What would you do about this fiasco?
04-29-22, 06:42 AM
#51
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I would not have even spent the 5 minutes starting this thread....
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04-29-22, 08:01 AM
#55
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A woman I know was looking for a replacement SRAM 10 sp mechanical shifter. She is a member of our club and someone I've know for at least 10 yrs. We've always been on good terms. She knows I have extra "stuff" lying around so she called and asked if I knew where she could find the shifters. As it turns out, I had exactly what she needed. SRAM Ribal 10 sp. with less than 1,000 miles on them.
When I bought my GURU I swapped them out for SRAM Red. Actually, a friend and former LBS owner had done the swap for me. They have been sitting in a box on the shelf for about 4 yrs. So this woman came over with her new boyfriend to buy the shifters. FWIW they are both around 50 yrs old. He took the shifters out of the box to examine them. They bought them for $100 and went off.
I should mention that this woman is recently divorced, has no money and is trying to rebuild her life. I had previously given her a wheel set with Vittoria tires and tubes. As I said, she has no money and I was trying to help. About 4 days later I get a text. She says her BF tried to fit the shifters and discovered that the one she needed doesn't work. I was more than a little surprised but thought maybe there was an internal issue so I gave her the $100 back and took the box of shifters. I never even looked at them.
I took them straight to my LBS and asked them to check them out. I have a very good relationship with the shop. The owner opened the box and said, "Well there's your problem. The lever is snapped off." WTF? So I called my friend who had done the swap and he said they were perfect and he had wondered why I even wanted to swap them. So, I texted her and gave her the run down. I'll skip all the discussion but I made it clear that IMO the lever was snapped during a failed attempt to install it.
At this point I should mention that the LBS has said that if someone didn't know what they were doing they could easily mount them only to find them inoperable. Then they could have used excessive pressure thinking they had to shift it harder and snap it. Let me also mention that when I first texted her I think she realized the BF screwed up. She offered to give me the $100 back. I declined. As I said she has no money. Her full time job is as a midwife. I've pretty much settled on moving on but with her out of my life. Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts or observations about this.
When I bought my GURU I swapped them out for SRAM Red. Actually, a friend and former LBS owner had done the swap for me. They have been sitting in a box on the shelf for about 4 yrs. So this woman came over with her new boyfriend to buy the shifters. FWIW they are both around 50 yrs old. He took the shifters out of the box to examine them. They bought them for $100 and went off.
I should mention that this woman is recently divorced, has no money and is trying to rebuild her life. I had previously given her a wheel set with Vittoria tires and tubes. As I said, she has no money and I was trying to help. About 4 days later I get a text. She says her BF tried to fit the shifters and discovered that the one she needed doesn't work. I was more than a little surprised but thought maybe there was an internal issue so I gave her the $100 back and took the box of shifters. I never even looked at them.
I took them straight to my LBS and asked them to check them out. I have a very good relationship with the shop. The owner opened the box and said, "Well there's your problem. The lever is snapped off." WTF? So I called my friend who had done the swap and he said they were perfect and he had wondered why I even wanted to swap them. So, I texted her and gave her the run down. I'll skip all the discussion but I made it clear that IMO the lever was snapped during a failed attempt to install it.
At this point I should mention that the LBS has said that if someone didn't know what they were doing they could easily mount them only to find them inoperable. Then they could have used excessive pressure thinking they had to shift it harder and snap it. Let me also mention that when I first texted her I think she realized the BF screwed up. She offered to give me the $100 back. I declined. As I said she has no money. Her full time job is as a midwife. I've pretty much settled on moving on but with her out of my life. Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts or observations about this.
it's $100 bucks..move on
you did exactly the right thing
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04-29-22, 08:03 AM
#56
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Sooo….what’s she using for shifters now? 😂
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04-29-22, 11:17 AM
#61
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I wonder if they were parts swappers? Are the shifters the exact same ones you sold them? In the radio hobby world some times "parts swappers" with a broken radio will buy a similar radio from someone online, swap out the bad part with the good part from the new radio, then contact the seller and claim the radio didn't work upon arrival and demand a refund. They get the refund, send the now-broken radio back to the seller and use their repaired radio. I was wondering if maybe these two hatched a scheme to swap out their broken parts with good parts, but it would take some knowing about bicycle parts and getting the exact same parts they wanted to swap.
Still, claiming "these parts don't work" and then giving them back to the OP in broken condition ought to negate getting their money back.
Still, claiming "these parts don't work" and then giving them back to the OP in broken condition ought to negate getting their money back.
Man, a 10 year relationship to get a Rival 10 shifter (presumably there's no gain for the non-broken shifter)? Talk about a long con!
04-29-22, 12:52 PM
#62
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No, not necessarily being friends with the OP just to get a shifter, but someone taking advantage of a situation. But from what it sounds like, her shifter is still malfunctioning so obviously this wasn't the case.
04-29-22, 01:26 PM
#63
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Don't assume how they relate to each other or how you think they should relate to each other.
