What can/should I do???

I have a question for all of you that have more experience buying and selling boats than I do. I have been looking for a decent fishing boat for several months. I finally found one that I could afford and liked. It was in the classified section of IDA. So, I email the seller back and forth several tims and found out everything I wanted to know about that boat. I am sure it was that one I want and call him up. We had a nice long chat and we agreed upon a price and a meeting location (I’m 4.5 hours from him) and I told him that I would take the boat and could meet him just about anytime (except this past weekend) to pay him and pick it up. He said great and we traded emails back and forth last week. I even told him that I would mail him a deposit if he wanted me to. Well I get an email from him saying that he doesn’t want to sell that boat because he doesn’t have a boat lined up and it is too close to spring not to have a boat. As a fisherman, I can understand his feeling, but he did have it for sale in the classified, we did agree on a price and I went and got a loan for the boat. I can pay the loan right off, but I had to pay a loan origination fee from my bank. I don’t think it is right that he backed out of the deal and now I’m stuck being out money. I emailed him this morning asking him about this and haven’t heard back from him (in his defense he may not of replied because he is at work). Is there anything I can do? I don’t want to be a jerk and this guy seems like a real nice guy but what can/should I do?

Sorry for being so long winded

Alvin, I believe that is where you are wrong. I know that, at least in Iowa, an oral agreement IS a legally binding contract.

I would tend to say you would have a hard time seeing it stand up in court Rookie. Anytime you run into a “he says – she says” it gets tough. Is he/she an Iowa resident also?

First off, I am sorry to hear what happened. The only type of contract that will stand in court is going to be a written and signed contract. Verbal means squat. Sorry

Kizew, I hear ya. I’m not the suing type and wasn’t even thinking of going that route. Just think it is pretty ignorant of someone to do. And no, he isn’t an iowa res, he is in Mn

All I can say is I feel for you bud. Getting a boat should be so exciting and this dampens that for sure. If you don’t have a VIN number tied to the loan, Alvinmack has a great idea – find another. I know that the last thing you want to hear is everything happens for a reason, but I believe that from the bottom of my heart.

Kizew and Mack are right. Keep the loan open. Also, “everything happens for a reason”………There is so much truth to that statement!

The boat is probably a piece of junk and you are better off without it!

By the way, I’m selling my rig!
Just kidding!

Censoring my own post

I thought about shooting James a PM but then I went back and looked at the guy’s profile. Seems he is of the guys that takes advantage of the free classifieds. His only posts are on his classified with his boat for sale. I guess I should have paid attention to that too. Crappy way to learn about people and boats, but a lesson non the less.

My understanding is a verbal agreement is considere legally binding. You also have the email and PM’s to verufy the agreement. If you wanted to, you could technically hold him to his end of the deal. I have taken Business Law in college and will dig the law book out to see where you stand on this situation.

While I agree it’s his rig and he can do what he pleases, I also think that’s BS! To spend time haggling, come to a price, then back out after the guy has already got the loan! You should let us know the guy that pulls stuff like this so we all know not to cut a deal with him! I agree with the others though, lots of other good boats out there.

BIRDDOG

I worked in the grain industry in Iowa for 18 years, at least as far as the grain was concerned a verbal deal or contract over the phone was binding and legal, don’t know if that covers boats, but that has been my experience.

i have to completely agree w/ bird dog on this one

Yes, I’m pretty sure I would have solid ground to make him honor that deal but that wouldn’t be very smart on my part. It would be pretty easy for a guy that would back out of a deal to convienantly sabbotage the boat and then I would be out the entire loan and have a large P.O.S on my hands. I’m going to wait and see what happens over the next day or so but as far as I’m concerned that right thing for him to do if he wants to keep the boat is to send me the $$ to cover the loan origination amount and for me not to drag his name through the mud. Sorry I had to vent here but I know you guys/gals would be able to feel my pain. Certainly not the end of the world. Just a crappy day in an otherwise great life. Thanks for all of the replies and yes I’m looking for a fishing boat.

Bum deal! I’d post his name…he needs to be “flushed” out. Thats just plain wrong! But I must admit, in todays day and age, not many men will stand by their word. Used to be a mans word was his bond. Now days, even a handshake don’t mean squat.

