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Hong Kong – Land of Deceit

     Hong Kong used to be a really good city to be in but they have this underlying cult of deceit or as they say in Hong Kong – misled. Hong Kong news is pretty sparse, it usually covers car accidents and little incidents of people being misled. It is a sort of company culture thing that is quite prevalent in Asia but in Hong Kong it has got out of hand. 

     Mainland China has managed to get itself together and now it is not so common over there. 

     It used to be. I’ve been going to the trade fair in Guangzhou for nearly 20 years now. Like before 10 years ago the attitude used to be something like this ‘If you got ripped off it was your fault because you should have checked and not let me rip you off.’ ‘It was your fault because you let me rip you off.’ I think most people who were doing things in China in the 1990s would probably agree with that. 

     This millennium it doesn’t happen so much. The Chinese companies realize that customers are very hard to get and now they don’t want to lose you so they look after you. One of the reasons China will be the next superpower is because they adapt.

 But in Hong Kong it is probably getting worse. 

     There are always advertisements on TV telling you to be careful and not get ripped off. One ad line was “If it is too good to be true it probably is not true” or something like that. My friend has lived in Hong Kong for well over 20 years and he says it is getting worse. Because the economy is getting tight there is more deceit because they want to get a fast buck.  

The rip off attitude is not limited to small business. 

     One incidence on TV involved buying flats in a new up market estate. I can’t remember what was wrong but the reporter said they had been misled by the developer with something to do with the size of the flats. Here they were talking millions of dollars. They love that term “misled” in Hong Kong. Even getting a job you have to be careful as there have been incidents involving misleading job advertisements. 

     I was misled by the Hang Seng Bank when they sold me what I thought was a saving plans and it turned out to be a life insurance plan. They used the term ‘plan’ to help with the misleading bit. And when I complained it was my fault because I didn’t read the policy. I’d love to know how many other customers had been misled I can’t be the only one. 

     To be misled in Hong Kong seems to be the norm, so they easiest way not to be misled is to not go there. Just go straight to China that is the place to be. Hong Kong is supposed to be a shopping paradise but if you do not know the price you will get screwed to the wall. Now I only shop in the big shops. You can see the price, but even then you have to be careful. 

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