Comments please on my FIRST TIME buying experience... - Page 2

mjshira · 10-01-2005, 02:20 PM

consider yourself lucky man. that smurf color is too much. now you have your money and the good people of this BBS to get you into a better car. good luck

boomvang · boomvang's Garage

Had you bitten and purchased this car for the additional bucks it would have bothered you the entire time of ownership, tainting what possibly may be the best vehicular relationship you will ever have. Kind of like paying for your first kiss. You did the right thing in walking away, and you will find the right 911 for you.

Bobboloo · Bobboloo's Garage

I've been finding the Pelican classifieds more and more treacherous lately. Even more so than ebay.

A ways back I bought some parts and paid the sellers' advertised price for them. No haggling just sent payment. The slimebag held onto my parts after recieving payment and then emailed me later that he decided to sell the parts to someone else who offered more money. He didn't seem to understand that that not only is immoral but technically illegal.

I eventually got my money back a couple of weeks later and consider myself lucky I didn't get totally burned.

I think maybe an angel was looking over your shoulder and did you a favor. You'll find a better car at a better price. Always remember, the money runs out before the good deals do.

AndrewMac · 10-02-2005, 08:58 AM

I forwarded the images and brochure for that car on to someone that had posted a request to mark, thinking he might be active duty again. I was trying to help someone on the board and always take it for granted that people that participate on the board are stand up and ethical. I am sorry i did anything to help him.... maybe if he reads all this and wants to make amends he'll pay you half the difference between what you were prepared to pay based on his offer and what he eventually sold it for.

P.S. I inquired about the car and decided it was greatly over priced based on the mileage and the very strange colour. Only a very few would live with that and it will hurt the resale of it greatly and it has bumped over the magic 100K speed bump. You would have taken it on the chin if/ when you decided to sell it or trade it away. Take solice. it's better you you still have your money and the chance at a deal with a non-schmuck.

pwd72s · 06:51 PM

$25K? Maybe think of entering the dark side instead of buying one of those late 80's luxury Porsches...this is getting into nicely street rodded 911T territory!

(edit) Here's a link to an early S registry discussion on one. I'm NOT saying this one car is the one for our jilted buyer...just offering up food for thought.
http://www.early911sregistry.org/forum/showthread.php?p=65720#post65720

FenderGuy · 10-02-2005, 09:18 AM

Yes I agree theres some people on here that think ther S""T don't stink. I too have been the victim of a dirtbag seller on here also. But I have to say move on that color was hella ugly in my OP and the seller was an ********* for dicking around with you....

Por_sha911 · Por_sha911's Garage

Galatians 6:7 "whatsoever a man soweth he shall also reap". Some people call is Karma but the principle is: rip someone off, expect to get ripped off someday.
IMO: the color was a bummer and I agree with Boomvang that the extra bucks would have been a sore point runing your joy of ownership.

Bob's Flat-Six · Bob's Flat-Six's Garage

Nothing new in private sales. Being a novice he probably realized you were a buyer at the higher price after quoting you the lower one.
He F'ed UP big time having you make the trip and not telling you the price was back up, that was low. And what was that worth ?

Some guy's do what they feel they have to do to get through this life. Playing dump and convenient memory's is usually a common mind set. The almighty buck is their ruler, not themselves.
One test of a mans honor is to not repeat this type of behavior.
i.e., I got f'ed, so I'm going to F the next guy. kinda like a little kid would think.

That was an easter egg color anyway, IMO. Get a color your girl likes too.

LeeH · 10-02-2005, 01:16 PM

Ok... the seller did a bad thing. No question about it. BUT... I'm just curious - if the seller had said the following to you when you arrived, what would you have done?

"I have a serious dilema here. After you arranged to drive out I got a call from a guy who said he would buy the car for $xxxx. I don't know your financial position, but to my family the difference is a heck of a lot of money. Now I told you I'd sell you the car for $19K, and if you absolutely insist on buying the car then I'll go through with the sale. I know I've seriously inconvenienced you, got your hopes up, etc., but if there's any way you can let me sell it to the other guy I would greatly appreciate it. I'll be happy to pay for your rental car and throw in a couple of hundred bucks for your time and trouble. What do you say?"

