Warning: Con artists.

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I am angry.

Background first: my landlady spent a couple months away from the house recently, and in that time I occassionally borrowed her car (a 92 Plymouth Voyager) to do errands. On one of these errands, a tire went out and I replaced it with the donut-type spare. On the next of these errands (before I had a chance to get a new full-size tire) the donut-type spare came to harm - I don't know how this happened, and it was a drag at the time, but just bad luck. I replaced the big wheel before she returned, but procrastinated on replacing the spare. Now that she has returned, she wants the spare replaced. Fine - I owe her that.

So, last Thursday a replacement for the spare (which is apparently a rare-ish part, being 15" instead of the more common 14" and 16" donuts) is located at a parts emporium in New Braunfels, which is most of the way to San Antonio from here. The guy says it will $30 and is to arrive at the store Friday, and he doesn't want to hold it for us all weekend unless we absolutely promise to go get it Monday morning. This is no problem, so we pledge to come get it. I've just returned from there, where the part was not available. The guy's excuse was that the car the part was going to be taken from didn't actually have the part. He said he could get another one, but it would come from California and would be $60. I told him he was an asshole for promising me an imaginary tire, a lying baiting switching conman theif crook criminal for trying to sell me another (which, given his record to date, I had no reason to believe actually existed) for twice as much, that I'd be damned if I'd reward that kind of business practice with my money, and that if someone stuck their hand in my pocket to try and rob me the way he was trying to rob me with his underhanded dishonest bullshit I'd break their arm for them. Then I drove back to town with my entire morning wasted and myself put in a vicious mood.

God fucking damnit I hate cars and the disgusting element you have to deal with to keep and maintain them.

Boycott any and all KCQ auto salvage locations in your neck of the woods, y'all.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 11 July 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

It sounds plausible that he was just a bit of a bad businessman.

― cousin larry bundgee (bundgee), Monday, 11 July 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

yeah, this isn't exactly "house of games"

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 11 July 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

Bait and switch isn't very sophistacted a con game, it's true, but it's one of the commonest. And certainly no more forgivable than three card monte or whatever.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 02:06 (twenty years ago)

don't forget that you conned your landlady out of a working spare

― cousin larry bundgee (bundgee), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 02:08 (twenty years ago)

No, she'll get it. Even if I have to go to the dealer, and that means paying more than the $60 the guy quoted me (and who knows if that quote would have stayed.) The money is less important than avoiding dealing with liars and cheats.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 02:22 (twenty years ago)

...go to the dealer and IF that means...

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 02:22 (twenty years ago)

hahaha dealers are the biggest liars and cheats!!!!

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 02:32 (twenty years ago)

You lost your cool and accused somebody of lying over 30 bucks?
You're a douchebag, pal.

― Tigerstyle Shamanic Vision Quester (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:26 (twenty years ago)

Now that I know there's a shifty auto parts dealer in Texas, I feel warned! Can we move down from oragne alert?

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:29 (twenty years ago)

Donut?

― Peter Stringbender (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:30 (twenty years ago)

Cute.

That salesman is a liar - he made a promise and then reneged on it. That is a fact, not an accusation.

$30 may not be much to you, but I'm pretty poor. And have standards of behavior that include not doing business with dishonest people.

Also, I'm man enough to stand by my actions with my own name, Mr. Tigerstyle Shamanic Vision Quester.

Yours truly,
Douchebag

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:31 (twenty years ago)

you're right, sexyDancer isn't his real name.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:33 (twenty years ago)

how did he take the $30, though, if there was no tyre in return?

― N_RQ (Enrique), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:33 (twenty years ago)

Okay, fine. He tried to con me but was thwarted. I guess that makes him a better person than if I had let him con me.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:35 (twenty years ago)

I bought a replacement 17" Michelin over the internet once and it showed up in shrinkwrap with a shipping label from UPS stuck on.
It was a lot quicker and cheaper than any dealership/parts shop/service hellhole.

― TOMBOT, Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:36 (twenty years ago)

That's a good idea, Tombot, thanks.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:37 (twenty years ago)

I would like a car with a shortbread steering wheel and pancake pedals, marshmallow mirrors and a raspberry ripple radiator.

― Peter Stringbender (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:39 (twenty years ago)

a promise? he tried to give you a deal on a rare part, but it fell through. this kind of shit happens. sorry to hear about your poverty, though. with faith and hard work you should be able to pull youself up out of the gutter.

― Tigerstyle Shamanic Vision Quester (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:41 (twenty years ago)

i wouldn't buy tyres from michelin, their tyres burst when you try and turn corners! the fucking conmen that they are.

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:43 (twenty years ago)

I was expecting a one million quid handout.

― Tigerstyle Shamanic Vision Quester (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:44 (twenty years ago)

A little sympathy is warranted for Austin here... The junk dealer guy did fuck him over, or at least wasted his time. Although I think the case could be made that the guy just promised something he couldn't deliver, and it wasn't necessarily a malicious con.

oh, fucking xposts.

― geyser muffler and a quarter (Dave225), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:47 (twenty years ago)

That's because of the lolly stick stuck in your spokes, Ken.

― Peter Stringbender (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

i want spokey dokeys on my car now. fer reals.

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 13:59 (twenty years ago)

If I had a thread for everytime someone wasted my time...

― h0t h0t h0rsey (Carey), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 14:06 (twenty years ago)

What is this smarmy, naive bullshit? Do you ever actually buy anything, or do you have one of your slaves do it for you? This kind of con job happens all the time, and if you're the customer, it's in your interests to be suspicious. You don't owe the store any kind of absolute faith.

"Oh, sorry to hear about your poverty". Bullshit. These places screw the little guy all of the time and make their financial situation worse. My parents put up with this shit all the time. But I guess that's what you get for growing up in a "ghetto", right, bitch?

― VM 9001 (dymaxia), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 14:18 (twenty years ago)

Slaves, obv.
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/images/pyramids.jpg

― Tigerstyle Shamanic Vision Quester (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

sorry, where is the con? he didn't get shit out of you!?! nice grift.

― N_RQ (Enrique), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 14:23 (twenty years ago)

Some fuck trying to get me to play three card monte isn't a con artist if I don't play, right?

― geyser muffler and a quarter (Dave225), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 14:25 (twenty years ago)

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