[carbking]

Finishing off the stuff left in my parents estate. Offered some fairly nice items on local radio call-in show to give away.

One really nice, older Singer sewing machine, with all attachments, in solid wood cabinet - Free! 1st caller - "can you take pictures of all sides, and send them to me"?

One nice computer/typing desk - one of the more expensive pressed wood put-together versions, with slide-out keyboard shelf, and back cabinet for storage. Again - free. 1st caller "yes, I want it, can you deliver it to me? I only live 25 miles from you"!

Well, the 2nd caller was delighted to get the sewing machine, and another 2nd caller was happy with the computer desk!

At least no one asked me to pay them to take something!

Jon.

[David Jones]

We moved Mom (vascular dementia) out of her house about a year ago and it fell to me to divide everything up. I separated out her personal stuff like pictures etc and put that in one pile and ended up breaking that out into various piles based on who in the family would end up with it. Nobody wanted any of the furniture/kitchen stuff/whatever else so I called a local 2nd hand charity and they sent a truck for the rest. We listed the house on Facebook and Craigslist and sold it on a contact from Facebook in a couple of days. While that sounds fairly easy it was the job from hell and I was so glad to see the truck leave with the last "stuff" and then driving away from the closing attorneys office MINUS Mom's house keys.
Bless her heart, Mom doesn't even remember the house and her mother bought it and lived in it for many years then Mom moved into it for 2 decades.

[Boogy]

A shipment arrived on an LTL carrier dock truck the day after a location I was visiting's forklift was sent in for service. I happened to be in this office that day when a 28 year old "manager" came in proudly proclaiming he was "sending the load back" because the forklift wouldn't be back until the next day and upper management should know better. I went out in the shop to investigate and found the truck backed up to the loading dock with two pallets w/36 boxes, each weighing about 40lbs. There were empty pallets all over and six younger guys walking around trying not to get dirty. You should have seen the reaction when I told them we were going to unload those pallets by hand onto the empty pallets I dragged over. We were done in 15 mins or so.

I keep telling myself "I only have 5 more years of work" and "Relax, you'll be dead before this country is totally fkd"

[Two_70_Converts]

"Relax, you'll be dead before this country is totally fkd"

and I thought I was the only one thinking this.

[BOB VIDAN]

Last summer I had 2 window air conditioners, both working for free, just come pick them up. Woman emailed and said she had to have them, would I hold them for her for 2 hours. I said yes and gave her my cell phone number in case something happened. She called right at 2 hours and said she missed connections but would be there in 20 or so minutes. I was working in the back of the shop, she showed and looked at them and wanted both. I said perfect, I'll load them for you. She said that will be a problem, "I came on the bus". I said good luck and she replied I told her I would deliver them. I never said that, left them outside and went home. They were gone the next morning, probably picked up by a scrapper.

[gtohunter]

Had to liquidate my In laws place after Father in law passed. 9 acres, tons of antique tractors, machine shop/wood shop equipment and a very nice darkroom with all the bells and whistles. Had to be done in a hurry as estate was being sold.
Had a prof. auctioneer come in and they pretty much swindled the Mother in law, sold a lot for scrap price, as he brought the bidders with him and they had a game plan! For instance, a 10" ID/OD grinder and a couple dozen wheels went for $47 !!
Put the darkroom stuff and hundreds of board feet of hardwoods (oak, philippine mahogany, maple, and more) on Craigslist for free..
lots of "I'm coming" calls, and NOBODY showed up! 3 Trips to the landfill later, had the darkroom cleaned out, and had a big ol' bonfire that night getting rid of the hardwoods!

[Radman]

People like that are the reason that the guy in another thread crushed a Dodge Charger.

[Simple Man]

I know the feeling.

[Lemans64]

You may be old, but not out of Touch. Mellenials think we should give everything to them, LOL.
sometimes it's not just them though. Sold a Edelbrock POS Carb a while back, delivered it to the guy
or half way, his buddy got mouthy after the deal, that if I had not of met him we wouldn't of had a deal.
20 minute drive for me, 10 for him, WTF. Felt like giving his money back and taking carb home.