Now on the flip side, I would like to pass on a huge THANKS to Willie Kuecker. He made a deal with me by e-mail on an item I was looking for and stayed true to his word. He even dropped off the item in La Crosse and my wife met him and picked it up from him. There are truely some good people out there yet, thats why the bad ones need to be exposed.

I once sold a car to a guy. He told me he wanted the car, gave me a deposit, said
he was going to talk to his bank for the money. You guessed it he couldn’t get financing.
So I told him “hey I’ve been telling people the car is sold”. So I ended up giving him his deposit back minus my 80 bucks for the classified ad. Maybe this guy could help you out on your origination fee.

“Origination fee?”
I’d be looking for a new bank.

jeremiah,

what does *Censored* mean?????

Censoring my 2nd post

no i didn’t konw, i did just look up the definition in webster’s ninth new collegiate dictionary. you forgot to finish the whole definition though, you forgot—sometimes taken to be offensive. thanks for explaining it to me………tom fellegy

IMO, you can post his member name/user ID here so no one else ends up in the same position. If he’s only been posting in the classifieds, he shouldn’t be posting there anyway. The classified ads are free for active members and are not intended to be somebody’s mock ebay! You could send a PM to James and if he’s only been posting in the classifieds he should be banned from the site. We hope to have a fix for classified-only users in a few weeks (as in, there won’t be any of them left here). As for your situation, lesson learned I guess. I don’t think there’s a thing you can do that’s going to be worth your time and trouble. The classifieds are great but it’s buyer beware when you buy from private parties. Sorry this happened to you rookie.

One other thought, there are some boat dealers that sponsor this site. You might call them too. There’s a sponsor guide in the upper portion of this website. Good luck!

last one

I am no law expert, but I have the sense to know that is horse [censored]. I sincerely hope that guy lives up to his agreement with you.

Not to cause a problem, but, if you have the ad of the boat for sale, he has to, that is law! I know this from first hand experience…

WHen the new server comes on line, Classified ads will have to be approved by a Moderator or a Staff member. The Spirit of the the “Free to members” classifieds has been violated many times over. If you look at the amount of “One Timers” that sell things on the classifieds, it would make your collective heads spin! That is one of the reasons we wanted established members posting in there. Not someone who is here today, and gone tomorrow with your money maybe.
Tuck

Luke, as with the law…we have a policy for the classifieds that aren’t always followed for one reason or other.

My hat’s off to the moderators of those forums. I’ve seen what they have to go through to “try” to keep the “pro sellers” out.

It’s a full time job…with voluteer pay!

Sorry to hear about your trouble, My opinion is this:Get him to pay you for your origination fee, then, if your loan is tied to a Serial #, talk to your banker and see what they can do for you, if it is not tied to a serial number, keep the loan open and find a different boat. One other suggestion I have, and it is hard to do if you are interested in a boat far away, Always ask for a “test drive” before you hand over the money. It is too bad that a mans word isn’t good enough anymore!! I Have been fortunate myself, and any deals I have initiated through IDA users, have went very well, There are just a few abusers here, and I think the new server will be great when they can enforce the policies better. I would post the scums name here, and PM james with the info, and my guess is he will BAN that user.

I’d say the seller jumped the gun. He shouldn’t have offered it for sale unless he was sure he could sell it. Feeling out the market is not uncommon however it sounds like this went a little too far. Move on. You’ll be better off for it.

Okay, so here is an update.
1) My loan is not tied to a VIN#, it is an open unsecured loan.
2) The seller did email me last night and told me that, and I quote….”The last thing I want you to do is to lose $100, lets be honest, that can buy alot of minnows. If that is the way it has to be, then continue with the purchase and let me know when you want to pick it up” ……but originally we were going to meet halfway, now I need to go all the way to pick it up.
3) The seller is not a classifieds hound. His boat listing were the only posts I could find from him. But I agree with the mods about watching the classified posting hounds. If I ever sell something, I wouldn’t have a problem giving something back to the site.
4) The seller put this up here for sale in early winter so he probably planned on selling it alot earlier and finding a different boat before spring…(I just looking at all sides of it, even though I know he was wrong to do this)
5) Now I don’t know what I should do. Should I back out now for fear the he might saggotage the boat? BTW, this isn’t a new boat, it a 93′ model but in unbelievable shape.

Some people call me a fool…well, ok…many people call me a fool!

…but I believe in positive intentions.

Get it in the water and try it out first. That would be a recommendation either way.