Multi-power?

[fathead]

So this guy comes to my shop and has a truck full of what looked liked new equipment..
5500 watt diesel generator $3680.00
20 gallon portable diesel compressor
11 gal. electric compressor
small elec. pancake compressor
130 amp compact arc welder.
Here is the deal, the guy said he was in town for a convention and didn't want to ship the stuff back to Kansas.
He was willing to let it all go for just the cost of the 5500 watt
gen....$3680.00
sounds too good to be true.
I spoke w/ a buddy who said he has heard of this and it is some sort of scam and they will get more $ out of your checking account later or some B.S. headache like that..
By the way, he was driving a nice new HD 2500 crew cab
Chapaine (sp) color, and it even had the company logo's on the windows... http://www.race-dezert.com/vb3/attachments/old/images/graemlins/mad.gif http://www.race-dezert.com/vb3/attachments/old/images/graemlins/mad.gif http://www.race-dezert.com/vb3/attachments/old/images/graemlins/mad.gif

[picone]

I had a guy come up to me like that. He was sitting in the parking lot of a gas station at Ontario Mills. His first line was "HEY BRO, WHAT'S UP MAN, HOW'S IT GOIN'". He was driving a brand new truck LOADED with nice equipment. My guess was it was all stolen equipment from the jobsite.

At work we get the Chinese Mann theater stereo systems (at least 10 times) for $700 and the New Leather couches (One time only). The theater speakers look really nice.

Same thing everytime "My boss wants me to sell this stuff. It's extra stuff from the job" or "The warehouse double packed the order (right a $3000 speaker and they are dumb enough to mistake 1 speaker for 1 pair of speakers)".

I think it's just people ripping off their work.

[GFC]

on three different occations, i have been approched by people selling the exact same theater style speakers and once they also had home theater subs as well. the brand was digital pro audio each time. the salesperson/theif came pre pagaged with flires stating the going rate of the speakers and a similer story as the one picone described. on the last time they approched me, I told them to be straight with me, I had herd their story all before, eventually i got out of the guy that they had someone on the inside that worked at the docks who would essenualy steel the speakers for them. I even went as far as to tell me how i could get in on the action. he said if i was to buy the speakers from him(now at a reduced price), ride around with him in the van, find someone to buy the speakers off of me for a profit, i could get in on the action. all I can say is WHAT A JOKE.

[hxckidd]

yea those guys with the speakers have been around for atleast 5-6 years now. I have been approched by the guys in the white van atleast 8 times now and a couple of my friends actually bought them. lol

[motoxscott]

I know a person that bought them, and when he got home and opened the box their were bricks in the box instead .... LOL !!

[Bryan_D]

My old boss bought some of those speakers here about 5 years ago and they were nice but the same thing they were in a white cargo van and had a whole load of them. Sounds like it could be the same scam just in another state now.

[MikeLeung]

That scam has been running in AZ for many years now. The only people dumber then the scamers are the idiots that fall for it.

[JrSyko]

I had a guy try and pull that scam on me 6 years ago in SD. Same deal, white van, company overshipped and trying to dump $1k speakers for $500 had to do it right now, couldn't wait and call them...yada.....yada...yada

[PLS]

That scams been going on forever. I can remember guys in the white vans in San Diego over 20 years ago selling "Liquid cooled speakers". Usually they claimed to be overstock that was accidentally delivered.
Pete S. BOYD RACING

[klaus]

I see the speaker van here in HB all the time on the gas stations circleing around and asking anyone to purchase some of their "extra" speakers.
I think its not so much a scam but rather a grey market biz that sells speakers to you for normal retail price but makes it look shady so you may feel you get a deal by buying "hot" speakers where in reality its normal retail price.

I might be wrong.

[WorkInProgress]

I dont know what it is but my friend bought a set of speakers from a guy in a parking lot here in Corona. They are Digital Audio brand or something like that. He gave the guy three hundred and got two tower speakers that each have two six's on them and a tweeter on them, and five surround sound speakers, and one subwoofer. They look better than they sound but definately sound good for three bills.

