I got an interesting phone call today regarding my one week old ad in cars.com for an '05 Acura TL for sale. Sasha, from Great Cars and Trucks, was inquiring about my car that was for sale for $28,000. Interesting (read, "red flag is already at half mast"). Any ad (All 1 of them) regarding this car has it listed for $27,495.00. One of the first things out of Sasha's mouth was that she was going to overpay for the car. Then she proceeded to tell me that she had two buyers in my little city who were interested in the car. Wow... two buyers... who want to overpay?!?! She then went on to commit the unforgivable act of idiocy by cold calling me and asking me for money (by credit card, over the phone) to work with them for $150.00.
Bwaahhhh, ha ha ha ha... Bwaaaaaaaahhhhhh ha ha ha.
After she was finished with her canned speech (and after I collected myself), I responded by simply saying, "let me get this right, I pay you, right now... and you guarantee the car will sell, for $505 more than I'm asking, to a local buyer?" She confirmed my understanding.
So I added, "I tell you what, I'm not going to pay you right now, here, over the phone... But, if you have local buyers that are interested in buying this car, they are more than welcome to call me, come take a test drive, eat dinner with my family, and buy the car for the posted $27,495. And if one of your buyers buy my car, I will happily write a check to you, Sasha, for five thousand dollars."
Can you believe she wasn't interested in this newly sweetened deal? I guess I could have predicted the outcome. Sasha was calling from a Seattle, Washington area code, and representing the business Great Cars and Trucks, which on the phone and heavily accented sounded like Great Cars and Shocks... so I was immediately side tracked by thinking.... Man.... what a terrible name for a businesss... of all the things you could have named a business... Great Cars and Shocks... what a horrible and unworkable name?!?! I later found out that the name of the business was Great Cars and Trucks by doing a little Googling. And when I finally got it right, Trucks, not Shocks, I was first relieved that the name was actually waaaaay better than I thought. But then I was really let down (not really), that 4 of the first 10 Google results included verbiage like, "Rip Off Report", "They're a Scam", and "Scam or Legit". Wow... that gives me the warm fuzzy I was looking for.
But then after I saw their website, I nearly fell out of my chair! What's with the 1995 Word Art at the top, and that ridiculous steroidal drop shadow? My eyes hurt. I think I have a headache now.
Scam or not, (probably), I can't possibly do business with someone who's site looks so terrible. I realize that real beauty is on the inside, or in the eye of the beholder, but that thing is going to need a whole lot of personality to make up for the eye sore on the outside. And I bet a whole lot of people search that site for a car to buy. What do you think... maybe 3... 4.... each year? Nahhhh... I don't want to over-estimate...... 2.
That is funny man. There are so many scammer's out their always coming up with a new scam. I guess anytime they want to overpay that is a big red flag. I get them all the time on craigs list. It is kinda fun to mess with them for a while via email just to see how stupid they think we all are...
Your story is great. I am one of the many unfortunate that fell for Great Cars and Trucks sales pitch. I paid $107 for an ad with a guaranteed buyer then attempted to get a refund and failed. Not too surprised, it was too good of a deal to be true. Oh well, I lost a week and half's lunches. I needed to go on a diet anyway and besides this was cheaper than Jenny Craig. Matt, Thanks for the post! I too, almost coughed up $100 bucks. Shasha was up to her old tricks, this time calling from Edmonton, Alberta. She also used the same format in her call stating that she had a couple of "buyers" willing to pay "$2000 over asking price". I couldn't help but laugh and offered to wire transfer the $100 coordination fee if she would email a link about there company on the Canadian Better Business Bureau that proved they were legit. I'm still waiting for a response. I'll let you know if I get it. Just went to their office to collect my refund. 90 days and not a single call. and to think they had buyers lined up at $3000 more than I wanted. Can you imagine to my surprise that there are no signs up to tell you where they are? The doors are locked and you have to ring a buzzer to get in. This place is a total scam. I was given the form to fill out adn have to provide a notarized copy of the registration which will be no problem. Everything has to take place in the next 7 days so it will be interesting to see what happens.
