My White Van Speaker Experience

[gene]

This weekend I was in Ft. Lauderdale with my brothers and was stopped by a White Van at a gas station with 2 guys selling speakers. For fun my brothers and I went up to see what they were offering. Unfortunately I didn't have a digital camera with me. I really wanted to take some pics.

Ironically I was wearing my Audioholics T-shirt. I asked them if the speakers were "Digital speakers" and they happily said YES as if that was their prime selling point.

These guys were selling 2 systems:
1. A 5.1 cube type system with a powered sub
2. Tower speakers with 2 fake phase plug drivers and a dome tweeter

They claimed the 5.1 system was worth $1000 and the Tower speakers were worth $2k/pair and that they had some extra units not accounted for they were going to deliver to their boss, but they later decided to quickly sell them off since they were overstock items the boss wouldn't have noticed if they were gone.

My NY brother being the ultimate swindler he is, asked me right in front of them how much I thought they were worth. I told him the 5.1 system was worth about $100 and the towers were worth about $125/pair max, of course assuming they all work.

The guys continued touting the design merits of the speakers and allowed me a closer look at the boxes. The words Dolby, Digital, MP3, 1200 watts, were written all over the boxes. They actually didn't look as bad as prior white van speakers I saw, but for the life of me I cannot remember the brand name.

I told the guys what I do and asked them to be truthful. I also told them I knew this was a highly organized business spread throughout the US and Canada. Their attitude quickly shifted from salesman to down to earth guys looking to befriend us. They spilled the beans and told me they had to front cash to be part of the network to sell these speakers and that they had to make at least $200 per sale in order to be profitable.

I was actually quite surprised these guys weren't aggressive, or threatening like some of the past white van speaker guys I have met. I suggested that they try using a different color van to avoid the stereotype and also directed them to Audioholics.com telling them we already have an article or two on this topic.

Long story short, they didn't take my brothers offer, but it was a fun experience for my brothers to witness some of the stuff we often editorialize on the site.

 

[Seth=L]

You gave them pointers?!, Shame on you.

 

[emorphien]

I've never seen a white van, or any color van, selling speakers but I know I'll get a good giggle out of it on the day that I do.

 

[Audioholics]

You gave them pointers?!, Shame on you.

No kidding - that surprised me too. Gene has a lot of faith in people. The problem is, they could also use this for "evil" and learn how to be better at their jobs.

I doubt they are very well networked, so it's probably just these two guys. What I want to know is how you get INTO the business. If we could figure that out, we'd take the inside track and sign up to expose the whole deal from the top down.

 

[evilkat]

So let's hope they don't sell speakers under the Audioholics brand now

 

[masak_aer]

I doubt they are very well networked, so it's probably just these two guys. What I want to know is how you get INTO the business. If we could figure that out, we'd take the inside track and sign up to expose the whole deal from the top down.

You mean like an undercover? Can i use my civic instead of a white van?

 

[gmichael]

You mean like an undercover? Can i use my civic instead of a white van?

I've seen them in wood paneled station wagons. But that was in the 80's.

 

[masak_aer]

I'll sign up as an undercover if Gene pay for the upfront money...

 

[gene]

I doubt they are very well networked, so it's probably just these two guys. What I want to know is how you get INTO the business. If we could figure that out, we'd take the inside track and sign up to expose the whole deal from the top down.

Yes these guys are well networked and highly organized.

http://www.scamshield.com/Feature.asp?id=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_van_speakers

• They almost always pull up in a white van
• They all sell the same story. I've been approached by 4 in the last 2 years and their stories were identical
• They seem to distribute the same type of products each year
• They have well done up marketing materials on the products they are selling.

I didn't really give them any pointers as much as I mocked them. They thought the articles we have on the site are PRO white van too.

 

[Tomorrow]

I've been approached by 4 in the last 2 years and their stories were identical.

Wow, most of us haven't been approached even once. Co-inky-dinky? I think not. Perhaps you have that "I'll buy anything-sucker" look at Christmas-time, Gene.

 

[emorphien]

I'm going to start hanging out at the local mall looking for white vans

 

[gene]

Wow, most of us haven't been approached even once. Co-inky-dinky? I think not. Perhaps you have that "I'll buy anything-sucker" look at Christmas-time, Gene.

Yea I think so. The first time I was approached by a White Van I was with a girl friend of mine. They guy tried to push his crap on her and I politely told him we weren't interested unless he sold them for $50/pair. He then got aggressive with me and we almost got into a fight until he noticed a police car casually driving by. Then he took off like a bat out of hell.

