Mower Woes

[Tithera]

Ok, so my bf and I are hard up for money at moment, so we thought we'd sell a few things that have been sitting around, unused to make some. One of those things was a Dixon zero-turn radius lawnmower. When we got it, it needed a little bit of work, which my bf did. Now, he's a car mechanic, not a lawnmower repairman. He did everything he was physically able to due to it and it started working beautifully. It turns perfectly, it starts up every time, etc. He even bought a new battery, new clutch, and new tires for the thing, just to make sure that when he went to sell it, it would be a great buy for whoever bought it. He put it up on Craig's List for a good price (these mowers go for a lot even not working, the time and money he put into it was far higher than the price he sold it for) and waited.

So, today, a guy who came to take a look at it called and said he wanted to buy it. Great! The only thing though, he said, was that his car was broken down and didn't have any way of coming and getting it. No problem, we can bring it to you. He agreed, so we loaded everything up and took it to him. For an hour and a half, my bf showed the guy everything, told him what he needed to do to make it mow, how to change certain parts if they break, and even let him test drive it (after we payed for the gas to make it run for longer than a minute, with our own money). We included the chains and weights for winter and ALL of the paperwork from past repairs, past owners, and even a very detailed manual that we downloaded since the original got ruined. My bf told him everything that he personally knew about the mower and the guy agreed to the purchase. I offered to write him a receipt, he declined, so we went off on our merry way home, happy to have rent money at last and that was the end of it.

Or was it? Apparently not. Not even an hour after we got back, he calls and says that something is wrong with mowing deck clutch. My bf is surprised by this, not having known about this problem prior to the sale and apologizes about it. He offers to help the guy find a new clutch for very cheap and even offers to come out and help replace the part, without charge to make up for the mistake. The guys then starts going into the passive aggressive argument about how my bf lied to him and was trying to scam him. My bf politely tried to explain to him, again, that he hadn't known that the part was bad and had he known, he would have told him. He continues to call my bf a liar and starts trying to say he wants my bf to "buy back" the mower; not give him a refund, buy the mower back. My bf explains that that is not possible. We need the money, he agreed to the sale of a used mower, sold AS IS (which my bf also put in the ad to avoid this type of thing) and we even offered to write a receipt FOR THIS SPECIFIC REASON, so that the guy had proof of the sale and the condition of the mower, which he refused. His response? "So I just spent $XXX for nothing?" For nothing?! M*therf**ker, it's a working mower! You replace ONE part and it's going to mow! Isn't that what you bought it for?! You personally drove it! My bf stood there for an hour and a half in the rain, explaining everything he knew about it to you and even payed out of his pocket for the gas so you could test drive it. The part he needs is on ebay for WAY cheaper than he would find anywhere around here, and my bf even looked it up for him, told him the price and everything, and offered to help replace it. He is polite the entire time, and the guy continued to call him a liar and a scammer. He then asks how much it would cost for my bf to come out and fix it. My bf doesn't charge people to fix stuff often and being a CAR mechanic, he wouldn't know how much, nor would he ask the guy to pay him, which he told the guy. My bf even explained to the guy that if he was a scammer he wouldn't have: a) answered his call in the first place b) offered to come and help fix it FOR FREE c) stood there in the rain that long trying to help the guy and d)look up parts and all of that so the guy wouldn't have to spend so much to get it working. The guy continued to rude and my bf finally had enough and hung up on him.

I mean really? Obviously this guy hasn't bought things off of Craigslist very often. They are used items, sold from person to the next. My bf is not a dealership, there is no warranty, nor is there a refund. You buy those items as is, which leaves the liability off of the seller, in case something was wrong with the item that they weren't aware off. Sure, there are scammers out there who do this to screw people over, but when you agree to an item listed as AS IS, then the seller has no responsibility after that and it's up to you to get it fixed. I've had several cars I've bought off there have problems that weren't listed in the ad or told to me by the seller, but I didn't call them back and act rude or call them liars. Why? Because I used common sense and figured, they either didn't know about the problem, which doesn't make it their fault, or they knew about it and didn't tell me or try to help me with it in any way and I just threw off and fixed it myself without second thought. My bf told the guy the truth, explained things to him, and offered to help with it, even delivered it to his house free of charge, took a hundred off of the asking price, and he was still a jackass. I really don't understand people any more, I really don't.

[emax4]

If you or your bf ever put anything up again, get Google Voice for your phone. It's free, you get a number you can throw away, free caller id (I believe). This way if you get someone who is constantly harassing you, the number will come up on Google Voice and you can ignore it. I would use your Google Voice number only for corresponding to potential buyers for Craigslist items though.

[spark]

Heh. I think when you go out of your way to be nice, some people think you're going to be an easy mark and try to take advantage of you.

[Merriweather]

There are crazies out there. I had a sort of garage sale once for a lot of extra craft supplies I had accumulated, advertised on Craigs List.

One lady bought a few items, then sat in her car for at least 10 minutes, came back in, asked if she could exchange one of the items for another one, which I agreed to, then she spent at least 15 minutes looking thru other stuff. All this time, I was pre-occupied with other customers, so didn't watch her every second.

She later emailed me (thru Craigs List) that she had accidently left the item behind, could I please set it aside so she could come back to pick it up. I told her I could not even recall the exact item she had chosen, that lots of things were left laying in various places after dozens of people were looking thru things, so there was no way I could know what was her item if it were there.

I was accused of scamming, theft, and everything under the sun, along with a few other insults I won't go into.

Oh, and the item? A sticker, from a box of assorted scrapbooking embellishments, selling for something like 3 for 25 ¢

[Jester]

The guys then starts going into the passive aggressive argument about how my bf lied to him and was trying to scam him.

