The Hook - The Dish : Blog Archive » Scam alert! Take-out rip-off?

Scam alert! Take-out rip-off?

by Dave McNair 2:45 pm May 29th

Duner’s owner Bob Caldwell tells us that he got a call today from someone claiming to have found a metal object in a take-out chicken order last night.

“He wouldn’t give out his name or number, just wanted his money back,” says Caldwell. ” After checking our records and finding that we didn’t sell any take-out chicken, we figured it to be a scam.”

Vivace owner Tom “Zipper” Lippman told Caldwell about a similar incident that happened last month, and when he called Hayden Berry, the former Duner’s chef who opened Three-Notch’d Grill in Crozet with his wife, Cathy, Berry told him that he and the owner of Uncle Charlie’s, another Crozet restaurant, got the same call today.

“We’ve reported it to the Albemarle police, but I’m sure this person is probably trying this scam at other places,” says Caldwell. “The phone number he’s dialing from is the UVA hospital. Of course, I thought this might be of interest to my fellow restaurateurs.”

jolted May 29th, 2008 | 4:49 pm

Here’s an idea.. Tell him to come on and get his $ back. Have the cameras rolling and the police waiting. That will fix him! Good luck
brian May 29th, 2008 | 5:13 pm

you know i’ve actually thought of doing that after getting my money back for an item that was damaged, of course the angel on my shoulder said no, so when i hear about someone doing this sort of thing especially in this day and age, it doesn’t surprise me one bit. at least there isn’t a pandemic of gas siphoning… yet
Rick May 29th, 2008 | 5:48 pm

You never know if it’s the same person but a similar scam has been tried at the Bellair Market and her sister stores recently. It always begins with something metal being found in the chicken salad. Each store asked for him to come in and speak with the store manager or someone at our main office, but he never showed.

and as for gas siphoning - the current rage is the theft of gas credit cards. It only takes one or two fill-ups to cross $100 and few places have cameras outside for ‘pay at the pump’ purchases. You can get your gas cards to have a PIN number to help prevent such problems.
dave May 30th, 2008 | 9:56 am

I’m curious…how is this scam supposed to work? Seems like going in to collect the money wouldn’t be very smart. Anybody have and theories?

Dave McNair
TheUpstart May 30th, 2008 | 3:22 pm

Someone posted about similar things happening to some different restaurants on cVillain. I imagine it’s either the same person or a copy cat. What a jerk.
kcerjm June 9th, 2008 | 1:19 pm

This guy has hit the Corner also multiple times saying he and his wife and sometimes a son, sometimes a daughter have had a hair in their food. He calls from UVA numbers, the latest being 928-2080 and 982-0448. He calls ahead to complain, then shows up for his reimbursement or coupons. Be on the lookout for a black male about 6′, balding, about 50ish years old with dark colored glasses. He’s thinly built and acts nervous….DUH! Lying does that to you!