[JessFinds] Craigslist ... A Cautionary Tale

I love Craigslist. Got started using it when I lived in Seattle and it was very active there. When we moved south of the Mason Dixon, it was a weaker presence but still a great caliber of people. Young professionals, swappng gently used goods for fair prices. What is not to love?

Up here in New England it is a little more dicey. It might just be that Craigslist has grown up. I mean, it had it's own serial killer! I have never experimented with the seedy side of CL, but I hear it can be  quite the dark underbelly of society and quite specific at that.

I stick with unloading stuff I don't want and buying things that I don't want to pay retail prices for.

We have had the relentless emails from people who make appointments, get your address and then never show up. Creepy. That always freaks me out in a "buy a rotweiler" sort of way. 

My husband had - officially - the most ODD craigslist experience I have ever heard. But before you read on, look at this photo of a CL freebie my hubby picked up from a non-odd CL listing. Free water slide! Heck yeah.

Ok. So hubby gets in touch with someone who listed a "free pool" on CL. It is one of those pools with the inflatable ring - a temporary summer pool. They say that they will not be home, but to just come by and put it in his truck.

He goes. It needs some cleaning. He was going to go on a hospital visitation (he is The Preacher after all) afterwards but got so dirty getting the pool emptied that he decided to scrap the visitation.

While he is loading it up, a guy arrives in a big red truck with his wife and baby. He asks my husband "are you the owner?" to which Preacher replies "Nope - just picking up the pool." The guy flips out.

He says that it is his and he drove 80 miles for it and that his aunt and uncle rent the place. They told him to pick it up last week but he could not get there till today. He was really pissed. But, he claims he is mad at them (not my husband) and helps him get the pump and tubing (while cursing up a storm and dropping f-bombs left and right).

He then starts to go through the shed and says he is just going to pick up a few of his things that were left behind.

A few hours later, my husband gets a call from the people who owned the pool. They accuse him of robbing them blind, clearing out their shed. Alan explains about the guy with the truck and they have NO IDEA who he was. He offered to help them give a description to police. He also said "Google me. I am a priest. Not in the business of robbing people." I still can't believe someone had the balls to show up with that story and rob them - right in front of my husband.

Turns out - they are CL idiots. They told more than one person that they would not be home and gave out their address to total strangers. Such a bad idea. And someone took advantage of that. It is sad.

So don't do that.