Has scammers become a big problem?

[Darrigaaz]

I'm wondering if the great customer service attitude is possibly drawing in the wrong type of "customers" lately. Good customer service is important for any business wanting to grow, but great customer service has it's drawbacks.

Are costs going up to partially cover the scams being done?

I'm sure everybody has heard of the type of people who take advantage of good customer service... The type of person who will "buy" a big screen TV for the Superbowl on credit and return it after the weekend, saying it was "defective". These type of people usually don't believe they are in the wrong, because the store got the merchandise back. The problem is, the store doesn't just repack up the TV and sell it again at full price. They have to either sell it as used, display model, or sell it to a discount reseller.

Walmart used to get hit so hard with these scams, they had to institute a cap on number of returns per customer to prevent having to raise prices to all their legitimate customers. Most stores have stricter return policies due to just these type of people.

I've noticed a few "complaints" lately that just seem overly suspicious in this regard. It's sad to see a post and know that it's just a line of BS to try to get free products shipped to them. I remember a few cases in the past where the person saying they got bad batteries/juices/carts had never even ordered them in the first place.

Anyways, post about people trying to scam you, and what you did to avoid getting scammed. Maybe this will help inform some of the more trusting people out there to be careful.

 

[Mary Kay]

I have been incredibly lucky with all my dealings in the vapor world. Both before V4L and of course since! But I sent a friend to V4L and ECF to get started. He being 'Himself" decided to go with a different company who was 'Cheaper"..LOL. he ordered a starter kit in white and got black. None of his cartos lasted more then a couple hours and didn't refill worth spit! I sat on the phone with dufus boy and went over everything step by step and sent pictures! He called his people and they basicly said tough stuff. He was out bucks and hasn't gotten back to vaping yet.
The only scam I was involved with was a former member trying to get me to sell his stuff..I suspect it was crap and probably would have never been approved by ECF. He didn't last long around here.

 

[plantlvr]

I work retail at a box store, scammers? I could write a book! But any retail store, online or brick and mortar, deals with scammers everyday.
I'm not a spiritual person but I do believe in KARMA, and that's a ....., LOL!

 

[x30003x]

Karma = <3

 

[Peeps]

How is scamming possible when, last I knew, one had to send the defective product back, at their own expense?

 

[RNPic]

Very true! I have even sent bad carts back even though they say to not worry about them!
I know that scanners exist but have never had to personally deal with any that I know of. I am in healthcare and have dealt with other types of situations.

 

[jamvector]

Very true! I have even sent bad carts back even though they say to not worry about them!
I know that scanners exist but have never had to personally deal with any that I know of. I am in healthcare and have dealt with other types of situations.

OT - RNPic, your avatar is bugging me, and my memory is hazy; is the pic from a Scorpions album cover? Just curious, takes me back to my wilder glory days

 

[SnowDragon]

For me it's just a way of life, everything I own I received by scamming a company to send me products (including my house) which I never purchased from them. Most people think that companies have policies or records in place, but that's a fallacy.

Take vaping for instance, we all know how important it is during NASCAR season to vape. So, annually I contact several vaping companies and demand they send me their products for free. Sometimes they refuse at first stating there is no record of any transaction at which point I say, "Hey C'mon" then they just send me whatever I demand inclusive of shipping for free.

When NASCAR season ends I simply return the products (they pay for the return shipping) then I demand they refund me cash for the value of the returned items which I never paid for in the first place.

No doubt anyone complaining about a defective product or incomplete order is a Scammer since we all know there is no such thing as a defective product and every order is fulfilled and shipped with 100% accuracy.

Let's run a hypothetical: I buy a battery + shipping, we'll say it has a cost of $15.00. I receive it and it's defective so I contact the company and notify them, that process takes 10 minutes. I ship the product back to them at my expense which takes me another 5 minutes as I place a copy of my invoice and put together a little note with my item and package it. To expedite matter I send the item back via Priority Express, so I have to drive down ($3.00 gas) to the Post Office (30 minutes) then pay $7.00 for shipping.

Now I'm not sure how most people value their personal time, I value mine at $60.00 an hour. So far I am out $45.00 in time and $10.00 out of pocket, for a $15.00 item. This also does not account for the intangible cost involved for not having an item which I clearly desired and paid for but do not have, yet the seller still has my money.

