'I felt I was forced to buy': Man says he was duped by door-to-door seller after paying $345 for subpar durians

He wanted to satisfy his durian craving, but his purchase left him with a bad taste in his mouth — and $345 poorer.

A real estate agent surnamed Feng, who lives at Block 56 Geylang Bahru, told Shin Min Daily News that a durian salesman knocked on his door at about 2pm last Saturday (May 25).

The 58-year-old said the seller, who looked to be in his 30s, had a large bag of durians with him and asked if Feng wanted to buy some. 

"I decided to buy a few to satisfy my craving. I asked if he had any bitter ones and he said yes, but didn't specify which variant," he added.

"He told me they cost $18 per kilogram, and I thought it was a reasonable price." 

At first, Feng told the salesman that he only wanted two durians, but the latter insisted that he had to buy at least four and get one free. 

"I was quite reluctant but I couldn't refuse him, so I just agreed. He was very quick to slice open a durian, but didn't let me try it." 

It is a common practice for durian stallholders to offer to let customers taste the durian they open up.

Feng said that the salesman continued to slice open three more durians while praising the quality of the fruit.

The weight of the four durians came up to 19.8kg and the salesman asked Feng to pay him $356, which works out to almost $18 per kg.

"I felt I was forced to buy them," said Feng. "He even picked the large durians [for me], so it was obvious he was trying to fleece me. I tried to question him, but he said I chose to buy them willingly." 

Sensing that Feng was getting upset, the salesman gave him a discount and told him to pay $345 instead. 

"I was very unhappy and asked him to leave after I paid. I tasted the durians — the free one was almost inedible and the other four tasted ordinary. It wasn't worth what I paid at all." 

Feng added that he then rushed downstairs to confront the man, but the latter insisted that his durians were of good quality. 

"In the end, I had no choice but to let the matter slide. I hope this incident will remind others to be careful." 

Recently, discussions about door-to-door durian sellers have also surfaced online, where netizens share how they were duped into buying low-quality durians at exorbitant prices. 

Some also speculated that these door-to-door salesmen were fruit sellers trying to get rid of extra stock. 

READ ALSO: 8 durians for over $300: Jurong resident says she was tricked by salesman at her door

claudiatan@asiaone.com