Glad I cancelled my stove order

[sbohlen]

I originally had ordered my T6 from a store in Bangor Maine. When they kept pushing the date back I asked for my deposit and bought one in Canada. Seems the manager took off with everyones deposit and now there are alot of people with no stove OR deposit.

http://www.wlbz2.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=96879&catid=3

 

[pinewoodburner]

Glad you got your money back. I hope all the other people do. I wonder how many people got scammed.

 

[savageactor7]

Scamming seems to be recession proof too.

 

[firefighterjake]

I opted to not buy my stove there . . . didn't get a good "vibe" from the folks there. The former owners seemed to really know their stuff . . . the guys I met were OK, but didn't seem to really know much about the product . . . and in fact when I noticed at the PE website that they were PE dealers I had to ask if they had any PE products for me to look at since there wasn't anything on the showroom floor -- as it was I ended up looking at a T6 in a crate in the back. Needless to say, that didn't exactly overwhelm me . . . plus the pricing was not as good as some other places.

An interesting point in the article . . . the part about the landlord and lease. Kind of surprising actually since they moved into the new store not all that long ago.

A point the report failed to mention . . . the guy that was hired was already convicted of a previous crime where he stole a heating oil truck and was selling cheap oil to folks. Seems to me that someone didn't do a very good job with the background check.

 

[webbie]

Scamming seems to be recession proof too.

Ah, to the contrary, harder times mean BETTER opportunities. Fear is a great motivation for people to part with their money.

 

[The Dali Lima]

Wow! You dodged a bullet there!

 

[sbohlen]

Yea.. As much as I hate credit cards it pays to use them for things like this. I'm not sure that i would have gotten my money back had i used cash. It's funny to watch the video attached to the story. There is a mob outside the store and one lady sees a company truck and yells "let's beat him up!!" It sucks getting ripped off like that, especially when you are counting on the stove to heat your house. Good thing oil prices came down.

 

[dougand3]

". . . the guy that was hired was already convicted of a previous crime where he stole a heating oil truck and was selling cheap oil to folks."

Awwwww....Give the guy a break....He moved from oil to wood fuel. I can envision windmills in his thieving future. LOL

 

[80s Burnout]

Despite this being a terrible scenario for some customers, the lady in the video is hilarious - as someone else noted. Worth watching.

 

[bren582]

I always pay by credit card.. never cash.. Just have to make sure to pay down the balance fast to avoid the interest. Paying by cash is outdated and ill advised for the most part. These poor people will never see a dime of that money back. They can go after the store and Tibbet and they will get zip.. I can't imagine how the store could be so clueless as to what its workers are up to. Shame on both of them..

 

[beekeeper]

The article seems to imply that the store owner is regretful and sick about this -- but I think the owners are also liable for the actions of this fraudulent employee. If they hired an employee who had fraud in his background, and allowed him to hold himself out as an agent of the store, then the victim here is the store owner, not the customers. Store owner should be reimbursing the customers.

Of course - maybe the store owner is insolvent, etc.

 

[Prada]

You were so smart to have used your Credit Card for that purchase! I hate CC too, but with so many places going out of business during these hard times....that in itself is reason enough to have the insurance from using them. Oh I'm so happy you didn't get 'stung' from that crook!