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Also I think they don't tend to show up on drug tests. But as Luxury Handset said they're mostly used by the utterly broke.
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# ? Nov 19, 2020 18:19 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 18:38 |
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It's the new salvia now that it's illegal most (all?) places. Except now it's dumber and worse.
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# ? Nov 19, 2020 19:28 |
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I’m selling a router online and the only couple of bites I’ve had have both asked for a photo of the back of the router to ‘show the model and version number’. Without editing, that photo would also show the MAC address, serial number, SSID and default password. I’m not going to use it again but am I bring over-cautious in not giving them this photo? Chances are they’re just working out if they can install custom firmware but it feels a bit dodgy. Edit: n/m, sent a heavily cropped photo and they made an offer
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# ? Nov 20, 2020 21:23 |
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One Swell Foop posted:I’m selling a router online and the only couple of bites I’ve had have both asked for a photo of the back of the router to ‘show the model and version number’. Without editing, that photo would also show the MAC address, serial number, SSID and default password. I’m not going to use it again but am I bring over-cautious in not giving them this photo? Chances are they’re just working out if they can install custom firmware but it feels a bit dodgy. I know you got it sorted, but just in general your instinct is correct that you never want to give anybody serial number type stuff for any electronics you own. Particularly for phones, there's a lot of mischief you can get up to if you have someone's serial number, MEID, IMEI, ICCID (sim card#), etc.
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# ? Nov 20, 2020 21:29 |
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Above poster is correct in general but it’s almost certainly harmless on a router. Worst case scenario is they sit outside your house and steal your WiFi...if you plug the router back in and use the default SSID/passphrase.
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# ? Nov 24, 2020 20:26 |
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I got an email from the Amazon Prime Shipping Team letting me know the MacProBook I didn't order is being shipped to my address (that doesn't exist) and if I have any questions, I can call the AmazonPrimeTeam at a phone number that belongs to a New Jersey plumbing company. The weird thing was that there were no links in the email (that I could detect) and no attachments.
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# ? Nov 26, 2020 14:15 |
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Had to rent a car yesterday and every website I went to would list something like $215 for the week but when you check out for some reason it's $275. Every single one. How is that legal?
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 13:12 |
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I'm gonna guess its an extra fee, probably for booking or gas or something like that. Hotel rooms and flights will also have extra charges tacked on. It's probably in the fine print somewhere "standard rates and fees apply, etc." I'm assuming insurance was clearly listed? Some countries and states have laws forbidding hidden surcharges but not all. E: to phrase it clearly, laws that require fees and/or taxes to be in the advertised price. So there's content, several chain stores in my country got bad press last year for advertising "sales" on items for black friday. Turns out they just upped the price a couple months prior and then "discounted" the price back to normal for the sale. Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 13:34 on Dec 1, 2020 |
# ? Dec 1, 2020 13:29 |
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Fruits of the sea posted:So there's content, several chain stores in my country got bad press last year for advertising "sales" on items for black friday. Turns out they just upped the price a couple months prior and then "discounted" the price back to normal for the sale. I'm in Spain and, if national news are to be believed, the estimated number of items actually sold at a discount here on Black Friday is about 1 on 3. The rest are raised and then lowered during the sale. This used to be controlled for usual sales periods (winter, summer) but for some reason it has started happening again with the generalization of Black Friday sales.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 15:10 |
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Similarly, when I bought a car a few years back, the prices they listed online were much lower than the prices on the lot, maybe by 15%. I queried it and they waved it off as "special online-only prices" with lots of "not quite sure if we can offer it to you, I'll have to talk to my manager" etc. etc. Sure would like a way of buying a car where the price is just the price and I don't have to run the gauntlet of weak excuses, added charges, weird extended negotiations and excuses ...
