised that I know a bit more than him. I don’t know that how much overpriced are  other mobile accessories, but for existing mobile models tempered glass on the screen can easily be applied for 100. They give the same protection as the highly overpriced premium ones. Yeah, the ones which are sold at much cheaper 50 bucks are substandard a bit because they get smudgy and scratchy really fast with normal usage. Its very rare to find good quality cheap glass for the mobile phone, a lot would depend on how well you know the shopkeeper. There is a mobile shop near my office in Kanpur, which applies a good quality tempered glass on my phone for just 80 bucks… So you now know that you must be careful when you go into any mobile shop to make a  accessory purchase so that you don’t get fooled pricewise by the shopkeeper.