[RESOLVED] ever had a customer try to rip you off or even con you into a computer?

[deltacs]

this must be one hell of a scam...........about 2 weeks ago we had a ladie come into our shop and enquire about a computer. she said she had a few quotes from other computer guys from up the road.

so i ask her what kind of comnputer she has been quoted on, and she produces a small piece of paper with a quote on it for £2000.

she said she wanted the best computer i could build her as she is on a course at the london university here in england and they told her that she can have a grant up to £4000 for a new computer and accessories.

also she said she was reckons that she was a solicitor and that she was up-to-date with the law. so here is the quote that she supposedly sent to the university in london.

QUOTE

The following quote is to build and supply the following PC for Miss Laura McDowall.

HARDWARE
Athlon approved Tower and power pack
Athlon 1,000 MHz processor
Motherboard
256 MB PC133 SDRAM
32 MB Graphics card (AGP)
Sound Blaster 1024 Sound Card and Speakers
56K – V.90 Internal Modem
Floppy Drive
30 Gig Hard Drive
CD ReWriter & Software
DVD-rom & Hiacom DVD Kit
Keyboard & Mouse
19” Monitor
Scanner (USB)
Printer (Laser Jet)


SOFTWARE
Microsoft Windows 98 SE
Microsoft Office 2000 (premium)
IBM Voice Package & Accessories
AntiVirus Package

ADDITIONAL
Mouse Mat
Printer Paper
Desk and Chair
CDR’s (700mb) (100)pack
Floppy Disks

12 month return to base warranty, on all hardware supplied and fitted by
Delta Computer Services

TOTAL COST: £3100


about a week later she comes in and says that they rare going to send that cheque to us, and that it would take a few weeks to process.

next day her boyfiend comes in and says to me....john here is the evidence that you will be getting the cheque..(in a form of a letter but with no header or name from university.

he then says to me can he borrow a computer for his misses to do her course work on, any will do with a printer etc etc....or can he pay by cheque and take it away today with no cheque guarantee card etc. i said sorry but i am unable to do that i need a cheque guarantee card or i can tranzax it.
he says no thats ok i will bring in the cash but would you buy the computer back from me in 3 weeks tiome less £25 oer week for the hire of it as you will be getting that cheque soon... i said ok.

next thing i know is about 15 mins later i get this phone call from his supposedly boss from work.....could i speak to mr blah blah, hi this is blah blah from blah blah and i beleive that my emplyee has been into your shop for a computer and that he needs a credit card to buy a computer from me.....i then said no, i said to him that he needed cheque guarentee card with the cheque or i would tranzax it...then he said to me that he was a good employee and that he honest man, (bearing in mind that the voice on the phone is the same as the guy that left the shop...... so to end this story this is the summery...: the plan was to go into a computer shop and say they had quotes for computers and that she was on a course at university in london and that she would get a grant which is up to £4000. then go back to the shop with a letter saying that i they have been accepted for the grant and they would send me the cheque soon. then they would go back a few days later and try to con a computer from me either buy loan or cheque then do a (thank you very much you have been ripped off) as none can do anything to me cos where on the doal(unemployed)......

but there is one thing i must say before i finish.......NEVER TRUST A WOMAN...LOL

[Paul Cunningham]

Wow, They get around a bit, they tried this in a shop in cornwall. Mind you, lets hope the con people don't read this or they will refine their methods.


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[Darren Wilson]

Thanks for sharing the info.

I will keep my eyes & ears peeled for anything dubious like this.

The troble is that somoe poor soul will fall for it and get stung and lose their livelyhood. Some poele have no feeling at all. http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum/frown.gif



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[CREEPINGDEATH]

Am i the only one who didn't understand this post?

duh...Does my keyboard have a pound sign?

[WickedTech]

I'm not sure if you're the only one, but as here's what I think happened...
1. "the Woman" comes into shop with a price quote, supposedly from another store.
2. "the Woman" asks for a quote from deltacs.
3. "the Woman" explains that she's attengind London University and will be paying for the computer via a grant from the University.
4. deltacs gives her a quote and lists the specs of the system that is being quoted.
5. 1 week passes.
6. "the Woman" returns and tells deltacs that the grant was approved and the check (cheque) will arrive in the next few weeks.
7. The very next day "the Boyfriend" of "the Woman" comes in with a letter.
8. "the Boyfriend" attempts to use this letter to prove that the grant was approved and can they borrow a computer for "the Woman" to do her schoolwork on. Note, the letter was not written on official leaderhead/stationary of the university.
9. deltac wisely refuses "the Boyfriend"'s request.
10. "the Boyfriend" asks if he can possibly pay for the computer via a check, but doesn't have some sort of card which guarantees that the check is good & valid.
11. deltacs offers to "tranzax" the check, which sounds like he would run a check to verify that the check is good.
12. "the Boyfriend" refuses.
13. "the Boyfriend" asks if he could possibly buy the computer now, and bring it back in 3 weeks and sell it back to deltacs at £75. The £75 being something like a rental fee.
14. "the Boyfriend" leaves deltac's store.
15. 15 minutes pass...
16. deltacs receives a phone call from somebody claiming to be the boss of "the Boyfriend".
17. "the Boss" asks if deltacs needs a credit card from him for "the Boyfriend" to purchase the computer.
18. deltacs explains that's not correct and gives him the same information that he gave "the Boyfriend".
19. "the Boss" gives deltacs a little spiel about how honest & hard-working & good "the Boyfriend" is.
20. deltacs doesn't describe the entire phone call.
21. deltacs summarizes this patethic attempt of "the Woman" & "the Boyfriend" ripping off his shop.
22. Never trust a woman.

Also, it's not likely that an Amercian keyboard will have the sign for the British pound, £. However if you're running a flavor of Microsoft; then you may have something called Character Map installed (look under Start-Programs-Accessories). If you have it, then you can use it to put characters into text that you don't have a specific key for.

---
The Slacker's Babelfish: Translating British English to Amercian English, since... 8:00 a.m.

[3fingersalute]

Originally posted by CREEPINGDEATH:
Am i the only one who didn't understand this post?

duh...Does my keyboard have a pound sign?

What did you not understand about it?? It wasn't the clearest, but I followed it.

I didn't follow your post about a pound sign, however!

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Why do convenience stores that are open 24/7 have locks on the doors?

[This message has been edited by 3fingersalute (edited December 04, 2000).]