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View Full Version : Just venting.....


LasciviousXXX
03-27-2008, 11:20 AM
Ok gents, just need a moment to rant about something... feel free to nod off at any time.

So around December I sold my Harley to one of the guys I work with at the Dept. He was a good friend of mine (notice I said was) and we used to ride together a lot. I was coming up on some big payments in my life and figured at that point in my life the bike was not a necessity so I'd be Motorcycle-less for a year or so and then pick up another one.

I put the bike up for sale in the local paper with all the pertinent info and price. My buddy sees the ad and gives me a call and goes "Hey bro, saw your bike for sale and wondered if you'd consider accepting monthly payments?". Now before I go any further... I know, you're never supposed to sell anything to friends or fam and if you do, you're never supposed to accept payments. He was a good friend and plus he has a good secure job so I figured I'd cut him some slack and take payments.

We worked out the deal in advance, $1000 a month till it was paid off and I sign over the title once we were finished. I asked him a few times before the deal went down if he was sure he could do this as $1,000 was a big chunk of change to come up with in a month. He said sure no problem, between his paycheck, his side-work and all the OT he was racking up he said he had that easy. I said ok then, if you're sure... let's do it.

I should have known from the beginning when he didn't come up with the whole $1,000. He was only a couple hundred short so I said no big deal hit me with the difference the next month. You've got to understand we were pretty good friends who would go ride together, grab a beer and just have a good time. Well the next month comes around and the first of the month passes with no call from my buddy. I figure, hell we're on different schedules at the moment so no big deal... I'll give him a few days. Well after the first week of the month came and went I finally decided to give him a call. So I call him up and say "hey buddy, is everything ok?". He tells me that a few days ago he was in a car accident and got side-swiped by a drunk driver and she totaled his truck. Now I had heard about one of our officers getting t-boned but didn't know it was him. So I ask him if he's ok and if he needs anything. I even offer to drive an extra 35 min in the mornings to pick him up and take him to work. He says he's cool but because the chick didn't have insurance and his truck is totaled he doesn't have this month's payment. I say no problem whatsoever and told him that we should just call this month a wash, give him a few weeks to get his insurance straight and we'll pick up the next month. Told him I understand things like this happening but just call me up and let me know what's up in case he can't make a payment.

So another month goes by. We're in the second week of Feb by this point and I haven't heard a thing from him. So I call him and say "Hey buddy, just calling to make sure you're ok and see if you'll be able to make a payment this month". I don't hear anything back from him. Finally at the end of Feb he works an OT shift on the same schedule as me. I ask him if everything's cool and he says that he can't pay the original amount intended and can only pay $500 a month. I'm pretty exasperated at this point but like I said, he's a friend so I say cool whatever but just let me know what's up man and give me a call when something comes up. He's says no problem and that he will pay on the first of March.

First of March comes and goes and I give him a call the next day and I'm like "seriously bro, what's up man?". He says something else came up and he can't make the payment. At this point I'm kind of peeved as I haven't seen any $$$ since December and I've been willing to work with him even though we changed the deal mid-way through. At this point he says he's just going to go down to the bank to see if he can get a loan to just buy the bike outright. I say ok and give him a week or so to obtain the loan. Finally after another two weeks of trying to track him down and see what's up I finally just call him and say that this really puts me in a bad position because I'm always one to try and help out a friend but I feel like a damn loan shark because I'm always the one having to track him down and see what's going on. I tell him that friends don't put friends in that position and that this whole situation is really starting to suck. He tells me he didn't get the loan but can work out something for $250 a month.

At this point I tell him no. I say we had an agreement and you couldn't even satisfy the terms of the agreement during the first month. Then we tried to change the deal 3 times because I wanted to work with him and help him out but that none of those things worked out. I tell him that at this point I'm done trying to work things out and I'm coming over to pick up the bike. He says he understands and then aplogizes for all the unpleasantries. So I go over to his place to pick up my bike and lo and behold... the ignition is broken. At this point I'm thoroughly pissed! I get another buddy with bike trailer to help me pick up the bike and take it to my house. I get it home and the ignition system is totally F***ed.