Steve 82SC · 10-02-2005, 01:23 PM

Twenty years ago, when looking to upsize my house, my mother mentions that a family "friend" was selling her house. The woman's husband had passed away a couple of years prior and she was selling the house. It was exactly, and I mean exactly what we were looking for. We struck up a deal, but while sitting at her kitchen table, I could see that her new husband, a real shady scumbag, had his wheels turning. The next thing I know, she calls me and tells me that she needs to get the asking price. I reminded her of the non-binding agreement that we had made, the finer points of honesty, etc, etc. Then I told her to shove her house. My wife was beside herself, saying, "What's the difference....pay her the extra money!" I told her it's a moral issue and passed on the house.....there would have been too many unpleasantries associated with the purchase for years to come. As it turns out, we bought a house great house that came onto the market shortly after exactly a half block away from the family "friend's" house" on an extra-wide lot with no garage.....allowed me to build a 3-car (the most important aspect of a house, in my opinion. She then sells the house and the new husband cleans out her bank account and absconds to Rio with his bimbo secretary. What goes around comes around. Don't worry, your car is out there.

Steve

Thomas Owen · 01:44 PM

Keep looking, the right one will show up.

yasir · 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LeeH
OK... the seller did a bad thing. No question about it. BUT... I'm just curious - if the seller had said the following to you when you arrived, what would you have done?

"I have a serious dilema here. After you arranged to drive out I got a call from a guy who said he would buy the car for $xxxx. I don't know your financial position, but to my family the difference is a heck of a lot of money. Now I told you I'd sell you the car for $19K, and if you absolutely insist on buying the car then I'll go through with the sale. I know I've seriously inconvenienced you, got your hopes up, etc., but if there's any way you can let me sell it to the other guy I would greatly appreciate it. I'll be happy to pay for your rental car and throw in a couple of hundred bucks for your time and trouble. What do you say?"

2 months ago i struck up a telephone deal with a guy in TX for $38,000 for my Supra TT.The guy said he will call me in a day or two to confirm with his purchase plan and that if i will hold the car for him until he gets back to me and i said no problemo.
The next day i had another interested party call me from CT and when he found out i was still waiting to hear from the TX guy,he offered me $38,500 and that he will pick up the car the following day.
Since i am not related to Mark,i honored the guy from TX first by letting him know about the CT fella to which he responded to go ahead and sell the car & that he will call me in a day/two to see if i still had the car.
I offered the car to CT fella at the same price that i asked from the first guy even though i could have gotten $38,500.
In this case since he couldn't keep his word i would have walked away from the car too.In my eyes the guy has ZERO credibility and hard to trust fella.
Moral of the story: Do what you want to be done to you.......

Joeaksa · 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LeeH
Ok... the seller did a bad thing. No question about it. BUT... I'm just curious - if the seller had said the following to you when you arrived, what would you have done?

"I have a serious dilema here. After you arranged to drive out I got a call from a guy who said he would buy the car for $xxxx. I don't know your financial position, but to my family the difference is a heck of a lot of money. Now I told you I'd sell you the car for $19K, and if you absolutely insist on buying the car then I'll go through with the sale.

I know I've seriously inconvenienced you, got your hopes up, etc., but if there's any way you can let me sell it to the other guy I would greatly appreciate it. I'll be happy to pay for your rental car and throw in a couple of hundred bucks for your time and trouble. What do you say?"

Lee, if the seller had done that I bet that Cam would have posted the results and I would have given the gent in BR the shirt off of my back if he needed.

Changing the price on someone after a 10 hour drive (remember its 5 hours each frigging way) is just not fair.

