I Googled pole barns & got a link to US Buildings Direct. I clicked to get a price on the size steel building I wanted and instead got a contact form.
I got a call back next day and I sure had lucky timing. Amazingly, the company had bought back 27 sheds from a local dealer who went out of business, supposedly in my county. Now they needed to clear them out fast.
Only $8933 for a 25' x 36' structure, but the sheds were being sent to an auction the next morning, so they'd need a deposit today to hold one for me at this bargain price. I asked if they had a 25'x 48' and he told me he'd try to get a 12' section from another shed to add on for the same price. While I held for a minute he supposedly made a call and confirmed this could be done, still for the bargain price of $8933.
This shed came 'open ended' I was told but it was no big deal to add my own walls and doors on each end. I needed to figure my additional costs for these materials as well as a concrete slab. The numbers thrown out by the US Buildings rep seemed rather low to me, only $700 for a two car garage door, and Lowes or Home Depot will install them for free he tells me. Having paid $1000 for my last garage door (nothing fancy) this seemed a bit hard to believe.
No matter what questions I had about installation, extra materials, whatever, I was assured everything would go smoothly and extra costs were minuscule. It kept coming back to my needing to give them that Visa number and make that deposit so I wouldn't miss this once in a lifetime deal.
Eventually another voice came on the line and took over the conversation. Jim couldn't understand how I could possibly have any hesitation to give that deposit. I needed to get more information and do some research, but I wanted the deal. I just was not ready to deposit $2,000 today.
If I didn't commit right now with that deposit, I would end up paying full retail, at least twice as much. To help me commit, Jim now was able to take off another $2,000. Yes, I could get this huge steel structure now for only 6,933.
Could he tell me of a structure they sold in my area I could see? How about a local dealer? Nope & nope.in fact, starting the next day, I would not even be able to access their website. It was normally only available to dealers and I would not be able to sign in if I attempted to visit it again.
When I still refused to cave and give them $2,000 Jim finally gave up. But he didn't simply give up. He then reviewed my concerns and told me that I was simply not serious about buying a building. If I couldn't afford to give them a measly $2,000 deposit, how was I possibly going to afford a building which would certainly cost me double or triple after today? He said I obviously didn't understand the concept of 'clearance' or I would have jumped on this deal.
Yes, his entire tone changed as he expressed his frustration. He rambled on about how I had wasted their time and asked if I didn't think they were a real company or something. So did he give me information on a local dealer? After all, he had told me the company normally doesn't even deal directly with the public. Nope. Finally he ended his rant by telling me to not ever bother calling back and rudely hung up on me.
So I guess I'm fortunate I didn't fall for this. Just too many red flags for me. I just had to do a little searching to confirm my suspicions and that's how I wound up here. My bargain just happens to be going to auction the next day? What a coincidence! Sure enough, reading other posts, they must have these auctions every day! Like they say, just remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
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