Personal Tech-stuff · 25 November 2008 ·
Wanna buy speakers?
Old grannies get scammed with electric blankets and knife sets. But whilst an electric blanket probably wouldn’t attract the attention of students, other goods do.
I should know better. Stories of old grannies being persuaded by some random strangers to buy electric blankets or knife sets of blunt knifes for ridiculously high prices always make me sad. I wonder, how come they throw reason over board and end up buying overpriced crap?! Well, that might be because I don’t care much about knife sets and electric blankets.
However, I should remember my one day training at a call centre selling lotteries and raffles. I only went for the training because I was not told that the job involved selling expensive lotteries to people who could not afford them. I prefer a job that does not involve tricking people, although I do understand those who work for companies because they need to make a living. But that’s an entirely different story. There was one thing about that training that stuck in my mind though. If you want to persuade people to buy your lottery you have to offer them the chance to win something they actually want. Something they want so much that they would act completely unreasonable.
I am not an old granny. I am a student, and whilst I might not be interested in electric blankets there are other things that would cause the desired effect.
On Monday, I was peacefully walking down Hillhead street, on my way to my statistics tutorial. Suddenly a van with two guys in it stopped, and the driver opened the window. I thought he’s probably going to ask for directions, so I was spreading out my mental map of the area, already knowing that I wouldn’t be of great help. (I am useless when it comes to directions!) Well, that’s not what they wanted.
Instead he was asking me whether I want to buy a pair of hifi speakers. I was like WTF?! They explained that they were working for a hifi company and install hifi equipment in studios etc. They just returned from a job in a nearby studio where they installed some speakers. But by accident the manufacturer delivered too many, whereas they had a pair of speakers left over, whereas they could just sell them cos nobody would claim them.
I was still like WTF?! and as I just recently bought some speakers quite reluctant to buy them. Plus the whole story sounded so absurd… I thought there must be a catch or something similar. Probably they were some cheap China speakers, or maybe a lump of wood in a vividly-colourful box) Well, to emphasize that they are genuine they pointed to their shirts bearing the company’s logo and showed me the boxes in the back of the van. Also, the guys said they didn’t know what the speakers are worth over here, but they had a leaflet which priced them at $1999. So they were looking for a reasonable offer. I thought, if these speakers are in a magazine then they must be genuine.
BOOOOOOOOOOF!
Heard it?
I was hit. My hunting instinct set in. As I said, I just recently bought some speakers. They are actually really nice ones. I spent weeks trying to find the right ones. But if I had the chance to get something better I certainly would. Just to see hear how they sound and then keep the better pair, sell the other. I did not like the looks of the speakers these guys had in the back of their van though, looked a bit to plastic. They were essentially huge black floor standers, looked a bit like the average 1000-watt boom box and I had never heard of floor standers being used in studios. On the other hand most studio speakers aren’t beauties and who am I that I know about the equipment used in professional audio production? I wasn’t sure, but still tempted. Thanks to the Flying Spaghetti Monster I am quite skint at the moment and only made an unreasonable offer of £ 50, which remained unreasonable after I doubled it. Thus I escaped the scam.
I put up the story on the subcity forums. As frankm pointed out it is in fact a world wide scam, originating in the States, but now also seen in Great Britain, Switzerland, Canada, Australia and other countries. You can read some stories of those less fortunate on scamshield.com who also keep a database of recent sightings of the so called white van speaker scam. The speakers itself, though priced generously, are worth almost nothing. And so is their quality. Ebay also has a guide on them. The reviewer doesn’t spare drastic words: “The internal electronics such as the crossovers, are by far, the absolute worst I’ve ever seen in nearly 3 decades as a hobbyist.” and “Experienced listeners suggested the best use of the Kirsch’s was as a boat anchor or firewood.” Unfortunately the sellers seem to change the brand name often, the ones sold in the UK apparently bore the “Matrix” brand. Some other Ebayer has produced a list of common names used for these speakers. Personally, I can’t remember the name they stuck on these, glad I avoided buying them. Otherwise I would never forget…
It is still such a shame I was tempted. I should have known better. Retrospectively there were so many hints that pointed out the illegitimate character of the offer. But I still made a bid and I might have fallen for them if I had too much money. But then (I hope) I would have insisted on trying them out before I pay, a condition that they would probably not accept. Who knows. I hope these scammers were unlucky in Glasgow. But I fear the worst. They are skilled in what they are doing. They know their target audience. The stories on scamshield.com suggest that they particularly target students. Electric blankets for grannies. Speakers for students.
Anyways… Electric blankets anyone? Only £ 49.99! Special offer, only valid today!
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