Beware of this scam while on the road

[fotodog]

I’m not a frequent poster, but I want to let everyone know what happened to us while traveling through Kingman, Arizona, although it could happen anywhere. My wife and I are both successful business people, live in a big city dealing with all sorts of individuals daily, and are not naive. And yet, we were almost scammed by a thief.

My wife and I were returning from my daughter’s wedding and stopped for fuel. After getting back on the freeway, we were flagged down by a guy in a pickup truck driving beside us, waving for us to pull over and pointing to the back of my motorhome. Since I had experienced some problems towing my Jeep on this trip, it seemed likely there was a possible problem.

Once pulled over, he told us that he had entered the freeway just behind us, and every time we went over a bump, there were sparks coming from under the coach. He presented a business card and showed me a business license showing that he was a licensed mobile RV tech. He suggested getting off the freeway at the next exit and follow him to a truck stop. At this point I was not comfortable driving across remote desert stretches in 100+ degree heat, so I decided to do that. Once stopped, he inspected the rear shocks and told me that the right rear shock was bad and needed to be replaced, along with the left side.

I thought he was only inspecting the shock, but he actually removed it entirely before I could object. According to him, to clearly see the part #. He made af few calls, and recommended that I replace all 4 shocks. They needed to come from California at a cost of $960 + $400 labor. Since it was Sunday, it would take 2 days for the parts to arrive from California.

I was cautious from the beginning, but at this point I was becoming suspicious. And then came the clincher; his “chip reader” was down, so we would need to go to the bank or Walmart to get cash for the down payment on the parts. I told him I wasn’t comfortable doing that, and all the while he kept telling me that he was an honest businessman. He told me he did work for people staying at the local KOA, and they could vouch for him. Since the possibility of a problem had been raised, I wasn’t going to continue across the desert until I had the coach inspected anyway, so I told him to go with us to the KOA and talk with the people there.

We did this, and the awesome woman behind the desk (thanks Dee!) told him they had 2 other people over the last few weeks with the same story. He insisted he was telling the truth, but when she suggested that we call the Highway Patrol to resolve the issue, he left. But not before telling me to be sure to call him in the morning to order the parts.

So now we were stuck in Kingman on Sunday, on our way home to San Francisco where I had a big backlog of work waiting for me. I started calling phone numbers from the legitimate business cards in the KOA, and by sheer luck Russell, at Russell RV Repair picked up. He heard my story, opened up his doors for us, inspected the shock which was perfectly good, and reinstalled it. Russell told us that 3 other people had the exact same story as ours over the last couple of months. He is a true gentleman, an honest businessman, and saved us a tremendous amount of grief. I paid him well, gave him a nice bottle of Sonoma Valley wine, and we were on our way,

So be careful out there! No matter how much you think something like this could never happen to you, it can happen very quickly.

[BurbMan]

mich800 wrote:
I am surprised some of the infallible individuals with perfect 20/20 hindsight are posting here and not out making the billions they are surely earning due to their supreme intellect and experience. Sometimes I wonder why anyone bothers sharing their experiences on public forums to help others.

Geez who peed in your Cornflakes this morning? It's called "having a discussion"....nobody has criticized, bashed, or insulted the OP for sharing his story. Some folks who are mechanically inclined and know for example that a bad shock would not cause sparks to come from the back of the RV would be less inclined to allow the conversation to continue.

[hotpepperkid]

jplante4 wrote:
I read another similar thread here last year involving tires and Utah.

Story

Personally, if he had come out from under my motor home with a shock in his hand, the side of his head would have said "Bilstein" in reverse.

Yep Beaver Utah. Was approached there and said I needed tires

[free_radical]

Bobbo wrote:
Decades ago, my wife was driving to Chicago with some coworkers for a professional conference. I warned her about the possibility of someone coming up to her at a gas station and telling her that her fuel pump was failing and having a "cousin" with a shop who could fix it.

As they were leaving Chicago, she stopped for gas, and a guy came up and said he saw gas dripping from her engine, and she probably had a bad fuel pump. He said a buddy around the corner could fix it. She said "yeah, right."

She got back on the interstate, and about 15 minutes later, her car died. She had it towed to a dealer in the area. It was a bad fuel pump.

I think smart thing here would be to look and see if the pump was driping fuel or not..
😉

[beemerphile1]

fotodog wrote:
I’m the OP. I knew when I posted this message there would be some negative replies. It happens on every forum. I decided it was worth it if it helped someone avoid a similar scam.

Thank you, it is people like you that share a somewhat embarrassing story that makes the world safer for all of us.

[TragedyTrousers]

I would have never stopped.

[jplante4]

Back in the 70s there were some unscrupulous gas station operators at the Ohio Tpke stops. It was a captive audience for sure. Having driven trucks in the east, I heard about most of them and when coming home on leave I stopped at a gas station and to my horror the fan belt had just broken :e . Good thing that attendant had looked under the hood!!!

While still at the pump, I unloaded the luggage from the trunk, pulled out the toolbox and the spare fan belt and proceeded to change the belt. The manager came out and started yelling that I could not do that there and I said "Why don't you call those troopers over from the restaurant and I'll show them the clean cut on a fan belt that was new last week". I didn't pay for the gas either.

