Red Flags By Owner, Buyers Take Warning

After serious craziness from the buyers, we have walked away from the RV we were going to buy. These people were bat-sh*t crazy. The entire time we were going through this debacle the owners were putting us through the worst roller coaster ride of my life. Let me recap some of the madness.

They posted the ad last Wednesday night. I responded to it and the owner called me Thursday morning. When talking with her on the phone, she seemed very elderly as she rambled and lost her train of thought quite easily. (Disclaimer-I do NOT think all elderly people are like this but there was something in her voice that made it sound like she was older.) She said the deal would be done and she would call me over the weekend.

Sunday afternoon came around and we didn't hear anything so I caller her back. Turns out the deal fell through on the place they were buying. They didn't know what they were going to do.

Monday she calls me back and said they found another place and wanted us to come see the RV that afternoon. We set up a meeting place so she could take us to it for about an hour after we hung up the phone. We give car descriptions so we could find each other in the parking lot we selected. We were parked right where we were supposed to be. About 10 minutes later we see a car matching her description pull in farther away in the lot. We figured it was her and sure enough my phone rings, she can't find us. I told her I saw her and waved out my window. She was thirsty and wanted to stop to get a drink before we got to the RV so we said no problem we would follow her.

Following her scared the living daylights out of me. She was driving like a drunk driver. Weaving, not making good decisions, etc. We were so glad we weren't in her car. Turns out she had multiple medical problems and is heavily medicated. We found out later she never drives. So why on earth didn't she just have us come to the trailer park and guide us from there?

We spent the next 4 hours talking with them and looking over the RV. It wasn't quite as nice as the pictures looked (they never do.) In fact, it was really dirty. Like inch thick dust on all the light fixtures and everything was nicotine yellow inside. Most of that time was listening to her ramble in her slurred speech. It was hard to really see anything due to the clutter and dirt. She acted just like a drunk, trying to be our best friend and wanting us to go out to eat with them, etc. We finally got away telling them we could call in the morning to let them know our decision but were pretty sure we wanted it.

We figured even with lots of work we were still getting a great deal. Even if we spent as much money cleaning it and doing work on it as we were paying for it, we would still be ahead. So Tuesday morning I call her and tell her we want it. They were going to be moving into the new place on Wednesday so we made arrangements to come by today to pay for it and take it away. (They have to have it out of the park by tomorrow.)  I asked if a cashier's check would be ok and she said yes.

Tuesday night, I get what amounts to a drunk call from her. She spent 35 minutes rambling on about friends who have been murdered and how we were all going to be great friends. She even decided that the four of us would all take a trip to San Francisco together. During the call, she informs me her husband wants cash for the RV not a cashier's check. I told her that might be kind of hard to do. Trying to get that much out of a bank would be tough. She said I could just go to several banks to get it. Then she is all upset thinking I was mad at her because I told her it might not happen but a cashier's check is just like cash. I told her I would try to get cash.

This morning she calls me to tell me about the move. She says they were still getting stuff moved. I asked her if they were still going to be able to meet at 1 today. She said that was fine. I told her we were heading to the bank and the storage facility and would see her in about 3 hours.

My bank is a credit union back in Indiana. I use share branches to do any banking I can't get done online. I went there and sure enough all I can withdraw is 500.00. I;m like there is no way I am going to go all over town hitting up every credit union 500.00 at a time to get the money. So I call her while at the bank and try to explain this to her. I finally get her to agree that a cashier's check will be fine.

Ten minutes later, I am driving down the road heading to the storage facility to sign the lease to park the RV. She calls. She tells me not to get the cashier's check. She has to talk with her husband about it. (He was not around when I called her about the check 10 minutes earlier.) I told her I already had it and was not at the bank anymore. She said she would call me right back. By now its 11:45 and we are to meet at 1.

We wait for an hour and she never called back. We finally said enough is enough. I went back to the bank and voided the check. We had had enough!!!!!

It is now 2 and she had not called back. We figured she found someone who was willing to pay cash.

The whole time we were dealing with them, they were really pushing us to move as fast on this as we could since they had a deadline to get the RV moved by Friday this week. We say goodbye and good riddance. There are plenty more RVs out there.