Item(s) missing in a multiple order in most cases result in less profit margin or at worst break even. However, that is specific to a single order and does not take into account a customer who may spent 100's if not 1,000's over the inception of their account, purchasing products at a 3-500% mark-up. Reseller have standing credit agreements with the manufacturers on defective RTO items which cover their out-of-pocket costs, with the exception of shipping.

In todays world it is 100 times more probable for a company to unknowingly send out a defective product than it is for a consumer to scam a company. Especially considering the time, effort, and expense when it comes to returning defective merchandise. Higher cost items require a return, lower cost items are generally optional and no company simply sends out product + shipping costs no matter how nominal the value unless there is a record of a transaction. Where resellers suffer the most is from getting scammed by wholesale/manufacturers knowingly dumping a high percentage of defective products onto them.

In the case of a high-ticket item, say a non-defective washer/dryer being returned, it is resold as an open-box item and instead of the company benefiting from a 300% mark-up, they only make 100%. They bought them for $600, sold them for $1,800, and resold them as open-box for $1,200. Again, if they are defective they are covered by the manufacturer as a credit for their next order. Meanwhile if the manufacturer does receive the defective units back, they may fix them, sell them as refurbished or disassemble them for parts.

Perhaps it's a perspective issue, I happen to believe most people 99+% are decent, honest, and good. Case in point, have you ever lost something and thought it was stolen? Have you even gone as far as suspecting that certain people may have been involved in the theft only to find the missing misplaced item later?

Now ask yourself how many times has a company not processed a timely payment, added a late charge then billed you with an incorrect amount or simply billed you for services never ordered? How many times has a billing error ever fallen into your favor as opposed to the company billing you?

 

[757girl]

I received a laptop at my door before and I knew it wasn't mine so I simply walked to the persons house who it belonged to and gave it to them. I know some people would have kept it and hoped to get away with it but I imagined the look of those people face when they didn't get there laptop. I have been duped by a mail lady who ended up getting fired over my complaints...It happened to be a 50 buck V4L order, shirt order and something else (cant remember) but all were supposed to be here in the same day and not 1 arrived. We had a snow storm so I figured it would show up later that week.


But nope never did. I called the usps office and they spoke to the carrier of that day am she assured them that she delivered it to my box..well remember I said it was snowing....there were NO foot prints on the ground at all by the mail boxes so no one got their mail that day even though they should have. I filed a claim and gave V4L my claim number if they wanted to check my claim status, etc. Then they sent me out another order. I was so thankful for V4l doing that because they didn't have to and they could have told me tough luck. For that reason, I came back to V4L when I decided to try vaping again. Good Customer Service goes a longggggggggg way in the world today...well at least with me it does.

If a company or person has went out the way for me and they didn't have to. I remain loyal to them. And as for scamming....I have seen it ALOT in retail...People rewapping PSPs and filling the box with rocks or whatever the same weight as the PSP. The wrapping would be JUST like it is sold. It would make it boiling mad.

 

[firefox335]

OT - RNPic, your avatar is bugging me, and my memory is hazy; is the pic from a Scorpions album cover? Just curious, takes me back to my wilder glory days

The avatar is a modified version of "Enema of the State" by Blink 182.

We once caught a woman in the canned vegetables isle banging two cans together in order to dent them so they would be sold at a discount. Anybody who works in retail deals with scammers all the time... "Scammers" and "Crazies."

 

[jamvector]

The avatar is a modified version of "Enema of the State" by Blink 182.

We once caught a woman in the canned vegetables isle banging two cans together in order to dent them so they would be sold at a discount. Anybody who works in retail deals with scammers all the time... "Scammers" and "Crazies."

Thanks firefox! My son had this album which is why it looked familiar; I now vaguely remember the scorps album I was thinking of was the girl in the back seat of a car with bubblegum, etc.. Funny how I related the two of them, hmmm.......

 

[potholerepairman]

If you want to become ruder and call out scammers and dirt my advice is move to South Florida for a few years and watch em in action.A friend told me when I moved that I would become rude and dislike certain people.Thought the guy was nuts and was sour also of course.I was dead wrong.One of the best traits of The Aussies is they call out people in public, in my mind its more beautiful than their country.

