Pissed off over a lying Pig and wanna vent.

[2kool4skool]

Pride
Integrity
Guts

[Chess]

Originally Posted by Rovobay

Post happy pictures. something you are proud of. show us your bus! What are your intentions with your bus? trips, full timer? Heard the Ozarks are awesome.

I initially bought my bus as my 'ticket' out of renting lousy apartments. After getting divorced a few years ago it's been lousy apartment after lousy apartment. We were restoring a turn of the century farm house, kept cows and chickens, gardened etc. My current apartment is horrible but due to my limited rental history and big livestock guard dog, most places wont rent to me.
Initially I thought I could move into my bus after working on it for a few months and finish the conversion while living in her. One of my biggest goals is learning about basic carpentry, plumbing and electric and obtaining the tools over time to build an eventual cabin.
I hope to WWOOF and work ATTRA farms for a couple months at a time and look for some of God's glorious green earth to someday have a permaculture paradise on. I would like to travel out of the Midwest from because it's all I know, but ultimately I hope to find land in or around here. Right now my bus is at a friends farm and they are willing to let me help out with their garden and animals. Although we can camp there on occasion we can't live there but it's at least a place to get away from loud obnoxious neighbors.

[MambaJack]

What part of Missouri are you in? I'm down near Branson

[PocketNaomi]

Originally Posted by Chess

I've always been that cautious buyer, always have test driven vehicles and either brought a mechanic with me or took them to a shop. Reading back on my post I can see how stupid I was to let my guard down because of the seller being a sheriff deputy.
Every thing I asked about or for he had a perfect rebuttal to make me think I was being sketchy and paranoid. So instead of being responsible and wary he managed to make me feel like I was being irrational wanting to take it to a garage ten miles away instead of having his mechanic look at it. Like I was somehow breaking the law if I took it for a test drive when he very well knew it could not be registered here in MO. To register a skoolie hear you have to take it to two places for inspections and it has to be running and driving properly. Yet he brought up repeatedly how it could not be driven off til it was registered and plated?!?!

The thing is, every doubt you had you took up with him so he'd know what your doubts were, and have the right thing to say. That's still taking his word, though. When you're dealing with significant sums of money, you need to get EXTERNAL verification no matter whom you're dealing with. Law enforcement officers are humans, and they come in the full range of humans, from heroes to monsters. They are no better and no worse than anybody else just because they happen to do a particular job.

I wouldn't bring this up here except that you went out of your way to associate your naivete in this case (and I don't think being naive is a terrible thing or anything like that, but I do think you were kinda naive in this instance) with your political viewpoint, but maybe this should be a spark for re-evaluating some of the black-and-white thinking? "Very right wing" people, like "very left wing" people or very anything people, tend to see the world in absolutes more often than people who are less extreme, and because people are complex, absolutes are usually wrong. I'm not saying to turn over your entire value system or anything... I probably disagree with you on most of it, but that's not my business. But when you go into a transaction thinking, "He MUST be okay because he's a cop," that's a kind of always/never way of looking at the world which is unlikely to serve you very well.

[Seriousracer]

Originally Posted by MarkyDee

First, a badge and a gun doesn't make someone a model citizen.


Second, always be on your guard around a LEO - say and do as little as you possibly can around them. Investigate what SCOTUS has said with respect to what the main responsibility is of a LEO - its not what you think it is.



Third, with money, again you should always be on your guard. Think of it this way - if someone is threatening your life, you'd protect yourself, right? Well, how much of your irreplaceable life did it take to earn your money? If someone is able to con you out of some of your money, they've actually taken part of your life!



(Yes, that goes for the government, too. Chief Justice John Marshall in McCulloch v. Maryland said "the power to tax is the power to destroy." If you don't know who John Marshall was, look him up - he was a very, very smart person.)



Fourth, for PayPal, I believe you can email their support about any transaction and find out what happened to it from PayPal's point-of-view. If PayPal had an issue (unlikely, but possible), it can be resolved. If it wasn't PayPal's issue; well lets just say that I'd believe PayPal over a user in a heartbeat. (I would have used an escrow service in this particular case, just to keep everything on the "up-and-up".)



Fifth, whenever dealing with cash, always, always, get a signed and dated receipt as to what the cash payment was for in case you have a dispute in the future. Document, document, document. Protect yourself from any possible "he said; she said" future situations - you will loose.



Sixth, if you are buying a used vehicle, you should always have the right to take it to a mechanic you trust - remember that private party sales like this are generally legally "as-is" (look up the term). If you or someone you trust cannot drive the vehicle, then the seller should drive it. If the vehicle is not street-legal and the seller will not make it street-legal to be examined (and a tow is out of the question, or a mechanic won't come to the vehicle), then walk away - its going to be much more trouble than its worth - either the vehicle, the seller, or both (as you have found out).



All of this advice boils down to risk management and mitigation. Try to envision all the ways a situation can "go bad" and avoid going down those paths as best you can. Sometimes situations will "go bad" through no fault of your own - be ready to "cut and run" should that happen - don't get trapped by the "sunk cost fallacy".

This

Being taught to blindly support or believe what “official s“ say is wrong. Question them and hold them to higher standards.

It is one of the reasons why our founding Father’s left England and other countries.

[vintageracer]

Was the bus you purchased legally "Titled" in the seller's name or did he sell it to you with an "Open Title"?

[n2wbl]

Move on! otherwise you’ll get ulcers So not worth your energy.

[dazdconfsd]

Originally Posted by Rovobay

Lets get down to brass tacks. If you feel comfortable share us the numbers of purchase price, deposits made, how much did you over pay (because of lost deposits)? Did you write a bill of sale for this when you bought it? If he did defraud you of money and you can prove it, you have options. I am sure they have ethic standards, codes of conduct, internal affairs or an office of professional responsibility could come down on him. Even when I am off the clock I am still bound by our codes of conduct.

Why would you suggest administrative remedies instead of criminal if there is proof of fraud?

[Seriousracer]

Originally Posted by dazdconfsd

Why would you suggest administrative remedies instead of criminal if there is proof of fraud?

Lol
Try getting a police officer to investigate a police officer. The true definition of the thin blue line.

[Rovobay]

Originally Posted by dazdconfsd

Why would you suggest administrative remedies instead of criminal if there is proof of fraud?

One leads to another. if nothing criminal is found, perhaps can still be found not upholding to his ethics standards and could still be punished of some sort. covering all bases.... just an option....