A few weeks later I went to my uncles house and saw the exact same speakers this idiot was trying to sell me. What horrific sound they produced. They were a rip off at even $50/pair! He blew the tweeters on them about a week after he bought them. I told him thats what you get for buying speakers from a white van. Kinda ticked me off since prior to that I sold him a really nice set of 3 way JBL's that apparantly he didn't think played loud enough for his parties. I guess he preferred a carpeted speaker box with a 12" woofer and a 1/2" 25cent horn that wasn't even PTC protected from blowing out. They were "digital" though

I'm going to start hanging out at the local mall looking for white vans

3/4 times it was gas stations in upscale areas. The other time was a resturaunt / shopping plaza.

 

[audiorookie]

About 5 years ago i had 2 guys pull up next to me and ask if i wanted to buy some speakers i thought hay i can use some car speakers.
Well it turns out they where trying to sell some tower speakers that where "extras" they wanted $500 then $300 each but i wasnt looking for house speakers and i didnt know anything about them at the time.
These guys wouldnt take No for an answer and where trying to stick them in my car!
I made it clear I didnt want them but only because my car was locked I swear the other guy would have stuck them in my back seat lol..
Im glad i didnt go for it and now i know better thanks to this site.

Oh yes, they where in a white van lol...

 

[warhummer]

Yes these guys are well networked and highly organized.

http://www.scamshield.com/Feature.asp?id=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_van_speakers

• They almost always pull up in a white van
• They all sell the same story. I've been approached by 4 in the last 2 years and their stories were identical
• They seem to distribute the same type of products each year
• They have well done up marketing materials on the products they are selling.

I didn't really give them any pointers as much as I mocked them. They thought the articles we have on the site are PRO white van too.

I found it funny on the scamshield.com website that some of the testimonials in the "sightings" section (in Maryland) actually had some solicitations for speaker salesman. Where do I reply?

 

[evilkat]

I found it funny on the scamshield.com website that some of the testimonials in the "sightings" section (in Maryland) actually had some solicitations for speaker salesman. Where do I reply?

I have yet to see anyone do that around here. The only thing I've seen being sold from a van is ice-cream. And that van was covered by so much rust, it was hard to make out the original color of the van to begin with

 

[abboudc]

3/4 times it was gas stations in upscale areas. The other time was a resturaunt / shopping plaza.

That's where i see them...gas stations around Princeton, NJ. About half the time it's in a white van, the other half out of their car.

 

[no. 5]

Yes these guys are well networked and highly organized.

http://www.scamshield.com/Feature.asp?id=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_van_speakers

• They almost always pull up in a white van
• They all sell the same story. I've been approached by 4 in the last 2 years and their stories were identical
• They seem to distribute the same type of products each year
• They have well done up marketing materials on the products they are selling.

I didn't really give them any pointers as much as I mocked them. They thought the articles we have on the site are PRO white van too.

on the wikipedia page, there is a link to "Dogg Digital" speakers, that sent me to a website for "DCS digital audio"(guess what their logo looks like), out of curiosity I looked up the patent number that was on the DCS website: patent no. 2,532,861 (EDIT: inages on the USPTO website requier a .tiff viewer)

 

[nav]

In my line of work (I prefer not to really talk too much about my job or employer online, sorry; if anyone actually cares, hah ), I get to talk to the people conned by these guys almost weekly. Just today I ran into a guy who'd bought a "Dahlton" surround sound system out of a van.

Honestly, a large number of the people seem completely happy with the speakers and think they're just as high-end as the price on the box (yes, seriously, they print it on the box fairly regularly; along with the rest of the inane "Digital Speaker" nonsense).

I've noticed a large number of the people say the speaker-scam salesmen approached them at a Walmart in particular. I'm not sure if it's statistically significant, but that might be where to hang-out to run into them. I have a bit of a personal boycott against Walmart (among other stores), so that might be why I've never been lucky enough to run into these folks.

The brands you'll find seem region-dependent. I've seen Audiofile, MTS, Digital Research, and Digital Pro Audio fairly regularly. Today was the first time I'd run into Dahlton. I've never seen Dogg Digital or some of the other more ridiculous sounding ones that get mentioned online. They all seem to be built in much the same fashion (look at the wood speaker grills on many of them, for instance). This is nearby Denver, Colorado for what it's worth.

 

[MDS]

When I was young and uninformed regarding audio and speakers I actually fell for this kind of speaker scam (almost 20 years ago). It was a van if I recall correctly, but not a white van.

I think they picked me because I had a new car at the time and maybe they associated that with 'cash to burn'. I did give them a hard time about it but paid $200 anyway. They kind of looked like those MTX speakers you see at Circuit City - cloth or rug-like covering over the enclosure and big plastic covers around each driver.

I then had buyers remorse because I had bought them without any kind of prior research and that is the exact opposite of my true nature. I was fortunate to sell them for nearly what I paid for them less than a week later.

 

[masak_aer]

I am still waiting on some folks come up with a personally-taken pic of these scumbags. Now i have a digital camera ready in my car, just in case