Yeah, I don't blame you. I always make sure to meet up at like a Wal-Mart or something, somewhere public. Can't trust a lot of people out there, that's for sure.
So, I spoke too soon about nothing going wrong through Craigslist and only meeting fine, upstanding citizens. Here's my story:
Was in talks with a guy from Wilkes-Barre, PA for an assortment of games. WB is about a little over an hour away from me, so pretty decent drive, wanna make sure the trip is worth it. At first we were gonna meet half way, but in the end I agreed to come all the way for a cheaper price and he accepted. So, for $150 I received:
- Mega Man 3 & Zelda II: Adventures Of Link (NES) (cart & dust sleeve)
- Zelda Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Ocarina Of Time/Master Quest, Mega Man X Collection, Mega Man X Command Mission, Mario Kart Double Dash, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door & Super Smash Bros. Melee (Gamecube) (all complete except X Collection, missing manual)
- .hack//Outbreak Part 3 (PS2, complete)
Very good deal, I thought, and everything is in great shape. In fact, the guy was even willing to show up a little earlier than planned, since I got there early. Now, here's where shit goes south. After I made this deal, which was on Tuesday or Wednesday, I figured I should keep an eye on more deals on the Scranton craigslist. Figured, might as well make the most of this trip and set up a few deals if possible. Got in touch with a guy selling 2 NES consoles, with a total of 17 games, hookups for both consoles, zapper, power pad, cleaner. He had it split into 2 bundles, 65 each. But I talked him down to everything for $100. Was looking pretty good....
We agree to meet at 9:30, before I was to meet the other guy. I was 20 minutes away, gave him a call, no answer, left a message. Got to the meeting spot, gave him a call, no answer, left a message. So I text the other guy, met him and got the deal done, and then the NES guy gives me a text, "sry available now". I said, ok, no problem, I'll be there. He says, ok I'm in a black mustang. I'm thinking, oh ok, big shot I guess. Wait there a minute, in comes an old rusted out black mustang. Me and my brother look at each other like, oh boy. The guy gets out and let's just say, he's not a good model of hygiene. So right away he says, "Hey I'm really sorry man, I had my 7 kids last night and was up til 3:30!" I'm just like, jesus man are you kidding me right now. So he hands me a box, I skim through there's about 7 games, power pad, system, controllers & hookups. Then he hands me a bag and says yeah here man, here's the rest. So, stupidly, I just take the box and bag, give him the bread and he drives away. I decide to open the bag and go through it. There's no gun, 6 games (so only a total of 13 games), some of the ones I got he didn't even have pictured! So I called him back right away, he says so sorry thought everything was there, I ask if he can come back with the games and gun, so he says I'll call you back. He did end up texting me, but of course said he couldn't find the stuff. At that point, I'm just like, screw it I'm going home. Get home and go through it even further and notice there's only 1 set of hookups lol. Icing on the cake. Also, most of this stuff could definitely use some tlc.
Sorry for the wall of text, just wanted to share my story. I just trust people way too much I guess.
tl;dr When buying off of craigslist, check your shit before you or him leave!
BTW, here's what was in the bundle:
- 2 NES consoles w/ 1 adapter & RF switch
- Power Pad w/ booklet
- 5 Controllers (4 Nintendo, 1 3rd Party)
- NES Cleaner
- Castlevania, Bionic Commando, Duck Tales, Super Mario Bros. 3 (X2), Mickey Mouscapade, Tetris, Hogan's Alley, Top Gun, California Games, Win Lose & Draw, Mario Bros./Duck Hunt, Mario Bros./Duck Hunt, World Class Track Meet