Howdy all, apologies for the rant…

So i’ve nearly always bought second hand bikes and have never had any problems.
I saw a SC bronson v2 advertised at 3.7k this week. The bike had been on for a while so i figured i would send an (admittedly cheeky) offer for 2.7k. I figured it was either the start of a negotiation or he could just ignore my offer.

Anyway seller got back to me to say yes bike was still available and he would accepet 2..7. Kind of suprised , too good to be true and all that, but after speaking onthe phone he was selling due to medical reasons and everything seemed to check out and he seemed genuine. He passed out at work and had been advised by his dr not to ride steep hills anywmore yada yada and needed the money for an ebike.

We confirmed £2.7 again on the phone and i explained i lived across the country and we arranged that I would set off at 6:00am in order to reach his mid morning. all good.

After a 4.h our drive across the country i checked the bike, all good. i handed over the cash which he took inside for his “banker” (mrs) to count ( i was with the bike in the garden).

At which point his wife shouted out “how much should be here?”
I said 2.7 to which the bloke replied “err,..uh..no mate i want 3.7 for the bike? that’s insulting it cost me 6k”.

After showing him the email which he agreed the price of 2.7 he apologies and
says that it was his mistake and that he “got all giddy with my offer?” WTF?

To be fair to him he offered me 20 quid for my trouble, which he didnt need to but all in all i drove for 9 hours today and it cost me 1.5 tanks of petrol.
To say i was disappointed is an understatment. 🙁

It’s a plot! They swapped your real notes for fake ones!

Conspiracy theory ha

*Pictures how much bike £2,700 gets you in the sales from a bike shop….*

It’s a plot! They swapped your real notes for fake ones!

This

Just as a note: who pays cash for such large purchases these days? Bank transfers are now more or less instantaneous, so you can shift the money to their account and have them check it there and then. This has the advantage that, if it’s fraudulent, you’ve added another piece of traceability to the transaction. The transfer can’t be reversed and it’s much less faff (and more secure) than carrying wodges of cash around (or accepting wodges of cash from strangers).

Other than that, I would put this down as “shit happens” I’m afraid 🙁

*Pictures how much bike £2,700 gets you in the sales from a bike shop….*

Not nearly as much as it will get you on the used market, if you’re willing to look around a bit and take a bit of a risk. Nothing depreciates harder than used bikes…

I know, but there’s less chance of driving half way across the country to a no show! (or elaborate scam!) 🙂

Lol. Low-baller; got what you deserved

Ha. Lesson learned i guess!

You’ve got a contract the bike is yours, no way would I gave been fobbed off . To say I would have been unhappy is an understatement !!! The £20 quid would have been stuck were the sun don’t shine.

These things happen, mistakes are made and it seems like no one is the winner. The perils of dealing with private individuals and the used market in afraid.

As for contract, good luck enforcing that! I’m sure you wouldn’t be happy, but seems to me to be a reasonable cock up, guess he wasn’t expecting someone to lowball his price by a grand!

Nothing wrong with making low offers. All the seller had to do was say no rather than be spinless and waste everyone’s time. Unless as above it’s a scam of some
Sort

Maybe I’m a little out of date but I stil buy things for cash

What they said about note swapping. No danger I’d be letting that kind of cash out of my sight until the deal was done!

That’s pretty poor behaviour from the seller.

Especially with:

We confirmed £2.7 again

.

You’ve got a contract the bike is yours, no way would I gave been fobbed off

Not until money has changed hands, up until then everything is negotiable.

What would you do? Demand the seller give you the bike? Stamp your feet? Sit down protest?

I’d have been furious. 9 hours driving on a day off is not offset with £20. “Giddy with the offer” so he knew it was an offer and he accepted it, what was he expecting? You to pull another grand out your pocket since you’d driven so far? The note swapping does sound plausible given how ridiculous the rest of it is.

“err,..uh..no mate i want 3.7 for the bike? that’s insulting it cost me 6k”.

I hate people who are insulted by offers based on what they paid. It’s irrelevant, the only thing that matters is what it’s worth to other people and clearly it’s not worth the 3.7k since no one has bought it.

On here, or ebay?

Give it time, he’ll come crawling back.

He’s probably just still angry with himself for spunking £6k on a bike in the first place.

Sounds like a noob if he thinks he’s gonna get that much for a used bike.

He did seem genuinely embarrassed about the whole sorry affair. I suspect he may of had mild learning difficulties. Ah well mistakes happen. I’ll just chalk it down to experience!

So the guy admitted he knew it was “an offer” then? Who makes an offer for the asking price????? No one.

He’s taking the pi$$ and to say I wouldn’t have been happy is an understatement.

The Santa Cruz frame and bearing warranty is for the original owner isn’t it?

So asking 50% for a bike with no warranty seems pretty reasonable.

Or does the SC warranty transfer to new owners? I don’t think so.

if you had offered me a grand less, i would have said yes, and have you drive over, then tell you to piss off.
just for the fun of it.

Ha. Lesson learned i guess!

TBF, the seller sounds like an utter clownshoe.

Offering a grand less though, I wouldn’t have even bothered responding to you. But paying over three grand for a second hand MTB is insane; guess that’s what you expect when you’re an idiot who spends six grand on an MTB in the first place!

ton – Member
if you had offered me a grand less, i would have said yes, and have you drive over, then tell you to piss off.
just for the fun of it.

Of course you would’ve.

I reckon he accepted the offer, then wife found out, she’s not happy, he caves

if you had offered me a grand less, i would have said yes, and have you drive over, then tell you to piss off.
just for the fun of it.

😀

if you had offered me a grand less, i would have said yes, and have you drive over, then tell you to piss off.
just for the fun of it.

Made me and mstomhoward chuckle

ton – Member
if you had offered me a grand less, i would have said yes, and have you drive over, then tell you to piss off.
just for the fun of it.

I guess “be a dick” would have won in this instance then.

Lol at Tony! Top form today big fella! 😆

The Santa Cruz frame and bearing warranty is for the original owner isn’t it?

So asking 50% for a bike with no warranty seems pretty reasonable.

Or does the SC warranty transfer to new owners? I don’t think so.
Correct, it’s for the original, registered owner:
http://www.santacruzbikes.co.uk/warranty

This does have a great deal of value, so I’d certainly be knocking a fair bit off for the loss of value for this.

Offering a grand less though, I wouldn’t have even bothered responding to you. But paying over three grand for a second hand MTB is insane; guess that’s what you expect when you’re an idiot who spends six grand on an MTB in the first place!

Meh, ridiculous statement. A non-cyclist would consider a £500 bike to be ludicrously excessive and the chap with his £500 bike may well think the same of the chap on the £2k bike who, it seems, is scornful of people who buy the properly expensive kit.

Just because you don’t want it, don’t be rude about those who do. It just makes you look a little jealous.

Make sure you’re dealing with the decision maker.

But good’un Ton!

I sold a Scott road bike years ago we agreed a price meet half-way then he said he could only get X amount out of bank so gave me £30 less which pissed me of at the time a bit but what goes around comes around he had it nicked few weeks later Hay Ho.