So I was talking to an Ex-firlfriend tonight.

Just the usual holliday pleasantries, nothing too exciting. I rarely talk to her anymore.

So of course as a make conversation topic, I asked how the Christmas went and did her and her new Boyfriend get anything good for xmas?

So she starts telling me about this great new home theatre system they got.

I was like "oh, that's good, what kind is it?"

When she told me the brand, "Genesis" didn't ring a bell so after we finished talking a googled it and got piles and piles of Scam Alert links to this brand name and apparently they are a "White Van" type of thing that scam artists use to sell junk to innocent people.

Having been approached by "White Van Speaker Guys" back when I was in University I'm familliar with the drill.

So I e-mailed her a bunch of links to these scam reports, then got thinking about it after.

Did I do the right thing?

Did I make a bad situation worse?

Maybe her boyfriend bought this thing as a x-mas gift!

What would you have done?

Should I have sent the e-mail or just let her live out her days obvlivious with her crappy stereo?

 

You did the right thing in my book. If it was his gift, he is a cheap boyfriend imo...so many better ways to get a theatre system...

 

i think you did the right thing.

 

Scam ? What scam ? ;-) You mean their boss didn't really tell them to get rid of the stuff? and that stuff really isn't extra. Both times those guys lied to me ?? Ha ha ha

 

I don't know what purpose telling the ex and her boyfriend they bought junk is going to serve after they already bought it, other than maybe hinder your ability to stay on friendly terms...

 

Purpose being to learn from a mistake and hopefully not do it again?


I got a reply to my e-mail which was something like "oh well, neither of us spent our money on it".

So looks like it was a gift from somebody else.

 

I thought those "white van drivers" had been caught and were done with? They're always going by the local car wash here trying to sell stuff.

 

Around here they are in a silver F250 4x4 crewcab 6.0 diesel, some white guys. Selling stereo systems (home theatre systems) they say they didn't need for a job and want to get rid of so they won't have to give it back to their boss.

They approached me twice, once a few weeks ago in a parking lot of a grocery store in I think Humble or New Caney and the day I bought my truck on April 24th 2007 at a Shell Station on I45 near Clear Lake Dodge... They told me how they needed money so they could hit the strip club next door and the second time they didn't try that hard when I just told them no. The first time I had them down to like $100 and "changed my mind" because I just like haggling with people like that for kicks . They gave me some entertainment while waiting to fill up.

 

Who are these guys anyway and where do they come from? I got sucked in on a set of speakers and have been kicking myself ever since because Im old enough to know better but guess it was a weak moment. It sounds like there are these white vans working over quite a big territory as Im up here in Canada. Are they like a hive of bees and have a central location? Would be nice to put them out of buisness. It seems like they all have the same line to tell the people they zero in on...

 

I had a Coors light driver do that wo me one time. He said hey I have to get ride of this or I have to eat the cost, gave us 48 beers for 25 bucks. The good thing about this one was, if it was a scam, that scam got my buddies and me tanked.

 

Yeah I'm all the way down here in Houston so that's a big stretch of territory. Did they also tell you they needed some cash for beers and the strip club?.. That seems to be their common line.


I was kinda wishing I had bought the stuff but it just smelt like a dead fish and I don't like buying stolen stuff... Glad I didn't buy it after reading this though.


What was weird was I was approached by the same guys in the same truck a year and a half later like 100 miles away from the first place they asked me. They should probably change trucks so no one pops a cap in them.

 

Haven't seen them in years, but the two times I was approached I acted very interested and asked them to follow me to my work just down the road where I had some cash and would be happy to purchase some stuff...They followed both times but turned around after a few miles of following, guess they didn't believe me? I mean my work is 23 miles away, but it's on the same road...

 

You know , there really are high quality Genesis speakers out there . They just might have the real thing .

 

Guys don't fall for it.. Now if you want to buy a nice little island west of Oregon I will hook you up!

 

Ex or not you did the right thing by telling them.

My best friend was asking me once about some car audio equipment that he saw at a car show. I told him to stay away and go to a real audio shop that knows what they are doing or selling. I think that is almost as bad as the white van junk.