Hey, remember the old Maytag repairman commercials? I do. They depicted Maytag appliances as being so incredibly sturdy and dependable, repairmen had nothing to do. Hence the advertising slogan/moniker, “The Loneliest Guy in Town.”
Three different actors played the bored-to-death fix-it men. Nowadays, there’s a new one altogether.
Anyway, get to the point.
Seems there’s a Maytag repair guy out in Reno who got a little too bored. From the NY Times:
By using serial numbers he copied from washers and dryers at local retail outlets such as Lowe’s and Fry’s Electronics, he submitted … false claims for repairs and travel expenses to the company…”
Now that’s some nerve. And not only did he rack up bogus repair bills, he racked them up to the tune of over $300,000. In 2006 alone, he submitted claims for over 3,000 repairs. (No wonder Maytag noticed.)
The guy, of course, denies all charges. Now really, luv. Did we expect anything less?
*ding ding* BOOT to the head.
Happy Finkday!
OK I am gonna get a fink boot to the head for saying this but — I think he was pretty smart! I mean, how in the world do these people think up these schemes? I know it’s bad and awful and something I personally would never do being the chickenhead that I am (but first I’d have to be smart enough to think of ways to rip people off and I, frankly, am not that smart LOL). It’s too bad that these smart people don’t use their brains for something really useful. Have a good Friday, Fink luv.
HA
You get a BTTH? NEVER. I heart you! And I totally get you about people with all this know-how using it for dastardly means. I wonder how long the guy could have pulled off this caper had the Maytag auditor not noticed something fishy. I guess that’s why companies have auditors, though…
I am having a good Friday. One more class! Enjoy your weekend, dear friend!
Aww I heart you too! Have a good weekend
Did he think that they wouldn’t think anything of the 3,000 repairs? I don’t think these people are that smart, because they don’t think all the way through. The “good” that could come to them blinds the eventual outcome. If this guy had just 5 days of vacation, he would STILL have to have made over 8 repairs PER DAY to get close to the total number for 2006. The smart ones are the ones that don’t make the news. The smart ones account for 1,800 repairs instead of 3,000 in a year. Then again, the smart ones know better than to try to pull something over a huge corporation.
Good points. But to even THINK of these schemes seems smart to me. But yes, now that you mention it…..greed probably came into it and he thought “wow I am getting away with this let’s see how much more I can get away with!”
Off the subject, but here’s one of my very, very few brushes with fame: I met Gordon Jump (whom, of course, I called ‘Big Guy’) in Phyllis Diller’s backyard, right after literally bumping into Dick Clark. Diller was holding a silent for Parkinson’s Disease- otherwise I’d have had no business being in that situation.
*shaking cobwebs out*
Ross, WHAT did you say? You were in Phyllis Diller’s back yard. She was having a silent auction? Dick Clark was there and you almost ran him over. Then you met Gordon Jump. Do I have that right? If so, wow! What were you doing there?
Yeah you have that right. My dad had PD and was heavily involved in the PD community and Diller’s silent auction benefitted PD research, and my dad took me along. the only item i remember seeing in the auction was an 8×10 glossy signed by the cast of Gilligan’s Island. trust me, my presence there was completely bizarre.