Please say something calming......

[navasima]

I made a huge mistake - well, a couple....

1) sold my electric bicycle to my neighbor
2) agreed to take part payment and the rest 5 days later
3) trusted a human

This is my bike:

He drove away - everything was fine. Yesterday, instead of giving me my money, he brings the bike back with no left rearview mirror, a hole in the back left panel w/electrical tape on it and tells me that it won't charge and that his boss told him he could get one just like it for $200. He tells me to keep $50 of the $150 he gave me (total was to be $500). He brought it back last night, so I didn't see the damage until daylight this AM - well, I saw the mirror was missing.

I bought this for $200 on Craigslist - replaced all of the batteries for $240 , replaced the tubes for $20 each. These retail for $700. It's a Sunbird Electric Scooter.

My inclination is to suggest that he perform physically impossible tasks to himself and suggest that he gets not a penny from me! This, however, could start a neighbor war.....I don't really even want to be friendly with them...just left alone. I'm a bit too angry to even think straight....but, pay someone for taking the bike and bringing it back damaged? Seems to me that he lost his deposit when he drove away......He had even borrowed it a couple days previous for a couple hours and there were no problems......

Besides learning from my own stupidity....any advice?

Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[stoopid]

I'm confused, did you give him any money back?
If not, tell him to go scratch, the money he gave you is to fix the damages he caused.
No refunds.

 

[sfw2]

Quote:
x2

What a putz!

 

[chickened]

Fix the bike or get quotes and refund the rest (if any is left). Be fair as it may never sound fair to him but your other neighbors will recognize fairness.

 

[ChickiKat]

I know you dont want to start a neigbor war, but I think he already did. Tell him to forget the bike and forget his money. No matter what is done there is bad blood. Keep the money as a means to fix the bike that he messed up..... Sorry this happened to you.

 

[HEChicken]

Quote:
The problem with this approach is that the neighbor knows where the OP lives and I think the OP is afraid of starting a war for fear his animals will be poisoned, his house/yard damaged etc. This is always the problem with standing your ground with a neighbor - even when you are 200% in the right.

It is sad when we can't trust neighbors, friends etc. to do the right thing. With 20/20 hindsight, you know you should have either taken the full payment before he took the bike, or written up a contract, that included pics of the bike on the day he took possession. Without that, it is a he said/he said type situation.

I agree with the previous poster who suggested getting the bike repaired and refunding any money left over.

 

[dewey]

That's awful. He bought the bike and still owes you the remaining portion.

Civil court is very inexpensive and it seems like any judge would certainly rule in your favor with the verbal agreement. You get the rest of the funds he owes you and he keeps his wrecked bike to do with as he pleases. You will be believable and that's pretty much what it boils down to in civil court. A judge is unlikely to believe somebody's story that a seller sold them a bike on installments and agreed to take it back and refund their money should the buyer later wreck it. If the guy tries saying the bike was already wrecked before you sold it to him, it's highly unlikely that a judge would believe someone would pay $500 for a previously wrecked bike.

Nobody looking in from the outside would believe his story. Hope it works out to your liking.

 

[Royd]

Sorry for your problems, but I've just got to ask, Isn't an electric bicycle a sort of oxymoron? For the amount of money you spent, you could have bought a really nice used road bike, worth $2,000.

 

[navasima]

Quote:
The problem with this approach is that the neighbor knows where the OP lives and I think the OP is afraid of starting a war for fear his animals will be poisoned, his house/yard damaged etc. This is always the problem with standing your ground with a neighbor - even when you are 200% in the right.

It is sad when we can't trust neighbors, friends etc. to do the right thing. With 20/20 hindsight, you know you should have either taken the full payment before he took the bike, or written up a contract, that included pics of the bike on the day he took possession. Without that, it is a he said/he said type situation.

I agree with the previous poster who suggested getting the bike repaired and refunding any money left over.

Thank you all for responding.

Exactly. They live across the street from me. Not only this, but I am just under 5 ft. and they know that DH doesn't get home from work until 10 PM. That leaves me and the baby to deal. I won't have her witness to "fussing".

The irony? WHen he wrecked or dropped it - whatever - he dislodged the terminal on one of the batteries. If I need to replace all 6 - he ends up owing me $90. I think I'm going to gently explain this to him and let him know that I'll be nice enough to just call it even. Oh yes, hindsight is always dead on......chalk it up to live and learn - right? As hard as I try, I can't seem to give up my Pollyanna ways.

- I think I'll get a new chicken......2 banties = 1 chicken......but one may be a roo, so need more.....guess I'll be too busy to keep bashing myself....

 

[ChickInDelight]

Quote:
x2

What a putz!

x3

End of story. No compromising. The deposit covers the damages.