Speaker sales in parking lots?

[PRyker]

Over the past few months I have been approached by people while I was walking out to my car or getting out of my car going into the store asking if I was interested in a really cheap set of speakers for my home theatre.



They usually give me some BS story about having a few extra from some big job they did and they want to move 'em quick. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Are these guys selling hot stuff? I would never buy from them, just curious to whether or not it is legal?



Thanks



Phil

 

[silverram03]

Well I guess you could say that its extra hot stuff now. More than likely its your local police agency looking to bust the, shall we say less than honest. I've had this happen to me before and every time its always a white van two undercovers (bad ones at that) and the same old song and dance about extra equipment . Seriously who says that any way. Moral of the story here is if it seems to good to be true than it is.

 

[mgoncalves]

Had some guys pitch that to me while I was in my truck waiting for a green light.

 

[BKenny]

Yeah, i have had someone try that on me twice once at a gass staition and the other at the bank its known as the white van scam. They always have some story like we orderd to many speakers and we half to get rid of them Years ago one of my freinds roomates fell for it got the speakers home and the were garbadge cheap POSs. The last time they were driving an Ford Expetision or how ever you spell it

 

[MFalkinham]

Over the past few months I have been approached by people while I was walking out to my car or getting out of my car going into the store asking if I was interested in a really cheap set of speakers for my home theatre.



They usually give me some BS story about having a few extra from some big job they did and they want to move 'em quick. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Are these guys selling hot stuff? I would never buy from them, just curious to whether or not it is legal?



Thanks



Phil

Tell them about a great new web site called "ebay", and walk away. :-laf



If they were undercover cops, wouldn't it be entrapment if they approached you with this deal?

 

[tractorface]

Yep

I have had the same thing happen to me more than once over the years. Some guys at a jobsite bought them one time and found out they were just cabinets with a Brick glued inside Those clowns selling that stuff deserve a good kick in the teeth.

 

[jandtjil]

Scams are everywhere now, last week I bought some space storage bags (the vacuum compressions bags). Got them home and noticed that two bags had been replaced in the container with smaller bags (someone returned them in the large package and got $3 more back each ). Caused retailer to be out $6 and me to drive an extra 30 miles roundtrip. A few years ago when my wife worked at a department store, a lady returned a crock pot (yes it worked) for refund, which still had baked beans in it.



JJ

 

[nickleinonen]

there was an article in hometheater magazine a while back [maybe 2 years ago] and they purchased some speakers from the back of a van for like $50. they reviewed them and examined them and found there was like $5 worth of stuff in them and they sounded like crap...

 

[BV]

Many moons ago my friend bought a 25" color TV for $75-100 and when he got it home found that it was full of bricks. I don't think I would buy any electronics off the street.

 

[midlife crisis]

Ditto what Tractorface said. A co-worker fell for it and got bricks inside a couple of empty speaker boxes. Only pull out the wallet if the truck says "Snap-On" or "Coors". DisclaimerNot affiliated with Snap-On or Coors, but I would like to be)

 

[jponder]

Its actually a pretty big operation and it is all over. I rented a room to a guy years ago who went through the training part but never started doing it. He rode in the back of the Van.



The company sends in specs to a big speaker mag that list all these diff speakers and they list their speakers at some stupid price like $1500. They carry around the mag and the guy and Gal who work in my part start it off with the girl, The girl saying hey want to buy some speakers then the guy chimes in with DUDE we got them for free and he has this big goofes grin on his face



The girl jumps out and shows the wares then pulls the Mag out to say look at the list price. I have seen the people in our area a couple of times. If you see them try to get close and listen to the pitch it is hilarious but it must work on somw people. I personally could never fall for a big hoakie fake sounding pitch like that, if you watch their faces its like old silent film actors, its hilarious!

 

[justinp20012500]

Yep its a scam...

I think they were on the news about two years ago here in Utah.

The news bought a pair then took them to a speaker shop (for lack of a better term) and had them tested. They came out to be junk...

If its too good to be true, it probably is.

 

[Jdonoghue]

These goons approached me in a Meijer (kind of like super wal-mart) store parking lot when I still worked in Ann Arbor, MI. What a scam.

 

[jponder]

I tell you what i would buy, A video of these guys working. I think they are very entertaining. where do they live? Do they just move around different areas. Its kinda interesting if you ask me.



There is all kinds of weird groups out there. There are the travelers who do asphalt scams, there are the gypsy looking people who want to pull up and o body work in parking lots. There is a whole culture of kids that ride cargo trains all over the country. They panhandle and have a society if you want to call it that. I'd love to see a ocumentry on some of these groups, very entertaining

 

[KBennett]

I bought a set of speakers from two guys in a white van about 15 years ago. They were new in the box and supposedly were Pioneers with a different label. They worked great and I traded them to a friend 10 years after I got them and I think he still has them connected to his garage stereo. I got a "receipt" from their company but never had a reason to return them so I don't know of it was legit or not. If I had the opportunity I probably wouldn't do it again.

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

Funny, They also Hang arround here at the Home Depot / Wallmart parking lot. Last year I coulda bought 2 Cerwin Vegas from them as they just came off a job with overage LOL!!

 

[Black Cloud]

This must be nationwide, several months ago I had a white van with two guys pull up to me at Menards while I was loading my truck. The passenger muffled something that I did not hear at first and I said "What", he said you want to buy some speakers that are new and leftover from previous installiations in which I declined of course. The van had some kind of generic red, white, blue, radio service decal on the door.

 

[nickleinonen]

after thinking about this for a while, i have actually been asked if i have any stuff for sale while i've been loading stuff at appartment buildings [doing a delievery there] and i never do, but i did give away a tv i got from someone. they were scrapping it, and i was told by my boss to take it and we would dispose of it. some guy offered to buy it, but i gave it to him for free. . i don't think it worked so it saved me the dumping fee's. it's funny, i've get like 10-15 good working tv's a year that we dispose of. there are 3 really good ones that i remember. one is a 52" pioneer 16:10 ratio tv that we got 3 years ago [a friend has it now] the customers didn't want it cause it wasn't bright anymore [at the store, we opened it up and cleaned 1/4" of dust off the CRT lenses] and a 32" toshiba that one of the other guys i work with got [needed a new fuse inside] and i kept for myself a 34" sony trinitron XBR that use to work perfect. now it has some issues, but i think they are dust related [overheating]. if i had the space to keep all these tv's that work, i'd clean them up and sell them at garage sales for like $20 a piece or so... it would be better for the enviroment than tossing them at the dump [although it is fun to throw a small tv and hear it go POP :-laf]

 

[Dieselnut59]

it would be better for the enviroment than tossing them at the dump [although it is fun to throw a small tv and hear it go POP ]



That is fun! I threw a computer monitor at a road sign from the back of a pickup on a back road onetime. Not much I have not thrown at a road sign actually!

 

[michigandon]

Go to www.ripoffreport.com and you will find DOZENs of yarns about these scammers. There's even stories about it happening in Australia and Switzerland!