Was it a scam?

My 18 year old son is looking for a work truck. Nothing fancy or expensive and higher miles is ok. There was a Chevy on Craigslist for $4300 or best offer. Not overpriced but not to cheap to be true either. He calls the number and talks to a woman about it. She said it came from her brother in Kansas so it is not rusted out like the local trucks often are. He makes arrangements to meet her and she says she wants to meet at the local Walmart. It is an hour away so that was no problem. When he gets ready to leave home she texts that she needs to make it an hour latter. Again no problem for us. My son saw he was going to be 10 min. late and text her and she said fine. He gets there and she is not there. He waits 10-15 min. and sends a text and she replies that she is just leaving work be there soon. An hour goes by and he text her again wondering where she is. Another half hour and he gets a reply "can't come". He text her again and no reply so they are coming home. Was it just some one being a jerk? or some kind of scam? He was going to look at it and drive it tonight and give her a deposit and Me and the wife were going to get it tomarrow with cash. Forgot today was a holiday so they could not take cash today. But seller did not know we did not have the cash with us. Were they thinking of robbing my son but when they saw two people got cold feet about it? Never ran into anything like this before. Tom

It could be,but I think it is most likely just inconsiderate people.People that don't often sell things just don't know how to act,and some think nothing of your time.I also think it's just way too much fancy footwork to go through to rob somebody in such a public place.I've bought and sold a lot of junk,and I'm always running into some weird reason for people not showing up.I generally won't go out and meet somebody to sell something,but if they sound legit,and they are a woman,I sometimes will.A few weeks ago A woman wanted to meet me at McDonalds for an antique sewing machine I was selling.A half hour past her appointment time she called me,and said she had seen me there,took a good look and drove off.I can see that happening with women that don't know me.She apologized,said my looks just scared her.She said if I wasn't mad she would like to meet me,but with her husband present. I told her I understood and was fine with that.

I would call it a scam and don't waste anymore time with it.

I have had people make appointments then say they had something come up and never get back. It would just be more sensible to tell someone the truth. Changed their mind or found a better deal, etc.

I would think by now every town should have a Safe Deal Zone... Walmart does not qualify...

They tell you when selling something to meet in a neutral place instead of your house so the walmart part of the story sounds legit. The rest of it who knows, maybe she just got tied up at work and couldn't get away. It could be she just wasn't in the mood to deal with selling the truck then. Maybe she intended to have a man go with her and couldn't arrange it then.

Who knows.

Perhaps she already sold it to someone else and wanted to keep the next buyer on the line just in case.

Most people do not give a rats butt about your time.

Dean

Yeah, you don't know, She may have been sitting there, watching you, and decided for many reasons not to go any further. May have been with some guy, same thing. In my little town the Police have a safe zone. May have been a holdup, with some guy, you barely escaped.

Probably one of the worst places I would think.

Buying and selling you meet all types. Seems worse all the time ? But in the end she did him a favor as it was a Chevy after all. lol.

Probably not a scam. Just a person with lots of things on her plate. I am not trusting enough to give a deposit and get the item later. Take cash and bring the truck home.

People flake out all the time. You can wipe your brow and say, "Whew! Dodged a bullet there!" It'll make a good story for the Christmas parties, but odds are she just flaked out for whatever reason and just plain didn't show up.

On Craigslist you get about 1 in 100 that's a person that is truly interested in making a deal, and keeps their word. The first 90 are just "fishing," responding to any and all ads for jollies, or to see if they can hook a fool. Out of the 10 that are interested in what you have for sale, 8 of those are just tire-kicking and never respond. Of the two that you do get a conversation going with, one of them will be a no-show.

Agreed. Most likely someone else called her and was all hot for the truck too. She was going to try to get the best deal by putting your son off while shed tried to get a better price out of someone else.

Just an idiot that does not know how to sell stuff. A clueless person .

Usually when you say that you'd prefer to meet at the police station or your bank because it would be safer, the flakes and criminals walk. Besides, both places you'd be on camera.

As said, probably sold to someone else.
I would guess that nearly all CL harrow stories are arraigned through email or texting.
I sell/buy a lot on CL and will not deal with text or email arrangements.
I tell them to call if interested or give me their number.
I have met a lot of good people and some call me back to just talk.

I think running into strange things on Craigslist is kind of the norm. Brother has sold several things on Craigslist. Has in certain cases not wanted people coming to his house. Just had a bad vib from the phone call or whatever. Not wanting the person to return to his place when he wasn't home was his main concern.