No shit, this has happened to me Three times now in my life. I`m wondering how often this happens to others, and what kind of sales ploy/pitch this is.
The first time it happened, a delivery truck (cube van) pulls up next to me in traffic and signals for me to pull over. Since Im always up for an exciting encounter with a perfect stranger, I pulled over. The two young guys in the truck get out and attempt to sell me these two "really neat, liquid cooled, tons of wattage, you gotta have" tower speakers that they somehow ended up with on thier truck. The press was on. Someone must have loaded two extra ones on the truck and at the end of their delivery day they noticed them. They couldnt take them back to the store because someone would notice them at that point and they would be placed back in stock. They were willing to “give” them to me at half price. $150 dollars. I told them I wasnt interested and that I didnt have $150 dollars. They were willing to follow me to the bank so I could withdraw the money. Then I had to explain to them what I meant by “have”.
I took this for what it was worth, not sure if they were telling me the truth or not.
Then it happened again a couple of years later, this time with “extra cuts of the finest meat”. And this time it happened at home. Geese these guys are getting bold. Same type of pitch. “Extra meats, cant take them back, Ill give them to you for x amount of dollars.”
Ok, a few more years later and another knock at the door. Different residence even. This time it`s the speaker guys again. Not the same two guys but still two guys. Almost identical pitch as the first incident. “We were delivering in the area and we have these extra speakers that ended up on the truck that no-one knows about.”
Yeah right. Take a hike guys.
Oh yeah, and the guys would be able to supply a reciept for the factory warranty, in case you`re wondering.
Am I the only one, or is this some sort of cleverly misleading sales ploy.
Nah, it’s a fairly typical ‘hit-up’ for stolen goods. Happened to my sister a couple of times, but she was smarter than them. She also strangely already had the same damn legitimately-bought $75 speakers in her apartment when they knocked on her door to show her “a deal” at $200. :rolleyes:
Go figure.
Tripler
Me? I’ve got the latest 1.27 Gigawatt model.
This pitch is also used by semi-legitimate, but entirely legal, companies that hire kids to pitch junk stereos at ridiculous markups. The whole idea is make people think the equipment is stolen, so the buyer will assume they’re getting a great deal when, in fact, they’re overpaying. With these outfits, the stuff is not stolen, it’s just no-name junk that they bought for pennies and sell for big bucks.
As stated they’re generally not stolen, but rather just garbage. Worth about 1/5 ( if that ) of what they’re sold for. Some manufacturers/distributors even have their act together sufficiently as to have slick-looking websites for the products they sell these days ( which often have sound-alike names to quality speakers - “I know a genuine Sorny when I see it” ), so as to give the appearance of legitimate quality goods.
It’s a “legal” scam except in those cases where they lack an appropriate permit to operate ( sometimes they actuall have them, many times they don’t, some jurisdictions they don’t need one ).
Dynalab, Digital Dogg, Acoustic Response, Audiofile, Digital Audio, Digital Pro Audio, Denmark, Dahlton, Pro Audio, Grafdale, Acoustic Lab Technology, Pro Dynamics, Acoustic Image, etc., etc.
Got hit up by the white van just last week…that makes at least 4 times in my life.
This time they honked at me at the intersection…I rolled down my window and said “you guys want to buy some speakers?” At first they were real confused then laughed and rolled on.
Thanks for the link AMP- that was some awsome information. And very humorous in my opinion. There were some entertaining responses from victims of the scam and even some from people that ripped apart the speakers to see how they were made. Good stuff.
I think the next time Im approached Ill string these guys along for about 6 hours. Driving to and from friends houses and to and from several banks and atm`s until the guys just give up. Or maybe not.
I was approached by 2 of these guys in the 80’s in Houston, Texas on a couple of occasions, I got 2 differing stories, #1. “we were supposed to get 6 speakers, but we got 6 pairs” and “we were supposed to get 6 speakers and we got 8”, the speakers were studio monitor looking things with the brand name “Linear Phase” (not Phase Linear, an actual brand name) but as I know stereo equipment, I recognised them as junk.
Happened to me in the late 90s in Panama City, Florida - I guess they were after spring breakers. “We delivered a ton of speakers to the club down the road and had 2 extra”. Funny, they were actually in a white van too.
They have upgraded to construction equipment too. At least 2 or 3 times a summer we get a pickup or van pulling up on a job site with generators, air compressers, power washers or other equipment and start thier story,… They were just at a trade show and these were the demos and since they had gas and oil in them they could not ship them back so were trying to sell them local dirt cheap. Dirt being the key word because they were off brand, cheap products. They had the clip boards, product cards with over inflated prices printed on them and generic I.D. tags.
Well, my goodness. When I was in college, my boyfriend at the time bought ‘extra’ speakers off the back of the van. He was pleased with himself until I ripped him a new hole for buying stolen goods. And here it turns out it was a scam the whole time! Ha ha on him!
One thing I don’t get. Can someone explain why the story is that they ‘can’t’ return the goods to the warehouse? I can see pretending to sell extra (stolen) goods, buy why say they can’t return them?
They claim that their boss will put them back in stock. They won`t be able to sell them and get the money for them without the boss knowing. So they say.
I had almost that exact thing happen to me not that long ago. Two kids in a white van (they couldn’t have been over twenty) signaled for me to stop while I was pulling out of a 7-11 parking lot. They told me that the “Mexicans” who had loaded their van accidently put two “surround sound towers” into their vehicle, but, even though they weren’t paid for they were on the invoice so they weren’t stolen. They said their boss said they could have them, but they had to get rid of them quick because there were guys at their next destination that hook up the stereo equipment and would take them. They even offered to hook them up at my house.
The things that clued me in to this being BS:
[ul][li]If you didn’t pay for them and are going to keep them or sell them to someone else they are stolen, regardless of what the invoice says.[/li]
[li]If your boss said you could keep them then why would you let someone else take them from you?[/li]
[li]If you can hook them up then why do you need guys at your next stop who do that exact thing (and for that matter why aren’t they riding with you)?[/li]
I could be wrong, but how am I supposed to get surround-sound by putting two speakers next to my TV? That’s stereo.[/ul]Needless to say I didn’t take them up on their offer, but I was a little puzzled by their behavior and it’s good to know this has happened to others.
I was approached twice in the nineties, in completely different parts of London, and it was the same guy both times. You should have seen his face the second time when I told him I recognised him from a few months previously… he couldn’t get away fast enough. I knew it was a scam both times, but couldn’t see why.
