Annoying sellers

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ESP47

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This doesn't involve anyone from this forum..

I talked to a guy for a week about a nice D100 that's a few hours away from me. Tell him I can come by on Sunday to take a look and possibly buy it. The truck looked as nice as one of these trucks could get but I still asked if it was reliable enough to make it back to my place. He told me over the phone that it ran great with no problems and he had been driving it for a few months without a hiccup. So I pull the money out of the bank, fill up my girlfriends car and ride out there with her Sunday to take a look and most likely buy this truck if it looks as good as the pictures did online.

I get there and the truck looks even better than the pictures do so I'm pretty excited. The 2nd thing the guy says to me is "Yeah I don't think this thing will make it back to your house". I ask him what he means by that and he said he hasn't been able to get the thing started lately. I was like "Well why the hell did you let me drive all the way out here if you knew I wouldn't be able to drive it back home?". He just kind of nodded and looked down at the ground without giving me an answer. I said "You told me it ran great and that I'd have no problems driving it home. So you let me drive 3 hours out there for no reason to check out a truck that doesn't even start?". He then just kind of acted like he didn't know what I was talking about and said that we could pour gas down the carb to try and start it. I just said forget it and got back in the car and drove home.

Waste of time and waste of gas money for nothing. Still pisses me off when I think about it. Has this ever happened to anyone else?
 
What a load of crap. Perhaps he thought you were not serious about showing up? In the past when I have sold things seemed like you would get 20 calls, people wanting/saying they would come over to look at it yet was damn lucky to have one show up. Sorry you got jerked around...
 
I had a guy list a 64 Barracuda in the newspaper so I responded to the ad. I asked the guy if he would be available after work that day to take a look. He said he would, so I told him unless there was something totally misrepresented in the ad or on the phone call I'd take it. I got the cash from the bank and drove 90 miles with my car trailer in tow to get it. When I arrived he said the car wasn't for sale any more. The neighbor had bought it. He said his neighbor saw him getting it ready to go and brought him the money so the first guy with the cash in his hand was the new owner. He didn't even bother to dial my cell number,which I had given him on the phone in case something came up that he couldn't be there when I arrived to pick up the car to tell me to turn around. Still makes me mad every time I think about it too!
 
Happened to me several times. The sellers think that if you have taken the time to go see the car you will not go home emptyhanded and you will buy the junk they are selling. Nowdays I always tell them on the phone that no matter what, I will not buy the car if it is not as I was told.
 
Maybe he changed his mind about selling to you & made up the story to turn you off. for whatever reason why he did it , it's still a lousy move to make you drive all the way there & it isn't what he said it was. Sucks. I hope you find a better deal on what you want & it works out in the end.
 
I talked to him that morning and told him we were just about to leave and head out his way and he said he'd see me when I got there. So he knew I was serious.

I thought about offering him half of what our original deal was but I didn't even want to get into it at that point. If he wants to haul it to me on his own dime and take around half of what our deal was then I might listen...but that will never happen :-\"

Oh yeah the starter wouldn't even turn over with the truck in Park either. Had to be in Neutral to even crank. Another thing he failed to mention to me.
 
I just drive almost 200 miles to look at a 66 Coronet that was advertized as "some body rust". I should have known better as I had been emailing the seller for two weeks and getting a response was like pulling teeth. I understand some folks don't want to "bother" with an email conversation, but if someone has asked several fairly important questions and appears knowledgeable and interested, why wouldn't you invest time in a potential sale?

Anyway, after I get there, I find out the pics were taken of the "good side" quarter, and the other side is rusted up halfway to the trunk, with filler cracking out of it, and every panel has at least a crusty 50 cent piece or larger hole, usually on difficult to repair laminated sections.

$2000 was the asking price, which would have been fair for a solid rolling shell.

The only body panel that was worth saving was the pass side fender, which I desperately need for my current project, and of course he wasn't willing to sell that!

What tops it off is the seller is in the restoration business. He HAS to know that pile of unusable parts is only worth $300 in scrap, plus another $300 for the good fender and maybe $200 in miscellaneous trim.

I told him up front I was looking for something to drop a running 318 in. Never once did he say anything like "it's very rough" or that it would need both quarters, a cowl, and a roof...or maybe that's what "some body rust" means to him.
 
