Giving Other Gringos A Bad Name in Panama - The "Ugly Brit" Situation

I furnished my Panama apartment in Bella Vista with 5 LG air conditioners from Infox (the same store in the video) which were installed by an LG certified installer. They have worked fine for nearly a year. It is easy to find unqualified workers in Panama, but I can't imagine that anyone would actually hire someone not certified by the manufacturer to install something that expensive.

I for one feel extremely sorry for that old man because almost the same happened to me with FRIOLIN SEGUNDO. I bought an air conditioner from them but they told me that "they do not do installations; they just sell the units". As a result I had to hire an independant installer. One month later the machine did not work anylonger. The installer said that the machine was still under guarantee but FRIOLIN SEGUNDO claimed that it was wrongly installed and therefore they did not recognize the manufacturer's warranty.

If you go to his youtube page he lists all his grievances over 3 videos. he is a man that has come from a culture where you generally can trust the advice you get from people you meet and won't be over charged or messed about, and he has moved to a country where you take your chances a lot of the time. He is also from a generation which would walk into shops and just ask for what he wanted and he would expect to get the service and advice he needed without problems. He would be told the right goods to buy and he would accept sales people at their word. But the culture he comes from also has a lot of cowboy builders and tradesmen, so he should know better.

To be fair, anywhere in the world you could be unlucky like he has been. including his country of origin. But he needs to take responsibility for himself and not be so trusting of people's advice and think more for himself. I can't help but have a little sympathy for him but he did choose Panama and he ought to know not to pay over the odds for things. His behaviour outside the shop is reminiscent of a british farmer that sprayed slurry over a building after a complaint fell on deaf ears. Sometimes old people just become very reactionary. There is probably room for a business out in Panama to provide lifestyle advice and management for the pensionados, if there isn't already.

I Had A Similar Problem: A couple of years ago I was doing a remodel on a new apartment. I went to Do It Center and purchased all of the stuff we needed - a new large refrigerator, washer and dryer, on-demand hot water heater, and four Samsung air conditioning units. However, since the work was still underway in the apartment, the AC units sat in boxes in one of the bedrooms until we were ready to install them. I had my AC guy come over and do the work, and at that time we discovered that one of the units was damaged and not working. It could be repaired, but I tried to get a new one. Do It Center explained that more than 30 days had passed since i purchased the unit so they would not do an exchange or a refund. I tried to get them to change their minds but they dug in their heels and refused. Anyway, I eventually just had my guy repair the unit and it's been working fine ever since.

Use Authorized Technicians: I now know for new equipment and new installations it is critically important to use installation technicians that are authorized by that store or brand. If you don't then the manufacturers will use this trick every time to declare your warranty as invalid. If that happens, I guess you can go back to the store and chop your AC units up with an ax if that will make you feel better, but it won't change the company's policy. Once the unit has been working for a few years and the warranty expires, and for regular cleaning and maintenance, this becomes less important.

Don