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 15:14 |
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I had a useful bookmark that helps explain that process and how to get around it. Edmund's "confessions of a car salesman" is a great, informative read. Not sure if its still online, or the url changed during a site revamp.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 15:26 |
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nonathlon posted:Similarly, when I bought a car a few years back, the prices they listed online were much lower than the prices on the lot, maybe by 15%. I queried it and they waved it off as "special online-only prices" with lots of "not quite sure if we can offer it to you, I'll have to talk to my manager" etc. etc. Yeah, next time I buy a car I'm seriously considering getting a certified check for what I think is a fair price and just slapping it down on the table. I hate dealer gently caress-gently caress games enough--and find them stressful enough--that I'm willing to forgo the opportunity for a fantastic deal to not get messed with. But if you express this sentiment some places (like reddit) you get macho dudebros coming out of the woodwork to tell you how much they saved ~*playing the game~* which, uh, kinda highlights why said gently caress-gently caress games are still around.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 15:34 |
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nonathlon posted:
That's what Costco Auto purports to do. If a dealership tries to play dealership games while selling through the program, narc then out to Costco. Some goons have bought cars through the program. Stop in to the Costco thread in GBS and ask about it.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 16:04 |
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Also see CarMax and Carvana. They do a little of the fee thing, but it's not significant and you don't have to do any negotiation.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 16:11 |
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Yeah, I had a good experience with Carvana. Didn't have to deal with any sales people or anything. Just picked a car, paid a down payment, and had the car delivered to my house. A little more expensive than if I'd bought another way, but the convenience and not having to haggle was more than worth it.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 16:18 |
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Blue Footed Booby posted:Yeah, next time I buy a car I'm seriously considering getting a certified check for what I think is a fair price and just slapping it down on the table. I hate dealer gently caress-gently caress games enough--and find them stressful enough--that I'm willing to forgo the opportunity for a fantastic deal to not get messed with. I've done the cashier's check a few times and it doesn't save any dealer headaches. They make their money off financing so they don't care about cash customers and they will still force you through their sales pitches for said financing. Honestly it took less time to purchase a car with financing than with cash because of how many times I needed to tell them no to their finance guy.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 16:41 |
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The US Declaration of Independence posted:He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from their repositories of Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. There should be a portrait of King George III in every car dealership--he pioneered car sales tactics.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 17:01 |
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I actually had a car salesman pull the "whoops, that price is actually for the base model, the one you want is $xxxx more" while I was sitting down, about to sign paperwork. Super annoying and super scummy. There was also a finance guy who started going over the monthly payments, and luckily I pulled out a calculator because he was getting us to sign the list price, not the price we'd haggled down to. Seemed super annoyed when I told him. Makes me wonder how often they'd pulled that bait and switch.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 17:34 |
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Why in the hell did you actually buy a car from them after you caught them trying to scam you twice??
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 17:53 |
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I had a finance guy at a car dealer insist I had to make at least six payments on a car I originally intended to pay cash for in order to qualify for a $3k rebate, on top of the usual "spend a half hour hard selling an extended warranty and VIN etching" BS and trying to get me to take out a 72 month loan since it "kept the payments down". Unfortunately for the dealer, the paperwork I signed said absolutely nothing about how many payments I had to make, and once I confirmed that with the lender, I just paid off the car, so the entire amount of interest I paid was something like $9. I later found out that the dealer usually doesn't get their kickback from the lender until the customer makes a certain number of payments, so the dealer essentially gave me a $3,000 rebate for free by not knowing what was in their own paperwork.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 18:07 |
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I've anecdotally heard that one way to dodge the bullshit is by collaborating with the salesman against the lender - Give me the car for $xx then I'll make payments for 6 months, you get your lender kickback, and we both save time. I haven't bought a car in like 10 years and won't need to for another decade, inshallah.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 21:06 |
