American Sound Systems Theater Research Speakers ripoff Monroeville Pennsylvania
Product or Service Involved: Theater Research Speaker Systems
So I got to the mall to do a little last-minute Christmas shopping. On the way to the door, a male driver and a female passenger in a white van with the name of some home theater installation service (Probably American Sound Systems, which was named on the receipt), stopped me asking if I was interested in a deal.
I was pretty skeptical at first, but the guy gave me that BS story about ending up with extra inventory, and had permission from his boss to get rid of them cheap and somehow sounded so honest and friendly.
Anyway, he showed me the TR-501 system along with the floor speaker set, but I was really only interested in the surround sound system itself. The 'list price' was $2,499 according to the box, as well as their 'web site.' He even opened up the box for me and let me handle the speakers. They had some real heft to them, and that's USUALLY a good indication of quality components, because of more expensive and reliable materials.
After purchasing the surround speaker set for well below what he was asking for, but still too high for what I feel now, he even asked me for some 'beer money' once the purchase was complete, which I politely declined giving him any.
Then I get online to do some research into these speakers and find out it's a big scam to con you into spending far more money than these speakers are worth. Now I'm working on getting a full refund within the '3 day return law.'
Dan
Oakdale, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
*EDitor's Comment: Rip-off Report confirms contact info salesman misrepresentation ripoff
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Dan
Oakdale,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Nationwide marketing scam
#3Author of original report
Thu, December 25, 2003
I have read hundreds of these reports about being ripped off by van salesmen. This is affecting the entire nation, probably everyday. I even found a report from some other consumer who got victimized at my location of work!
I wonder how many people everyday purchase a set and never realize they were ripped off. It's probably only a small handful like us who do realize what happened and only because of some determined research.
Some people seem to think it's the same group of people, but I have heard hundreds of variations on what the people look like, along as what vehicle they were driving. It's not always a white van, even though that seems to be the largest common piece in this.
It's obvious however that it's orchestrated on a national (and even international) level because of the numerous reports I've seen. Some of them even have the same company name as the one I purchased from. Sometimes the speakers are the same, sometimes they're different. But who's to say it's not the same company responsible for the whole thing, just coming up with new company names and speaker names to keep people thrown off?
Bill
Abilene,Texas,
U.S.A.
Every few months this happens
#3Consumer Suggestion
Thu, December 25, 2003
Reading your report, I realized that this happens every few months, the editors need to link this to the other stories on the site that involve the same scam. The speakers, the van, the 'beer money', and the rest is the exact same as the other stories like this with the exception that the names for the speakers have changed. I think one of the stories comes from someone who was part of the scam telling how they do it.