Website scams?

[Spectrum]

My 2005 ride on mower finally gave up the ghost on Wednesday, the deck has been rusting for a while so have been doing a bit of welding, so Jan/Feb time started looking for a new mower, found one at very good price all looked good on the website so saved page, yesterday tried to open page but it was not there, after a lot of searching I was directed to website scam page "Signal Arnaques" the company was on there as a scam, not the first time this person/persons had done so, so had to look again, last night found one again seems ok, until I asked them for some company details, had checked them on as many company registers as I could find, they wasn't listed on any of them, so onto Google Earth, had address and code, went down to street view and had a wander about, fortunately it was a small newish industrial estate, I could identify every building that was there, not one of them sold mowers, so told them I had changed my mind and now Iam going to start looking again, so be careful out there if you deal with a company you have not used before.

[L Austin France]

I've never understood why folk would buy something as expensive & mechanically vulnerable as a ride on lawn mower from an unknown distant source.
Yeah, I get the fact that money might be tight & things might look a bargain but even though the seller checks out there could & probably will be problems involved.
These things are not fool proof & will almost certainly require some sort of after sales service which a mail order company selling 'bargains' at some distance from the buyer is hardly likely to be interested in fulfilling.
It's not like one can easily send these things back for warranty claims so my advice would always be to bite the bullet & buy locally from a known reputable company which will probably be amenable to negotiating over price with a local rather than lose a sale. They'll be happy & you'll sleep easy.
My recent purchase of a large axial broyeur was made locally with a price over €1k less than any online deals which I know is unusual but proof that local deals do exist.

[Lori]

Have to agree with LAF. We bought our mower, strimmer and all garden equipment locally. Went in the local shop discussed what we wanted with the manager and paid in store. He delivered the items a few days later (one item had to be ordered). They also service all the equipment they sell.

Same thing with the household appliances. High ticket items get purchased locally.

[Spectrum]

I've never understood why folk would buy something as expensive & mechanically vulnerable as a ride on lawn mower from an unknown distant source.
Yeah, I get the fact that money might be tight & things might look a bargain but even though the seller checks out there could & probably will be problems involved.
These things are not fool proof & will almost certainly require some sort of after sales service which a mail order company selling 'bargains' at some distance from the buyer is hardly likely to be interested in fulfilling.
It's not like one can easily send these things back for warranty claims so my advice would always be to bite the bullet & buy locally from a known reputable company which will probably be amenable to negotiating over price with a local rather than lose a sale. They'll be happy & you'll sleep easy.
My recent purchase of a large axial broyeur was made locally with a price over €1k less than any online deals which I know is unusual but proof that local deals do exist.

I agree with what you say but I can get it at 4000€ online, if to buy elsewhere, it could have cost my up to 8000€ the maths are simple to work out, as for the warranty then as it will be a Husqvarna there will be dealers but none local. Also just crossed with Lori's post if you are not sure what brand you want that's fine, but its a certain model of mower I want, also it depends what you call local. Will see what happens over the next day or so, still got some feelers out.

[L Austin France]

I agree with what you say but I can get it at 4000€ online, if to buy elsewhere, it could have cost my up to 8000€ the maths are simple to work out,

Good luck with that then. That's a huge reduction & I'd be asking myself why anyone would offer that if the product could easily be sold at a higher price.
I'll usually negotiate a discount of a minimum of 15% off ticketed price for anything I buy from the local Agri stores over a couple of hundred euros & rarely get refused when I ask to speak to 'the chef'.
This weekend our local Bricopro ( ex Espace Emeraude) has a 15% off anything in store, except fuel type stuff, for carte de fidelite holders & indeed regularly holds these promos which shows the mark up on products & discounts available if you ask the right person. The average salesperson usually won't have the authority to give discounts & will inevitably try to fob off most French persons who don't seem to have the haggling mentality but persistance usually pays.

[Spectrum]

The RRP of the mower 5199€ so at 4000€ a nice saving but other places like an even bigger profit. Web check sites
ScamDoc.com
Scamdosiser.com
WOT "Browser extension"
Franceverif.fr
Decodex.com.

[L Austin France]

The RRP of the mower 5199€ so at 4000€ a nice saving but other places like an even bigger profit

Well that's a lot different than your original €4,000/8,000 & maybe OK but I'd still be looking to find a 'proper' shop where I could see the actual product, probably negotiate a decent discount & sleep well. If this mower lasts as long as your last'un the extra cost per year over online purchasing will be minimal.
Matter of interest, what mower is it?

[A.N.Other]

so onto Google Earth, had address and code, went down to street view and had a wander about, fortunately it was a small newish industrial estate, I could identify every building that was there, not one of them sold mowers

Google Earth/Maps can be several years out of date!

[Spectrum]

so onto Google Earth, had address and code, went down to street view and had a wander about, fortunately it was a small newish industrial estate, I could identify every building that was there, not one of them sold mowers

Google Earth/Maps can be several years out of date!

Yes thats very true in our case for our house its five years out of date, it wasnt just google I looked for a Siret number, registration number, I asked for a pro-forma invoice, or a letter head there was nothing.

[L Austin France]

So which mower is it ?