Originally posted by funkmastermike:
Originally posted by dbird:
i would not do business with anyone who pulls up in a truck and hustles business.... i know about plastic/rubber repair and it can be done and is being done, but would never do business with a Gypsy type who pulls up in a truck...


They had a business card .. the business has revolves around going to peoples' houses and picking it up and dropping it off... The gypsy appears legit.


  Any successful scammer will appear legit.  If they didn't appear legit, they wouldn't be successful at scamming people.

  Now I don't know whether this person who approached you is legitimate or not.  However, I could not help being reminded, by your description, of one of the great classic gypsy scams, which goes very much as you've described.  In the classic form, they claim to repair either asphalt or roofing.  A person in a truck will appear, telling you that they just completed another job in your area, and have some materials left over.  They've noticed that your driveway, or your roof, looks like it could benefit from having some sealant applied thereto, and since they have this extra leftover sealant from the job they just completed, that is otherwise going to be wasted, they offer you a really good deal on having it applied to your driveway or your roof.

  Of course, their ??sealant? is usually something worthless at best, and possibly harmful.  Often, it's something like used motor oil.  It makes your driveway look nice when it is freshly applied, but it does nothing to protect your driveway or improve it, and you soon find that it's getting tracked all over the place around and inside your house, making a terrible mess.
 
 
  Now it is possible that the person approached you is legitimate, but the manner in which this occurred would certainly make me very suspicious.  Perhaps what they will do is make some superficial cosmetic repair to your bumper, so that when you get it back it will look nice, and you'll be glad to pay for it, and then in a few days, the repair will fall apart.  Perhaps it's just a scam to steal bumpers which they can then repair and sell to someone else.

  In either case, they'll take your bumper, or your money, and then when you realize you've been ripped off, you try to contact them using the information on the card, and you'll find that they've disappeared.


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