To:

Dear Sir

My family and I sold at your car boot sale last Saturday at Mitchell for the first time.
We were impressed by the facilities and the nicely cut grass. We also had a fair amount of interest in our clothes etc.
However at the end of the day I had a disappointing experience which I am not complaining about but thought it might be helpful to pass this scam on to you to share with other innocent people.

I sold a mint pair of boots priced at £5 to a woman who surprisingly didn’t barter or try them on strangely as I was expecting. She gave me a £10 note and I foolishly put it in my bag and said aloud immediately that she would need £5 change. When I brought out a £5 note the classic situation occurred and she said oh but I gave you a £20 note. I was so upset but did have the presence of mind to say that I hadn’t got her £20 note in my bag as I knew I only took one mauve note for my cat carrier that day. She insisted that she gave me a £20 note and a spiel about how honest she was etc. Well I immediately knew I had been scammed and felt so foolish but annoyed that I had lost £10 out of my takings. This was an expensive lesson to learn which I did already know about but fell for this routine.

The sting in the tale sadly is that the person who did this to me was a member of staff on the field supervising us all.
When I returned I sat down and totted up our sales and and listed the large items we had sold and we were £10 down.
What a pity this person hadn’t felt able to at least meet me halfway with this disagreement but they obviously were quite comfortable with the situation they had manipulated expertly well.
I hope you will feel able to share this situation with your public and warn them to be vigilant and aware at all times.
I went to the Rosudgeon boot sale yesterday feeling nervous but equipped to give change and kept all the notes in front of the buyer until the change was given and we had a lovely day.

Yours faithfully

J.E.Edwards (Mrs)
Sent from my iPad

From:

To:
CC:

Subject: RE: Warning
Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2014 17:53:58 +0100

Dear Mrs Edwards,

I am extremely concerned at your email which I received today and I must point out that the person you claim ‘scammed you’ was in fact the Co-Owner of Car Boots Cornwall and is my wife Louise Camden Wiles and it would seem you have many facts wrong in your accusation.

Louise assisted with the parking of the 200 plus sellers cars and before she left Mitchell to go to run our Car Boot Sale at The Royal Cornwall Showground-Wadebridge, she looked at a few of the stalls including you stall where she bought your ecco boots. The time was 1.30 and she left Mitchell for WADEBRIDGE at 1.35 pm however you claim incorrectly that the incident you refer to happened at ‘the end of the day’ when in fact the sale finished around 3.30 pm and she had been at Wadebridge just before 2.00 pm so in fact your information is totally incorrect.

Louise advised me that she bought the boots for the FIVE pounds you asked for and did not barter with you because she thought your asking price was totally fair and she paid you with a TWENTY pound note which was in fact folded when she handed it to you and you offered her change for a TEN pound note. ‘classic situation indeed’
When my wife asserted the fact she gave you a £20.00 note you denied having taken one all day. She assured you she had handed you a £20.00 and it was folded. When you checked your notes in front of my wife you found the folded £20.00 which she had given you. You apologised for your mistake and gave her her correct change.

Your email is extremely libellous and I feel absolutely no obligation to warn any of the public to be aware and vigilant of such a scam that did not happen. We pride ourselves with our reputation of complete honesty and I am furious with your accusations against Louise who is a totally honest person and has handled many thousands of pounds on behalf of CARBOOTSCORNWALL since we were established in 1989 and with TEN locations for Car Boot Sales this is without doubt the only accusation concerning alleged dishonesty of any of my team members and is grossly offensive.

I would ask the you withdraw your libellous accusation with an immediate apology please.

I will treat your comment about Rosudgeon with the contempt it deserves!

Geoff Camden Wiles

www.carbootscornwall.co.uk