I call up my buddy and say hey man what happened to the bike. He says nothing happened, he had ridden it the weekend before and everything was fine. I tell him well the key just spins 360* in the ignition so I'm pretty sure everything isn't fine. He then accusses me of saying that he intentionally broke my back before I came to pick it up. At this point I'm shocked... literally I'm speechless for a few seconds. We go round and round and at the end of it he refuses to help fix the bike. We get in a nice yelling match and at the end of it .... surprisingly, I don't feel much like being his friend.

So in summation I hooked my buddy up with a running bike and got back a broken bike. Got 4 months of total aggravation, tried to help a buddy out and ended up feeling like a complete asshole for having to reposses a bike from him. I feel like shit and wish I would have just sold it to a stranger and gotten all the money up front and still had a good friend.

End rant/
Dustin

BamBam
03-27-2008, 11:25 AM
That sucks man. I agree with the old adage "don't mix family and business" or friends and business for that matter.

replicant_argent
03-27-2008, 11:25 AM
I know exactly what you mean, Dustin. Hope your troubles with your ride are over. I had an ex-boss do some stuff like that.. and he still owes me a considerable amount of money.

68TriShield
03-27-2008, 11:27 AM
F*ck Dustin,it didn't sound good starting out.Sorry about this bro,lesson learned right?

Blueface
03-27-2008, 11:30 AM
So in summation I hooked my buddy up with a running bike and got back a broken bike. Got 4 months of total aggravation, tried to help a buddy out and ended up feeling like a complete asshole for having to reposses a bike from him. I feel like shit and wish I would have just sold it to a stranger and gotten all the money up front and still had a good friend.



Sorry to hear that Dustin but you pretty well sum it up in this paragraph.
Unfortunately, many of us seldom see the warning signs and try to do the right thing, which in the end, brings lots of pain.

SmokeyJoe
03-27-2008, 11:31 AM
Man, Dustin. I hate to hear that. Your situation makes you think about how much you really know people... and want to trust them. In some ways, I guess its good to know what kind of guy he really is... but it still sucks. :hn

For what its worth, you are the kind of friend I would be proud to have. :D

LasciviousXXX
03-27-2008, 11:36 AM
Definitely. I figured he worked at the same PD I did so he was decently trustworthy money-wise.... eh, I'm such a sucker.

The biggest thing I'm bummed about is losing a friend over something like this.

That and my bike is in 4 parts in my garage while I attempt to replace the ignition

replicant_argent
03-27-2008, 11:41 AM
Definitely. I figured he worked at the same PD I did so he was decently trustworthy money-wise.... eh, I'm such a sucker.

The biggest thing I'm bummed about is losing a friend over something like this.

That and my bike is in 4 parts in my garage while I attempt to replace the ignition
Is a friend that is willing to hang you out to dry like that a friend you would have wanted to keep? These things have a way of balancing Karma-wise.

hotreds
03-27-2008, 11:51 AM
That's really tough! I guess you could talk to a lawyer to see if you have any recourse- if you even want to bother to do that! Sometimes it's best to just let it go- here's hoping that venting here helped you a bit! Good luck to you!

LasciviousXXX
03-27-2008, 11:56 AM
Thanks for all the support and kind words gents, it definitely helps.

I'm not the kind of guy to go to court over something like this. I guess I'm just dealing with it in my own way, by talking to buds here on the board. The money to fix the bike is the smallest issue for me. For me the big issue is how I feel at the end of the day about losing a guy who was supposed to be a friend.

ComicBookFreak
03-27-2008, 11:59 AM
Sounds to me like you need to take him for a long walk with a short stick Dustin. :bx

As far as the friendship goes, if he were a true friend he would never have done this to you. So I wouldn't worry about losing him as a friend now, it just saves you having to deal with his chit later because you figured out what he was really like now.

Sorry for your hassle brother.

