Bike buying Magic...A "VGC" bike turns into a pile of Carp

Off-topic
1

Wasted 4 hours of my life on Sunday.

Low mileage (7k) bike described as VGC with ‘a few scratches when I scraped it going through a gate’ turns out to be shite.

The scratches are about a dozen 8" long gouges on one side loads of scratches on the other. Has it been dropped? I ask “Er yeah I had a slow speed fall” - no ****! “But I’ve got some touchup paint” - Great - like paiinting a cheesegrater.

Now I remember that the online picture was all out of focus - and I know why…

Why the **** didn’t he say so on the phone???

One indicator snapped off - Very good condition? Yeah right

Front wheel peeling paint in long 6" strips - Very good condition? Yeah right

The decider was oil leaking out and making a 6" stain on the drive,

Thought a the time he as a nice honest chap who didn’t know about the leak and had the wrong idea of what VGC means - was he ****!

He had a bike he had from new which he wasn’t going to spend any money on and wanted to offload it to some mug,:crazy:

So beware - there are people out there who look and sound nice but will **** you up the arse with no conscience. They try and distract you with things like ‘low mileage’ etc.

Thank feck I hadn’t won it in an auction and fell for the “£250 payment at end of auction” scam…never pay for a bike without seeing it.

2

sounds like the typical gumtree seller to me

3

Hope not the one I did buy was on the Gummy Tree!:blink:

4

I had similar on parts I almost bought for me bike.

went all the way down to bristol as the bike was being broken guy was like all the parts are mint.

get there. nose cone chipped scratech repsrayed (badley). belly pand massive crack on it.

cost me about £180 with petrol and hotel… I learnt my lesson there mate.

5

My bike is on gumtree an is described as it is i dont really think its good to stereotype people especially of you live in a glasshouse :stuck_out_tongue:
ps the bike wasnt even on gumtree sounds like ebay to me .

6

sorry Redrat :frowning:

i need to do more of that, yes

one poor bike buying experience on gumtree shouldnt make me critical of all GT sellers

7

i hope mine turns out to be good. i would really start to get cranky if i dont get back on the road soon :smiley:

8

Please try and curb* your enthusiasm when you get it! :stuck_out_tongue: :smiley:

*Too soon?

9

I wouldn’t worry, most people are honest (some too honest) but you have to check and double check and satisfy yourself that all is ok first.

My twat of a seller gave the game away but not revealing things I would be bound to find out on inspection (like gouged fairings, wheels stripping paint and broken indicators) . If they are honest about the bad bits then that’s half the battle.

Mind you that could be a bluff to hide something really nasty …:ermm:

10

ask for hi res/close up pics of bikes/parts from all angles etc.

if they dont send em you know why.

11

Yes it’s balls but it’s part of the game. Those chaps on Wheeler deelers turn up to view cars that are borderline scrap, make a low offer and have it turned down. Put it down to experience I guess and ask more direct questions on the phone next time.

12

Good one Alex :smiley:

13

I think house hunting is worse. I went to view a house which sounded great in the description. When I got there it hadn’t been touched since the 70s and there was a big cat poo sitting in a litter tray in the hallway. My heart sank.

14

+1 :laugh:

15

I went to look at a flat, and someone had curled one out in the corner of a room.