White Van Speakers

I think, MrNordin was conned yesterday. He brought home a home theatre system which he purchased from this guy at the Petronas gas station for RM1,500. The guy said usual price is > RM2k. He said the item was an 'extra' from the 'warehouse', and he needed to dispose it quickly coz he needed money for his pregnant wife who was going to deliver any time soon.

And my husband, sebab kesian punya pasal, bought the thing and paid it in cash. I think the guy was a good salesman and my husband couldn't say no. Now, we have a new set of HTS lying in our guest room but we don't know what to do with it because we already have 2 at home!

Itu yang I tak faham tu, we already have 2 at home, yang pegi beli lagi satu tu buat apa? He said, dia ingat cousin dia nak (obviously his cousin didn't want it, right? that's why it's still at our house!). And he thought RM1,500 was a scream. I thought it was a scam.

I malas nak bising kat dia ~ I've already given him a piece of my mind and he knew he had made a mistake. So this morning I searched for the HTS brand ~ Audiovisio ~ and what did I find? Actually it was a scam! Read below for more info; the modus operandi was the same:


White Van Speakers

White van speakers is a scam sales technique in which a salesman makes a buyer believe he is getting a good price on audio merchandise. Con artists in this type of scam call themselves "speakerguys" or "speakermen".

The Process

The typical white van speaker scam involves one or two individuals, who are usually dressed in T-shirts and jeans or business uniforms. They drive a SUV or a commercial vehicle (usually a white commercial van, which is the cheapest to rent) that often displays a company logo.

To find suitable targets, the van operators set up their con in moderately trafficked areas—parking lots, gas stations, colleges, large apartment complexes—or even watch heavy traffic for people driving expensive cars and wave them down. The marks are usually affluent young men, college students, or others thought to have large amounts of disposable income.

After the speakermen attract someone, they immediately launch into a loud, fast-paced, and relentless sales pitch, such as:

"Hey buddy, you want some really big speakers for your house? We are making a delivery, and they made a mistake at the loading docks. We are going to sell them cheap! Pull over!"

"The temps on the docks made a mistake. They gave us 6 sets of speakers instead of 6 speakers. We need to sell them before we get into serious trouble with our boss back at the store."

"The computer order called for too many speakers to get put on this truck, and it will cost the company money to re-stock them."

The operators claim that they work for an audio retailer or audio installer, and that, through some sort of corporate error (warehouse operator mistake, bookkeeping mistakes, computer glitches, etc.) or due to the client changing the order after supplies were purchased, they have extra speakers.

For varying reasons they need to dispose of the speakers quickly and are willing to get rid of them at "well below retail" prices. The con artists will repeatedly state the speaker "value" as anywhere between $1800 and $3000, prices often purportedly verified by showing a brochure or a magazine advertisement. They will usually also have an official looking website verifying their claims.

If the mark declines the offer, the speakerguy uses various high-pressure negotiation and sales tactics to change the mark's mind. Among these techniques are producing any other glossy material that details the quality and high retail value of the speakers, and bombarding the potential customer with technical jargon, whether correctly or incorrectly used.

If still unable to convince the mark that he is turning down an incredible offer, speakermen will almost always significantly lower the price immediately (the actual cost of the speakers may be less than 3% of the MSRP). Some speakerguys will even suggest that, since the customer got such a great deal, he should pay a little extra as beer money for his supposed benefactor.

If the speaker men reach their self-set sales goal, a number of points are accumulated which, at the end of the sales period, receive a bonus ranging from $200-$2000. The motto is "sell the fuck out" or S-T-F-O for short, and the office pays $20 beer money!

-----------------------------------------------------

So ladies, please caution your husband on this, ok? I know, we ladies susah sikit nak termakan pujukan salesman macam ni coz we are more cautious of what we spend our money on. But orang lelaki ni, kadang2 mudah tertipu. Contohnya suami I.

En Nordin... En Nordin... when will you ever learn to say no ...

Comments

Kmar said…
BJ,

´Once bitten, twice shy´... learn through mistakes.

Anyway, you can ´claim´ that RM1,500 from MrNordin for your expense pulak.... ha.ha.ha...
BJ, ni la akibatnya 'melukakan' hati isteri yg dah dua hari melepas you-know-what..Now MrN yg terlepas RM1,500! Kesian...

Hope he will be more careful in the future. Memang ramai conmen sekarang ni especially when inflation is hitting the world.
wanshana said…
Errr...I've fallen for one of those scams actually! But, no - NOT over hi-fi or anything like that, but for a set of stainless steel periuk belanga! Can you believe that?!!

The reason given to me was that they have tried to deliver the set to the buyer, only to have found out that he/she has moved to another address, and they needed to dispose of the goods anyway...So, I pun di"con" to become one of their "disposal centres"...Hehehe!