You sold items to a party (doesn't matter those were 2 people in a relationship) but it seems you didn't go over the function of the shifters to demonstrate they still work. Fine, that's on them. If they don't know shifters they should have asked.
They seem to have broken it (doesn't matter who of the 2) and returned the item for money. You volunteered to give them money WITHOUT looking at the shifters and maybe explaining to them if it was user error. This is on you.
Then you find out it is broken, and we can only ASSSUME they broke it. You contact them, and they offer to pay you back. Again, it doesn't matter what you think about their relationship, the only thing that matters is they offered to pay you back and YOU declined to take the money. If the money came from the lady, or the BF is totally irrelevant and none of your business. Who knows, maybe the BF gave her the $100, or maybe the lady broke the shifters.
I don't see why you complain and even have a thread. You could have been made whole, but declined.
Lesson learned should be to treat it like a normal business transaction with a stranger and sell as-is. Make 100% sure you have them evaluate and understand how the shifter works. That way they will know it worked when they received it and don't think you broke it. And if for some reason you are nice enough to buy it back, then you should not complain about doing so. And anything you buy (or buy back) also is as-is and should be inspected before paying.
It seems you try to be nice, but you are making it way to personal and ASSUME way too much about other people's life.
I once sold a smartphone I knew worked the day before. The girl acted like she knows everything. Fine. Then she contacted me saying her SIM card doesn't work. I have her come back to look at it and my SIM card also doesn't work in the phone (even if it worked the 2 years before!). I bet she ham-fisted hers in or something. Anyway, I gave her the money back and then had a phone I knew doesn't work with SIM card. Legally I was right, but didn't seem it worth to make an enemy. My lesson learned was to meet at a public place so they can't come back to my house and make clear they bring their SIM card to try out before paying. This happens and one only can learn from it. But I'm not complaining about it, I'm just not going to make the same mistake and consider the loss tuition paid.
You sold items to a party (doesn't matter those were 2 people in a relationship) but it seems you didn't go over the function of the shifters to demonstrate they still work. Fine, that's on them. If they don't know shifters they should have asked.
They seem to have broken it (doesn't matter who of the 2) and returned the item for money. You volunteered to give them money WITHOUT looking at the shifters and maybe explaining to them if it was user error. This is on you.
Then you find out it is broken, and we can only ASSSUME they broke it. You contact them, and they offer to pay you back. Again, it doesn't matter what you think about their relationship, the only thing that matters is they offered to pay you back and YOU declined to take the money. If the money came from the lady, or the BF is totally irrelevant and none of your business. Who knows, maybe the BF gave her the $100, or maybe the lady broke the shifters.
I don't see why you complain and even have a thread. You could have been made whole, but declined.
Lesson learned should be to treat it like a normal business transaction with a stranger and sell as-is. Make 100% sure you have them evaluate and understand how the shifter works. That way they will know it worked when they received it and don't think you broke it. And if for some reason you are nice enough to buy it back, then you should not complain about doing so. And anything you buy (or buy back) also is as-is and should be inspected before paying.
It seems you try to be nice, but you are making it way to personal and ASSUME way too much about other people's life.
I once sold a smartphone I knew worked the day before. The girl acted like she knows everything. Fine. Then she contacted me saying her SIM card doesn't work. I have her come back to look at it and my SIM card also doesn't work in the phone (even if it worked the 2 years before!). I bet she ham-fisted hers in or something. Anyway, I gave her the money back and then had a phone I knew doesn't work with SIM card. Legally I was right, but didn't seem it worth to make an enemy. My lesson learned was to meet at a public place so they can't come back to my house and make clear they bring their SIM card to try out before paying. This happens and one only can learn from it. But I'm not complaining about it, I'm just not going to make the same mistake and consider the loss tuition paid.
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04-30-22, 02:52 AM
#66
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My perspective is that the perspective of people who don't know the people involved isn't going to tell you anything you don't already know. There's no way the bf didn't know he broke it, you're in a better position to determine whether you give her the benefit of the doubt, and I think you've already done that by refusing her payment.
04-30-22, 03:17 PM
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Don't assume how they relate to each other or how you think they should relate to each other.
You sold items to a party (doesn't matter those were 2 people in a relationship) but it seems you didn't go over the function of the shifters to demonstrate they still work. Fine, that's on them. If they don't know shifters they should have asked.
They seem to have broken it (doesn't matter who of the 2) and returned the item for money. You volunteered to give them money WITHOUT looking at the shifters and maybe explaining to them if it was user error. This is on you.
Then you find out it is broken, and we can only ASSSUME they broke it. You contact them, and they offer to pay you back. Again, it doesn't matter what you think about their relationship, the only thing that matters is they offered to pay you back and YOU declined to take the money. If the money came from the lady, or the BF is totally irrelevant and none of your business. Who knows, maybe the BF gave her the $100, or maybe the lady broke the shifters.
I don't see why you complain and even have a thread. You could have been made whole, but declined.
Lesson learned should be to treat it like a normal business transaction with a stranger and sell as-is. Make 100% sure you have them evaluate and understand how the shifter works. That way they will know it worked when they received it and don't think you broke it. And if for some reason you are nice enough to buy it back, then you should not complain about doing so. And anything you buy (or buy back) also is as-is and should be inspected before paying.
