Sarafa Toheeb (not real name), a resident of Osun State, has narrated how some phone marketers deceived his sister and several other people into buying low-quality phones in Ile-Ife.

Toheeb said that the vendors came to his neighbourhood in September advertising some Trifone mobile tablets. He also said that the vendors announced that the phones came with some expensive gifts, including plastic chairs, power banks and umbrellas.

On hearing this load of enticing gifts, many residents, including Toheeb’s sister, Fatimo, of Aseki in the Opa area of Ile-Ife, trooped out massively to buy the phones. The one his sister bought has a model number X702 and was Android version 8.1.

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“My sister was in her shop on that day in early September, and these people came in a vehicle to advertise some mobile tablets to us. They said anyone who bought a phone would get some gifts such as a power bank, plastic chairs and an umbrella,” Toheeb said.

“My sister had a good phone already. So, she would ordinarily not have been moved to buy a new phone at that moment. Listening to their promises changed her mind. In fact, those promises made a good number of people turn out to buy the phones.

“It was like a tablet, good-looking. After she bought one at the rate of N45,000, they told all of them that they did not come with those materials. The marketers told them that they would be back in our area in three days, and they gave them a phone number through which buyers could contact them.”

The vendors also told buyers that if they returned on the said date to distribute the gifts and any buyer had a reason to return the phone, they would accept the return and deduct N3,000 from the purchase sum. After that, they would refund the balance of N42,000 on the spot and this would not stop the buyer from getting the promised gifts.

“The phone number was reachable on that day, so no one had a reservation about their reliability and the genuineness of their brand,” he said.

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Those who bought the phones started realising the deception when they attempted to phone the vendors on the third day and their phone was repeatedly unreachable.

“We kept our eyes on the day they promised to return like we were expecting an angel. Shockingly, we called the number they gave us on the third day and it was not connecting. We initially thought it was because of a poor network connection.

“Days after, we stopped rationalising it and came to the conclusion that they had deceived us. The lies hurt my sister and others who bought the phone. How could a company employ lies to sell its products?”

BAD PHONES, BAD SIGNAL

Not only did the vendors trick the buyers with mouth-watering gifts, the devices are of bad quality. Fatimah has been unable to use her phone since the day she bought it.

“When I inserted my SIM card into the phone, it came up normally. A few hours after, I noticed that the network signal completely disappeared. I was thinking it would come back, but it did not. I had to remove the card and re-insert it before it could work again,” Toheeb told FIJ.

The source explained that most people who bought the Trifone product in the neighbourhood had the same story to tell.

“As we speak, the phone is almost useless. It is no longer receptive to network. If the network comes up, it will not be strong to make or receive calls. She has removed her SIM card and given the phone to me. I also cannot use the phone. I have abandoned it. The bad signal was affecting data rate and made it difficult to connect to the internet. The battery too is weak.”

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To confirm the low signal strength, this reporter phoned Toheeb while a SIM card was inside the phone, and the conversation was breaking constantly.

Toheeb’s sister could not provide the vendors’ phone number, as she had misplaced it.

FIJ’s checks showed that the company was registered in Nigeria by some Chinese with the Corporate Affairs Commission as Trifone Nigeria Limited with an office at 5 Odunuga Street, Opebi, Lagos State.

Upon a visit by this reporter to the address on Thursday, FIJ found that the company does not exist at the address. An email sent to the email address listed on its CAC profile also failed to deliver.