Tell me about common cons/scams: "Thanks, you suck. Hello, this is Linda."

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about common cons/scams: "Thanks, you suck. Hello, this is Linda."

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EdsTeioh: Oct 23, 2004; PRAY FOR DEATH

StormDrain posted:

Also apparently it's mandatory at Panda Express, for management I assume.

WAIT WHAT

# ? Sep 20, 2022 14:25

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# ? May 8, 2024 23:50

Volmarias: Dec 31, 2002; EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...

Zereth posted:

four dollars to get gluten-free toast instead of gluten toast?

Yes I know there'sa lot of other things to be baffled about here but. FOUR DOLLARS?

Honestly feels in line with the rest of their pricing. I'm a little impressed at how much their menu is GF, the usual route is to yeet in the wheat.

# ? Sep 20, 2022 15:49

Domus: May 7, 2007; Kidney Buddies

I want to order a Self-Righteous sandwich and a Holier-than-thou bowl of soup please.

# ? Sep 20, 2022 18:30

Sydin: Oct 29, 2011; Another spring commute

The company pays for it at least but yeah, they try to rope all their employees into going to Landmark seminars and acquiescing is all but required if you so much as want to sniff a manager job there.

# ? Sep 20, 2022 18:36

StormDrain: May 22, 2003; Thirteen Letter

Also Lululemon.

# ? Sep 20, 2022 19:03

Kenning: Jan 11, 2009; I really want to post goatse. Instead I only have these🍄.

EdsTeioh posted:

WAIT WHAT

Panda Express doesn't do Landmark, it does something called Alive Semiars. It uh, caused a bit of a ruckus recently.

https://www.dailynews.com/2021/03/08/panda-express-workers-forced-to-strip-in-cult-like-team-building-seminar-lawsuit-alleges/ posted:

Panda Express workers forced to strip in �cult-like� team-building seminar, lawsuit alleges
_{Woman who worked at Santa Clarita restaurant contends she was subjected to 'horrific psychological abuse' at 2019 sessions}

A former employee of a Panda Express in Santa Clarita alleges she was required to strip down to her underwear and hug a partially clad co-worker during a �cult-like ritual� at a 2019 training seminar sponsored by the company as a prerequisite to promotion.

The 23-year-old woman is suing Panda Restaurant Group, headquartered in Rosemead, and Alive Seminars and Coaching Academy in Pico Rivera for sexual battery, a hostile work environment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

She is seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit filed last month in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Although the woman is named in court documents, the Southern California News Group does not identify suspected victims of sexual assault.

�Horrific psychological abuse�

�We are looking forward to presenting this case to a jury so that a clear message can be sent to Panda Express � which owns and operates over 2,000 restaurants � that it must put to an end to its practice of requiring its employees to undergo horrific psychological abuse and harassment to be promoted,� Oscar Ramirez, the woman�s attorney, said in an email Monday.

Officials with Panda Restaurant Group said the company takes the woman�s allegations seriously and has conducted an investigation.

�Alive Seminars and Coaching Academy is a third-party organization in which Panda has no ownership interest and over which it exercises no control,� says a statement from the company. �While we always encourage personal growth and development, Panda Restaurant Group has not and does not mandate that any associate participate in Alive Seminars and Coaching Academy nor is it a requirement to earn promotions.

�We are committed to providing a safe environment for all associates and stand behind our core values to treat each person with respect,� the company said. �We do not condone the kind of behavior (the plaintiff) has alleged took place at Alive Seminars and Coaching Academy, and we would not intentionally allow it to occur within or on behalf of our organization.�

In an emailed statement, Alive Seminars said its training sessions are presented with respect and dignity.

The victim says she began working for Panda Express in 2016 and was told in July 2019 by then store manager Matthiu Simuda she needed to complete a self-improvement seminar conducted by Alive Seminars.

�Eager to improve her skills and advance within the company, plaintiff signed up and paid out of pocket to attend a four-day program,� the lawsuit says. �Panda Express pushed its employees in the Los Angeles region to complete Alive Seminars training. In many cases, it was a prerequisite to promotion.�

The seminar was held in a warehouse in East Los Angeles and attended by 20 to 50 Panda Express employees from throughout Southern California, Ramirez said. Those who attended the seminar were required to provide their employee identification numbers and received intake materials with the Panda logo.

�Alive Seminars served � in essence � as an extension of Panda Express� own Human Resources department,� says the lawsuit.

Participants isolated, treated as �terrorists�

The complaint alleges the seminar was bizarre and quickly devolved into psychological abuse.

