Ethics of a CL Sale

timbre

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What is everyone's opinion on support after a sale of an item on craigslist?

Recently I sold a Pachislo machine on craigslist for a pretty good deal. I had the machine in my house for about 6 months with zero issues after the first night of getting used to playing the game.

When I sold it I showed the guy it worked by playing is for about 10 mins straight while we talked. I even had him play a few rounds. He bought it, we loaded it in the car, and down the road he went.

I got a call later that night that the machine had stopped working and had an error message. I tried to talk through resetting the machine over the phone but it wasn't working.

A couple of days later I made a trip over to his house to try and fix the machine. I spent two hours and had it working a couple of times, then he would touch the thing and it would quit within 20 seconds.

Since then I've posted questions and got some answers but nothing firm on how to fix it. I asked him for a couple of digital pictures so I could post those and try and continue to diagnose and fix the machine. Finally a week after that email he sends me one saying he dosen't have a digital camera and now is further into the machine from buying extra tokens.

General jist of this last email was he expects be to buy the machine back from him.

I like being honest in all of my Craigslist dealing, but I am not sure what to do on this one.

What is everyone's opinion on this?
 
seems to me you've went above and beyond the call of duty with this thing. gotta feel sorry for the guy but not your problem anymore.
 
I spent two hours and had it working a couple of times, then he would touch the thing and it would quit within 20 seconds.


Wow, he touches it and it quits working? Does he have the same problem with his car!?!



Anyway, you sold the machine working, you also put forth hours of your own time in an attempt to repair the machine after it broke in his posession. I really think you have gone above and beyond.

In short, I don't think you should buy it back just because he keeps breaking it.
 
Wow, he touches it and it quits working? Does he have the same problem with his car!?!

Yea I had it working perfect. Fed 50 tokens into it two times and had it pay them back out. Grabbed all my tools to leave, he sticks one token in and it goes back into error state.
 
Yea I had it working perfect. Fed 50 tokens into it two times and had it pay them back out. Grabbed all my tools to leave, he sticks one token in and it goes back into error state.


I have heard of these people, they have an innate ability to destroy all things mechanical or electrical by touch. Scary...
 
You're not Walmart. It's his problem. Did you state you offered a warranty? You even went over and fixed it, which is way more than I would do, for free at least. You sold it working, end of story.
 
You already did FAR MORE than you need to do . As soon as it leaves your property its his problem not yours . I just bought a game that as soon as I got it home it stopped working . I gave the guy a call to see if there was anything special to do to turn it on , he said no just flip the switch . Its my problem now , the ride home must have done something to the game , thats not his fault , and its not your fault with the game you just sold .
 
"I can take another look at it, but I'll have to charge $50/hr for second and subsequent service calls, minimum of 1 hour."

I bet you'll hear a nice *click* on the other end of the phone.
 
seems to me you've went above and beyond the call of duty with this thing. gotta feel sorry for the guy but not your problem anymore.
+1! You've already done more than most would. It sounds like you sold a working item in good faith nand have followed that up with support. I'd tell the guy that you're willing to help try and fix it but not refund his money.
 
I'm more than willing to try and help fix the thing. I just don't want to make 50 trips to his house. I mean come on... who dosen't own a digital camera or a phone that can take a picture for me. It's not that he lives far away, just on the other side of town but still.
 
Maybe tell him to bring it to you and you will try and fix it but it may take a week or 2. Inform him that you dont really have to do this and your are trying to be nice and help. Inform him that it was a craigslist purchase and has no warranty but you are still going to try and help.
If he gets rude just say fine your stuck with it now.

This is assuming you would want to try and help. Theres a good arguement for both. I would be on your side if you did nothing. But helping people is nice sometimes. Depends on his attitude.
 
It sounds like you've done plenty--don't guilt yourself over it. The buyer should bring it to your house if you're still inclined to fix it for him.
 
This is the email that I sent back.

"I have already done more than most sellers on craigslist. I have made an attempt to fix the machine in your house. When you were here you saw the machine working for over 15 minutes while we talked about it. It was sold to you as a working machine and you purchased it that way. I can not be responsible for what goes on with the machine after that.

The first day that I brought the machine into my house I hit the jackpot and emptied the hopper of tokens. It then produced the same error message because the hopper was empty. After the simple reset procedure it worked every time since then including when you were here and purchased it. I had no reason to expect it to do anything different in your possession.

I don't know what is causing the error. I have been trying to find a solution and was waiting on pictures from you to post on a forum where I was asking questions. That is all that I can offer. If you can find a way to get pictures to me I can continue to pursue the fix online and give you suggestions as to what to try.

If you don't want to keep trying to fix the machine I would suggest putting it on craigslist and selling it. You should be able to get what you have into it. If you watch most pachislo machines on craigslist are selling for way more than what was paid for that one."


I think I am done after this. If he want to try and fix it via email I will do what I can help. Otherwise he is on his own.
 
He might get a little pissed, but that's really tough. You have went above and beyond the call of duty.

Time for him to start learning to maintain his stuff himself.

Whenever this subject came up last time I sold a game, I explained to the guy what could possibly break, and told him the general gist of how to fix it. He inquired about repairs, and I politely explained I would be happy to help him troubleshoot over the phone or internet, but I wasn't gonna drive 3 hours to his house.
 
+1 to everyone's support. You went above and beyond, and I say you are 'through'. Offer to fix it for an hourly fee, if you have any desire to do so. It will make people leave you alone when they realize it will cost them something.
 
+1 to everyone's support. You went above and beyond, and I say you are 'through'. Offer to fix it for an hourly fee, if you have any desire to do so. It will make people leave you alone when they realize it will cost them something.

I would not offer to do a paid fix. Period. That is just asking the guy to pester you more after the fact.
If he wants to pay to fix it, he can send it to a full time technician, pay full time rates, and get full time tech support/warranty.
 
I would not offer to do a paid fix. Period. That is just asking the guy to pester you more after the fact.
If he wants to pay to fix it, he can send it to a full time technician, pay full time rates, and get full time tech support/warranty.

I agree there. It's why I don't do this for a living. I really don't want to fix others problems unless it's a good friend. I have to many irons in the fire to mess with anything else
 
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