Hadiza Tukur (not real name), a Lagos State-based journalist, has narrated how Ayoku Akinyoola, an inverter vendor and owner of Uninterrupted 365 Energy Ltd., sold a bad inverter to her for N605,000.
Tukur told EQToday that she made the payment for the inverter via Declutters, an online platform that connects people looking to buy household equipment to vendors, on April 10.
“I hired the services of Ayoku Akinyoola, an inverter vendor, through Declutters on Instagram to help me build an inverter on April 10,” Tukur told EQToday.
“From what Declutters advertised, it was said that Akinyoola could build a new inverter with batteries for N550,000. My husband and I were very much interested in having an inverter built for us because we both work remotely most of the time. The fact that we’re also always experiencing blackouts in our area ultimately made us decide that we needed one to be installed in our home as urgently as possible.
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“This then made us register our interest in the offer, and we subsequently made the N550,000 payment to Declutters. Later on, the platform sent us Akinyoola’s phone number, and we reached out to him.
The N550,000 Payment Tukur Made for the Inverter Installation
“While reaching out to the vendor, we asked him if he was sure the inverter and batteries he would be making available to us were new and in good condition, and he said yes.
“To avoid any controversy, we asked him to come and fix the inverter himself, and he obliged us. His agreeing to come himself cost us an extra N55,000 because he said would be coming from Ajah to our place on the mainland for the installation. This means we paid N605,000 in total for the inverter.”
INVERTER STOPS WORKING AFTER A WEEK
The Additional N55,000 Payment Tukur Made to Akinyoola
Tukur told EQToday that Akinyoola subsequently came to install the inverter after he received the additional N55,000 payment.
“We were unable to immediately put the inverter to use after the vendor installed it because we had power that day,” said Tukur.
“The very first day we were eventually able to use it, however, it worked for eight hours. We also made sure not to use a lot of gadgets during the period.
“When the vendor called for feedback, we had to tell him all was well because we never knew there would be issues later.”
Tukur and her husband would, however, later find out that all was not well.
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“A few days later, we noticed that the inverter’s power had dropped. We initially thought we did not charge it well,” Tukur said.
“It, however, later became obvious that the drop in power supply was because Akinyoola had supplied us with batteries that were not at all new and in good condition.
“The batteries no longer power ordinary light bulbs in the house for an hour. That’s how bad it has become. Since then, my husband has been on the matter, calling the vendor to come and fix the bad batteries he assembled, but he always says he’s busy and cannot come. He has continued to give us excuses.”
‘AKINYOOLA ASKS FOR MORE MONEY’
Ayoku Akinyoola’s Uninterrupted 365 Energy Instagram Page
Tukur told EQToday that Akinyoola would later demand for more money for the issue to be fixed.
“The last time I called him, I told him I was a journalist and video editor who works remotely,” said Tukur.
“I also made him realise that the fact that the inverter he fixed is not working is costing me a lot. I have not been able to work as a result of this. This is also coupled with the fact that the power situation in our area is bad.
“I can’t even join online meetings from home anymore. My husband also works remotely.
“When I kept on hammering on this, the vendor then recently suggested that perhaps his boys had mixed good batteries with bad ones during the installation.
“He went ahead to say even if he visited us like we had been demanding, there was no magic he’d perform except we paid additional money so he could change some of the batteries.
“Can you imagine? Asking us to pay more money for an installation he carried out himself? An installation that did not last us a week? Is that not fraudulent?”
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Tukur further told EQToday that Akinyoola said he currently did not have the batteries, adding that he was busy with another project he was working on for someone else.
“I told him to give me a specific timeline to fix the problem, but he would not do that,” Tukur said.
“The inverter itself came with a one-year warranty. When he fixed it, he said when all gadgets were on, it would last six hours. But we have not even used it for a month, and it has already stopped working. The fact that he is asking for additional money to get good batteries is unacceptable and fraudulent.”
WHEN EQToday INTERVIEWED AKINYOOLA
Ayoku Akinyoola
When EQToday phoned Akinyoola for a reaction to the allegation on Thursday, he said the batteries he installed were not new batteries.
“Those batteries are not new batteries,” Akinyoola said.
“Before I installed the inverter, I tested the batteries, and I was sure they were in good condition. The ones that were bad, I put them aside. I then went ahead to install the good ones for them.
“After a week, the lady and her husband called me to say the inverter had stopped working. I then had to tell them that they might have to go for new batteries if it was true that they had stopped working. I actually tested them before they were installed.”
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When Akinyoola was asked whether he was sure Tukur and her husband knew the batteries were not new when he did the installation for the couple, he said he “initially did not deal with them directly”.
“The batteries were not new, and I initially did not directly deal with them. I interacted with the middleman, Declutters, not them,” he said.
“The only new equipment I installed that day was the inverter itself.”
When EQToday asked Akinyoola on the way forward, he said the couple would have to pay additional money for the bad batteries to be replaced.
“The last communication I had with them was that if I was able to get good batteries, they would have to pay additional money for the bad ones to be replaced,” said Akinyoola.
“I am even wondering why they would even claim I sold them new batteries when I did not visit their house carrying batteries that were in new cartons. It was the inverter that came brand new.”
When EQToday asked the vendor to react to the claim that he once told the couple that “his boys” could have swapped good batteries for bad ones before they were installed, he denied ever saying that.
“I did not pass that information to them,” said Akinyoola.
“I only told them that the batteries had been tested and were in good condition. I did not tell them my boys swapped good batteries for bad ones. If that had happened, the inverter would not have worked at all.
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“Even if it worked, it would only have lasted for just an hour. Those batteries were tested before installation.”
When Akinyoola was asked to put himself in the position of the aggrieved customers and state how he would feel if he found out he had paid N605,000 for an inverter installation that only worked for a week, he muttered a few incomprehensible words and ended the call.
The post After Receiving N605,000 for Inverter Installation, Ayoku Akinyoola Supplied One With Bad Batteries appeared first on Exposed.Quest The Quest for X !.