[MUSLCAH]

People suck !

[64speed]

As you all know I’m building a Tempest. My garage has about 30 grand worth of parts waiting to go on after the paint job and other sundry items. One day the UPS driver asks what I’m building cause I am always getting parts shipments. I just said a 64 Pontiac. He asked to see it so I opened the garage and pushed it out into the driveway and showed off my aluminum 9 inch and all my tubular control arms and Wilwood brakes with 18x8 wheels on all four corners. You could see the engine in the garage too. I told him all my plans for it and when I was done he asked me what it was. I said it’s a Tempest. He said something about it being cool if it was a GTO I was like get the **** out of here LOL

[Formulabruce]

It used to be "Stand and Deliver!"
Now it's "Free and Deliver it"

[Chris65LeMans]

Originally Posted by BOB VIDAN

Last summer I had 2 window air conditioners, both working for free, just come pick them up. Woman emailed and said she had to have them, would I hold them for her for 2 hours. I said yes and gave her my cell phone number in case something happened. She called right at 2 hours and said she missed connections but would be there in 20 or so minutes. I was working in the back of the shop, she showed and looked at them and wanted both. I said perfect, I'll load them for you. She said that will be a problem, "I came on the bus". I said good luck and she replied I told her I would deliver them. I never said that, left them outside and went home. They were gone the next morning, probably picked up by a scrapper.

I don’t think anyone can beat that story.

[Will]

I loathe trying to sell things. I don't even bother any more for items worth less than a couple hundred. Dealing with all the knuckleheads drives me crazy.

Recently sold my old '84 Toyota 4x4 truck. The body was in great shape, straight and rust free except for a couple typical spots in the bed. Had nice 32" tires on it, rebuilt front axle, upgraded brakes, etc. The engine was shot and I'd pulled it, partially disassembled it and put it in the bed along with the transmission and a bunch of other parts.

I posted about 15 pictures of it from all angles, including underneath and a couple pics of the parts including the engine in the bed. I wrote a detailed ad describing everything that I'd done to it and it's current condition. I don't know how many stupid "is it still for sale?" messages I got. The ad very clearly stated that it would be taken down as soon as the thing sold. Like I have time to answer "is it for sale?" 100 times. And usually when you answer "yes" you never hear anything more from these people.

Then there were the lowballers. Guys offering half my asking price, which was quite low to begin with. One guy was like "well, I have to come tow it" and I said "yeah, that's why I'm only asking $1500 and not $3000, which is what it would be worth if it ran good."

Then there was the guy who wrote me a big long note about how he really wanted this truck and could I hold it for him and he'd come get it that weekend and he'd been looking for a project just like it and had always wanted one of these trucks, yadda yadda yadda. I told him I don't hold anything, the first person to show up with cash takes it so get back in touch with me when the weekend comes around to see if I still have it. Never heard from him again either.

Then there was the guy who actually wanted to talk to me rather than texting. When he got me on the phone he asked where it was located and then said he'd come pick it up the next day. He didn't say anything about a trailer or anything and something didn't seem right so I asked if he was bringing a trailer. He said "what? There's something wrong with it?" I said "yeah, it doesn't run and the engine's in the bed. Did you read the ad or look at the pictures?" and he actually said he hadn't read the ad!

Even the guy who eventually bought it was hard to communicate with. He'd send these cryptic texts of only a few words, some of them misspelled. I was frankly surprised when he showed up with a trailer and a buddy and cash.

All in all it took a little over two weeks to sell it and I got a ton of people sending texts that I never heard from again even though I replied to them.

I'm going to be selling my daily driver Honda pretty soon and I'm really dreading going through all that again...

[mechanickeith]

I put a perfectly good working fridge in the driveway with a sign that said "FREE Works good" IT sat there for 2 weeks. Nobody even stopped to look at it. I turned the sign around & wrote "For Sale $25.00 dollars, Works good" It was gone when I came home that evening!!

[Drag Star Le Mans]

After reading these I don't want to sell at the local spring swap meet! I stopped selling at swap meets because of stories like these. Well if you're in the area and want to laugh at my misery stop by the spring swap met in Monroe.

