White van encounter

Jstas

So a guy I work with...well, used to before he left and burned some bridges on the way out. Well, he's been bugging me for a couple weeks now and I've been ignoring him because of his bridge burning and leaving me high and dry.

Well, last night, he calls me. I picked up not recognizing the number and it's him.

He tells me he bought speakers and an amplifier from some dude in a WAL*MART parking lot. he said it was a white van. He said he got a deal on it and he got it home and none of it works. So he calls me and asks if I can look at the stuff for him.

Well I don't feel like doing that so I started telling him what to look at on the speakers. I told him to take a grill off. He said they were glued on. Hmmmm, strange...ok. So he looked at the terminal cup and he could unscrew it. So I told him to do that. He pulls it off and nothing's attached. So he shines a flashlight in and can't see any wires. I told him to pry the grill off. So he does and instead of speakers, he has holes patched with cardboard painted black. He pulls one off and sees bricks taped to the inside of the cabinet.. He's pissed at this point.

So I told him to open the amplifier case. After much putzing around with it, he gets it opened and there's a bag of sand taped inside.

I couldn't help but laugh. Then he told me he dropped $800 on them.

exalted512

That's awesome.

I got 'white vanned' by a champagne explorer once. Pretty sure they were at least legitimate speakers though. They had the whole 'we had some extra in our warehouse and our boss said not to come back with these' story along with the big price tag on the box from a no-name manufacturer.

I need to start scamming people. Seems much easier to make money
-Cody

CNWDI

TANSTAAFL. I'm just hoping that my boys never fall for the "special good deal" when they get older... Wish your ex-cow-orker hadn't fallen for it either...but $800 is one of the more ridiculous White Van stories. At least this lady only paid $180 for a wooden iPad...and it's so ridiculous it's almost artwork.

grimmace19

Ouch... still yet to encounter the white vans but one of my friends did a couple years ago.. however unlike your former co-worker, my buddy was smart enough to know what was going on.

thesurfer

Well, if your story is true, which it may well be, It just gos to show Karma does exits, Sounds like that guy was a toolbag anyhow,

Jstas

thesurfer wrote: »

Well, if your story is true, which it may well be, It just gos to show Karma does exits, Sounds like that guy was a toolbag anyhow,

Wow.

So I'm a liar. Cool.

I'll remember that.

thesurfer

Jstas wrote: »

Wow.

So I'm a liar. Cool.

I'll remember that.

No, not to be taken that way, just my way of putting it,, I believe the guy called ya, he could just be trying to get back, in your good grace, as it did not happen to you personally, meant it more along those lines,

rooftop59

wow people are touchy around here lately...

800 bucks, it is unbelievable how gullible people can be.

inspiredsports

Not to imply I don't believe your story, but, I saw a UFO last night and was abducted by aliens.

rromeo923

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Joe08867

That story sounds like a crock of crap. J/K

That is funny and sad all at the same time. 800 bucks. I would be looking all over town for those SOB's.

cnh

On the positive side, kidding of course, you can tell him that now he can buy some nice stands for some LSI bookies, fill them with the 'sand' and use the bricks to weigh down his Polk DSW Pro 600 so it doesn't slide across his hardwood floors while he's watching Marvel films.

Actually, it's pretty sad. 800 smackers is a lot of money to lose these days!

cnh

ShadesPG

i see no reason for any of these stories to fake cause people are f__kin stupid...i also see no reason to make up a story like that so to hypothesize that what was said in this thread is false is a waste of time.

they are funny stories...take it at that

Timothy Smith

Jstas wrote: »

So a guy I work with...well, used to before he left and burned some bridges on the way out. Well, he's been bugging me for a couple weeks now and I've been ignoring him because of his bridge burning and leaving me high and dry.

Well, last night, he calls me. I picked up not recognizing the number and it's him.

He tells me he bought speakers and an amplifier from some dude in a WAL*MART parking lot. he said it was a white van. He said he got a deal on it and he got it home and none of it works. So he calls me and asks if I can look at the stuff for him.

