Have You Been Approached By One of These Body Repair Scam Artists? (Dublin: home, neighborhood) - Los Angeles - California (CA) - Page 3 - City-Data Forum

Freebird · 07-27-2012, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greggd1

Maybe this damage was worse than i imagine from your post, but with your deductible, wouldnt it have been better not to turn it in? ...... I save the insurance for the major stuff.

If we had just taken it to a body shop and not had this (scammer) guy touch it first, it probably would've been only slightly more than our deductible ($500). Unfortunately, he did not confine his application of the thick grey "new paint protectant" paste to the area that was damaged - he went well above and below it, onto perfect paint, close to a stripe and a metal emblem that had to be replaced - it goes on and on. We already knew we were in over our heads but once we saw what had happened on the morning after when we tried to clean off the paste and couldn't, we thought it would be way more expensive than the deductible to undo the damage (and it was). This was the first accident for the driver and it was apparently forgiven by the insurance company - our rates didn't go up because of it, which was unbelievable and lucky.

Yeah usually it's best to take care of the scuffs and scrapes out of pocket and save insurance - no doubt, there will be no more parking lot repairs for us.

marumut · 07-30-2012, 10:43 AM

yeah, long ago, we had just gotten back from a road trip from canada and there was a dent in the hood of our van from some jerk hitting it with a golf ball on the highway. so one day my mother and i were in the norwalk square center in NWK, and 2 shady looking guys come up to us as we were trying to get back in our van and they told us that they could fix the dent for $60. my mother, who at the time was very naive and trusting, even went to the bank across the street to get them their cash. so one guy pulled out a hammer and just started hitting it with the claw end from the inside of the hood, and it just made it more lumpy. then he said that he was going to his truck to get something that will flatten out the lumps and they just drove off.

Dunbar42 · 07-30-2012, 02:40 PM

I overheard my neighbor almost get scammed into paying $2500 for a Kirby vacuum cleaner. They go door to door seeing if you want a "free carpet cleaning" and then don't leave for hours until you buy a vacuum cleaner. The only thing that saved my neighbor was that her credit wasn't good enough to qualify for it.

flourpower · 07-30-2012, 10:27 PM

I can't believe this is still going on! My sister got scammed about 25 years ago at the Target parking lot in Cerritos (Bloomfield & Del Amo). I was probably around 15, she would have been 19. A couple, that I SWEAR looked just like Sonny and Cher, approached us and offered to fix the dent in my parents car that my sister had put in it! I told her "no", as I have always been super suspicious of people (to a fault), but my gullible sister fell for it. Sonny started "working" on the car while sis and I went shopping at Target. The whole time we were in the store, we were being followed by Cher. Pretty weird. When we went out to the parking lot, Sonny had patched up the dent with Rustoleum and left a big ugly brown spot on my parent's Olds. My sister paid the guy (something like $50). Needless to say, my dad was none to pleased to see the result. If memory serves me, my parents had to take it to the body shop and have it professionally repaired. Also, needless to say, my sister has continued to make stupid mistakes throughout her life (don't even get me started on her choice for a husband....)

gatocali · 07-30-2012, 11:52 PM

got approached to get my bumpers fixed and some scratches out of my paint. I let them do it and the bumpers are still on there you cant tell it was ever broken.

marumut · 07-31-2012, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dunbar42

I overheard my neighbor almost get scammed into paying $2500 for a Kirby vacuum cleaner. They go door to door seeing if you want a "free carpet cleaning" and then don't leave for hours until you buy a vacuum cleaner. The only thing that saved my neighbor was that her credit wasn't good enough to qualify for it.

that's another one. some guy came in a beat up old van (which looked like he was out to grab some kids) to my area. he was going door to door, and finally came to my door. he said his name was Guadalupe and he wanted to clean my carpets for free. i knew that something was up, because this just sounded like code for i wanna come inside, pretend to clean, and take a good look at your stuff, so i can come back at night with my crew, kill you, and take all of your stuff. another scam i have recently come across is a guy who came in a daewoo hatchback, and told me something i couldn't understand. he repeated himself 3 times until i could make out something about my plants are growing too big. then he said he was tree service and he had his equipment and could do it right now. and when i asked where all his equipment was, he said sorry, and drunkedly stumbled and tripped on the stairs. and then looked around as if he were lost ans then went to his car, looked at the house for another 10 minutes and left. i think these scams are most prevalent in areas which have high numbers of senior citizens.

Dunbar42 · 07-31-2012, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marumut

that's another one. some guy came in a beat up old van (which looked like he was out to grab some kids) to my area. he was going door to door, and finally came to my door. he said his name was Guadalupe and he wanted to clean my carpets for free.

These guys were in a new Chevy van and were dressed up with ties. An attractive college girl went door-to-door seeing if you wanted a "free carpet cleaning." If you said yes then a salesman was called in. Once they figured out she was a live one they were there for 3-4 hours. It's not hard to make money selling a $200-300 vacuum for $2500.

Elle Oh Elle · 07-31-2012, 01:43 PM

Approached once, never accepted. Honestly, if anyone were interested in getting their car fixed they would of done it already or done it themselves!

Mr_Geek · 07-31-2012, 02:58 PM

I also hate those guys at gas stations who try selling you waterless car wash. I had a brand new car and this idiot runs up to me and starts rubbing something on my car with a beat up looking rag. I have swirl marks in my paint to this day because of this moron. He's lucky all that I did was tell him off.

25k car on day 1 and he's messing with my paint job.

PureHapa · 07-31-2012, 04:33 PM

One of my neighbors dented her Cadillac SUV pretty bad months ago and still has not fixed it. Twice when she parked in front of my house guys come knocking on my door wondering if it's my car so they can help me fix it. Ugh.

The other people I encounter at home are the ones who say they are in the neighborhood, down the street working on a neighbor's home and wondering if I need any construction work - remodeling, roofing, etc. These companies are very hard sell - to the point where they won't quote you unless both husband and wife are present so they can hard sell you both. Don't do it people!

My husband once gave an older lady $3.60 in a parking lot - said her ride couldn't come so she needed bus money. I told him he was conned and he argued that the old lady looked nicely dressed and didn't look like a scammer, plus how can anyone make money at $3.60 a pop?

Sigh. I told my husband she is scamming to get Fives or Tens or even Twenties from folks who don't have exactly $3.60. I told him I wasn't going to give him much cash allowance any more.