Woman buys a $1000 PSP, says she was 'shocked'

4:06 PM on 08.06.2008   |   Brad Nicholson

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Remember when you were younger and your parents bought you Tecmo: Secret of the Stars instead of Tecmo Super Bowl? In Singapore, a mother bought her daughter a $1000 PlayStation Portable complete with a “license” for software. A salesman obviously keen on the mother’s pocketbook and negligible knowledge of the PSP performed the dupe at a shop in Signapore. The man first offered her a $3,550 PSP, complete with antivirus software. The mother, seeking a deal, eventually narrowed the price down to the $2,600. After getting the gadget home, she realized she was duped and insisted on the ultimately fair price of $1,000.

When the local newspaper asked the mother for comment, she said her friends “all say I’m so stupid.” Of course, they probably said that even louder after the mother admitted that she knew that other retailers were selling the PSP at retail cost. She said she was afraid to walk away from the clerk’s false promises because it would have been “irresponsible.”

This is probably just me, but does this not seem absolutely insane? Being cornered and feeling obligated to buy something is what we all deal with when we walk into a GameStop. Being sold something overpriced knowingly is a completely different issue. This story makes me remember all the terrible games my mother used to come home with when I was younger. What was the worst “deal” or game-related present your parents purchased for you?