Service Care Blog

Just a cautionary note to other appliance and television servicers.

We have been contacted by a person, possibly originating out of Port Lavaca, Texas (but who knows, really?) who was interested in getting service on 20 units.

From the beginning, I was suspicious about this contact, but I thought I would play it out and see what happened.

Here's the original contact:

"Greetings, I got your contact On Google.com and i was just
checking if you will be available to repair some Appliance
(5) Refridgerator. Get back to me for more details if you'll
be available as soon as possible. Thanks, Kind Regards. Terry Lane"

This was from a gmail account, which is automatically suspicious if this is supposed to be a legitimate business. But I responded courteously, because you never know.

My response:

Hello Terry,

Thanks for contacting Service Care.

We are available for any appliance repair, and we've also been repairing
televisions for over two decades.

As of this minute, I have several calls available tomorrow, and many more
available Friday. If this sounds good to you, can you provide more information
about the refrigerator and also about the location where the repair will need
to take place.

Thanks again for your contact,

Toxey McDavid

Service Care, Inc.
Toxey McDavid
2812 5th Avenue South
Birmingham, AL 35210

** Save Money! Sign up for our free, do-it-yourself **
** maintenance reminders on www.servicecare.net **

Pretty soon, I get this reponse back:

-----Original Message-----
>From: Terry Lane 
>Sent: Oct 1, 2009 12:54 AM
>To: Toxey McDavid 
>Subject: Re: Appliance Refrigerator repair inquiry
>
>Hello Toxey,
>Thanks for your mail, below are the appliance i will like to repair:
>
> 5. Refrigerators
>5. Washers
>5. Dryers
>5.Washing Machines
>
>Those are what i will like to repair and i will handle the shipment of the
>appliance my self, and my shipper will bring down the appliance down to your
>place. However,get back to me with your last price for the 20 appliances.  I
>await your urgent response so that i can put the arrangement in order. And
>also i will like to know if you accept credit card for mode of payment.
>
>Regard
>Terry Lane

#1 Why the increase in appliances from original request. Why 5 each?

#2 What legitimate business person thinks you can quote a price to repair these appliances with no complaint, no models or brand names, nothing.

#3 Credit cards from out-of-state (or country) strangers are bad, bad news.

#4 Most of all... 5 each of washers and 5 each of washing machines? Does he (or she) not know that these are the same product type? **Klaxon bells, red flashing lights, a voice saying Warning! Warning! **

My powers of suspicion on high alert now, I send the following response:

Hello Terry,

I will do the necessary research to get you an estimate of what
these 20 appliances would cost to repair. This will be a very
general estimate as I do not know the models of the appliances,
nor do I know the problems and symptoms associated with each appliance.

By the way, which company are you with and where will you be
shipping the appliances from?

Toxey

At the end, I ask direct questions... What company are you with? Where are the appliances coming from?

Can you guess if I will get an answer to these questions?

Stay tuned to find out how this continues in Part 2 (unless of course this person reads this blog avidly).

Labels: appliances, scams