Business Quest

Welcome to everyday adventures in my business life, including thoughts and feelings about a world within which all things are connected. This QUEST is a JOURNEY to share knowledge, a JUNKET to share enjoyment, and often times simply an OUTING among old friends and new acquaintances.

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Location: Hockessin, Delaware, United States

To Myers-Briggs I'm an INTJ on the cusp of an E. A war-orphan, I was raised an only child by my mother. Born into a family of engineers and inventors, I naturally gravitated to engineering; model railroading at age 5. By the time I left high school the railroad was well automated (back when mechanical relays and vacuum tubes prevailed.) Home was Gary, Indiana and while attending Purdue University I majored in Electrical Engineering, worked part-time and summers as a motor inspector at the Inland Steel 80" Hot Strip, where I found the air conditioning requirement of early automation equipment to be personally beneficial. I joined the DuPont Corporation as a Design Engineer and moved to Waynesboro, VA. (where in 1969 I automated the 1929 Acetate Chemical process using a Digital Equipment PDP 8E computer supervising five PDP14 industrial controllers -- the computer was programmed using a Teletype machine and paper tape!) I also had the pleasure of an assignment in Londonderry NI in 1973 followed by a move to Charleston, SC in 1976 to construct a fully automated polyester fiber facility (complete with industrial robots). But enough about me...

Thursday, January 05, 2006

DECEPTIVE PRACTICE TARGETING UofDE STUDENTS

Known as “speakermen”, these folks operate out of a white van and approach you with an offer too good to refuse, taking advantage of your willingness to purchase a $3000 set of high-end speakers for a couple of hundred dollars. Their claim is that since their van was "accidently" double packed they have an opportunity to convert their employer's misfortune into cash for themselves and you can get some fantastic speakers on the cheap. They show you an article from HDTV Magazine to confirm the value of the speakers, you close the deal, get the speakers and go home happy. Only later do you discover that the speakers are inferior, search the web, and discover you are among many who actually paid several hundred dollars for speakers worth less than $50.

I know these folks are operating in Newark because my son was approached by them last Friday. He recognized the situation, called 911 with the van's license number, the dispatcher told him that the police were very interested, and shortly after saw the van pulled over with officers interviewing the occupants. Others in Newark have been taken by this scheme and you can learn more about the perpetrators and recovery should you be approached. (The above two links may be slow to load but they are worth reading.)

These folks are operating all across the country according to Scam Shield .

By the way, I hesitate to call this a “scam” so much as a “deceptive practice” because the actual transaction is not illegal in most states and the only deception is the HDTV magazine article that plays to greed. You believe you are getting a $3000 speaker for perhaps $150; they are actually selling you a $50 speaker for $150. One the one hand you believe you and they are “scamming” their employer, when in fact you are a victim of “deception". Let the buyer be aware - and be informed.