A handful of customers who bought what the manufacturer boasted as ‘super-quality rice cookers’ in Thanh Hoa, Vinh, and Ha Tinh have flocked to the company’s branches in their localities to ask to return their purchases, as the appliance turned out to be unable to appropriately cook rice.

>> Locals return cheapies to Chinese traders The branches were opened four months ago in the above cities to sell the high-grade Yasuto rice cookers. The dealers scattered leaflets around the localities, advertising that the appliances have a three-dimension heating technology, which helps to save power and produce perfectly cooked rice. The product is manufactured at the Viet – Nhat Electronics Plant located in the Vinh Khuc Industrial Park in the northern province of Hung Yen. What has appealed local customers the most, however, is that they can exchange their used rice cookers for the Yasuto product and receive a discount of VND638,000 per item, while a new one fetches VND1.25 million, according to the leaflets. Convinced by the advertisement and the appealing exchange program, many locals have bought the product, only to realize later that it usually produces either uncooked or overcooked rice. Strangely enough, all of the branches selling the rice cooker unexpectedly vanished when consumers came to complain. Even the house owners who leased the spaces to the branches have not been informed of their sudden departure. “They signed a one-year leasing contract with us, starting from May 1,” one of the house leasers told reporters.