Curse

Ky_Rookie · Jan 10, 2006, 05:24 PM // 17:24

Last night was the straw that broke the camels back for me. I am the one that taught Lab Monke the run, we are guild mates. I got home from work and had a few minutes to kill before dinner so I decided to beat up on some Ettins. I get whispered (by chance I was doing some screen shots of the ettins and their drops, I got this guys whisper in a screen shot even) for a request to be run to droks. Normally when someone singles you out like that when your not even at Beacons spamming for runs, they are legit, because someone has given you a good reference. They guy offered 10k, standing in Beacons this would have been a red flag, but an unsolicited request I figured the guy was legit. I meet him in Beacons after I eat and he has another guy with him. I ask him is the 10k for both of you, and he says yes, we will pay when we get there. Once again, this was an unsolicited request, so I didnt think twice of it, and paying AT droks has always been my policy anyway.

Fast foward to Droks, we pop in to town, I look up and he is out of the party, when I attempted to question his where abouts, I got the ignored message. Needless to say I was hot. Hell I still am.

This single event has changed the way I will do future Droks runs. It will be payment in full at Grenths, or an aborted run. No more bs.

Screen shots

Low life scammers IGN was Crazy Smack Killer. His accomplice was Rangers Rule A S S

If anyone reading this ever needs a run, and doesnt mind actually paying for services rendered, feel free to hit me up. IGN is Knight Trane or Knight Train Lane

Ghost Recon · Jan 10, 2006, 10:10 PM // 22:10

I noramly run for free but when i'm running low on gold i ask for half at snake and half at camp. I had one person who refused to pay at snake, me beening me just to annoy the non payer i asked the other four to meet me at becon's and i would run them free of charge

i got a few insults of how he was about to pay ect. But it was quite clear he wasn't he was running round in circles and kept closing the trade window when i opened it.

lg5000 · Jan 10, 2006, 10:21 PM // 22:21

Dunno why, but I waited around for someone who'd accept the last bit of payment at droknars... something about being stranded at Rancor was in my mind at the time.

Now, while I'm normally not for being run anywhere, I did get my lvl16 necro run there for no good reason other than I wanted to see the run done seeing as I prefer the collectors armor to the stuff droknars has.

So I dunno.. I guess if you guys charge somewhere along the way and then the last bit at droknars, maybe it'll work out better? It would certainly make me trust runners more.

Dyzfunctioned · Jan 12, 2006, 05:48 AM // 05:48

1.5k Snakes, 1.5k Grenth's FTW... If they don't like it, tough luck. xP

William Stark · Jan 12, 2006, 09:51 AM // 09:51

The best way to avoid scammers IMO is to take a leaf out of the UW strategy guide on this site.
You would never just grab the nearest 7 ppl and rush into UW without saying a word to them (well, maybe you would- it would be an interesting experiment I suppose, if brief), and you probably wouldn't make the effort to get a good team if you hadn't got enough time to commit to doing it properly.

Equally, when running for cash I find the scammers are usually the ones who try to push you into leaving in a hurry or are uncommunicative. Chatting while you are putting the group together and getting to know people a little gives you a much better feel for whether you are carrying a parasite. You can also make some good friends, which is worth any amount of being scammed.

Several of my runner friends and I have adopted a zero tolerance policy on scammers at Snakes- those ppl who spontaneously decide that they will only pay you at Ramkor/Droks, or less than was agreed. Either they hand over somre realistic collaterol (their custom weapons and armour are favourite) to be returned on full payment, or you restart the whole run with the rest of the group in Beacons.

I still get scammed at Rankor every so often as a side effect of how often I run, but to be honest I just accept that as one of the risks of the job. If you have had half payment at Snakes then at least you didn't waste time completely.

obastable · Jan 12, 2006, 05:23 PM // 17:23

I have little tolerance for idiots and will restart a run (or a mission), regardless of how far in to it I am, to drop a perceived idiot from the group. Doesn't matter where I am, or how much money they were offering, 'cause all the money in the game doesn't make up for their lack of a brain. If someone doesn't follow the rules of my run, then I don't run them. If someone's pestering me to GOGOGO! I drop them instantly. Some people get really upset about this and a few have messaged me with complaints about being singled out. Thems the breaks though. I've done it to my fellow Guildmates, so I've no problems whatsoever doing it to anyone else.

I would recommend charging two thirds of your price at Snakes and the final third at Rankor, when doing Droks runs. IMO, the run TO Rankor is the only "difficult" part of the run and thus worth the most money. I've not been scammed doing it this way. If someone decides not to pay at Rankor then it's no big deal, as they've paid for their run up to that point already. I just drop them and move on.