Michigan wacko from Craigslist?

JDEM

Well-known Member
I guess there are some wack-jobs here in Michigan too. I had hoped I escaped some of this nonsense after I left New York.

Some guy who says he is Alex Brtdges, Fly Ash Forge, Custom Metal Work Fabrication, 231-383-4057 in lower Michigan somewhere.

I posted an ad on the northern Michigan Craigslist. Pretty straight forward, or so I thought.

So this guy who seems to be from lower Michigan starts sending me questions.

#1 He asks about power requirements. I told him that depends on how much power he has to make. It can make a max of 15,000 watts but he can run it with less HP to make less watts.

#2 He asks if I posted actual photos. I said yes, because they are.

#3 He says he saw the same photos at the Smokestak forum from a few years ago and thinks he might report me as a scammer.

And then he tells me - or alludes to the idea I am giving false information because I said the generator had a problem years ago?

Well duh . . .I fixed it years ago.

At this point - I would not sell to this guy for any price. I was civil with him - but I've had it with this nonsense.

Note - I DID live in central New York for 40 years. Does that make me a criminal?

Note - I did use an older photo of the generator in the ad. it happens to be MY photo and it still looks exactly the same. I have it put away inside a barn an it was just easier to use an existing photo I had here in the house.

Oh well. I think I'd rather dig a hole and bury rather then sell to someone like this. I do not need the bucks. Just sick of it in my way in the barn and where it is stored - I don't even have a tractor with a PTO anymore. That is the problem of living in three different places in Michigan.
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That is why I sell very little on Craigslist anymore. Too many people with too much time on their hands. This is why I like an auction and then sell it As-is with a lower reserve. If it does not sell then I take it back home. I also take things to scrap that are still useable because I do not want the hassle.

When the weather warms up I am sending several dumpsters full to the scarp yard. The majority of the parts could be used but It is not worth it to me to fool with trying to sell the crap any more.

Like I often joke about my new life goal as I get older. Hit the Lotto so I can become a professional Hermit.!!! LOL
 
It's kind of a tough one sometimes, I have stopped high $ fraud involving A JCB 3cx backhoe loader That was for sale On ebay in the U.S. I knew the machine was sitting in a dealers lot in the U.K for sale at 3 times the price the same day. The pictures the fake seller was using had been carefully selected, or poorly photo shopped to hide things like machines/ building styles or license plates. i new these things weren't common to see in North America as I was raised in the U.k before coming to Canada. And the ad plus other things stated got my spider senses moving to.

They used 8 pictures, the dealer had 20 or more telling ones of the U.K backgrounds with his advert on the website he owns. Ebay took it down the first time, Then the seller got it back up somehow 2 days later. It Did sell supposedly then, but a few days later negative feed back turned up saying the seller had set up a fake shipping company. Plus they wouldn't let the buyer have a local mechanic verify the machine existed before payment.

I was right on there, It re appeared the second time with another fake add 2 weeks later, I reported that again and it and the ebay sellers that moved state from the first add I reported vanished. The dealer in the U.K still has it, and he knows to put his company name on his listing pictures now so guys can't steel his images, As I told him about it.

Somedays I figure I do have better stuff to do but that whole deal was glaringly wrong. Would I like loosing $20.000 on a fake ebay sale No so I dealt with it the best I could to help guys not get scammed. I was actually looking to import a similar machine from the U.K as they don't appear here with that spec often, there was another older one in Ontario with U.K spec on Kijij Those picures don't look right either but I can't prove it .
Regards Robert
 
If the guy was rude then he's rude.

But I can understand him questioning the ad after he recognized the old picture from New York. That would be how a scammer operates.
 
Yeah, too much time on their hands. One of the biggest PIA's I dealt with while working for Central Tractor would carry on about how much time his time was worth and when he was done at our place he would camp at the diner across the street. How do I know? Most of us from the store would go over for lunch in staggered shifts and he would be sitting over there sipping coffee. I asked the waitress one time about if it looked like he was engaged in business and she said he seldom used the pay phone and cell phones were far from common. I later found out he was early retired from Kodak for some injury settlement.
 
All he had to do is ask me directly instead of all the nonsense. Not too difficult to do if he had a sincere interest. I think he has hopes of being a "Russian collusion investigator" someday.
 
(reply to post at 13:40:29 02/18/18)

My partner has a hay rake for sale and his dad advertised it
On CRaigslist
There were calls coming from Georgia and Washington
Surely there are rakes closer
Doesn’t make any sense to me
Dugger
 
I answered a wanted ad for mower parts. The guy text back it was too far away. Last night he posted an ad for the same thing and posted his area. The farthest he could be from me is a slow two hour drive, and he was offering to pay twice what I wanted.
Of course I did sell a JD this week for asking price that went 175 miles away.
 
(quoted from post at 16:14:35 02/18/18)

Same thing is rampant on Craigslist.
Usually a good looking machine for a great price.
But the big tip off is in the description of features that are irrelevant or assumed by the potential buyer.

Most seem to try getting you to respond via email to a gmail account. Or to text them and then they want to redirect to a gmail address to continue the deal.
 

TOO funny!

The other guy is probably posting on a Forum somewhere about the Craig's WACKO/potential scammer he dealt with (you) and just as upset!

Just say'in.
 
You never know I had a parts Allis Chalmers C on CL with a sickle mower on it for like $400 a guy from 800 miles away calls about it.Said he wants it and is going to head my way,next day
I get a call he's at a gas station about 5 miles from my house.Anyway he ends up buying 3 different tractors I didn't have advertised.
 
JDEM, don't take his response personal. Lots of people who use craigslist have a very narrow mind. Yes you were from NY. Yes there are whack jobs There, but that doesn't mean you are one just cause you lived there. There are just people who think anyone who would LIST, or ANSWER a listing from outside their area must be a scammer. I regularly purchase things off of craigslist from outside my area. It really is hard sometimes for me to explain why I would buy something that far from home. When I am looking for something like a rust free Superduty with a blown engine I have to look in the south. At least 800 miles from home. I have bought 200+ HP tractors, trucks, tools, and even livestock from outside my area. It sometimes does look funny until I explain why I would look that far from home. I will apologize for this person, not all of us from Northern Michigan are like this. Also not all people from the Empire State are Whack jobs. Al
 
A lot of you guys sell stuff on Craigslist as a part time job, and yea you meet all kinds.

But try buying stuff off of Craigslist some time. You meet the same crazy folk in that direction too. In fact, a whole lot of scammers out there when you are trying to buy....

I wouldn't be too hard on the guy. You get beat down and disheartened as a buyer after a while too.

While you didn't plan it, you did kinda have a few warning signals there that you might not be what you claimed to be?

Paul
 
If you're gonna let one wackadoo get you down, you probably shouldn't be using Craigslist.

Too bad you don't live in NY anymore. I would've bought that generator off you in a heartbeat.
 
The scammer accusation was one thing. I think what ticked me off even more was this guy trying to tutor me on electric fundamentals.

He had asked me how much horsepower it takes to run the generator. I told him it depends on how much power he needed to make and if he runs at half output, he only needed half the horsepower.

He responded telling me I was wrong. I am not wrong and he does not know what the heck he is talking about.

No skin off my nose if someone out there is ignorant and/or stupid. Once someone like that tries to lecture me and basically calls me a liar? Then I lose patience real fast.
 

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