[slimjim]

The deal on the speakers is this: THEY SUCK BAD!!! That scam has been going on here in San Diego for probably twenty years. They aren't stolen, or overstocked, or mismarked, or a smokin deal - they are taiwanese junk produced in ridiculously high volume and shipped here to sell out of the back of a van. The raw drivers in those boxes are worthless. So is the box, and everything else in there. Those speakers can be made in china for probably $25/pair - hell, maybe $25 a dozen. I know more than person who bought the junk speakers, and I saw an awesome investigative report on the scam. I think there is actually like one big "company" behind the whole speaker scam.

The tool deal sounds kinda interesting - Are they name-brand tools? Was there really a convention in town?

If it sounds too good to be true...

[mgobaja]

When I still lived and worked in San Diego, we had somebody come to my store in Chula Vista offering the same deal. New truck, new tools, great price. I even had the cash, but was worried about the stolen part, like getting busted on the drive home with a bed full of hot goods.

[slimjim]

http://www.scamshield.com/Sighting.asp?country=none&state=California&article =1

stories of the "white van speaker scam"

[CRAIGHALL]

I was hit up by a guy at the home depot in victorville.He was driving an expedition and had 2-sets-At first he wanted 400 for a pair about 2 ft tall towers with 2- subs and a tweeter.Was more than willing to open the boxes and show them. After a short while he was willing to take 100 for a pair and follow me to the nearest ATM-As I walked away and in to the depot i watched him hitting up the kid returning the shopping carts!

[WorkInProgress]

I saw the special on tv about the stereo scam. Craig, it is funny cuz my friend who bought the speakers was approached in the grocery store parking lot and the guy followed him to the bank so he could get money.

[ntsqd]

Interesting. Recently the shop I've been doing some work out of had a guy come in with nearly the same load of tools. Said they worked for Northern Tool's subsiderary and they were supposed to get rid of the tools. Wouldn't split them up.
Seemed hokey to me, figured there was an angle I wasn't seeing and pled poor (not hard to do).

[AllwaysRcn]

Bought a pair of those "liquid cooled" speakers in 1987. Same deal. White van and all. Remember it well. He wanted a dollar per watt for 'em. Talked him down to half of that.

[Bill]

I was at what was homebase in montclair back in the late 80s when I was approached by a guy said he was doing an install at black angus and they overshipped and he didn`t want to take them back he followed me to the atm gave him $60.00 cash and a check for a hundred then I stoped payment on the check about two years later living in pearblossom now I was coming out of the post office saw a truck parked behind mine the same one I was driving two years earleir I thought for sure he had caught up to me but to my surprise he again trys to sell me the same kind of speakers again not knowing it was me so I bought another pair this time I paid cash and only paid a hundred dollars for the pair he even used the same sales pitch he had earleir.

[JeffS]

I was with my buddy when he bought some of those liquid cooled speakers back in 1992 and he also talked them down to $100, first thing we did when he got them home was take them apart to see the "liquid cooled" magnets. LOL looked like regular speakers to me. But at least they sounded good. http://www.race-dezert.com/vb3/attachments/old/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[yotatech]

We get these people at work all the time, have had the white van cruise up and a bunch of coworkers bought the speakers. We also get people selling phones and other garbage.

[jdillon971]

So correct about the bricks. I use to drive a rig and when delivering back east in NY and sometime Chicago you had to watch your trailer closely. Fools would jack you at a red light or a traffic jam. Or worse steal the whole trailer from the docks.
The good old "This VCR is new man, come on, give me a twenty spot man..." and it would be full of bricks.

also the back east fools selling meat of a refer (refridgerator) truck.

[FullsizeFun]

Some of the white vans are legit. my brother actually did this for a few months. The speakers are not stolen, there is a supplier wherehouse and he got minimum wage plus commision to ride around in a van a sell speakers. They will even intall home entertainment centers for you. It's not so much a scam, they are not stealing your money, and you are getting what you pay for. All they do is try really hard to convince you to buy, like following you to an atm, or if you show the slightest bit of interest they start loading them in your car. He did this until a couple of black guys tried to jack them. my bro isn't very big(140lbs), luckily his partner was a big skinhead and convinced the guys it was a bad idea.
It takes a certain kind of person to do this job.

some guys are selling bogus crap and stolen items, they are the ones to watch out for. you gotta be sure of what you are buying.