Bila diingatkan balik, nak nangis pun boleh, but, I have to say that the periuk belanga have served me VERY well indeed :)

In a way, no regrets. So, maybe you guys won't have any regrets with this hi-fi set MrN has bought? Just give it some time - maybe it'll serve whatever purpose it's supposed to serve in time ;)
MrsNordin said…
Kmar,

MrNordin ni, dah more than once bitten, tapi tak shy2 jugak!
MrsNordin said…
Madam,

The kids say, my husband is too kind-hearted. Everytime salesman datang, dia sure layan dengar apa orang tu cakap. That's why most of the time, kalau I tinggalkan dia sorang, he'd surely end up buying something from someone, which he knows I won't approve of!
MrsNordin said…
Shana,

You pun dah terkena? Well... kalau periuk belanga tu boleh di pakai, tak kisahlah. We haven't tried the system yet, they are still in the boxes. I just hope they are not defect items.

I told him last night, if he wants to feel better about himself, he could give it away to an old folks home or rumah anak2 yatim. At least they can use it, watching TV with a good sound system. We all buat apa benda sebab dah ada sampai 2.

He bought the idea. Maybe that's what we'll do with it.
lim simon said…
Hi, Mrs.Nordin i am Lim from K.L ,I just have the same fate as your husband few days ago took place at Sri Gombak Petronas Station . Bloody good deal for them at RM3,000 for 2 sets ,actual price is only 5-6 hundred ringgit .I am trying to nab this 2 bastards or if not i will explore their conn jobs thru new media with the help of Micheal Chong for the sake of others not to fall into their scam again ,you may tell your hubby to contact me for further action .
Anonymous said…
LAst hit in Shell Opposite Eastin Hotel. 18th June 2009
Anonymous said…
my uncle also got caught by this today!
Anonymous said…
At Shell jus after sg Besi tol,really damn it
Salam.

today i dah kena beb, area bank CIMB Country heigth near the sg ramal luar ,kajang...still the same story...the guy offer me to buy 2 set hometheater RM 2000 per set...ding dong ding dong so last he offer me to take 2 set with the price Rm 1700... so i take it...and make a survey from the internet ... i m wonder,that aku kena tipu...hope everybody learn from my story and thanx to Mrs nordin for sharing his experience...
Anonymous said…
Salam.

Den pun dah tekono semalam (8-10-2010) kat Petronas Sg Ramal Kajang. Konon market price RM7200. Hampeh. Den kono RM850. Modus operandi samo & naik van Vanette putih.

hilnaputra@gmail.com
Anonymous said…
aku pon terkena jugak...cilaka punya cina....dia ckp price rm7200 plus2....mula2 dia nk rm2000 satu set..aku mmg xnak...sbb xprnh dgr brand tu...dkt 1/2jam jgk aku call mmbe aku tanya psl brand tu.. audiovisio...mmg ada tp based kt china lps dia surf internet... AUDIOVISION mmg ada kt UK tp harga belas2 ribu..

Last2 cina apek tu suruh amik jgk.. aku xnak tp last skali aku ckp rm500 aku agkt sbb kt rmah aku dh ada home theathe system.. aku br smpai ni rumah time aku check btol2benda ni kt website..terjumpa pulak psl criter ni...

nasib baik la aku terkena 500... kalu dua ribu... abis burn duit aku...adussss...500 pon duit jgk... kpd you all kt luar jgn terpengaruh dgn salesman yg jual benda ni..

aku dh check dgn brader dan mmbe aku masa sblm amik benda ni td...tp terkena jgk.. diorg online tp xjumpa website ni... kalu x confirm aku xbeli...
MrsNordin said…
Ramai orang dah terkena nampaknya ni. Thanks for sharing and be careful to those yang belum terkena.
Anonymous said…
Hari ni aku terkene....dekat stesen minyak highway KESAS...but i pay only RM500 for it...anyway speaker ni boleh pakai ke...
Anonymous said…
br terjumpa citer pasal ni.aku kena dulu la taun 2010 dkt petronas bangi.tp aku bayar 5rat je.nasib baik xbayar 1200.neway bleh la pakai set ni walaupun bunyi x boombastic pun
SriVil said…
Searching for this unknown brand speaker in Google, end up at this blog after reading related White van scam speaker wiki article.... Here is my latest comment for this post. I'm setting up a home theater system. So thought of doing on budget way for speakers. After visiting couple of Cash convertor branches, arrived to PJ cash convertor, there I found this AudioViso HTS-26 floor standing speaker pair, whose woofers and body are intact. Just bought it for RM.139/= only. Hooked to my Yamaha RX473 network receiver (market price RM.1759/=, bought for RM.999 as last piece display set and outgoing model at Harvey norman) sounds great. ;).. Despite unknown brand and alleged as white van scam speaker, it seems Okay for the price I paid.

Popular Posts