I just got a call from these people as well. Apparently they are still up to their same old tricks, same pitch, same overpriced offer on my car. I almost got roped in because I was/am desperate to sell. So as I was on the computer getting my payment info together, I figured I would give the good ol google a try. WOW google great cars and trucks and it is not a nice picture. anyway read a couple of these to the gentleman on the phone, apparently he had no idea about these (yea I bet), finally when I got done to the 3rd or 4th one about the bbb and how autotrader.com is really upset with them, I decided if I was willing to spend $100 with them to sell my car, I might as well spend $150 and fully detail it and put it in as many newspapers and online ad agency's as possible. I was fed the same line of bull today also! The only difference for me was that I spoke with Sonia, not Sasha. She was also calling from Houston, not Seattle. What a joke! I told her that I couldn't believe that she had 6 people that were willing to purchase my car over what I was listing it for! She then told me that they provide financing for clients that have poor credit to no credit. Her clients can't get financing easy, so they go to her company for help. I also listed my vehicle on cars.com, not autotrader. So, it sounds like they're working on some new lines....Scammers are so lame.
I was stupid and they got 120.00 out of me. the sales man. don't know the name said that I would not be charged unless the truck sold. Well, I am on a war path now. I have contacted the South Central Ontario BBB and my local states attorney. Also I have reported the company to Auto Trader, Cars.com, and E-bay.
I too got a call from Sonia. The phone number left to call her back shows that she was in Canada. She offered $3k more than my Craigslist ads for M3 vert. That was my first clue that it was too good to be true. I am glad that other people are reporting their experiences so that others are less likely to be scammed by the folks. Me too. Just got a call from Sonia who said she could get me $2,000 more than what I have it listed on Cars.com. She didn't say it was a money back guarantee, but said that she had a couple of buyers and that cars ALWAYS sell within 2-3 days because they're taking the risk with low-credit buyers. Thanks for confirming what I already thought about this scam.
That is hilarious. I was speaking with someone named Jack (he declined to provide his last name) who fed me the same garbage: "I have interested buyers...we deal with all the major financial institutions with financing...etc...". When asked why the number had a Calgary area code, he stated he was physcially located in Toronto but all calls are routed through their Calgary office - ok, fair enough. I gave him my basic information but asked for him to call me tomorrow to confirm payment. He called me back and after I had performed a quick Google search, I told Jack that I will not be pursing this "opportunity"....he got upset and hung up the phone (wtf????)...in any case, these guys are a joke!!
... and I thought I was a pretty smart guy! Yup, "Collin" got me to cough up $119 and now I'm trying to get on to their website to find the "Money Back Guarantee" form (The automated voice message says it should be on the top in silver when I choose my province, but it's not there surprise surprise) NO $120 for 'VINCE'. Vince is relentless though, he called me from a craigslist ad, said he's been looking for a car like mine, and he's got 4 buyers interested RIGHT NOW! I told him I was driving and couldn't get my pymt info as I was doing like 120K on the freeway, he proceeded to tell me to pull over and get it now...LOL...I told Vince there wasn't a chance I'm pulling over on the freeway. Told him to call the next day.Vince really didn't like that, I said, if you have 4 buyers, I think they'll still be interested tomorrow...Vince had no answer and asked again if I'm sure I can't pull over to get my info. Now I've done some more googling and thank god I'd didn't go for this scam!
Add another idiot to the scam list. Total lies. Sonia called me with the same lines as above. "We have 5 buyers lined up to buy your car." Make sure your phone is on tonight! No calls, nothing, I call back and politely ask Sonia why nobody has called and about the negative attention they are recieving on google and she hung up on me! I wasn't even angry I was just looking for reassurance. I called back seconds later and when I asked who I was speaking with she hung up on me a 2nd time. Unbelieveable. They are taking my $99 but I am going to make sure I cost $999 of their sales because of it. They prey off the desperate b/c they saw my ad on cars.com and I am desperate to get rid of my car before I move. Don't do it!
I think I am going to make a myspace acount about them right now. Haha
www.myspace.com/greatcarsandtrucks
Yep I was one of the stupid idiots that fell for it!!! They got me for $164.25!!!! There has to be something we can all do about this. I did everything the Money Back Guarantee said- within the time frame- actually I did not get ONE call on a interested buyer.
Great Cars and Trucks is a fake company! thanks so much for your post!!!! I receved a call from someone named Alan.. and he insisted that they pre-approved 3 people to purchase my car for $14,000. I was only asking $13,500. It sounded GREAT!!!! I said yes..I paid!! however, after paying I spoke to my husband and he told me this might be a scam, so when the coformation call came...I quickly said NO!!! Thanks so much!!
