The story about the ‘can you pull my car out of the parking spot’ scam brought back an old memory. Years ago, I worked for a Pay TV company. Back then, we’d install an antenna on the roof and hook up a decoder box to the TV. I worked in credit and collections, and one day, a customer called saying they needed their box picked up immediately because they were moving to Europe the next day.
When I got to their house, it was obvious they weren’t moving. I always made customers turn on their TV before I touched anything. This time, they turned it on, and there was sound but no picture. I didn’t say a word for a while, then asked if it usually took that long. The customer started accusing me, but I told them I hadn’t done anything. I wrote on the slip, ‘Customer acknowledges no picture,’ had them sign it, unhooked the box, and left.
Here’s how long ago this was—on my way back, the news about Reagan being shot in Washington came on the radio.
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I remember TVs that needed to ‘warm up’ before the picture came on. I do AV work, and I always check the system first before touching anything. Same thing when I used to do PC repairs—it’s a habit to avoid any confusion about what was working before I started.
Sounds like they were trying to pin their broken TV on you. My other guess is they had one of those illegal cable boxes people used back then to get free service. They might’ve been trying to switch things up without getting caught.
Rowen said:
What’s the ‘pull my car out of the parking spot’ scam? Do they blame you for damage?
Exactly. They find a slim person and say they can’t get into their car because someone parked too close. They ask the slim person to back the car out for them. Once it’s done, they claim the car got damaged and demand money.