 

[Adrenalynn]

The avatar is a modified version of "Enema of the State" by Blink 182.

Yup. Face mod.

(Courtesy of Amazon and TinEye)

 

[mi528hz]

For me it's just a way of life, everything I own I received by scamming a company to send me products (including my house) which I never purchased from them. Most people think that companies have policies or records in place, but that's a fallacy.

Take vaping for instance, we all know how important it is during NASCAR season to vape. So, annually I contact several vaping companies and demand they send me their products for free. Sometimes they refuse at first stating there is no record of any transaction at which point I say, "Hey C'mon" then they just send me whatever I demand inclusive of shipping for free.

When NASCAR season ends I simply return the products (they pay for the return shipping) then I demand they refund me cash for the value of the returned items which I never paid for in the first place.

No doubt anyone complaining about a defective product or incomplete order is a Scammer since we all know there is no such thing as a defective product and every order is fulfilled and shipped with 100% accuracy.

Let's run a hypothetical: I buy a battery + shipping, we'll say it has a cost of $15.00. I receive it and it's defective so I contact the company and notify them, that process takes 10 minutes. I ship the product back to them at my expense which takes me another 5 minutes as I place a copy of my invoice and put together a little note with my item and package it. To expedite matter I send the item back via Priority Express, so I have to drive down ($3.00 gas) to the Post Office (30 minutes) then pay $7.00 for shipping.

Now I'm not sure how most people value their personal time, I value mine at $60.00 an hour. So far I am out $45.00 in time and $10.00 out of pocket, for a $15.00 item. This also does not account for the intangible cost involved for not having an item which I clearly desired and paid for but do not have, yet the seller still has my money.

Item(s) missing in a multiple order in most cases result in less profit margin or at worst break even. However, that is specific to a single order and does not take into account a customer who may spent 100's if not 1,000's over the inception of their account, purchasing products at a 3-500% mark-up. Reseller have standing credit agreements with the manufacturers on defective RTO items which cover their out-of-pocket costs, with the exception of shipping.

In todays world it is 100 times more probable for a company to unknowingly send out a defective product than it is for a consumer to scam a company. Especially considering the time, effort, and expense when it comes to returning defective merchandise. Higher cost items require a return, lower cost items are generally optional and no company simply sends out product + shipping costs no matter how nominal the value unless there is a record of a transaction. Where resellers suffer the most is from getting scammed by wholesale/manufacturers knowingly dumping a high percentage of defective products onto them.

In the case of a high-ticket item, say a non-defective washer/dryer being returned, it is resold as an open-box item and instead of the company benefiting from a 300% mark-up, they only make 100%. They bought them for $600, sold them for $1,800, and resold them as open-box for $1,200. Again, if they are defective they are covered by the manufacturer as a credit for their next order. Meanwhile if the manufacturer does receive the defective units back, they may fix them, sell them as refurbished or disassemble them for parts.

Perhaps it's a perspective issue, I happen to believe most people 99+% are decent, honest, and good. Case in point, have you ever lost something and thought it was stolen? Have you even gone as far as suspecting that certain people may have been involved in the theft only to find the missing misplaced item later?

Now ask yourself how many times has a company not processed a timely payment, added a late charge then billed you with an incorrect amount or simply billed you for services never ordered? How many times has a billing error ever fallen into your favor as opposed to the company billing you?

The more I read your posts, the more I enjoy your writing.
Thank you Boise.

 

[Darrigaaz]

If you want to become ruder and call out scammers and dirt my advice is move to South Florida for a few years and watch em in action.A friend told me when I moved that I would become rude and dislike certain people.Thought the guy was nuts and was sour also of course.I was dead wrong.One of the best traits of The Aussies is they call out people in public, in my mind its more beautiful than their country.

Pothole, do you think this is something specific to certain regions? Kinda makes me curious why certain places would be more upfront about scammers than others.

 

[potholerepairman]

Pothole, do you think this is something specific to certain regions? Kinda makes me curious why certain places would be more upfront about scammers than others.

My personal guess is transient places breed scammers and people do not care about a place they did not grow up in.I think south florida,vegas,and places like that in the U.S. also attract those kinds of people in large numbers.Going to Australia and seeing the tour guides and others during the vacation call out people for rude comments and say what people do wrong in close proximity was quite a joy.