At the start, attendees were told to sit down and not talk, and were left in isolation for a full hour before a man stormed in, yelling in Spanish and berating them for sitting there and doing nothing, when that is exactly what they had been instructed to do, says the complaint.

The man, an Alive Seminars employee, loudly proclaimed that the attendees were �nothing� and �don�t matter,� and berated them individually, the suit says. �The overall effect was that of a particularly nasty drill sergeant.�

Seminar participants were prohibited from using their cellphones, there was no clock in the room and the doors and windows were all covered with black cloth.

�The atmosphere resembled less a self-improvement seminar than a site for off the-books interrogation of terrorist suspects,� the complaint alleges. �The sensory isolation and intimidation was reinforced by constant yelling and verbal abuse by seminar staff, creating an atmosphere of fear in the room. Nevertheless, most attendees, including plaintiff, felt that they had no choice but to remain because they were sent to the seminar by Panda Express and told that their opportunity for promotion would depend on completion of the seminar.�

Participants required to strip

When the seminar continued on July 13, 2019, the woman allegedly was forced to strip down to her underwear under the guise of trust building.

�Plaintiff � stripped almost naked in front of strangers and co-workers � was extremely uncomfortable but pressed on because she knew it was her only chance at a promotion,� says the lawsuit. �Meanwhile, Alive Seminars staff were openly ogling the women in their state of undress, smiling, and laughing.�

The exercise culminated when the victims and other participants had to stand up to yell about their inner struggles until everyone else in the group believed them.

�The last male participant had some difficulty �convincing� the others and, as a result, broke down in tears,� the suit says. �Plaintiff was told to stand up and go to the middle of the room with the male participant, where they were forced to �hug it out,� wearing nothing but their underwear. Plaintiff was humiliated but did as she was told.�

Seminar resembled cult ritual

As time went on, the seminar more and more resembled a cult ritual, the complaint alleges.

�Alive Seminars staff proceeded to dim the lights,� says the suit. �Plaintiff and the other attendees were instructed to stand up and close their eyes, pretending that a light from above would come down and take all the �negative energy� out of them, then pretend that a hole opened up in the ground and swallowed the �negative energy.� While this was happening, one of the Alive Seminars staff had a cell phone with the light on, recording plaintiff in her state of undress.�

Attendees, the lawsuit alleges, were confined in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.

�If plaintiff wanted to use the restroom, someone from the Alive Seminars staff would stand outside the restroom door,� says the suit. �When another participant ran into the restroom to throw up, Alive Seminars staff ran after her. Another male participant was only given a small trash can to throw up in and was forced to do it in front of all the other attendees.�

During the July 13 session, the victim made an excuse of a family emergency and left the seminar.

The victim went to the seminar hopeful and optimistic about her future with Panda Express but left three days later �scarred and downtrodden.� Soon after, she quit her job because of emotional distress.

The suit alleges Panda Express �did not care about plaintiff�s experience at Alive Seminars or that she had been humiliated in front of her co-workers. Her chances of promotion were destroyed. plaintiff�s working conditions had become intolerable and Panda Express had no interest in addressing the situation.�

# ? Sep 20, 2022 23:39

Sydin: Oct 29, 2011; Another spring commute

lol I looked the case up and it got thrown out because surprise surprise, one of the things she had to sign when hired was a binding arbitration agreement. I'm sure the Panda Express arbiters gave her a fair and unbiased shake over these claims. :downs:

# ? Sep 21, 2022 00:20

Professor Shark: May 22, 2012

What the fuckkkkkkk ?

# ? Sep 21, 2022 00:26

Kenning: Jan 11, 2009; I really want to post goatse. Instead I only have these🍄.

Sydin posted:

lol I looked the case up and it got thrown out because surprise surprise, one of the things she had to sign when hired was a binding arbitration agreement. I'm sure the Panda Express arbiters gave her a fair and unbiased shake over these claims.

Jfc

# ? Sep 21, 2022 01:28

StormDrain: May 22, 2003; Thirteen Letter

Kenning posted:

Panda Express doesn't do Landmark, it does something called Alive Semiars. It uh, caused a bit of a ruckus recently.

Oh man I forgot about that one.

When I was googling earlier I did come across recent, like last year, reddit posts about being asked to do the Landmark Forum, so it could be both or in addition to or just by that one store or region.

In the ~~Timeshare presentation~~ Landmark intro pitch they listed a lot of well known companies that use it or used it or once called them back or whatever, but Panda and Lululemon were both highly emphasized as sending everyone through as part of their development.