After this fiasco, if what Cam posted is anywhere near correct I would not be surprised if the seller stopped posting under his current name and go into hiding on the forum. No one would help him if they knew this story, I sure would not. You notice that he has not posted anything on this thread and if he is not blind, deaf or dumb, he knows about this thread. His last post was the day before this thread was started...

JoeA

Jeff Alton · 10-02-2005, 02:29 PM

You got shagged. But on the bright side, you can now look for a 911 painted in a nice color.

Cheers,

Joeaksa · 10-02-2005, 02:33 PM

Its also very interesting to read some of Mark Howard's posts on the forum. His comments on honesty and pay for the civilian workers makes fun reading, especially after the way he treated Cam on this possible sale ... go to page 2:

US Army doles out 10m bonus to Halliburton

Dantilla · 10-02-2005, 04:07 PM

I recently opted not to buy a set of (expensive) wheels from the classified section because I was not familiar with the seller's screen name. He posts only to buy and sell. I would feel much better buying from one of the many here who have lots of technical stuff to contribute to this great place.

ZX9RCAM · 10-02-2005, 04:46 PM

My BIG problem with what was done is that Mark had my cell phone number....I called him several times & even GAVE him my number to write down.

He should have called me before I drove to Louisiana!!!

I told him before I drove off that I could not believe he allowed me to drive all the way without calling.

I got stuck on I-10 at one point on the way home & only moved ~4 miles in 1 1/2 hrs.
I was 14 hours getting home from the time I left my house.

I took vacation to get off Friday....I paid for a rental car & it had to be picked up at the airport (big fun) cause that is the only place I could get a one-way rental & leave it across State lines. And I had to return it to the airport as well paying for 2 days because I could not get back in time to turn it in, plus all the gas.

The worst part is that he seems like a really nice guy....really can not believe he could turn out to be so inconsiderate of other people........a simple phone call would have prevented it all.

thanks for the support guys,

- Cam

yasir · 10-02-2005, 06:19 PM

Cam,
Tell you what,call Mark tell him you changed your mind and you will buy the car for $21,500 if he brings the car over to your place.Once he comes over take the car out for a spin,do all the paper work and then offer him $15,000

9dreizig · 10-02-2005, 06:29 PM

Hey be thankful that momentary lapse while you were in touch with your feminine side will pass!!! Reminds me of that commercial of the girl saying "who would want your lime green hatchback" LOL.
IMO, I have met some of the most quality people ever on Pelican, so don't lose faith!!! or in the words of Ronald Reagan "trust but verify" or was that Gorbachov ??

Sonic dB · Sonic dB's Garage

ZX9CAM... Your story is somewhat similar to mine recently.

Friday I flew 1500 miles to supposedly buy a 993 that was misrepresented by the dealer as "excellent" on Ebay and in about 15 phone calls over 2 weeks. I also had a local "Reputable Porsche Mechanic" do a PPI on the car and they said "this is one of the cleanest 993s that we have seen lately".

So I arrived expecting to buy the car and drive it home. To my amazement, the car was a complete POS. There were so many obvious issues wrong with the car, from mechanic to mechanical...the car had been ragged on completely. It was unbelievable to me that a Porsche dealer would pass of this dirty, mud in the engine, suspension shot, radio and speakers completely blown, spoiler guage light that wouldnt go off, hood shocks gone, clutch going, poor braking, carpet badly stained, scraped all over POS as an "excellent car".

Im also mad that the "Porsche mechanic" gave it a very clean PPI. I spoke to the shop owner after I saw the car and he admitted that he had barely even looked at the car! I insisted that he give me my money back on the PPI, since he obviously did not do the job requested of him. I hope to see this money.

As it is, Im still out over 1000 dollars for the flights etc plus one whole vacation day and a lot of aggravation.

Bottom line: Never trust what anyone tells you about a car....especially long distance.

And, I knew this going in...but I chose to ignere it because everything lined up and my dilligence in getting the car "checked out" was supposedly ok. You just cant trust anyone but yourself these days.