The white van speaker scam! ;)

XMan · Apr 9, 2003

One of my coworkers was riding along with me today on a few calls. After we finished up one, he walked out ahead of me while I talked to the customer. I got done and walked out, to see that a guy with a blue van had pulled up next to my Durango, and he was showing my coworker something in the side door. I walk up and I hear part of this guy's spiel, and right off, I'm all, "Wow, it's that scam thing I heard about on AT!"

So I stand by my buddy for a few minutes and listen to the guy's routine; it was the same song and dance we've all heard about, he got extra units at the warehouse, he thought he'd make a few bucks by selling them quickly, etc. So when he gets done, my buddy says, "Well, I just bought a new HDTV, and I've got a home theater, so I'm not really in the market. How about you, Dan, weren't you looking at home theatres?"

The sales guy's eyes jump over to me and he's got this Bruce-the-shark-from-Jaws look in his eyes. I glance at his van, back at him, and kinda smirk, and say, "I thought all you guys drove white vans." He stammered for a second and then said, "Hey, that's where I got the idea!"

So we took off and went to lunch. Surprisingly, none of my coworkers had ever heard of this thing. Shoot, I thought it was up there with the "waking up in a seedy motel bathtub missing a kidney" urban legend.

MustangSVT · Apr 9, 2003

u should have checked out what he had.. some ppl got real bargain

XMan · Apr 9, 2003

It was very obviously crap.

Especially for the $400 he wanted.

rudeguy · Apr 9, 2003

so I dont know about the "white van scam" can someone inform me or link me?

XMan · Apr 9, 2003

Here ya go

MustangSVT · Apr 9, 2003

Originally posted by: X-Man
It was very obviously crap. Especially for the $400 he wanted.

ahh ok

some stories ive read goes where the "scam artists" dont know real value of their "items"

chiwawa626 · Apr 9, 2003

I was tempted to ask the guy "where can i sign up" when he asked me to buy speakers, but i was alone and there was nobody in the parkin lot but us so i thought it would be safer if i didnt.

feralkid · Apr 9, 2003

Sometimes they ring your doorbell and try to sell you meat. I'm not kidding.

TommyVercetti · Apr 9, 2003

You know, a naive person and his money part soon. I have been been a successful scam. This was 2 years ago, I was doing a co-op in Dallas, getting paid around 1400/week. Had an itch to buy stuff, was looking into a fly sound system. This "opportunity" came up. Sunk $450 into two of them. Just could not resist. I actually believed what they were telling me, they even had a magazine to show me. Later I realized that they had shown me an add, saying it was a review. Bigges POS ever. My cheap Sharp Hi-fi system had better speakers.

Oh well, man learns from mistakes. I even tipped them $20, for "Beer money".

TomC25 · Apr 9, 2003

11 years ago I was approached by 3 guys in a van with this scam.

It was May of '92.

I knew right off something fishy was going on.

They even said they would follow me to an ATM if I wanted to get cash out.

I went to my friends house and told him the story about an hour later.

My friend then says "no way, that same situation happened to me yesterday."

4 years ago and my wife and I were driving and a van pulls up to us at a light.

Sigh.

Amazing it is still around.

Lithium381 · Apr 9, 2003

Originally posted by: feralkid
Sometimes they ring your doorbell and try to sell you meat. I'm not kidding.

hahaha i have had the meat sellers try me too! "oh i just got back from a huge catering deal and i had some left over, you want to buy some high quality meat" right buddy

MercenaryForHire · Apr 9, 2003

Originally posted by: MustangSVT

Originally posted by: X-Man
It was very obviously crap. Especially for the $400 he wanted.

Click to expand...

ahh ok

some stories ive read goes where the "scam artists" dont know real value of their "items"

Heheh ... they sell something worth $1000 for $50 and think they're ripping you off.

Hell, I'll take a set of decent speakers for $20 any day.

- M4H

XCLAN · Apr 9, 2003

have seen the white van twice......when i was a teen i almost fell for it...thank god i didnt.
last week a guy was tryin to sell my wife seafood.....when i realized that they couldnt tell me all too much info on it and i turned them down...they walked next door...had to been scammers.

0roo0roo · Apr 9, 2003

For people who are in the market for speakers, this may seem like a great deal. However, there are audio review web sites, such as AudioReview.com, which have given poor ratings on these speakers. Many have felt ripped off and tried successfully, or unsuccessfully to get a refund.

why don't they tell u the name? ora pic of said speakers.?

XCLAN · Apr 9, 2003

www.doggdigitalaudio.com

this is on company that these people sell.....i dont feel like finding all the links but this is clearly a huge scam....dogg is all over ebay for a few hundred....i have seen people bid 1000$ + on them b4 even

Ultima · Apr 9, 2003

Depending on which part of town I've walked in, I've had people try to sell me $1000 speakers for $100 "because they got some extra orders and had to sell them fast", or people trying to sell me watches or chains

ed21x · Apr 9, 2003

It happened to me once last year in Northside Berkeley. These two dudes in a white van told me the exact story about 'extra inventory' that they needed to get rid of. I wanted to buy them but didn't have the money they were asking for ($200). Then they told me that they'd take me to the ATM but by then, I really had to get to class. Finally, they just said they really needed a place to put them so their boss doesn't find out about them. After I offered to let them store it in my apartment, they decided to drive off.

looking back on it now, I'm glad I didn't have the money at that time

Ed

0roo0roo · Apr 9, 2003

Originally posted by: XCLAN
www.doggdigitalaudio.com

this is on company that these people sell.....i dont feel like finding all the links but this is clearly a huge scam....dogg is all over ebay for a few hundred....i have seen people bid 1000$ + on them b4 even

heh i remember when i went to china they'd have cool looking cheap ass speakers that sound like ass everywhere

ElFenix · Apr 9, 2003

Originally posted by: X-Man"Wow, it's that scam thing I heard about on AT!"

you'd never heard of it before AT?

a friend of mine actually bought the speakers out of the van

dakata24 · Apr 9, 2003

Originally posted by: XCLAN
have seen the white van twice......when i was a teen i almost fell for it...thank god i didnt.
last week a guy was tryin to sell my wife seafood.....when i realized that they couldnt tell me all too much info on it and i turned them down...they walked next door...had to been scammers.

door to door seafood salesman??

Looney · Apr 9, 2003

A few months ago i was at the bank, and was just about to drive out, when a blue van approached from the other side. The guy yelled out of the van, so i stopped and rolled down my window to hear what he wanted (i figured he needed directions). He yells out "hey, you interested in some nice hi-fi speakers?" I gave him the finger and drove off.

Shooters · Apr 9, 2003

I thought it was a myth too until it happened to me once at a gas station.....except in my case it was a brown van.

Buffdaddy34 · Apr 9, 2003

anyone try to sell you leather jackets? happens all the time... but it's a grey van for those. happened to me at the mall and then right in front of my friends house. funniest crap of all time.

TallBill · Apr 9, 2003

no.. i think the seafood salesman would be the funniest

The white van speaker scam! ;)

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