Putting All The Scams Out On The Table(t)

I’m talking to my sister about computers. Recently, our grandpa bought a new computer and needed help setting it up. He was surprised when my very tech-savvy sister offered to help. Upon setting up his computer, she found he had been sold a bunch of add-on programs that my sister could have downloaded legitimate open-source copies of for free.

He also happened to show her the receipt. On the receipt, there was a £20 charge for “tablet set-up.” My grandpa doesn’t own a tablet, and the store didn’t offer computer set-ups, so this was quite obviously the store hoping he wouldn’t notice.

Upon noticing when he got home, he rang up the national helpline for this store and demanded a refund for a service he had never received. In the end, after much arguing, the helpline agreed to refund his card manually — they tried to say that it could only be done if my grandpa took the 40-minute drive to the store and they refunded him at the till. In the end, my sister decided not to tell him that they had also scammed him in terms of the add-on programs he had been sold. Regardless, my grandpa has vowed never to shop there again and to ask for my sister’s advice the next time he needs computer help!