# ? Sep 21, 2022 03:45

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Kenning posted:

Panda Express doesn't do Landmark, it does something called Alive Semiars. It uh, caused a bit of a ruckus recently.

holy poo poo. My neighbor is an assman at a nearby PA. I'll have to warn him about this.

# ? Sep 21, 2022 03:47

Eric the Mauve: May 8, 2012; Making you happy for a buck since 199X

It's too late.

# ? Sep 21, 2022 03:48

lostleaf: Jul 12, 2009

I fell for this scam about 2 month ago. You're welcome to laugh at me. I was googling and found a Ryobi air pump for about less than half price. My thought process was "Hey they accept Paypal, I can just dispute whenever I like. Even if it's a scam, I won't lose any money". I order using paypal as payment method.

A few days later I notice however that the amount charged was now double. I immediately go to paypal to dispute for the original price. Paypal takes about a week and rules in my favor and changed the amount charged to the original agreed amount. Two weeks later however nothing is being shipped and emails just disappear into a black hole. I try to dispute with Paypal and I can't reopen the dispute because I already disputed the first time!

It took 3 different representative after calling but they were finally able to credit me back all of the amount. It took some doing but after showing them that I have been a customer since 1999 and this is the first time I have ever filed a dispute. So don't be a dummy like me and fall for this scam.

# ? Sep 21, 2022 19:27

CommonShore: Jun 6, 2014; A true renaissance man

I've been getting some new suspicious text message lately - like once per month, maybe. It's always something like "Hey coach Dave do you think my son can start coming to the afternoon class?" from a non-local area code. The first time I responded "Sorry wrong number; check your area code" and then the person started texting me about how being a single mother is hard blah blah blah. It has happened a few times now since summer.

I've just taken to ignoring them now, but is this some kind of "check to see if the number is active for future scams" scam? Or maybe more of a variation on the nigerian prince?

# ? Sep 21, 2022 19:35

Absurd Alhazred: Mar 27, 2010; by Athanatos

I've been getting texts with no content other than embedded media that I refuse to download. I'm assuming a legitimate text would actually have something in it that says what the media is about, or would come from a number I recognize, or something.

# ? Sep 21, 2022 19:52

ponzicar: Mar 17, 2008

CommonShore posted:

I've been getting some new suspicious text message lately - like once per month, maybe. It's always something like "Hey coach Dave do you think my son can start coming to the afternoon class?" from a non-local area code. The first time I responded "Sorry wrong number; check your area code" and then the person started texting me about how being a single mother is hard blah blah blah. It has happened a few times now since summer.

I've just taken to ignoring them now, but is this some kind of "check to see if the number is active for future scams" scam? Or maybe more of a variation on the nigerian prince?

I am pretty sure they're using a wrong number bit to fish for horny/lonely people to scam.

# ? Sep 21, 2022 19:52

Volmarias: Dec 31, 2002; EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...

ponzicar posted:

I am pretty sure they're using a wrong number bit to fish for horny/lonely people to scam.

Seems more like they're praying on your good nature to try to help fix a mistake, and once you respond they can hit you with a sob story knowing you're more likely to care. They aren't looking for lonely people, just overly good hearted and naive ones.

# ? Sep 21, 2022 20:08

Eric the Mauve: May 8, 2012; Making you happy for a buck since 199X

It's both though, it's that and also confirming a live number for their spam lists.

# ? Sep 21, 2022 20:12

Volmarias: Dec 31, 2002; EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...

Eric the Mauve posted:

It's both though, it's that and also confirming a live number for their spam lists.

Well yes but that's the same as the rest of these scams. This is just similar to an advance fee fraud that preys on good intentions instead of greed.

# ? Sep 21, 2022 20:16

bamhand: Apr 15, 2010

I got a text "Oprah knows how to burn belly fat". No link or anything. Doesn't seem very effective. Unless it's just marketing for Oprah.

# ? Sep 21, 2022 20:29

Volmarias: Dec 31, 2002; EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...

bamhand posted:

I got a text "Oprah knows how to burn belly fat". No link or anything. Doesn't seem very effective. Unless it's just marketing for Oprah.

Someone is trapped in her harvesting dungeon

# ? Sep 21, 2022 20:31

dino.: Mar 28, 2010; Yip Yip, bitch.

Volmarias posted:

Honestly feels in line with the rest of their pricing. I'm a little impressed at how much their menu is GF, the usual route is to yeet in the wheat.