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My last car purchase was surreal because it was from a small used auto dealer and the owner was either the chillest car salesman on the planet or on zanax, maybe both. Asked to test drive a couple and he'd just give me the keys without asking to hold any kind of collateral or even copy my ID, finally narrowed down on one I wanted and asked about the price, he goes "yeah that's the full price, I've already added all the fees and stuff in. I'd also really rather not haggle if that's alright with you." Asked how I'd be paying and when I said cash he gives me a thumbs up. When I went back the next day to actually do the purchase I was in and out in under 30 minutes. I was so weirded out by the whole experience that I had a mild panic that I'd been sold a lemon and rushed it to my mechanic the next day for a once over, but he tells me nah it's in great condition. So uh, yeah, if you're ever in the Bay Area check out Green Light Auto I guess.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 21:33 |
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Sydin posted:My last car purchase was surreal because it was from a small used auto dealer and the owner was either the chillest car salesman on the planet or on zanax, maybe both. Asked to test drive a couple and he'd just give me the keys without asking to hold any kind of collateral or even copy my ID, finally narrowed down on one I wanted and asked about the price, he goes "yeah that's the full price, I've already added all the fees and stuff in. I'd also really rather not haggle if that's alright with you." Asked how I'd be paying and when I said cash he gives me a thumbs up. When I went back the next day to actually do the purchase I was in and out in under 30 minutes. I was so weirded out by the whole experience that I had a mild panic that I'd been sold a lemon and rushed it to my mechanic the next day for a once over, but he tells me nah it's in great condition. It's as if he figured out his job was less stressful by being direct and fair, rather than squeezing his customers for every last cent. Probably only possible at a small time place, since even 'No-Haggle' places try to bump their margin selling you extra junk. Greedy pigs.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 21:53 |
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Definitely the approach the salesperson where I got my last car used, I was super pleased with his "yep, you told me what you're looking for, here's the car, here's what I'll sell it for, let me know." Minor haggle with the trade in but basically a bullshit free experience. A++++ would casually buy again.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 22:02 |
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Sydin posted:My last car purchase was surreal because it was from a small used auto dealer and the owner was either the chillest car salesman on the planet or on zanax, maybe both. Asked to test drive a couple and he'd just give me the keys without asking to hold any kind of collateral or even copy my ID, finally narrowed down on one I wanted and asked about the price, he goes "yeah that's the full price, I've already added all the fees and stuff in. I'd also really rather not haggle if that's alright with you." Asked how I'd be paying and when I said cash he gives me a thumbs up. When I went back the next day to actually do the purchase I was in and out in under 30 minutes. I was so weirded out by the whole experience that I had a mild panic that I'd been sold a lemon and rushed it to my mechanic the next day for a once over, but he tells me nah it's in great condition. This has been my experience as well. Tiny used dealer, cash only, just wants to move cars. I also wonder if wealthy areas have a surplus of perfectly good used cars. It also sounds like you weren't a time-waster which I've heard goes a long way.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 22:03 |
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When I worked in sales I would actively give people who looked like they work for a living the best deals I could short of getting myself in trouble, then make up my metrics by being as predatory as possible with rich people. Also some days you just don't feel like going hard at all, do the bare minimum with every customer, and just make it up later in the month.
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# ? Dec 1, 2020 22:09 |
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Eric the Mauve posted:Why in the hell did you actually buy a car from them after you caught them trying to scam you twice?? lol definitely not the same place. Two different dealers separated by several states and several years. First time I was too young to know any better, second time it wasn't my car or money, so it wasn't really my decision. Pekinduck posted:This has been my experience as well. Tiny used dealer, cash only, just wants to move cars. I also wonder if wealthy areas have a surplus of perfectly good used cars. Best experience I had was likewise a small used car place. Guy was really into cars and basically started the business to finance his hobby, so everything was super chill and low pressure. He was also really fun to talk to since he knew his stuff. Worst experiences hands down are buying used cars at huge dealerships. I know your margins aren't great, but no, I'm not financing a $6k Nissan from 2005. Please just take my cash and let me leave. hyperhazard fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Dec 2, 2020 |
# ? Dec 2, 2020 01:24 |
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James Randi died not too long ago and the world is a lesser place for it. I love this man an wish there were more people like him. He dedicated most of his life to exposing common scams, the rubes that fall for them and the charlatans that perpetrate them for personal gain Started crawling down a youtube rabbit hole watching his stuff and this one is just loving great. The whole episode is fun but this time stamp is absolutely precious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djKBUDg-v-M&t=1582s You can see the lady knowing completely that she's totally full of poo poo and can tell that she just rolled the dice on there either being someone behind every door or none at all. Her facial expressions are priceless. Time stamp is at 26:00 in case I hosed up the link. Also, god help those kids since she was a teacher.
