In defence of Sim Lim Square

Sim Lim Square back to old habits?
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Geek Central isn’t so bad, at least not when I was there last week to get some stuff for my brother in law in China (because it’s worse over there – you can hardly get any non-pirated stuff for a reasonable retail price, apparently).

At several shops on the fourth and fifth floors, I found sales staff to be polite and helpful to the point where, when they saw me to be on the verge of overspending on a particular product, asked what my (or my brother-in-law’s) purpose for the product was, and then recommended a cheaper alternative because what we intended to get was, in their opinion, a bit of an overkill.

Of course, customers unaccustomed to Sim Lim Square Salesspeak might find the way they help you rude or intrusive, because the conversation went something like:

Salesman: So you want to buy the Seagate Barracuda 1TB?

Me: Yes. And an external combo casing – with firewire and USB.

Salesman: Firewire and USB, can. Wait. You want to take this HD (brandishes HD) and put it in an external case?

Me: Um.. yah.

Salesman: Har? What for?

Me: To use as external drive lah.

Salesman: Har? But this HD is server grade one leh.

Me: Yah, I know.

Salesman: Also can lah, up to you lah, but if me hor, I won’t use so high end HD.

Me: Then what would you use?

Salesman: Cheaper drive lah. Also will last quite long. How many people in your house? 2, 3? Good enough lah.

Me: OK, if you say so.

Salesman: Yah. I get for you the lower end one. Eh? Wait wait wait. You want to use for external drive is it?

Me: Yah.

Salesman: Haiyah, then get the all-in-one lah. Maxtor or Seagate also have. Good enough for your use. Cheaper also.

Me: Issit?

Salesman: Yah. But up to you lah.

Me: You say what is what lor. OK, Maxtor one how much?

I dunno. I didn’t find it pushy. Plus, I got further discounts when I paid by NETS at several shops.

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6 responses to “In defence of Sim Lim Square”

  1. stephanie Avatar

    I usually find that ppl who go to Sim Lim with little product knowledge may find the service rude. My approach is usually to take newbies to Funan first, then they have narrowed down options then they can ask the right techie questions in Sim Lim. Then we either buy there or go back to Funan (which is surprisingly good value sometimes).

    Most techies that I know appreciate the no-nonsense service at Sim Lim – since when is a geek inclined towards lengthy sales and service techniques anyway???

  2. piakpiak Avatar

    well, do check out the white list of shops in sim lim maintained by the vr-zone forummers
    http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=187130.

    unfortunately, many shops selling electronics on the lower floor brought the bad name there.

  3. Seth Avatar
    Seth

    The thing is, many shops/salespeople are just out there to “chop carrot head”. They will quote outrageous prices that are either too expensive or too good to be true.

    It’s true that there are reliable shops there, but I am not sure how or where to start classifying them, nor have the time to do so.

  4. Agent Shoots Avatar
    Agent Shoots

    smlj. “You say what is what lor.”

    roflmao.

    btw, i duno about you guys, but i tend to get all my larger purchases like laptops and cameras from funan, and only the accesories and whatnots from SLS, and only from the 3rd floor upwards. my exp has been pretty good from all my years of visitation. no such bad luck as with all these reported cases.

  5. rei Avatar

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  6. rei Avatar

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