Well I don't feel like doing that so I started telling him what to look at on the speakers. I told him to take a grill off. He said they were glued on. Hmmmm, strange...ok. So he looked at the terminal cup and he could unscrew it. So I told him to do that. He pulls it off and nothing's attached. So he shines a flashlight in and can't see any wires. I told him to pry the grill off. So he does and instead of speakers, he has holes patched with cardboard painted black. He pulls one off and sees bricks taped to the inside of the cabinet.. He's pissed at this point.

So I told him to open the amplifier case. After much putzing around with it, he gets it opened and there's a bag of sand taped inside.

I couldn't help but laugh. Then he told me he dropped $800 on them.

Don't jump to conclusions. I think that those speakers might actually sound pretty good with just the right set of very expensive speaker wires connecting them to the amplifier with myrtlewood risers holding the wires up so they don't touch the carpet or hardwood floor.

mole'

i used to see the "WHITE VAN" every so often in the local WALMART parking lot. he would pull up asking if i wanted a stereo system? i said na, i have a pretty nice setup already. his reply, "BUT THIS IS THE TOP OF THE LINE SYSTEM, ITS BOSE" i just LOL and said no thanks Sir......

my mother has got taken by them before with the burned movie scam. they were blank disk......only lost $20 tho.....

Jstas

Joe08867 wrote: »

That story sounds like a crock of crap. J/K

That is funny and sad all at the same time. 800 bucks. I would be looking all over town for those SOB's.

Actually, he apparently got these like 2 weeks ago and I was just not responding for that long.

txcoastal1

These scams are so true a couple years ago a buddy of mine spent $300 on a white van scam ....speakers had phone books in them amd the stereo box was a box of phone books. Bought them in a gas station parking lot. These white van's are all over Houston, I have a couple encounters every year.

gelinas

Wow this is a terrible story. I feel sorry for the guy, but who carries 800 bucks around with them that they can just blow on questionable speakers that they decided to impulse buy?

HTguru1982

Keep an eye on your local Craigslist. Chances are your friend will have them on there soon in an attempt to get his money back. The scammed become the scammers.

Jstas

$800 is kinda benign really. I mean, it sucks to lose that much but around here I've seen people scamming working speakers for that much or more.

Hell, a friend of mine has Polk RTi70's hooked up to a Samsung surround sound receiver. He had them on his front stage with a pair of Sony bookshelves for the rear and a Polk CSi25 center channel. Well, he bought these white vanners, I can't remember the name, but he swears up and down that the white vanners are better than the Polks.

*SIGH*

He paid $450 for those speakers and picked up some HTiB knockoffs of BOSE cubes for $200 a piece. So he dropped $850 on garbage. He got his Polks on sale from Circuit City, with his brother-in-law's discount for about $300. Since the Polks were considerably cheaper, didn't have the $2199.99 tag on them and the company was a no-name brand (he took it to be obscure high end), he thinks his white vanners are better speakers.

Then again, he thinks I'm nuts for dropping $750 on Amazings.

But hey, what do I know?

Jstas

gelinas wrote: »

Wow this is a terrible story. I feel sorry for the guy, but who carries 800 bucks around with them that they can just blow on questionable speakers that they decided to impulse buy?

You never heard of an ATM? Most WAL*MARTS have a row of them just as you walk in the front door.

In fact, around here, a few years ago, there was a rash of robberies where white van scammers were following prospective marks to houses and ATM's to get cash and then robbing said patsy at gun/knife point.

There was also, in Philly, a rash of scammers selling speakers, following people to houses to "deliver the speakers" and a couple days later, that house would be robbed blind, including the "new speakers". The cops did a sting and found that the scammers were using the same set of speakers over and over 'cause they put a tracking beacon in them. They caught them at the building where they were storing all of the stolen stuff.

