cphilips motorcycle deal gone bad rant thread

[cphilip]

I just had one of the strangest deals in my life go down. And well it really did never GO DOWN. Its complicated so bear with me.

I was talking to a guy locally that had a Motorcycle for sale. One model I was particulary looking for and a clean low mileage one at that. And at that time the price was pretty low. I saw it on eBay and noticed he mentioned he had it for sale locally and reserved the right to cancel. And locally was right here! So I could inspect before paying!

So I looked around and found his local Add. He was asking $3200 for it here. It was about $1500 on ebay with no reserve. So I emailed him and asked him what his best price was for a local sale cash and I would offer $2500 right off for it. He responds the least he can take is $2600. So I think about it a day. Then I agree. He then emails me back and says the least he can take is $2800. And I say to him "what the heck! you said $2600!". So he then replies that he made a typo and he explains that he had purchased it last summer for $3200 and put $800 worth of stuff on it and he lists all the things he did. So I check NADA and indeed it says its worth $2650 - $2850 even without those extras. So I check the retail of those and he is about right. So I decide the next day that he is indeed right and it probably is worth more than $2800 so I agree to his terms. So this is Friday around 3:30 in the afternoon when I send him the email and ask for his Pay Pal to give him a deposit and try and work out a day to pay the rest in cash (his eBay terms not mine) and I do not hear anything from him at all that day, Saturday and most of Sunday (today). I had already asked him several times for his phone and pay pal but he never gave them to me. But we had not made a deal yet so I was not really that concerned at that point. But now we were but I not hearing from him. So I emailed him back Saturday to ask him what is up. No reply. Seems he was out of town. So I check the eBay auction and its still in progress.

But by late Saturday night its stuck at $2550. Up from Friday but not moving all day. So now I am thinking of bidding on it! Cheaper maybe since he has not replied right? So Sunday morning I check the auction and its haulted. "Sold locally" it says.


So I figure one of two things. Either someone he had previously talked to had bought it or he saw my email. But I got no email from him. So I send him an email saying I guess the thing was sold but let me know if something comes up and its available.

Later in the day I get back home and find not one but two emails from him at 2:59 and one at 3:01 saying ok pay me the deposit and we can meet up Monday or Tuesday to finish up the deal. And he has left me a Phone message as well to the same effect. So I get this at just before 4:00 (like 3:49)in the afternoon. Not quite one hour after he has left it I respond. Exactly at 4:01 my reply goes out to him. I say "well fine then. I had thought you sold it since you never replied to me and I saw the auction stopped but yea fine I will pay you the deposit right now. I want the bike. no problem. But please confirm your pay pal account and I get it done right now.


So another hour goes by and all the sudden I get this email from him.

Phil,

I am very sorry but a deposit had already been make on the bike earlier today and I wasn't aware of it until they just called from TN to see if I had received it.

Mike


So I am like what a cluster you know what is this thing been! I emailed him back with this "um.... I am confused... you accepted my second offer even though you screwed up the first time and I still trusted you on that and reconsidered and now you telling me you sold he bike to someone else AFTER you accepted the offer and asked for payment! I am confused but I am out of this deal. Good luck to you dude. But if they back out DO NOT call or email me about it. I dont want it now. It's too much trouble!"

Have you ever heard of such a screwed up thing in your life as this guys dealing with selling something? I know he saw that thing had not made $2800 plus like he saw and so he ended the sale. Then he played a game with several of us to see who would get the money in fastest. I figure that was the game now. So things happen for a reason I guess. But why waste my time if your not going to deal straight up with me. Maybe he is just a bumbling idiot or something but sheesh! Forget it!!!

I feel better now.

[paintbattler]

Good thing you didn't go ahead and send the money in.

[Tunaman]

Welcome to my world! Is it there yet? Did you get it yet? Did you ship it yet? Whats the tracking #? When should I expect to see it at my house? Can you ship it tomorrow? Is it there yet? Did you ship it yet? Is it there yet?....

[1stdeadeye]

Wasn't meant to be bro. Better you back out now then after you lay some cash down. Sounds like the guy is a jerk to begin with.

[cphilip]

Yea it was not ment to be I guess. Like I said. Things happen for a reason.

He seemed honest and I was never out any money and I was going to find out where he lived and had his phone number by the time we were about to do this. I was waiting on the info when he sent that email. But of course I had let two interesting deals go by at this point that I might have bought. In the end he just wasted my time is all. I had looked at a Suzuki Savage 650 that was newer and a sweet bike that now I have no idea if its there because I had made this guy an offer but being the honest person I was I was not going to back out until I heard from him. Apparently he does not feel the same way or do things the same way as that though eh?

Here is the bike I was trying to buy from him. 1996 with a tad under 6K on it. Lots of upgrades.



And here is a bike like I passed up (except the one I looked at was a 2002 and Black with 7k on it) but I will contact the shop on this one again and see if its still there. They were asking $3200 for this one

[1stdeadeye]

Dey ugly!

Stick with your scooters!

[cphilip]

Well they not Sport bikes. I not into those. I was looking for a commuter bike. The scooters are more like urban negotiation bikes. I do not want to go out on the road 18 miles to work with one. Although people do they not really for that.

