This is depressing.
One of the more popular holiday purchases here are gift cards. Unfortunately, we are finding ourselves on the losing end of an organized scam. Here’s how it works;
Evil guy has credit card numbers that are stolen and uses these cards to purchase gift cards from honest companies–of which we are one. These cards are then immediately put on sale on eBay and other auction sites.
Woodworkers buy discounted cards and make what appear to be legitimate purchases from us.
People are just now receiving their credit card statements reflecting (in many cases) their last minute holiday purchases. When the legitimate owner of the stolen credit card receives their bill they deservedly get upset, both at the charge and at us–nice.
The charge is easily reversed as it is fraudulent and we are stuck with the financial and reputation damages, and right now I don’t know which is worse.
We are working on it but we are asking for your help by resisting the temptation to purchase discounted Bridge City gift cards on auction sites, particularly eBay. Actually, and I don’t have the right to speak for others, but we have data that suggests the vast majority of gift cards on auction sites are either employee theft or organized frauds and we think this is something you should know.
We will modify our site and continue to sell gift cards but will do so via phone orders only.
Thanks for listening.
–John
Well, Well.. I seen BCTW gift card on eBay just last week and even before then. The value on the card last week was $275. I thought it was a good deal, but like anything on eBay if it seems to good to be true then it most likely is. I don’t think there is such a thing as a good deal on eBay any more these days.
Quick Story, this past summer I purchased a $1500 Hilti Combo Set for $300. After I got the items I called Hilti to check the warranty and all that good stuff. So, during our talk the Hilti rep said the tools had belonged to the University of Michigan and normally schools don’t put their stuff on eBay. The rep asked if I would like them to call the original owner and I said yes. Sure enough, the item was stolen. A employee who was in charge of purchasing for the University of Michigan was buying these combo kits, selling them to a local pawn shop for $100 (I seen the receipt, it makes you sick) and then the pawn shop put it on eBay. After investigation, the person working for U of M had stolen over $50,000 in tools over a 2 year period (they are going to audit him for the past 5). I think the guy was married and had kids but he is awaiting his sentence. This was a pretty serious situation for me. I thought I got a really good deal on some Hilti BRAND NEW tools but because of my simple phone call, I shut this man down. Luckily I didn’t have to go to court. The U of M police drove down to my home town to pick the tool up, show me some of the paperwork like the pawn shop receipt and to get a statement, end of story.
I truly feel bad for you John and thanks for making us aware of the situation.. Unlike your story, I got my money back but I don’t think you will??
We have to do damage control–we won’t see a penny–we do know there are a lot of unused gift cards in the stream and we are working with eBay fraud control.
What frustrates me is I don’t think this way and it is hard to imagine that there are people like this. But more important, I think our customers want to know that these people exist and there are, more often than not, real consequences for “deals”.
Thanks for sharing your story.
–John
I was wondering about those gift cards on ebay. The first one was posted with, “It’s too expensive to ship to Latvia.” Okay. But then another one. And another one. I’m pretty sure the auctions were all won by the same person (you can look at the comments on the seller’s (timonoseks or something) rankings). It’s hard to believe it wasn’t a scam. I think that the purchaser is a regular BCTW customer, so it’s a bummer that they lost out. But I’m glad to have that cleared up. I certainly won’t be bidding on gift cards any more!
– Peter
I did not bid on them but I did look at them. I thought it was funny to see the words in big bold letters (if I recall correctly) “FREE SHIPPING”. I thought to myself “you idiot, you don’t need to ship them”.
I too noticed these on e-bay. I was suspicious about them. I will say that I do a lot of e-bay purchasing and only rarely have I had any sort of problem. Most sellers (especially BCT) are very honest people. I would say that more than half are tools going on after a BCT tool lover has passed on. I have also purchased some tool lots that I wondered about for huge discount. I bought a large number of dial calipers (about a dozen of name brand units – all used, but in good condition). The price was less than one would be new. I have wondered ever since if they were “hot”. I think I will stick with BCT…
Dennis
By the way John – thank you very much for posting this. Great “heads up”.
DJ
Bummer John,
I’ve had pretty good luck on eBay except for electronic items. I’ve managed to score a CT-14 and VP-60 as well as some smaller items. I would echo dpj’s remarks about a lot of the items being the result of settling an estate or thinning a collection because of a reduction in income–been there, done that! Nevertheless, thanks for the head’s up.
John,I know it sucks but it was a good catch by you. As a suggestion I would say to all of us here that should we see anyone on any of the forums speaking badly about Bridge City because of this scam that we step in and set them straight.Best of luck John. Fred