Jstas

HTguru1982 wrote: »

Keep an eye on your local Craigslist. Chances are your friend will have them on there soon in an attempt to get his money back. The scammed become the scammers.

He doesn't live anywhere near me. About an hour and a half away. But he's far too timid to go and re-scam.

EndersShadow

rromeo923 wrote: »

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Great book!

Jstas wrote: »

Then again, he thinks I'm nuts for dropping $750 on Amazings.

I think that verifies your SANE :eek:

Jstas wrote: »

But hey, what do I know?

What sounds good and what doesnt lol

evhudsons

My friend got scammed too. Guys pulled up in a parking lot, said it was the end of the day, the bosses weren't expecting the shipment back and they wanted to get just enough money to make up for not being tipped out on a big job.

He was so excited to get into surround sound. I told him to get a quality hdmi cord, which he did. He called later and asked where the hdmi cord would be. There was no hdmi input, or digital coax or digital optical, only the rca jacks. I told him to tell me what brand the thing was, and of course discovered the "white van" scam. The thing is the brands sound similar (paramax/panamax), and they look nice, sometimes heavy, so it seems legit. The boxes are commercial, have all the hdmi logos and such, so I can see how people are taken. They are sold openly on ebay and craigslist. The products are cheap from china but aren't illegal, but the methods to sell them are illegal at least to some degree. He was out $300.

So now this weekend I am going up to fix up the SDA 1c's I talked him into buying, and his scam story was one of my selling points. He won't be scammed this time! He hasn't even listened to them as SDA, I am making him a cord, upgrading the tweeters, etc, so he will be in for a surprise.

Lesson one we all know:
If it's too good to be true it is.

Lesson two:
For Audio or Video purchases, don't make impulse purchases without homework research. I never buy anything on impulse. If I am at a garage sale and see something that looks to be killer, I walk out of the yard, google the item, and then buy if I want to.

For the most part though, the speakers in that scam are crappy, but from what I hear they are not that bad, meaning you could still use them in a garage, or for computers maybe simple surrounds in a dorm.

The scam also goes for the projectors, the boxes have HD all over it, 3d ready and so on.

Rivrrat

I told a white van dude many years ago when I saw his speakers being sold by one of the big three (Speakerlab, Magnolia Hi-Fi, Difinitive Audio in Seattle at the time) I'd come and look for him.

heiney9

New show on History Channel called Scammed. I watched it the other night, very interesting and there are some seriously talented (in the wrong way) people who can separate you from your money in the blink of an eye.

H9

exalted512

same here.

Guy stole 2 cars, had some random person pay (or at least convinced the waitress they were) for their dinner of like 7 people, and took a dude for $20k.

-Cody

cfrizz

There's a sucker born every minute! He deserves what he got for being stupid & greedy. If it sounds too good to be true it usually is.

kuntasensei

I ran into a white van sale at our local mall once. Took one look at the speakers, knew what the deal was, so I stood outside the guy's van screaming, "This guy is selling garbage speakers. It's a scam! Do not buy these!" until the van drove off. Been years since I've seen anyone pull that scam here though.

mrbiron

I got my first girlfriend out of a white van. Same thing, got her home, took off her grill and where the 2 speakers would be were 2 cardboard cutouts. Unlike this guys speakers, she looked like she had all kinds of wiring work down in the rear by unlicensed electricians. It was a mess.

I'm surprised the amp didn't work?

sucks2beme

They are all around here. The big import warehouse is local.
The stuff works, but they are those poorly made Chinese speakers and systems
with the big $$$$ stickers. First rule- people who make big $$$$ gear
don't put the pricetag on the box. The guys are damn pushy and only leave after
you pick up the cell and tell them the police are coming.
The number of new brand names they use are endless. The names are
often a letter different than the real thing.
Bottom line-you buy out of a truck in the parking lot, you deserve to
get ripped off. Given that half of these guys are ex-cons, be glad they
didn't take your life and your wallet as well.