Watch out for scammers offering speakers

fragster

I was walking home from uni with my housemate when we were approached by some guys in a white van asking if we needed any speakers which were initially made out to sound like they were free. Us being students and always on the lookout for a bargain went over to speak to the guys who opened up their van and showed us some nice looking 5.1 speaker systems and some massive floorstanding speakers that must have been about a metre and a half tall and looked rather impressive. They also showed us a catalogue of sorts which showed the speakers in with a price next to them of around $2000 for the 5.1 system and $1200 each for the floorstanding speakers.

They said that they had got them because someone had messed up the order and they didnt want their boss to keep them so were trying to sell them. They said they would sell them for £600 and we got kinda caught up in the story and said we would buy them. They gave us a lift back to our house and came in to set them up, we hadn't paid them anything yet. Whilst they were setting them up i decided to do a little research as i hadn't ever heard of "Theater Innovations" which was the speaker brand, so i googled it and apparently these guys are running scams all over the UK and America. I told them that I wasnt going to buy them after this and they still tried to persuade me, knocked the price down but there was no way I was going to buy anything after seeing the google results. They resigned to this and packed up their stuff, was a bit awkward but they weren't rude or aggressive or anything, obviously just trying to make some quick money. They were both american guys, seemed really friendly, and this was in the Nottingham area.

From what I've read on the net this whole company sells like this and is basically a scam, they even have a website at https://www.theatre-innovations.com which shows the speakers they try and sell at the apparent RRP of thousands of $. They did set up the speakers which worked but the quality was nothing special, certainly glad I didnt pay £600 for them!

This is just a warning to everyone, they are out there to rip people off so if the bargain seems too good to be true then it probably is

ohit

Oh dear. I seriously can't believe you agreed in the street in the first place.

Well done, however.

fragster

heh yeh i might have agreed which was silly, but when it comes to handing over the money i'll make sure that i'm getting what i pay for

tr3mor

nottingham?

my friend chris got approached by these very guys the other day too.. he wasn't a fool though

This scam has been going on for yeeeeeeeeeears... they mention it in what hi fi every month..

DON'T BUY ANYTHING OUT OF THE BACK OF THE VAN

worldtraveller

...come on guys!! What are you studying at university?? I hope it's not business studies. As for inviting them into your house??? White Van Man???

Sorry for the ribbing, but what did you expect??

fragster

nope it aint business, its computer science...

yeh it was stupid, as i've said, but whats done is done and in the end i didnt part with any money and got a free lift home :P

jpwjpw

lol, how old is this scam! I've been approached about 5 times all around the country by white van men trying to sell speakers. Be careful though, I told one that i'd heard about the scam and he got VERY aggressive and I had to run off.

mrak

Ah sweet memories!

I myself have encountered this scam twice. Once in London and once whilst at uni in Bath. It would certainly seem that they target students, the group always looking for bargains and perhaps least careful with their money!

Well done to Fragster for avoiding the trap!

m