Hey gals and guys, I've came to India from Singapore three years back, rather reluctantly, with my parents as they wanted to spend their golden years in their home country. For the last three years in Trivandrum, I've unfortunately kept to myself cause my malayalam and Hindi are non-existent, spoken english iffy (I type rather well), and fluent in cantonese/mandarin. -.-' One thing I've noticed is: - Everyone loves to rip me off: stores, taxis, autos... yeah did I say everyone? - There isn't a single honest maintenance/electrician/AC repair men, not even one. My rented apartment came with two ACs, each year AC repair men come in just size it up even without opening anything claim the capacitor is gone (rs.1800), compressor is gone (rs.12000), motor is gone (rs.5000), gas needs to be filled (rs.1800 every time), servicing (rs.1200 every visit). So, I've spend rs.30,000 in just three years on ACs that don't even belong to me. I know they are ripping me off but my skin is so sensitive to heat and my body breaks out like crazy so I keep up with that. Now, the AC coolness goes down again and I call AC people to top off gas. The service men come in empty handed with no meter or tools after having me wait for them for THREE days, and say with a straight face after just fiddling with remote without looking at anything: Guy: "Yeah the cooling is down, lets replace the compressor" Me: "oh? you can tell that without opening up the out door unit?" Guy: "yeah ma'am, electronic devices are so unpredictable." Me: "really now? that sure? how much?" Guy: "its just rs.10,000 ma'am, plus rs.1500 for gas refilling and servicing" Me: "I see... I see. So, you can tell the pressure level without even looking at the out door unit and without using a meter?" Guy: "yeah ma'am, the level's about 60 on both ACs" *grin* Me: "very well, thanks for coming please show yourselves out before I end up saying something I'd regret." Guy: "oh.. sorry ma'am.. no no maybe its just blower clogged with dust, just servicing may be enough..." Me: "OUT!" Ah.. life in Trivandrum, please please tell me you guys know any AC service people who would just come in and top off the gas, service it, and be on their way without drumming up business?