Knucklehead on CL had a Dana 60 from an a-body listed. He is about 50 miles form me. Called him, he said he would be home at 6. Called him before I left to verify, he said he would be there. Drove over there, no show. Did not answer his phone either. Few days go by and he calls me to ask if I am still interested. This time he was there. Truth came out..it was a housing that someone had taken a sawzall to in an attempt to shorten it. No ends were present...and both cuts were at angles....Let the guy know what of I thought of his bs and told him I would not give him a dollar for it.
 
A few years back a local "Mopar guy" had a 68 Notchback Barracuda, original small block car with a 383 in it. It was pretty rough, but driveable and restorable. I had talked to this guy a few times, saw a 73 Charger he had for sale that I wasn't interested in (he even had a buddy there who pulled the "I'm going to buy it, if you don't routine"). Anyways, he only wanted $500 for the Cuda. I had a 67 Dart GT at the time, a nice size pole barn and wanted something with a big block that I could tinker with. I sold an old Civil War Diary for $500 to fund the purchase. I called the guy, said, hey I'm going to come look at the car, meet me there (it was at his buddy's house). I go there, look at the car, even though his buddy really didn't want me to. It was pouring rain, but it was dry inside in the brief moments I had to look at it. My then father-in-law and I are sitting in my car waiting and waiting and waiting for the guy to show up. The "buddy" comes out of the house and says, "hey, he just called. Doesn't want to sell it anymore." I was pretty pissed. (This was before the cell phone days)
The only good thing is it was a short drive from my house compared to the OP's post, but still irks me to this day....
 
a lost opportunity for you, best thing that could have happened,
I would have low balled him, made the deal, pulled out my tools and drove it home,
same thing has happens to me a few times, I always get the seller to drop the price,
50%? no, 20% to 30% below asking, EASY! you snooze you lose
 
I drove from buffalo ny area to wisconsin to see a totally lied about car
Flew to tennesee and saw a totally lied about car
people don't give a damn

Anyone who has driven to see my cars usually says it's better than described...and they buy it
 
I've been on both sides of a bad deal. You hold parts or a car for someone that tells you they need a little time to come up with all the money. After more time than you agreed on you contact them, if possible and they tell you "Oh I don't want it any more"?
I've driven as much as 600 miles only to find out a car is a POS, or you can't get a hold of the seller. That is life. Expect less than was promised and you won't be surprised. I never expect to "drive" any Mopar home. I always take my car trailer. If you had shown up with a car trailer you could have made him a low ball offer, if he said yes you could have towed it home.
 
SGBARRACUDA said:
I've been on both sides of a bad deal. You hold parts or a car for someone that tells you they need a little time to come up with all the money. After more time than you agreed on you contact them, if possible and they tell you "Oh I don't want it any more"?
I've driven as much as 600 miles only to find out a car is a POS, or you can't get a hold of the seller. That is life. Expect less than was promised and you won't be surprised. I never expect to "drive" any Mopar home. I always take my car trailer. If you had shown up with a car trailer you could have made him a low ball offer, if he said yes you could have towed it home.
Click to expand...

I was trying to buy a truck so not only did I not have a car trailer but I didn't have a truck to pull it with either :mrgreen:
 
One thing I have learned, don't expect much & be happy when it's more.
A thing that gets to me is, when a person is selling something, not being able to contact them.
 
mikedevore said:
One thing I have learned, don't expect much & be happy when it's more.
A thing that gets to me is, when a person is selling something, not being able to contact them.
Click to expand...

that is me :mrgreen:
I post things on CL from time to time, and some people get pissed if you dont answer them within 5 minutes,
now I check my email 3 or 4 times a week, (if that) so it may take me a few days to respond to all the spam I get from a CL ad along with your ONE legitimate reply, AND your 2 or 3 obnoxious follow up emails complaining about my not responding to your FIRST email?!?!?!?!?!?!
DELETE DELETE DELETE DELETE DELETE DELETE :eek:ops::finga::jocolor:
 
caferacerx said:
that is me :mrgreen:
I post things on CL from time to time, and some people get pissed if you dont answer them within 5 minutes,
now I check my email 3 or 4 times a week, (if that) so it may take me a few days to respond to all the spam I get from a CL ad along with your ONE legitimate reply, AND your 2 or 3 obnoxious follow up emails complaining about my not responding to your FIRST email?!?!?!?!?!?!
DELETE DELETE DELETE DELETE DELETE DELETE :eek:ops::finga::jocolor:
Click to expand...

Not everyone sits on the computer all day long. I always give folks a few days before sending another email....but it is never obnoxious, just cut and paste the first one....