Worked at a restaurant where one of the waiters was talking about how cool that place was *because* of that dumb poo poo. I was like, �you�re in New York, dude. People would flip you the bird and tell you that they�re grateful for you to shut the gently caress up, and take their loving order.� Didn�t realise they were part of that culty poo poo, but it tracks.

# ? Sep 21, 2022 21:58

BiggerBoat: Sep 26, 2007; Don't you tell me my business again.

CommonShore posted:

I've been getting some new suspicious text message lately - like once per month, maybe. It's always something like "Hey coach Dave do you think my son can start coming to the afternoon class?" from a non-local area code. The first time I responded "Sorry wrong number; check your area code" and then the person started texting me about how being a single mother is hard blah blah blah. It has happened a few times now since summer.

I've just taken to ignoring them now, but is this some kind of "check to see if the number is active for future scams" scam? Or maybe more of a variation on the nigerian prince?

I've been getting weird ones like this too with ambiguous content like "we never received the documents" or something similar to along those lines.

# ? Sep 22, 2022 00:08

Easychair Bootson: May 7, 2004; _{Where's the last guy?

Ultimo hombre.

Last man standing.

Must've been one.}

This was a new one to me: I needed a specific motor oil and couldn't find it locally, so I ordered via Amazon, which was actually through a third party that I didn't even look at before ordering: RAM WHOLESALE.

It wasn't set to be delivered for a little over a week but the next day a woman pulled into the driveway with Walmart bags. Said it was my Amazon order, took a pic presumably to confirm delivery, and took off. It was the correct brand of motor oil, but it wasn't close to being the right stuff. Amazon didn't even list it as shipped so I contacted customer service. After the second contact CS agreed to process it as delivered and request a refund. When I finally got the label from the seller, the label itself wasn't legit but instead said to contact the seller for return instructions. After going back to Amazon a third (or fourth?) time and probably spending an hour all told getting this resolved, I got my refund and I've still got the incorrect order of oil, which sells for ~$50.

Looking at this seller's Amazon page it's clear their scam is to send the wrong item and make it hard to get a refund. Are they banking on most people saying, "meh, close enough"? I guess Amazon has gotten pretty lax with their sellers but as a buyer if I feel like I'm being purposefully scammed I'm going to be persistent in getting that money back out of principle.

# ? Sep 22, 2022 13:12

ranbo das: Oct 16, 2013

Here's a good article on those random texts and how they operate.

https://maxread.substack.com/p/whats-the-deal-with-all-those-weird

# ? Sep 22, 2022 13:25

Fezziwig: Jun 7, 2011

I had what felt maybe less like a scam and more like trying to take advantage of consumer ignorance to sell shoddy merchandise.

My wife and I ordered a double-computer desk for our office so when we both had our own work-from-home space. It had good reviews and a free return listed.

When we received the product, it was slightly damaged and also much lower quality than expected. We initiated the return process, it was approved, but the seller only provided a shipping label that required postage.

This was a heavy box, and the cheapest option I found to ship was $140. The seller was only offering a $50 credit to ship it back, or to replace the broken parts. They claimed they could not offer a pre-paid shipping label due to "new rules implemented by Amazon."

Turns out Amazon has an "A to Z" guarantee where they will refund the total cost of the product without requiring a return if the seller listed the item as a free return but do not provide a pre-paid shipping label.

The frustrating part was going back and forth and having to dig through the Amazon site to discover this guarantee, but once it was found the chat bot handled everything automatically. Just wild how easy garbage merch in Amazon can get listed with great reviews.

# ? Sep 22, 2022 18:03

Eric the Mauve: May 8, 2012; Making you happy for a buck since 199X

The whole review system is so easily gamed now that reviews don't really mean anything. Plus these quasi-scamming companies just nuke themselves and start over with a new name/account as soon as negative reviews catch up to them.

In theory Amazon's total lack of any fucks to give about this stuff could be an impetus for a return of the brick-and-mortar retail industry, unfortunately in practice the big retail companies are just as quasi-scammy in their own way.

Eric the Mauve fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Sep 22, 2022

# ? Sep 22, 2022 18:05

Canine Blues Arooo: Jan 7, 2008; when you think about it...i'm the first girl you ever spent the night with; Grimey Drawer

e: ignore this

# ? Sep 22, 2022 18:08

Professor Shark: May 22, 2012

I went for being proud that I spent stupid amounts of time reading as d writing helpful reviews and now I just look at pictures and roll the dice

I�m way better at demanding refunds now though. Mods please change my name to a Professor Karen

# ? Sep 22, 2022 22:45

Remulak: Jun 8, 2001; I can't count to four.; Yams Fan

My WIFE wrote a lot of reviews for Amazon but for some reason got banned and can't get unbanned, despite every person she talks to there promising to unban her.