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# ? Dec 3, 2020 21:06 |
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We just bought a new car. Found the lowest price on Cargurus.com. Called the dealer, had them send us the price in writing. Drove over and paid for it. All in all, a pretty pleasant interaction. We also called a couple other dealers to see if they could price match and they couldn't. All in all, the price out the door was something like 6k under MSRP. bamhand fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Dec 3, 2020 |
# ? Dec 3, 2020 22:44 |
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BiggerBoat posted:You can see the lady knowing completely that she's totally full of poo poo and can tell that she just rolled the dice on there either being someone behind every door or none at all. Her facial expressions are priceless. Time stamp is at 26:00 in case I hosed up the link. Teacher's salaries what they are, can't blame someone for rolling the dice for a hundred thousand clams.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 04:40 |
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bamhand posted:We just bought a new car. Found the lowest price on Cargurus.com. Called the dealer, had them send us the price in writing. Drove over and paid for it. All in all, a pretty pleasant interaction. Years ago my son bought a new Scion TC and had a pretty similar experience. Found the car he wanted online, got the price quote, went to the dealer, and that's what he paid.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 14:28 |
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The Scion brand was no haggle.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 14:37 |
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Last vehicle I bought I got from a dealership 6 hours away and had it shipped for $400 and it was great not having to deal with in person haggling and the finance guy trying to sell you every little stupid rear end add on. Next time I'll probably tell whoever I'm buying from that I'm 6 hours away even if I'm not and then I'll just show up to pick up the car. Last car my wife bought we used Costco but it was because it was kind of a rare car and the dealer didn't really want to haggle on it much. You're not ever going to get hosed over using Costco but if it's a common car and you don't mind haggling you can frequently do better not using them. Whether it's worth the extra hassle depends on how much you value your time and what you're buying though, i.e. if I'm buying a 60,000 dollar truck 3% under invoice is worth a little more effort than 3% under invoice on a 17,000 dollar Hyundai.
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# ? Dec 7, 2020 16:08 |
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Had to laugh at a piece of junk in my spam filter with the subject linequote:"Windex trick" for sharper eyesight (try it now) Yeah, I think I'll pass on that one.
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# ? Dec 9, 2020 22:13 |
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Hey, maybe it's to use windex to clean your glasses. You could be saving dollars a year on expensive glasses cleaning solutions! Dollars!
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# ? Dec 9, 2020 22:26 |
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I just got an email from “American Express” instructing me to submit some info. Obviously did not click the link, but hovering over it I could see that it went to a google docs form. That is like the cardboard lemonade stand of phishing attempts.
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# ? Dec 9, 2020 22:30 |
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EL BROMANCE posted:Had to laugh at a piece of junk in my spam filter with the subject line I'm genuinely disappointed that you didn't look at the message in webmail to see what they were sending.
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# ? Dec 10, 2020 02:11 |
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EL BROMANCE posted:Had to laugh at a piece of junk in my spam filter with the subject line https://to-email.com/find-email/f2972ac3902fe043f1d680d42397fe4c quote:At an age where most adults struggle to see clearly, Richard Herring is enjoying a healthy vision without glasses or contacts.
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# ? Dec 10, 2020 18:38 |
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Yeah I had to read the message after that subject line, it was a disappointment it has to be said. The mental image was far better.
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# ? Dec 10, 2020 18:47 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 18:38 |
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I had an actual doctor put vitamins in my eyes. Then make me stare into a UV lamp. (it worked)
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# ? Dec 10, 2020 23:58 |