He continues to call my bf a liar and starts trying to say he wants my bf to "buy back" the mower; not give him a refund, buy the mower back.

"So I just spent $XXX for nothing?"

...the guy continued to call him a liar and a scammer.

Dude? Fuck you. Shut the fuck up and deal with it. Go buy the clutch and stop your fucking bitching, you diva ass clown. Shut the fuck up and DEAL.

I really don't understand people any more, I really don't.

Oh, people are simple to understand. Especially people like this. All you need to know is that their head is not on their neck, like yours or mine, but wedged firmly up their ass.

A little story: a few weeks after I bought the current Jestermobile used from a dealership, I noticed the fuel gauge didn't actually work. I called the dealership to ask about this, and they said they had not realized it didn't work. They had gotten it with what they thought was a full tank of gas, so they had never had a reason to top off the tank, and sold the truck as such.

Did I bitch? Did I moan? Did I yell and stamp my foot? No. Once it became clear that the dealership was not going to fix the gauge, since they had sold the truck to me AS IS, I went about my life and dealt with it. No muss, no fuss.

Why? Because I'm an adult, not a whiny petulant little fucktard who thinks that life owes me something.

[Argabarga]

Oh rest assured, these people existed long before Craigslist and such

I still remember back in the days I was a kid, my family had a moving sale. At the time, my Dad still had his old college car, a 1980 Honda Civic Hatchback, and it would've been about 10 years old at the time.

Anyway, it hadn't passed it's state safety inspections, and the body was very rusty, it was, a beater car. He'd held onto it thinking someday he'd fix it, and that day never came. He wasn't going to take it with him, so he offered it for I think $200

Some guy bought it from him, for $200 cash. Dad warned him it had lots of problems and that it didn't pass inspection. Guy said it wasn't a problem and drove off with it.

A week later, Dad got a phone call. Guy was furious that he'd taken the car to a garage, they'd flunked it on the safety inspection and it needed about 30 things fixed to pass. Dad reminded him he'd warned him about that up front. Guy demanded to know "what are YOU going to do about this?" Dads answer was to hang up

Never heard from him again.

[underemployeed]

As we all know, sucky people are everywhere. My friend does small engine repair and had someone try to buy all his mowers with a money order.... Nope cash only because he was well aware of craigslist scams.

I think selling anything sucks once you start dealing with strangers, seen to many horror stories of stuff breaking shortly after purchase. It was nice your bf was WILLING to help replace a part, but people always want stuff for free. I sold a mower that I disclosed to the buyer had many problems and he asked why we didn't fix it. I pointed out our John Deere, and that I saw no reason for me to dump money into a POS yardman that my cousin left behind. Sold a 20HP mower for $75, we wanted $150 but he was quick to haggle it down and my mom wanted it gone.
It leaked oil,no battery, deck wasn't level because the front tire went flat and steered me into a low tree limb. Other than that it was fine. When he came back later that day to pick it up, when I said we had to push it onto the trailer, he responsed "What do you mean it doesn't start!!!!!", because well he was at my house I actually got to tell him "Um HELLO, do you not remember the 15 minute conversation where I told you all its problems and that I havn't started it in a year because I have no use for it?"

Of course he wanted to take it home and make sure the engine wasn't ceased, which my mom against my wishes let him do, luckily we never heard from him. I'm sure but as-is is as-is because you never know what some idiot will do 30minutes after you sell them something..... OH same sale sold my old college mini-fridge and we helped load it into the woman's car, CLEARLY told her that since the only way to make it fit was to lay it on its side, that the manual says DO NOT turn it on for at least 4hrs afterwards becasue the oil needs to settle. 30min later, we get a call saying the fridge isn't working and getting things cold. Which brings up the fact it takes time to make things cold and they didn't wait for the oil to settle and damaged it.

[protege]

I'd have told the guy to get bent. People like that are *exactly* why I don't deal with Craigslist or even have garage sales. Too many idiots demanding perfection with used goods. That's why, if I'm trying to get rid of something--be it a computer, TV, or other still-functioning item, it goes to the church junk sale. Otherwise, the item in question gets scrapped.

[Draco]

The fact that he specifically said buy-back, rather than refund, makes me think he is a complete scammer. He didn't want help, he wanted to screw you two over.

[underemployeed]

I just thought of another possibility, could he have had the same mower elsewhere on his property, and need yours to replace a part? I have heard of plenty of people buying a new item, so they can take it home find out it "doesn't work" and bring back their old identical item for a refund.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

hm... ideas! If I ever sell anything, I will have a contract written up, saying stuff like, Sold As-Is, Don't Come Bitchin', Use At Your Own Risk, Item A is Item A Which Includes XYZ, etc-- simple, duh, language. This they will sign, date, and thumbprint, maybe even picture, as I will do the same, with those triplicate forms. If they refuse, sorry, no sale. If they then try the Stupid as in Original Post, and somehow decide to take me to court, they have absolutely no way to get out of it, pay my court costs bitch!
(shhhhh... I'm feeling clever and pleased with myself. Don't pop mah bubble? )

[Jetfire]

Go for it. That's what usually wins cases on the Judge shows if someone tries to take the seller to small claims court. If you have the contract with signatures outlining specifically "As is Sale", then the buyer has almost no recourse. Especially if you also outline known issues.

[Ironclad Alibi]

... and starts trying to say he wants my bf to "buy back" the mower; not give him a refund, buy the mower back.

If he doesn't want a refund, but wants to sell it back to your BF, your BF should offer him half of what he paid for it, and keep reducing the price with each round of negotiation. After all, it's a purchase negotiation, not a refund.

[protege]

Half? I think you're being generous. I'd have offered the guy a dollar, and sent him packing

[Ironclad Alibi]

Where's the fun in that? I like negotiating ala Aahz.