Friday, June 14, 2013

jinxed

Possibly not the only post with that name on my blog. There's a FL message on our room's AC (I think it appears when something goes wrong in it but thankfully it's been workin like that for a while now) and just as I stared at it for a while, words rushed to my mind for no apparent reason...many that I probably don't remember but some that I could recall so I'm writing em down:
FaiLed
FooL
FLower
FiLter
FLour
FLake
FLaw
FLoss
FLip
FLame
FLicker
FLood
FLimsy
FLout
FLoat
FiLl
FowL
FLow
FaLl
FuLl
FLat
FLy
FiLly
FauLt
FLannel
FLoaters
FaLter
FeLdspar
FLatter
FLop
FoLlow
Filipino
FiLament
FieLd
FLap
FLipper
FeLon
FaLcon
FiLlibuster
FaLse
FeLlow
FoaL
FiLo (as in first in last out)
FeLlatio
Man! This FeeLs crazy. I thought I'd fall asleep thinking but it did quite the opposite, activated me.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

DSLR camera and lens deals that are too good to be true

I must admit that I do not know for sure if the people I'm writing about are actually crooks/cheats/conmen but circumstantial evidence indicate that they most probably are.

If anyone has had a personal experience any communication or case of being duped, I urge you to please come forward. If anyone has dealt with them and done good business, please leave a comment and your phone number.

CASE 1

The guy's name is David Richards and he sells stuff on olx.in. He claims to be selling New and Genuine Nikon DSLRs and lenses with full warranty and bill. The guy talked in a heavy Carribean accent, so is he African or Carribean? Maybe but I dunno, maybe people in Port Blair do talk in a Carribean accent; do they? He claims to operate from Port Blair.

The deals looked too good to be true. Our suspicions rose further when he directed us to send half the amount to him, after which, he'd ship the camera to our address, after which we could send the remaining amount to him.

This deal sounded weird.

  • What if we send him the money and he doesn't send the camera? 
  • How can he trust us so much? what if we don't send the remaining money; isn't he worried about that?
  • So he's just putting his faith for 10K 20K 30K rupees on  complete strangers? Or is using this strategy to get stranger o trust him? Buyer beware, this looks fishy.


Something isn't right here. Honestly if he is a genuine dealer, there's no way he can sell those cameras at the prices he offers. Nikon wouldn't jeopardize their business letting only one guy in the whole of India sell their cameras at that cheap a rate.

We know that in the US, Craigslist (like olx.in in India) has become a breeding ground for cheats who are doing something similar to what this guy is doing. So according to us, this guy's either selling grey stuff (actually even grey stuff doesn't sell for this less a price) or he's a conman.

He claims to sell stuff to the UK market. Surprisingly, after a few days, the same ad that we saw for Port Blair, appeared for Bangalore, then other cities. As of now, the original Port Blair ad isn't available. Now it appears only for Chandigarh.

We checked his website http://www.21centurymobiles.uk.pn/ and saw that these guys have a UK number as well but the contact person in India is David Richards. If they were so great in the UK, they'd be mentioned on some discussion forum...nowhere we could find!!

Here's a screenshot of David Richard's website:


We also saw the various claims about their online retail shop being awarded many awards by WhatMobile, Mobile Choice Consumer Awards, Mobile News awards for various years. So we went to the individual websites to check the list of awardees....No surprise, there was NO mention of 21centurymobiles anywhere. These were all fake claims on the website. They even claim to be dealing as alliance associate member with BlackBerry so we emailed the Blackberry inquiring about this but they did not reply (assholes, I'll never buy a Blackberry). So is that a true claim...Puh!

Here's the screenshot of the original 21ST CENTURY TECHNOLOGY PLC website that operates in the UK (whose address David Richards has stolen as well) and they have nothing to do with mobiles, cameras or electronics. They are into vehicles.


So the following points rouses our suspicions

  • He has a website with a .pk at the end. 
  • The address in Port Blair and the location isn't verifiable. We'll have it checked soon.
  • David Richard's website has fake claims 
  • He's asking for the money before he sends the product. How do you know he will send anything at all?
  • He's sending a NEW product with bill and warranty card!!! How? He's nowhere on the Nikon's list of dealers and how is he giving warranty cards for products that are no longer manufactured by Nikon.
  • He's putting pictures of bills and warranty cards to appear genuine. 
  • It appears too good to be true
  • http://www.21stplc.com/ the company whose name this guy is using  and whose address he's copied on his website, has nothing to do with him. That company is "Europe’s leading vehicle technology company specialising in passenger transport CCTV and EcoManager intelligent fuel saving."

Even if we send him Rs 500 instead of Rs. 11000 or 20000 or 30000, there's not guarantee he'll send anything, he can pocket as little as Rs. 50/- without lifting a finger. He's been on olx a long time now. If anyone has had an experience with him, good or bad, please share it. If he's a crook, he's probably made quite a few by now.



CASE 2

http://gurgaon.olx.in/d200-rs-45-000-d300-rs-26-000-fresh-pieces-available-iid-513730420

Look at this ad. If you knew anything about cameras, you wouldn't take a second to figure out what wrong with the ad. This idiot is selling a D200 for Rs. 45,000/-, a D300 for Rs. 26,000/-  AND  D700 for Rs. 32,000/- What kind of an idiot would believe him?
In which part of the universe is a D200 more expensive than a D300 and D700? Hey Alfred, a D700 is a full-frame DSLR with an MRP of around Rs. 1,30,000 (yes one lakh thirty thousand). Which galaxy are you from? And hey ding-dong, Nikon stopped manufacturing D200 and D300 a quite a while ago (and recently stopped the D700 as well)...so where the hell do you get new D200 and D300 with bill and warranty??

This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. He too has a Christian name Mike Alfred (Oh! Jesus forgive them, for they know not what they do!).

Look Mike, you're not even half as smart as David Richards, at least David Richards advertises his prices to look kinda genuine (maybe he is somehow...he just appears to easily rouse suspicion). Hey Mike how come your phone numbers have similar digits to Davids??  Are you brothers?

People watch it. Olx.in and other such websites like quickr.com are attracting cheats and many a conman.