[Chum_lee]

A few pointers to this specific story.

Unless you have air shocks/suspension, shock absorbers have no effect on ride height. If you know what you are doing, you don't have to remove parts (generally) to get part numbers. They are readily available using the year, make, model, engine, transmission, etc. of your vehicle and the parts house supplying them.

I had this scam happen to me to in Utah. A couple of jokers from the gas station across the street from a restaurant where we were eating drove up to my vehicle in a golf cart all concerned saying I immediately needed new shocks to the tune of $1,200. (they happened to have them in stock) I drove over to the station and let them examine my vehicle. They gave me their best sales effort without success. I thanked them and drove on. Somehow we survived.

Chum lee

[ReneeG]

Wow. Thanks for the heads up. It's been awhile since DH and I have traveled cross country and we've traveled through both of those towns, but were fortunate to not have been approached. DH is one tough guy and suspicious of anything like this. Glad it didn't turn out worse for you.

[Wildride64]

Thank you to the OP for sharing your story. The reason Kingman, AZ is so bad is because it is one of the highest meth use/production areas in the U.S., I lived there only long enough to realize we needed to move ASAP.

[dodge_guy]

There was a show on a similar scam on this years ago 20/20 or dateline. About a couple of guys that would wave down a MH and tell them there was smoke coming from under neath and they should follow them back to thier shop. So they set up a hidden camera under the MH and sure enough the 2 guys flagged them down. Hey pulled the rear diff (removable center section) and dumped some brake lathe shaving in the oil (you seen him pull he bag out and dump it. So they said they could have it exchanged for X amount of $$$. They were gone for an hour and came back with a nice new looking diff.........with the shows initials etched into a hidden area. They basically cleaned and painted the original diff. They were busted right there, cops and all.

So a good heads up OP.

[mich800]

I am surprised some of the infallible individuals with perfect 20/20 hindsight are posting here and not out making the billions they are surely earning due to their supreme intellect and experience. Sometimes I wonder why anyone bothers sharing their experiences on public forums to help others.

[down_home]

Ever since As an Adult and traveled we have seen these Crooks preying on Travelers.
First time I remember in the early seventies was a Service Station preying on a middle age woman traveling alone. She needed a new carburator, I think it was.
Nothing was wrong. She needed some windshield washer fluid or something.
Here on RV net I bet there have been a couple hundred different accounts, such as thee Needles California selling cheap ties at high prices telling people their own tires were going to explode etc in the eighties. Went by there in 95 just to see. They were still at it.
Should have kept a separate forum or log over the years, here. It would make a big book.

[BadgerMcAdams]

The OP didn't say if the person had him pull into a workbay with a pit or not? The service pit allows the mechanic to walk under the vehicle and access most things under the vehicle.

IF it was a pit setup, all the "Helpful Mechanic" had to do was have an old worn out shock (or other item he might try to scam you on) stored in the pit. Then, he goes down into the pit, acts like he is looking around, grabs the Bad Shock, and comes back up a couple of minutes later.

If it was not a pit setup...look at it this way, a NASCAR wheel man can change 2 tires in under 15 seconds. A guy on a creeper with an impact wrench (pneumatic or battery operated) can probably have one shock off in less than a minute. Especially if he has pulled this scam in the past. Then he can roll out from under the RV holding the good "Bad" shock, shaking his head sadly and stating how this shock has totally blown out the Framitizer and if this one is bad, the others can't be far behind.

Many people are not mechanically inclined, nor do they know what is involved in the removal/replacement of parts on their vehicles.

The OP may not have the experience of working on vehicles and therefore may not know what is involved with the equipment they have...It's called giving the OP the benefit of the doubt.

Just my 2 cents...

[BurbMan]

fotodog wrote:
I’m the OP. I knew when I posted this message there would be some negative replies. It happens on every forum. I decided it was worth it if it helped someone avoid a similar scam.

Not negative but advice going BOTH ways....thank you for sharing your experience as a warning to others, and also advice from others as to how YOU could have avoided being scammed in that situation. Consider these comments as pointers to other folks on how they could respond in a similar situation to avoid being scammed like you were.

Scammers have been fleecing tourists and passers-through since the beginning of time. Back when gas was a nickel a gallon, the attendant would pop the hood and pull the stick as soon as you shut the engine off and before the oil drained back to the pan. It would always show a quart low and so they would sell you a quart of oil. Then after you bought the quart, they would spill some putting it in and say "Better let me have a look at that leak."

[Bobbo]

Decades ago, my wife was driving to Chicago with some coworkers for a professional conference. I warned her about the possibility of someone coming up to her at a gas station and telling her that her fuel pump was failing and having a "cousin" with a shop who could fix it.

As they were leaving Chicago, she stopped for gas, and a guy came up and said he saw gas dripping from her engine, and she probably had a bad fuel pump. He said a buddy around the corner could fix it. She said "yeah, right."

She got back on the interstate, and about 15 minutes later, her car died. She had it towed to a dealer in the area. It was a bad fuel pump.