I am one of the stupid ones, Ward was his name from Calgary. I waited the proper amount of time with not one answer to my ad. I was told there were 7 people looking for a bike like mine. Anyways sent in all the proper forms notarized in August and now find out the web site is suspended, all the telephone numbers I have now belong to other businesses. SCAMED and it was my own fault. I didnt look deep enough. Buyer beware!!
Yes, I am one of those people that fell for the scam. Paid $186 of course not one call, and NO money back guarantee. People be aware!!
that is a nice story lol unfortunately i am the biggest sucker of them all as i agreed and listed a few of my cars with this fraudulent company which has now cost me more than $650.00 i fell like such a fool that i allowed this company to con me out of all that money, and i should have known better. what a fool i was to belive that a phone solicitation and internet company would actually performed as agreed. I really wish there was something that we all could do to get our money back from this company or at the very least put the owner of the company in jail for awhile for what he has cost so many of us US consumers and auto trader advertisers.
I have been working with a couple of companies closely tracking gc&t the past couple of years. I am happy to inform gc&t is in very serious trouble. The owners, employees and basically anyone involved with this company are going to have their hands full and need a team of lawyers very soon. Their website has been suspended, stay tuned for new and exciting events. I told you Craig that you are going to get yours and I told you that I wouldn't rest until I seen you in jail. Did you think I was joking? lol I bet you realize now you messed with the wrong person!
Great posting. I just went looking for their site and saw all the notes about scams! CP contact phone busters via Internet, follow the registration, also contact your local fraud busters if any. Thats how I got my money back, then I started spending every free second going after these sobs! It worked , there doors are closed and charges are pending lol, finally after 15 years of this scam artist ripping off the public he got busted, only because I wouldn't quit I kept bothering every law enforcement agency and fraud team till they investigated them. I don't think this would have ended if I didn't get involved.!
I unfortantly fell for this bull maHaZiggaHaHa. I usually do good not to get involved with these things. After spending an hour talking to them about the refund I decided it would be worth a try. I find out late that the refund policy they state is NOTHING like what you actually have to do. Well when I called and try to talk to someone they said "you aren't special you have to do it like everyone else." At that point I wanted to flip my lid and get my hands on some one and teach them how to talk to people; customers or not, respect is respect. If anyone can forward me any info about how I can get my money back now that the doors are closed and the site is shut off; I'd send you a hand written thank you letter and some of your favorite cookies (not even kidding). I've already dealth with my bank and they won't help even though I have all my paper work and sent it to them. Please someone help, I'll book mark this page and check in daily. Speak with phone busters, give them the I'm poor and every penny counts, They're pretty good at getting back in touch with you. Well, I consider myself a skeptical person -- I can say I have rarely been conned or ripped off. Boy did I fall for this one though. I sure wish I knew I was dealing with a Canadian company, however and I would have been more cautious (nothing against Canadians but if something is not within the US I examine much closer) I did do research and they seemed on the up and up -- there weren't the 50 or so ripoff sites talking about this company in April, 2007. But, I guess I don't feel that foolish if so many others were ripped off as well. They got me for $190!! I was promised the phone calls and the "money-back guarantee" made it sound okay. Well, after receiving NO phone calls and not selling my vehicle I waited the requisite 90 day period (I assume to make sure that you can't get the credit card company to refund) and sent the notarized request for refund -- they sent me a letter from Calgary on 9/27 stating that my refund would be coming (but I might need to wait up to 10 weeks). I am still waiting -- emails and correspondence have gone unanswered. Chock another one up to experience. I become more cynical on a daily basis.
imagine my dismay! my name is bob schuster, i'm the owner of GREAT CARS AND TRUCKS in arizona. we have been around since 1995. I know more then anyone on this matter, and he is a free man and Man, I gave up on even trying and I saw this on my bookmarks. I hope some of you got your money back. I couldn't find a way to do so. If anyone has the name and address of the owner it would be good for you to put it up so we can all send him some mail giving him a piece of our minds. If anyone can slice his tires, I would shake your hands for doing so.
He is my happy neighbor and his business just booming LOL. I would need an army to slice tires on all his cars LOL