Have to ask....have you ever fired back an equally obnoxious email?
 
inkjunkie said:
Not everyone sits on the computer all day long. I always give folks a few days before sending another email....but it is never obnoxious, just cut and paste the first one....

Have to ask....have you ever fired back an equally obnoxious email?
Click to expand...

no, but I have flagged them as "SPAM"
 
I've dealt with this more than a few times. Recently when we were looking for the Dart for my wife we looked at more than a few cars that the sellers said were in running, driving conditions with minimal rust to go look at them and find they were the opposite. One of the sellers was trying to get into the car flipping business but really knows nothing about cars. He didn't think the black duct tape around the windshield was a red flag. We pulled up a little corner and found almost the whole windshield area was rusted out. The minor rust spots he said where at the driver's side floor were golf ball to tennis ball holes in the rotten floor. Sad too since it ran extremely well. Over all it wasn't anything that wasn't fixable, but his asking price was astronomical for the damage. Tried to offer what we thought was fair, which was way more than I'd offer for it today, and he wouldn't take it.

When I was looking for my classic Ranchero a few years back I saw one on CL that I had been watching for a few months slowly drop in price. All the pictures looked great. They had swapped the small block with a big block racing engine and done the modern suspension upgrades. I call the guy and he said it was running perfectly. My buddy and I go to look at it the next day and he wasn't there. His son who helped build the car was though so he showed it to us and told us all of the things wrong with it. Nothing held the hood on, the windshield was toast, the welds on the front suspension had snapped, and the exhaust burned through the shift linkage so it couldn't move if we wanted it to. Ultimately worked out as we found the year I wanted down in San Diego which turned out to be a rather decent car for the money.

Having bought more than a few cars now off of private sellers I've become a lot more knowledgeable about what to look for and how to gauge their pricing. Most people on CL tend to over price their stuff to not get 1000 calls from tire kickers. People that know what they're looking at know what a car is worth and tend to know the right price. And hey if some idiot is willing to pay asking price then that's just a bonus. Usually just means having to hold onto a car for a little longer though. Personally when I start looking at cars I am in the market to buy one within a week. I already have the money at hand am just waiting to find the right car. Has really surprised the last few sellers that I've dealt with when I look at a few things and then offer them cash on the spot. No BS just business. I understand the first person with cash takes it. There is something to be said though about letting potential buyers understand when others might beat you though.

Had a friend that wanted to get a Ranchero. He found one in L.A. that was gorgeous. He lived in San Diego. He called the seller and said that he was getting on the freeway with his trailer to grab the car. He had cash on hand and was ready to take it home. It would take him around 2 hours to get there. The guy said ok and he'd hold it. He called the seller again once he got off the freeway and the guy said that he had sold it an hour earlier.
 
Would be nice if people would eventually respond to Craigslist ads they post or remove the ad. Found some small bolt pattern Keystone Klassics nearby on Craigslist, posted it here and I have sent 2 messages another member sent 4, and no response to either of us.
 
I'm in CL HELL right now. I've sold a mustang at least 12 times already. Only problem is I've been blown off 12 times. People think you have nothing to do but hang around waiting for no shows. It pisses me off! And of coarse they think a $1000 car can slap a plate on it and drive to CA. When I buy or sell something I'm on the ball. Buyer gets the goods the seller gets the cash and it's a done deal. No BS needed. I'm going to look at a car tomorrow. I'm going back and forth. Do I rent a trailer or drive out over an hour just to go back again with a trailer? If it's as good as it looks and sounds I would like to do the deal and be done with it.
 
Yeah there are things I could have done to get the truck but I was going to pay what I figured was a little extra for a truck that needed very little work done to it. I was looking for something I could jump in and just drive without having to worry about having another project. Between painting the house, fixing the quarter on my Duster and restoring my Barracuda, I have enough projects to last me for quite a while so I was just expecting it to be in daily driver shape since thats what he claimed it was.

One thing I've learned is that there's always people that have had it worse. I feel bad for you guys that flew out somewhere or drove 700 miles only to be looking at a turd that was not as described. A seller that will lie to you and let you fly out to check out something they've lied about is the scum of the earth.
 
I know on my Ranchero forums there are enough willing people to go take a look at a car for you if it is a good distance away from you and they are nearby. I would imagine there's enough people here that would be willing too. Especially in those instances over 300 miles. Coordinating at that point usually becomes the issue.
 
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