CBF

Darb85
03-27-2008, 12:14 PM
sorry to hear it man. What kind of bike do you have? Ive got a friend who runs a high end bike salvage shop for bike s that are 10 years old or less. 97 or newer, so let me know what parts you need, I might be able to get them for ya cheap.

Brad

bonggoy
03-27-2008, 12:36 PM
It sucks for a friendship to end like that. Sorry to hear about that Dustin.

Darrell
03-27-2008, 12:43 PM
With friends like that, who needs enemies?

Jesus, you're a good friend and a stand up guy, Dustin. It sucks to see sh!t like this happen to the good guys. Sadly, this is how lessons are learned. Sorry to hear your bike is broken. :mad:

ResIpsa
03-27-2008, 01:38 PM
Is a friend that is willing to hang you out to dry like that a friend you would have wanted to keep? These things have a way of balancing Karma-wise.:tpd: Sorry to hear about this Dustin, but like some others have said, you didn't lose a friend. You found out the true nature of someone who you thought was your friend.

I too went through something similar with someone I thought was one of my best friends. Someone much wiser than me told me " What happenned now would have happened eventually anyway. If it wasn't this happening, he would have screwed you over something else. People are who they are."


To put a bright side to it, at least you got the bike back, although broken, and you saw what he was really like. He could have screwed you over something really important, when it really mattered.

icehog3
03-27-2008, 02:29 PM
I'm sorry about the friendship, Dustin, but he sure wasn't being any kind of friend to you. I am glad you got the bike back in (almost) one piece though, I have actually seen these kinda things go a LOT further south...

omowasu
03-28-2008, 12:45 AM
Dustin, wish things would have turned out better. I think all of us can learn from your experience. It sounds like someone may have tried to steal the bike by forcing a slug into the ignition and turning it with a wrench.

When I was younger, I had been through several "friends" that needed money, help, etc and never returned the favor or bothered to repay. Eventually, they ceased to be "friends" and fell off the face of the earth. Since that time, I have developed a close-knit circle of friends that has taken several years to develop, and another circle of "acquaintances" so to speak.

The group of friends help each other out whenever needed, with no recourse or reciprocity expected or desired. One of them was unemployed for an extended period of time, and one night while we were at the bar we just unloaded all of our cash to him so he could catch up on bills. He eventually got back to work and offered to pay us back - we said no.

The group of acquaintances would not see any money, loan, etc as I am sure it would never be returned. They are good to hang out with and party, but not so good on the financial management front.....

4WheelVFR
03-28-2008, 12:54 AM
Dustin, sorry to hear about this. Keep your chin up. Who know's, maybe you'll salvage the bike and friendship, you never know.

LasciviousXXX
04-05-2008, 09:27 AM
Again, thanks for all the support gents... it really means a lot to me.

As an update I did get the ignition replaced and took the bike out Thur for a test run. Jenna (that's her name... surprise :D) is running great and I forgot how much I missed her.

All in all... lesson learned and after a little aggravation and a new ignition I now know what kind of guy my former-bud is. :rolleyes:

ca21455
04-05-2008, 09:47 AM
Sorry how things worked out Dustin.

Experiencing the same thing with some long time friends that bought a house together at the lake. We were going to go in with them about 4 years ago, but they did not feel setting up terms, etc up front was worth the work. Well now they are selling the house and not talking, due to disputes over who owns what and how much. These are life long friends that hate each other now.

Unfortunately we are stuck in the middle and no matter how many times we say we are staying out of it, they try to draw us in. This really sucks because these two couples and my wife and I used to do everything together.

Anyway, to make a long story even longer, I feel for you brother!

DETROITPHA357
04-05-2008, 10:17 AM
I'm sure the lost is his. He ill regret doing you like that this summer as he's riding alone wishing he had his old bud. Don't feel bad, your a good guy & was trying2lookout4a friend. Now u have 1less peson n your life to disappoint u.

bobarian
04-05-2008, 12:50 PM
Good to hear she is running again. :tu He is definitely the one at a loss. Good friends dont come along often and he just lost one.