My worst in-person used purchase was not so bad, but sometimes circumstances conspire against you. This was a CL listing a few years ago, with ADS L780 speakers, a nice-looking 70s Marantz receiver - I've forgotten which one, but about 30wpc, giver take. And another item or two I've completely forgotten. All priced separately, and not too high, and the pics looked good. I wanted the speakers, which looked to be in excellent condition.
So I get Christine to drive me to the guy's house; he's at work, and his wife is clueless about the gear and the deal, but knew we were coming. She opens her garage and it is packed like sardines with junk. One speaker over there, the other over yonder, the receiver and other bits stacked in yet another spot. No way for my half-crippled ass to get to them - I was precariously using a cane at the time, before progressing to the walker I now use.
But my lovely, skinny wife (115 lbs on a good day) is a gamer, so she climbs in and over and around and in between junk to look at the stuff. The speakers were in very good condition, and the receiver remarkably so. He was asking more for the speakers than I really wanted to pay, but considering his space problems, I thought I could make him an offer for all of it, then sell everything but the speakers, and come out just fine. Figured they'd like to get it out of their way.
So I made an offer - I no longer recall the numbers - and she had to call him, but it was readily accepted - however, I had thrown in one contingency. If the speakers didn't pass my visual inspection after getting them out of the garage, I could back out. He'd agreed. Then circumstances began conspiring.
It started to rain. Well, we were concerned with the speaker's nice finish getting soaked, but the lady offers trash bags - the big, black lawn type. So she and Christine cover the speakers and carry them to the trunk - I had my wife's assurance that the cabinets were in good shape, and the speakers were the reason I bought all this stuff.
We get home, get them inside and unveiled and the cabs are indeed in very good condition, but why do they have different terminal plates? And different fuse-holders? Because one is an L780 and the other is an L780-II. I no longer want the speakers. Cal me OCD, or whatever, but I didn't even care what they sounded like at that point, just checked that all the drivers were working (yes) and listed it all on CL myself, for prices I thought would spur sales.
It only took two or three weeks to move it all along, and I profited about fifty bucks, though the potential for more was there, mainly because the receiver was in truly outstanding condition, and I let it go for less than FMV. But the whole thing was disappointing to me because I really wanted a nice pair of 780s - used to sell 'em.
The deals where I really got burned were ebay deals where equipment was never as claimed, so I quit buying there, but this one was disappointing because of the way chance grabbed control of circumstances and got my hopes up, only to dash them. I certainly would not have chosen to go through all this just to make fifty bucks, but at least I didn't lose.
The young fellow who responded to my ad for the ADS, in which I pointed out the mismatched versions, was super-excited to find them for the price. I reiterated to him that they were different versions, but he said, "They look the same from the front. They sound great (I had them connected) and I never thought I'd find speakers this good for the money. Especially ADS speakers in this condition. I'm stoked!"
Well, that was nice, and did make me feel better about buying them in the first place, since they offered a young audio enthusiast a nice upgrade opportunity. Fifty bucks profit ain't so bad with that added value.
