Scam Ads - Camper & Bus Oct 2015

I agree with the comments about the quality of the bus magazines. I took out a subscription for Camper & Bus and I am not impressed by the magazine, its smaller than similar motor mags, it has fewer pages and the proportion of advert pages is far too many.

I have the MG owners club magazine, simply excellent.

Good to see the scam ads are being shown up and shame on the magazines for not checking them out. We do have to be vigilant when buying anything advertised as so many people out there are fraudsters.

I have seen one or two Bays advertised on Ebay for much too low a price and some without photos and if you ask for pics or details you get either no response or vague replies. A genuine seller who actually owns the van would be happy to discuss the van.

Another thing, I would never buy with cash. That spells trouble in my mind. If the seller demands payment in cash, forget it.

Bays are very expensive and a reputable seller would not expect a buyer to turn up with a bag full of notes.

 

Like yourself I have the time on my hands to sit and read through the mag too, which like you I also get it via an xmas pressie. And like you Im sick of reading about cheque book rebuilds, 'we took it here for the bodywork' 'so and so did the engine' and it goes on. I want to read about buses that were rebuilt in a tent in the front garden during a -10 winter. Its ironic that the other bus mag seams to go to far the other way and has buses featured that are right bags of nails
Rant over, but its more about me been mardy right now trying to get on this hip job
Ian

 

Spot on Ian. speedy recovery with your hip.

 

Maybe I am on a different planet, but who pays in cash these days? even cheque books are a thing of the past. I don't have a cheque book.

The thread is about scammers and these scammers and fraudsters like cash. If you pay in cash there is no protection whatsoever. For me the risk is too great.

On TLB there is a thread about van theft. So what do the thieves do? They sell the vans for cash.

Its all about the risk of being ripped off. I pay in cash for small purchases sometimes, but never large amounts.

An elderly neighbour was badly ripped off by a gang pretending to be builders and they demanded £6000 in cash from the old dear for so called repairing her roof.

I recently saw an Ebay ad for a Bay where the seller said the van could be viewed on a road somewhere and not at the sellers home. Well that stinks to me.

We are living in Rip off Britain. So buyer beware.

 

I paid cash for my van.
It was there in front of me, I'd had a test drive and I had carefully looked it over in the flesh, twice.
That's different from dodgey builders scamming an oap.

 

James came on hear a few times asking what we wanted in the mag
Unfortunately he did not like our ideas of having more normal vans rather than big buget restorations that were no more than for sale adverts

 

Even amongst our wonderful TLB brethren, there appear to be buses that are wrongo-bongo. From the confortable view from our armchairs they appear to be ringers, for sure. What should we do, bearing in mind that any accusations may not just cause offence but could be libellous?

 

If you don’t use cash or cheques how do you pay for large/expensive purchases?

 

I do think the magazines have far too many pages of adverts. The latest Camper & Bus has only 51 or so pages of content and 40 or so pages of adverts.

I would like to see more technical content about running a van, maintenance, restoration, owners projects etc. plus reports with pics on the shows and meets etc. and how about a club feature or two about the club scene.

The Brighton Breeze is coming up shortly, so how about a good feature about the event and the owners, great vehicles and people at the event.

PS. I have just seen on Ebay a white van for sale and the seller said to view at a railway station! what is that about? Alarm bells are ringing.

 

Pay by bank transfer. BACS. If a dealer, pay by credit card.

I saw my van for sale at a local show. I expressed an interest after I had a good look at it. Later I called the seller and the owner invited me round their house for afternoon tea and the van was on their driveway. I saw all documentation and did various online checks and the van was indeed theirs to sell. The owner lived at the address on the registration document and the van was kept there. I spent 2 hours with the van on my own and took lots of pics. They made me tea.

I had 2 more visits to the van for thorough inspection inside, outside and underneath. I drove the van around town and out along the coast.

The van had been well restored and the owner had full pics and bills etc. for the work done.

The seller pointed out the main faults with the van, the ones fixed and the ones left to do.

We discussed the price over tea and the seller agreed to lower his price in view of the issues I raised.

We agreed a written bill of sale and shook hands.

The seller gave me his bank account details and I transferred a deposit to his account from my bank account.

I arranged insurance and tax for the van.

A few days later I called the seller and agreed to bank transfer the balance to his account and I picked up my van the next day and drove it home.

So, all above board and seller and buyer happy.

 

If you was buying my van I'd have told you to sod off.
Sounds like a right ballache, fair play to your seller.

 

Sorry ignore my above post. Was just being arsey.

 

Same as using cash.

 

...and there's no way I'd let a potential buyer drive my van. They can sit in the passenger seat and enjoy the ride.