These are sort of Metric Cruisers they call em. The Suzuki is mighty impressive in person. Longer and stretched out that it looks there in that picture. It feels nice too. Low seat level and upright riding posture. VERY comfortable. I wanted the Yamaha for its V twin and its Shaft drive. Although smaller cc. Its problem is its tank size is only 2.5 gallons. The Suzuki although bigger cc is a single big cyclinder and its Belt drive which is nice but not quite as nice as the Shaft. BUT it has a 2.8 gallon tank and it is longer and has the little sissy bar and some side pouches not to mention a good bit newer. The Yamaha is not a new option as they quit making that model in 2000. Shame as it was the best 500cc class Cruiser out there at that time but the gas tank size killed it for sales. Had they just increased that then it would still be the leader in sales. They made a "Special" model with a small auxilliary tank that was better. Hard to find them. But even those were still only about 2.8 Gallons.

[Major Jam]

For that kind of money, my first email would have been "Whats your phone number so we can talk about it." "Whats your address so I can come by and see it."

I'd never purchase a vehicle (car, truck, sea-doo, motorcycle) without seeing it in person first.

I think an in person phone call would have cleared most of the confusion and you could have cinched the deal in person with $2600 in cash.

[cphilip]

Dude I was going to see it before I paid something I could not reverse. A pay pal deposit of 500 bucks using a credit card to hold it and cancel the auction and sell it to me would be normal proceedure and not a risk. The rest was in cash WHEN I approved and inspected. He sent me many pictures of it and I did a lot of research. NADA and All those as well as specification research. Remember I was specificaly looking for a particular model. There is no doubt he has it and its mint. That stuff I could check. He tells me where he bought it from the dealer. I called em. He tells me his phone number. All those things and the fact I am only putting out 500 bucks deposit with a secure credit card for a specific VIN number which he lists in the auction is my protection. Think about it.... You want someone to cancel an auction for lower cash than they asking both locally and hopeing for in auction you have to offer a deposit. But one you can cancel and get back. Credit protection.... see? We talking 500 bucks there that is protected if he does not deliver and does not have it. So thats really a non issue. You think I fell of the turnip truck?

[cphilip]

Originally posted by Major Jam
I think an in person phone call would have cleared most of the confusion and you could have cinched the deal in person with $2600 in cash.

He went out of town on a trip right in the middle of it. He did call me to accept the offer and I was not home. Its Easter Sunday. I dont feel like calling him back now... Get it? He backed out. Its not a matter of him not having it. Its more than likely a matter of him playing several people to make sure it was sold and not telling the others he was doing it. It was a game no one knew they were playing. He has the bike. He had several offers and he didnt tell each of us it was a race. He just played it his way. Keeping us on a string. Because he could care less he just got greedy. No morals. No ethics. Thats the thing. He is honest as it goes as far as selling the Bike. They will get thier moneys worth. But he kept people strung along without knowing they were being played is all. Its not really dishonest. Its just not really honest and straight forward is all there is to it. Thats my real beef. He was not going to rip anyone off. But he was not going to be totaly up front either. His word is not his bond to that extent. Get it? Strange but its true. Thats why I was so frustrated. Because he does have a nice bike and he did sell it to me but before any money was changed he sold it to someone else. And I had no idea he was doing that. Had I known it was a game of racing I could have done some other things. But he contacted ME. And wanted me to buy it. At that point I was figuring it was sold to someone else! And THEN he cancelled! So I not calling anyone after that.

[Major Jam]

I get it now. Your original rant said you emailed him 4 or 5 times to communicate with him. My reply to your rant was to say I would have called him after one email. And I would not have emailed him further. I would have done the transaction in person.

I don't care how mint somebody says something is. Their mint and my mint are two different interpretations.

Your first email was negotiating a price... My first email would have been "I have cash can I come and see it? Whats you phone number?"

You'd almost have to fall off the turnip truck to paypal someone $500 without even knowing he actually had the bike.

[cphilip]

Yea .... you had to be there. I had to leave some stuff out cause its long. At first it was just "will you stop the auction" then there was some confusion over the price he would take for that.

Giving someone a retrievable deposit until you can inspect is normal and is safe if you do it right. He wanted it through pal pal. And that is good because Pay Pal will reverse it if he cannot prove he delivered the item. And using a credit card through pay pal then also gives you another level of protection.

But asking for a good faith deposit would be a normal thing. And to get someone to stop an auction you would expect them to ask. Its normal terms. There is nothing dangerous about it. $500 is the figure here. And its reasonable to me seeing the levels of protection I would have.

[graycie]

what a retard....

if the guy "mike" was going to be out of town during the middle of a pending deal he should of said something to the offers he had, instead of leaving it hanging. also it sounds like he was trying to be a hustler by changing the price for the bike and trying to juggle multiple offers.

[cphilip]

All I wanted was to know he was doing that. He can do that all he wants. I mean its his bike to sell. If he wants to play a game he can. But tell me the rules and I will decide to play or not. Had I known that was what he was doing I would not have played the game. I would have just said no thanks. Sell it to someone else. Simple.

He did not tell me he was going out of town until like Friday morning and I received that one after he had already left. Had I known that I would have made a decision before that point. He could have told me but waited until he was almost out the door to do so. And he did not say if or when he would check his email. If he did, and I suspect he did because he cancelled the auction, the never replied until he got back around 3 PM on Sunday.