An "unlucky" winner who was duped into purchasing prizes he had purportedly won in a festive promotion organised by an electrical company, is still awaiting clarification from the company after being given a run around.

Noorazlan Zainal Abidin, whose plight was highlighted by malaysiakini on Feb 4, after he related his experience of being duped by a "Scratch & Win" gift scam organised by Aowa Electrical Sdn. Bhd, said today that the outlet manager in IOI Mall Puchong refused to give him any clarification and refund, but instead told him to pursue the matter with the marketing manager at the headquarters.

Earlier, when he contacted the company headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Noorazlan was told that the matter was beyond the headquarters' control and he should refer to the manager of the outlet where he made the purchases.

"I went to see John Lim, the outlet manager, yesterday. He told me that he would call me back after he spoke to the marketing manager in the headquarters," Noorazlan said.

Noorazlan's nightmare began when he received a Scratch & Win coupon in his mailbox before the Chinese New Year festival. Upon scratching the coupon, it revealed that he had won an RM1,588 Pioneer Mini VCD home theatre system plus a RM100 cash voucher from the outlet.

Noorazlan was told by the salespersons in the outlet that he had to make a purchase from the outlet in order to redeem the free VCD gift and the cash voucher.

He purchased an Aowa mircrowave oven retailed at RM2,598. He further won a similar microwave oven, a water filter and a vacuum cleaner though a special lucky draw. He was however, asked to pay "taxes" and "transportation" charges for the three lucky draw items before he could claim them. These "charges" amounted to another RM1,381.

Upon settling the payment for the items, Noorazlan realised that he was actually taken for a ride and the total amount he paid the company was inclusive of the retail prices of the free gift and lucky draw prizes.

"I am willing to keep the microwave oven and the VCD set but I would like a refund on the "taxes" that I paid for the lucky draw items," said Noorazlan.

Meanwhile, a visit by malaysiakini to the company outlet in IOI Mall, Puchong, today revealed that it only sold five different "promotional" electronic items, which were exorbitantly priced at above RM2,000.

A salesperson who declined to be named said that the only items available for purchase were a 2-in-1 convention microwave oven priced at RM2,598, a water dispenser at RM2,980, a vacuum cleaner at RM1,990, a 30-liter mineral pot at RM2,190 and a 21-piece stainless steel cookware set at RM2,598. These items were all of the Japanese Aowa brand.

"The rest of the items are for the special draw and free gift promotions," said the salesperson. He added that these items were of various brands including LG, Thomson and Pioneer.

However, a spokesman of Scott & English Electronics, sole distributor of LG products here, confirmed that he had received numerous complaints from irate customers about the alleged "scam". He added that his company would not take any action against Aowa as it was an internal sales gimmick within the company (Aowa) and it was beyond the distributor's control. When asked about the "taxes" imposed on the lucky draw items, the salesman at the IOI outlet said, "We have to charge import taxes, transportation and insurance charges for prizes worth more than RM3,000 because these items were exclusively imported for the winner."