# ? Sep 22, 2022 23:03

Volmarias: Dec 31, 2002; EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...

Just as a reminder, Consumer Reports still exists and is still good. They necessarily can't review every category, but you at least have trustworthy reviews on things they do.

# ? Sep 22, 2022 23:48

doctorfrog: Mar 14, 2007; Great.

Amazon turned into eBay years ago, lots of dropship middleman stores, garbage copycat products, and a straight up marketplace for scams. ReviewMeta.com arose as an algorithmic filter for fraudulent reviews, but it has that abandonware feel about it now, so take its results with a grain of salt.

I don't buy anything on Amazon that isn't at least coming from their warehouse and has the easiest possible returns.

# ? Sep 22, 2022 23:58

Professor Shark: May 22, 2012

Etsy got bad fast too and everyone good abandoned it

Ironically eBay is pretty good these days

# ? Sep 23, 2022 00:28

Mister Kingdom: Dec 14, 2005; And the tears that fall
On the city wall
Will fade away
With the rays of morning light

Whenever I see a number come up and it appears to be within my cell network, I know it's going to be a scam.

Got this today:

As I answered the phone, the recording was already going.

Them: "...or your service will be disconnected. Press 1 to be connected to our service center.

Me: *1

Them: This is the service center. How may I help you?

Me: You called me.

Them: You were transfered to me from the center.

Me: Who are you with?

Them: [actual name of my electric company]

Me: Prove it.

*click*

# ? Sep 23, 2022 00:43

Inceltown: Aug 6, 2019

Optus - Australias 2nd largest telco - has had the personal details of a whole bunch of customers stolen recently. We're talking name, dob, drivers license and passport information. Not payment info but absolutely everything you need for identity fraud stuff. Things that can not be changed easily individually too let alone at scale. So things are going to be wild here for some time.

# ? Sep 23, 2022 07:06

bort: Mar 13, 2003

Mister Kingdom posted:

Whenever I see a number come up and it appears to be within my cell network, I know it's going to be a scam.

I did have an innocent occurrence of this. A roofing estimator that I had called had my number if you subtracted twenty. We laughed about it -- if he hadn't gotten my number from his office, there's no way we would have picked up each other's calls.

iOS 16 seems to have "report junk" on scam texts that aren't just in iMessage. I also copy/paste scam texts and send them to my carrier (SPAM/7626). I doubt it does much but it feels like doing something.

# ? Sep 23, 2022 13:53

Pekinduck: May 10, 2008

lostleaf posted:

I fell for this scam about 2 month ago. You're welcome to laugh at me. I was googling and found a Ryobi air pump for about less than half price. My thought process was "Hey they accept Paypal, I can just dispute whenever I like. Even if it's a scam, I won't lose any money". I order using paypal as payment method.

A few days later I notice however that the amount charged was now double. I immediately go to paypal to dispute for the original price. Paypal takes about a week and rules in my favor and changed the amount charged to the original agreed amount. Two weeks later however nothing is being shipped and emails just disappear into a black hole. I try to dispute with Paypal and I can't reopen the dispute because I already disputed the first time!

It took 3 different representative after calling but they were finally able to credit me back all of the amount. It took some doing but after showing them that I have been a customer since 1999 and this is the first time I have ever filed a dispute. So don't be a dummy like me and fall for this scam.

This is a new one for me, kinda clever I have to admit. So many ways to do transaction fuckery. Glad you got your money back.

# ? Sep 24, 2022 01:30

Volmarias: Dec 31, 2002; EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...

Inceltown posted:

Optus - Australias 2nd largest telco - has had the personal details of a whole bunch of customers stolen recently. We're talking name, dob, drivers license and passport information. Not payment info but absolutely everything you need for identity fraud stuff. Things that can not be changed easily individually too let alone at scale. So things are going to be wild here for some time.

Good luck on your free year of credit monitoring or lump of raw coal or whatever booby prize Australia gives credit fraud victims.

# ? Sep 24, 2022 01:55

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Probably pecked by an emu.

# ? Sep 24, 2022 05:16

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# ? May 8, 2024 23:50

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; If you see me posting please remind me that I have Charlie Work in the reports forum to do instead

Humbug Scoolbus posted:

Probably pecked by an emu.

well yeah, ever since the war they have to send an annual tribute of sacrifices

# ? Sep 26, 2022 00:22

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about common cons/scams: "Thanks, you suck. Hello, this is Linda."

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