Mavic Air for $599? Druonio Deal - BEWARE

[AAPhoto]

FYI, I saw this unbelievable deal pop up on my Instagram feed from a company called Drunio where a Mavic Pro Fly More combo can be bought for $289.99 and a (sold out) Mavic Air for $599. I looked up the domain name and their website was only built on Feb. 05, 2018. This type of thing is usually a sign of a malicious actor taking advantage of something's popularity. Their refund policy also sounds suspicious with statements such as "If you haven’t received a refund yet, first check your bank account again.
Then contact your credit card company...". I'm afraid this is one of those instances where if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

 

[Former Member]

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck...

 

[Bunny Too]

Yeah, I hope no one would be foolish enough to purchase from the site. Usually these sites are there just to collect credit card information and resell it.

 

[Louparis75]

I was one of those foolish people who acted upon this offer. (Just for the record, it was a calculated risk. I used my credit card only after speaking with AMEX). The funny thing is that, while I didn't get the drone, they refunded the payment. I think there are two possibilities here:

1) They were only after my personal information. But if that was the case, they already had enough time to do something with it. Nothing has happened since. I track my credit expenses and credit scores every day.

2) They were conducting a market test, as many other startups do. In these kinds of situations, the startups give the illusion that a product (or offer) exists and measure if people commit to a purchase. I doubt they were measuring if Mavics would sell well at an 80% discount, but perhaps they used the offer as the draw for something else on their page.

In any event, I just wanted to report my outcome. Anyone else had a similar experience with them?

 

[Former Member]

I was one of those foolish people who acted upon this offer. (Just for the record, it was a calculated risk. I used my credit card only after speaking with AMEX). The funny thing is that, while I didn't get the drone, they refunded the payment. I think there are two possibilities here:

1) They were only after my personal information. But if that was the case, they already had enough time to do something with it. Nothing has happened since. I track my credit expenses and credit scores every day.

2) They were conducting a market test, as many other startups do. In these kinds of situations, the startups give the illusion that a product (or offer) exists and measure if people commit to a purchase. I doubt they were measuring if Mavics would sell well at an 80% discount, but perhaps they used the offer as the draw for something else on their page.

In any event, I just wanted to report my outcome. Anyone else had a similar experience with them?

How long did it take them to refund you? Some companies commit this kind of fraud as a short term loan of 30 or more days until they have to give the money back.

 

[Louparis75]

How long did it take them to refund you? Some companies commit this kind of fraud as a short term loan of 30 or more days until they have to give the money back.

That's a great observation. I didn't think about that possibility! To answer your question, it took about a week, from the moment I made the purchase to the moment the money was refunded. I believe there is a small delay between the moment the merchant submits the refund and the moment it is credited to your account. If that's true, they must have sat on the money for less than a week. I am still perplexed (but very happy).

 

[Former Member]

Im glad you got your money back.