what am i up against: Update

[dombern34]

here's the story, Sold a minn kota riptide HC trolling motor to a gentleman on this forum.( won't use any names right now but I'm sure he'll chime in soon) it worked great and wasn't even for sale. saw where he posted looking for a trolling motor and i figured I'm wanting to upgrade to the i pilot anyways so why not sell this one for some money towards it. i send him a pm explaining what i have and with some back and forth PM's and emails along with talking a price, we agree on a price. about a week or so later I'm able to drive down and deliver him the trolling motor personally. he's in the middle of redoing his boat and didn't have power hooked up to his Plug in the bow. he wanted to make sure it was gonna be the right length and height for his boat and all that good stuff. but like i said wasn't able to power the trolling motor up my plug on the motor was different from the one in the bow of his boat. i assured him that it works which it did and he said looks great and gave me the money. that was around early march. today June 14th, four months later, he sends me an email and said it doesn't work and has tried everything and now wants his money back. i told him no in a nice way and said i wouldn't be able to do that. he claims i said i would give him the money back and that I'm not a man of my word but i don't recall this. i checked all my emails and PM's. so now hes going to take me to small claims and I'm just trying to figure out what I'm against, should i be worried? does he have a case? any information would be greatly appreciated.

don't mean to bring more bickering to the forums as there has been more than enough already and not enough fishing talk but just trying to find out more information to see if I'm safe or do i need to bring out my suit and tie.

[charlie tuna]

You know what you told him and you know what the e-mails say! If you are good to go after that, you probably have a 50/50 chance in small claims court. Looking at it this way, you know what it will cost you to go to court??? And the judge may tell you both to return with legal council = more money?? How much money is this trolling motor worth???

[dombern34]

more than what i sold it for i believe, but gave him a deal at 450.00 even

[Dubble Trubble]

The VERY reason when I sell anything to someone over 100 bux, I give them a receipt with Sold as is- NO REFUNDS on it and signed by them, I make a copy for myself.

If they don't want to do that, they can motor on down the road!

End of any problems

Dubble

[dombern34]

yeah, thinking that's something that should've been done. there wasn't any paper signed or anything. everything was pretty much verbal at that point besides the emails and PM's

[bman]

now hes going to take me to small claims

Over $450? Its going to cost him $80 to file.

Take it to
TM Service Center
1471 Capital Circle NW, Suite #23
Tallahassee, FL 32303
(850) 574-4245 FAX (850) 574-1934

[dombern34]

yeah i didn't think it was worth the court trip but if that's what he wants to do then we'll go i reckon and like i said i know it's not broke, it has to be a wiring problem. i'm pretty sure he isn't that kind of guy but in these four months, how do i know if he used it or not. if he came to me within at least a month i might have given him the money back but its been 4 months....

[rockyg]

Dom, why not suggest that he take the TM to a local repair shop. If it test out fine it's his wiring and his problem. If it's not working the tech can hopefully determine what caused the problem. Court is the LAST resort.

[dombern34]

the court deal is his choice, he didn't seem too interested in working anything out, when he asked for the money back and i said i couldn't do it, he got heated and went straight to the court idea.

[mjsigns]

Sorry to hear you are having trouble finding resolution over the trolling motor issue. Sounds like the issue is getting out of hand.

I'm just glad it's not my fault...

[Harmsway]

he asked for the money back and i said i couldn't do it, he got heated.

Well, how big a boy is he? How big a boy are you?

Fishin' is the mission.

[mpa_72001]

I am with bman he needs to take it to the tm center and have it field tested and if it works its a wiring problem on his plug on the boat.I had the problem on mine a while back where I had two wires crossed on the plug and it will not work.the other thing you could do is take your boat by and plug it in your plug and show him it works if the plug is still the same just my .02.

[dombern34]

I'm sure the plug has been changed by now and it would be two hours for me to drive to his house to show that the trolling motor works. But if I gotta do that then so be it

[charlie tuna]

Couple of years ago, one of my trolling motors(variable speed) a grady white went out, i have two on my boat! I took it to a Grady White dealer in Alachua. Now the original problem was it wouldn't run in variable speed, only full speed, but it ran as smooth as the day i bought it. About a week after i dropped it off, the guy calls me to say i need a variable speed card and the shaft is bent on the motor! I'll buy i needed the speed control card, but the story about the shaft being bent -- no way! I told him i would be by to pick it up. When i got there, the owner was sitting at his work bench stripping the copper windings out of trolling motor armatures. He had a garbage can full of stripped copper wire!! As i was picking up the dis-assembled trolling motor, i noticed the armature was missing??? When i asked him where it was, he said "well thats it there in the vice" with half the copper stripped out of it!!! Then he "tried" to tell me that it was bent and useless!!! R & K is the name of the outfit, i believe the guy is senile!!!

[robbankston]

My 2 cents.

He bought a used trolling motor from someone he didn't know and chose not to test it. Whether it was working or not that's on him. Besides how hard is it to chop off a plug and touch the bare wires to battery terminals?

Unfortunately anybody can sue anybody for pretty much anything they want. I definitely wouldn't give any money up until I was made to by a judge.