[Heybuck]

None of you are alone in all this.

I restore old light fittings. Some very old, some very expensive, some very difficult to do. So just over 3 years ago a woman brings me an old crystal chandelier. Nice thing, probably worth to buy in a retail antique shop maybe A$2500.00. Tells me she had just had her credit card scammed and she would send me the deposit ($800) in a few days. She seemed honest and it suited me to start on the job straight away. Finished it about a fortnight later and no cash. Multiple, multiple phone calls and text messages and no payment. But promises, promises....
So after 5 months, I wrote a certified letter, told her the job was ready and she had 30 days to collect it or I would dispose of it. Man, I got a blast on the phone. "A relative had died" "Husband was ill" Blah blah blah. Told her I was sorry and to contact me soon as she was able. Months go by and I text again. More promises. No cash. Eventually I send another certified letter giving her 30 days to pay and collect. Not one more word from her.
So I waited maybe another 60 days and I sold it. Got my money back and the antique dealer got a good item to on-sell. Which he did.
Then a full 9 months later, this woman rings me a says she wants her light back. Does not want to pay anything, says I should not have started on it. Says HER SON was going to do it for her. I told her it had been sold, she threatens me with legal action so I told her I'd welcome it. Still waiting. Fortunately I kept records of every communication with her. Nut case woman..

[66sprint6]

Here's how I reworded my add after trying to sell some wheels for cheap.


https://www.kijiji.ca/v-auto-body-pa...gto/1467296165

[scott70]

Originally Posted by Heybuck

None of you are alone in all this.

I restore old light fittings. Some very old, some very expensive, some very difficult to do. So just over 3 years ago a woman brings me an old crystal chandelier. Nice thing, probably worth to buy in a retail antique shop maybe A$2500.00. Tells me she had just had her credit card scammed and she would send me the deposit ($800) in a few days. She seemed honest and it suited me to start on the job straight away. Finished it about a fortnight later and no cash. Multiple, multiple phone calls and text messages and no payment. But promises, promises....
So after 5 months, I wrote a certified letter, told her the job was ready and she had 30 days to collect it or I would dispose of it. Man, I got a blast on the phone. "A relative had died" "Husband was ill" Blah blah blah. Told her I was sorry and to contact me soon as she was able. Months go by and I text again. More promises. No cash. Eventually I send another certified letter giving her 30 days to pay and collect. Not one more word from her.
So I waited maybe another 60 days and I sold it. Got my money back and the antique dealer got a good item to on-sell. Which he did.
Then a full 9 months later, this woman rings me a says she wants her light back. Does not want to pay anything, says I should not have started on it. Says HER SON was going to do it for her. I told her it had been sold, she threatens me with legal action so I told her I'd welcome it. Still waiting. Fortunately I kept records of every communication with her. Nut case woman..

its people like this that make me tell my wife I cant stand alot of people. We did some work on a womans house that was damaged and her insurance co was paying for the repairs. She asked us to do a bunch of additional work while we were there. At the end of the job she got the bill for the addtional work. She said she didnt have the money. We asked then why did you ask us to do the extra work and the response was " if i told you i didnt have the money you wouldnt of done the extra work". Yup. I think the guy i was working for ate the money cause his lawyer said it wasnt worth it IHO. Come to find out later from other people that she was a strange duck.

[TAKerry]

Originally Posted by mechanickeith

I put a perfectly good working fridge in the driveway with a sign that said "FREE Works good" IT sat there for 2 weeks. Nobody even stopped to look at it. I turned the sign around & wrote "For Sale $25.00 dollars, Works good" It was gone when I came home that evening!!

Years ago my buddy was trying to give away puppies. They were shepherd/keeshound(sorry dont know how to spell it) mix. He lived on a busy road and had a 'free puppies' sign for a couple of weekends with no luck. Then he put a 'For sale $50 puppies' up. Sold them all that weekend. Everyone asked why he was selling so low, he told them they were mutts. But as soon as he put a name and value to them everyone wanted one.