Arya Samaj Road is a busy central market for Uttam Nagar East residents in West Delhi. Bhola Times happens to be a reputed watch shop for the purchase and repair of Titan, Timex, Casio and other watch brands in the market. I have a black strap formal watch which I wear to office. Somehow I was not satisfied with the strap design so I approached Bhola Times to see if they have the ‘Original Strap’ for my watch model(Titan Regalia). They did not have it and said they can procure it for me from their contacts in Bengaluru. All I had to do was deposit Rs 100 for the strap and pay the balance when the Strap arrives. Vishal, the owner’s son told me he would call when the strap arrives. He took the payment and scrolled my name and phone number on a piece of paper. I paid Rs 100 since I knew from my Titan store visits in Janakpuri District Centre and Rajouri Garden that the ‘Original Strap’ for my watch was not available in Delhi. I did not insist on a payment voucher for the deposit thinking this was a good shop and Rs 100 is a meagre amount to be asking a bill for. 15 days went by and I did not get a call. A month went by and the strap did not arrive. We lost patience and asked for our deposit back. Now Vishal’s father was talking to us this time on a weekend and he asked us to come back when his son was there in the shop. When we argued back, he said, show me the payment voucher as proof that you made the payment. We protested that Vishal just scrolled my name and phone number on his paper cardboard and showed him my name on the paper he was browsing for details. To our horror, there was a long tick mark over my name on the paper cardboard suggesting that the matter had been taken care of. I told Vishal’s father that he was ill-treating his customers with such behavior. The payment was made and a receipt was not taken in good faith that a reputed shopkeeper will not backtrack on a meagre Rs 100 deposit. The lesson for myself and my spouse was that, if you are making an advance deposit for any item(however big or small), you must insist on a deposit voucher so you have proof that the payment was made. Otherwise shopkeepers can conveniently forget all about it.