After Fox 7 in Austin ran a report on ORKA, they gave the address of the business. The following is an excerpt of the feature from the Fox 7 news website:
Speaker Sales
It's referred to by many as the "white van speaker scam." Young guys approach others in bank parking lots and try to unload speakers. High fidelity speakers worth thousands... Sold for hundreds.
We wanted to know... Is it really a scam, or are they in fact hooking you up with a good deal?
Michael Hall remembers indulging these fast-talkers when they pulled up along side him last month. According to Hall, the explanation was, "the warehouse guy screwed up and he gave us too many speakers, we can't go back to the warehouse with them, they're just going to take them back."
Hall says he was told the speakers were valued at $1,200 apiece. He paid $300 for the pair, thinking it seemed a little too good to be true.
Even before plugging in the speakers, Hall began researching his purchase online, and found much more than he bargained for. Scathing remarks about the quality of the speakers and the business practices.
Hall also found enough information to track down the company demanding a refund. This prompted a 7 On Your Side investigation into Orka Distributors.
We camped and watched as they loaded up the days' delivery. One SUV after another... Packed with speakers soon to be sold to unsuspecting drivers.
We sent our photographer undercover to a nearby bank parking lot. Chase tells our photographer the company he works for ordered four speakers, but actually received four pairs of speakers. He goes on to explain the speakers are valued at $3,000 apiece.
Chase takes the speakers out, asks our photographer if he'll pay $600 for the pair... Then, minutes later, drops the asking price to $400.
Our photographer walks away without dropping a dime. But both of our consumers tell us they shelled out $300. Did they spend too much?
7 On Your Side heard from another viewer who says he bought speakers from Orka Distributors in the same fashion. We took his speakers and had them checked out by acoustics experts at the University of Texas.
The speaker box is made of particleboard... The least expensive kind of wood.in addition to the physical inspection, acoustics instructor Anderson Mills plugged them in. He said, "What I was listening for and heard that sounded bad was certain frequencies which sounded very loud next other frequencies that I couldn't hear at all."
A scientific test in a soundproof chamber quickly confirmed the poor sound quality. Mill says the flatter the line, the better the sound. The readout was far from flat... It also revealed the speakers have a variability of plus or minus 20 dB... The specification sheet that comes in the box represents it's far better at plus or minus 3 dB.
We asked a manager at Orka Distributors how they could justify misrepresenting the value of the speakers. The response: "It's just a fun way to do it, everybody says whatever they want." He went on to explain speakers are always going to have a mark-up, adding they have a lot of happy customers.
But Mills says, if nothing else, the sound coming from the two speakers was consistent... One readout was as bad as the other.
The manager from Orka adds they stand by their product and will be happy to refund anyone who is unhappy with the speakers. Their business address is 720 Bastrop Highway in Austin.
As you can see, they say they'll refund the money. I went by today and there was a sign on the door that said closed for business, management will return 12/23/02 from 9-12 for refunds.
I'm going down there Monday morning. Although they're probably just going to take off this weekend, I figure it's worth a shot to try for a refund. If any of you out there want a chance at one too, go to 720 Bastrop Hwy Monday morning.
Later,
Will
Austin, Texas
U.S.A.
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