It seems you try to be nice, but you are making it way to personal and ASSUME way too much about other people's life.
I once sold a smartphone I knew worked the day before. The girl acted like she knows everything. Fine. Then she contacted me saying her SIM card doesn't work. I have her come back to look at it and my SIM card also doesn't work in the phone (even if it worked the 2 years before!). I bet she ham-fisted hers in or something. Anyway, I gave her the money back and then had a phone I knew doesn't work with SIM card. Legally I was right, but didn't seem it worth to make an enemy. My lesson learned was to meet at a public place so they can't come back to my house and make clear they bring their SIM card to try out before paying. This happens and one only can learn from it. But I'm not complaining about it, I'm just not going to make the same mistake and consider the loss tuition paid.
You sold items to a party (doesn't matter those were 2 people in a relationship) but it seems you didn't go over the function of the shifters to demonstrate they still work. Fine, that's on them. If they don't know shifters they should have asked.
They seem to have broken it (doesn't matter who of the 2) and returned the item for money. You volunteered to give them money WITHOUT looking at the shifters and maybe explaining to them if it was user error. This is on you.
Then you find out it is broken, and we can only ASSSUME they broke it. You contact them, and they offer to pay you back. Again, it doesn't matter what you think about their relationship, the only thing that matters is they offered to pay you back and YOU declined to take the money. If the money came from the lady, or the BF is totally irrelevant and none of your business. Who knows, maybe the BF gave her the $100, or maybe the lady broke the shifters.
I don't see why you complain and even have a thread. You could have been made whole, but declined.
Lesson learned should be to treat it like a normal business transaction with a stranger and sell as-is. Make 100% sure you have them evaluate and understand how the shifter works. That way they will know it worked when they received it and don't think you broke it. And if for some reason you are nice enough to buy it back, then you should not complain about doing so. And anything you buy (or buy back) also is as-is and should be inspected before paying.
It seems you try to be nice, but you are making it way to personal and ASSUME way too much about other people's life.
I once sold a smartphone I knew worked the day before. The girl acted like she knows everything. Fine. Then she contacted me saying her SIM card doesn't work. I have her come back to look at it and my SIM card also doesn't work in the phone (even if it worked the 2 years before!). I bet she ham-fisted hers in or something. Anyway, I gave her the money back and then had a phone I knew doesn't work with SIM card. Legally I was right, but didn't seem it worth to make an enemy. My lesson learned was to meet at a public place so they can't come back to my house and make clear they bring their SIM card to try out before paying. This happens and one only can learn from it. But I'm not complaining about it, I'm just not going to make the same mistake and consider the loss tuition paid.
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05-02-22, 06:28 AM
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Thank you. That's exactly what I was trying to say and thought I had.
05-02-22, 08:10 AM
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I think one thing that is clear is that people have different ideas of what is the most important component of the story. I suspect this has to do with the experiences we have each had in our lives. And, I conclude that how I feel is based upon my history as well as the actual facts in the moment.
Honestly, I don't think I'd be able to generalize from my experiences to what I'd do in this particular situation as it's obvious that the relationship is the more important component than the relatively small amount of money and the spare parts involved. I think this is more a question about how you feel about your friendship with the woman and whether you think she's being honest with you. Without knowing either of you, I wouldn't know how to relate this to any of my interpersonal relationships.
I will say that I think this only incidentally has anything to do with bicycles and cycling, this could have been over any sort of material item, it just happens to be a bicycle part. I don't think there's any particular reason that people on this forum would have any special insights here.
05-02-22, 08:34 AM
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Honestly, I don't think I'd be able to generalize from my experiences to what I'd do in this particular situation as it's obvious that the relationship is the more important component than the relatively small amount of money and the spare parts involved. I think this is more a question about how you feel about your friendship with the woman and whether you think she's being honest with you. Without knowing either of you, I wouldn't know how to relate this to any of my interpersonal relationships.
I will say that I think this only incidentally has anything to do with bicycles and cycling, this could have been over any sort of material item, it just happens to be a bicycle part. I don't think there's any particular reason that people on this forum would have any special insights here.
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05-02-22, 09:22 AM
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Honestly, I don't think I'd be able to generalize from my experiences to what I'd do in this particular situation as it's obvious that the relationship is the more important component than the relatively small amount of money and the spare parts involved. I think this is more a question about how you feel about your friendship with the woman and whether you think she's being honest with you. Without knowing either of you, I wouldn't know how to relate this to any of my interpersonal relationships.
I will say that I think this only incidentally has anything to do with bicycles and cycling, this could have been over any sort of material item, it just happens to be a bicycle part. I don't think there's any particular reason that people on this forum would have any special insights here.
I will say that I think this only incidentally has anything to do with bicycles and cycling, this could have been over any sort of material item, it just happens to be a bicycle part. I don't think there's any particular reason that people on this forum would have any special insights here.
05-02-22, 11:32 AM
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I suspect the feeling is mutual.
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