Senior citizen bullied for a mere RM5

Senior citizen bullied for a mere RM5

S. Ponnusamy, 64, went to the motorcycle shop to get his motorcycle repaired but the mechanic behaved abusively after he failed to fix the motorcycle.

A senior citizen sent his motorcycle for repair at a motorcycle repair shop in Masai on February 17, was bullied and attacked by the mechanic for a mere RM5.00 repair bill.

The victim, S. Ponnusamy, 64, went to the repair shop to get his motorcycle repaired. The repair shop mechanic examined the motorcycle and told him that the spark plug needs to be replaced.

After replacing the spark plug, the motorcycle still failed to start and he asked the mechanic to re-check.

The mechanic later told him that the motorcycle has other mechanical faults and the mechanic began to ask for the RM5 payment for replacing the spark plug.

The incident happened when the victim, S. Ponnusamy, 64 told the mechanic that he had no cash in hand and will pay the RM5 repair bill the next day.

The mechanic then asked to withold his MyKad (identity card) as a form of guarantee for his payment.

Ponnusamy refused to surrender his MyKad and the mechanic acted abusively and started to push him.

As a result, he fell and injured his right hand. He went to a clinic and later to the Sultan Ismail Hospital to seek medical treatment.

Ponnusamy said, sometime in January, 2011, he did sent his motorcycle for repair to the same repair shop and was charged RM600.

He has been paying the repair bill in installments since January 7.

He lamented by saying, the repair shop should not resort to making quick profits by taking advantage on senior citizen like him who has no income but depending on allowance given by his children.

He added that he had made a police report against the mechanic in the Masai police station and urged the police to investigate the incident to prevent similar incident from recurring.

Ponnusamy was relating the whole incident to Komunitikini after lodging an official complaint to the Tribunal of Consumer Claims here.

Avatar photo

Steven Chen

Steve is a Citizen Journalist based in Johor Bahru.