I have this friend if you can call her that. She had this gas powered scooter that she wanted to get rid of, she was wanting $40 for it. The thing looks like it has been around the block quite a few times, I thought my dh who is very machanically inclined could tinker with it and it would be a fun thing to ride for my 12 yr old son, so I bought it and brought it home. I told my dh about it but he hadn't seen it. We take it outside and first of all it is very hard to start but that once it started it would fly backwards, we soon realized that it was an extremely unsafe piece of equipment. We had it for all of an hour. So I called my "friend and told her that we didn't think that this was safe for our ds and could we change our mind on it? Right away it was "Oh Kelly, you say you want the scooter and now you change your mind?" We had told her that my dh rode it so she didn't see what the problem was, my dh is a 230 pound man, my ds is 80 pounds, I told her that we were afraid that he would get hurt on it and she kept pushing the helmet issue, it would be fine if he wore a helmet, my dh said helmet aside this is not a safe piece of equipment, she said that her son whom is a ten grader in HS and my son are the same weight and she didn't see what the issue was! He is at least twenty five pounds heavier than my son at 115. I found out that just a year ago from another mutual friend of ours that she was trying to sell this same scooter at a yard sale and wanted 50 dollars for it and got four or five offers to purchase it for between 35-40 dollars, one kid from the neighborhood and also an adult wanted to take it for a spin but she didn't want to be held "liable" so she wouldn't let them ride it. She also told me that she would never ride it or let her dd ride it who is 11 but didn't have a "problem" with us buying it and my ds possibly getting hurt. On the phone she kept giving me the run around s I gave the phone to my dh, finally she said that she would be around to get it and she came by and gave us our money back. I just could simply not believe that the money was that important to her that she could not understand my concern with it being unsafe and not something I wanted for my son. It sat in her garage for a year because she was too cheap to come down on her price of 50 dollars. Then didn't even want people to ride it for fear of being held liable. I am so done with this woman, she is a fair weather friend to begin with and I know if the shoe was on the other foot I would feel horrible if I refused or was wanting to refuse to take back the scooter and her child got hurt I would have a hard time sleeping at night if that were to happen. All the clues were there with her not wanting to ride it and her not wanting her dd to ride it but I truly thought that my dh could tinker with it and when I saw him having such a hard time with it and my ds trying to ride it we changed our mind. This woman was not a good friend by any means and she is not a friend at all now. I just can't believe that she was more concerned with being asked to give back the money than if my child would get hurt on it. Sorry this is long but just had to vent....

By Dramamamma on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - 10:09 pm:

Sending you hugs, sounds like you'll be better off without a friend like her.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - 11:45 pm:

Wow, what a nice friend.. Sounds like that thing is ready for the junk yard and most surly shouldn't be being sold to anyone with out disclosure of the fact that in it's current state it is unsafe to operate. 40 dollars vrs a friendship, guess I would be looking for a new friend. Good job on DH's part for stepping in, by the way.

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, May 15, 2008 - 06:56 am:

I agree with your opening comment, "if you can call her that [a friend]". This is not a friend. This is a person who is trying to defraud someone who thinks she is a friend, and sell the friend a piece of equipment that she had to have known is dangerous. I believe there is no way that she didn't know how the scooter would fly backwards when started. Good for dh for checking the scooter out, for recogizing that he couldn't fix it (some men are sure they can "fix" anything mechanical) and for intervening when this woman was giving you a hard time. You are absolutely right that she is not a friend now, and in my opinion never was.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, May 15, 2008 - 08:01 am:

Ditto everyone else! If she wouldn't ride it and wouldn't let her daughter ride it, then it wasn't safe for your son, either. Sheesh!

By Debbie on Thursday, May 15, 2008 - 09:11 am:

I say lesson learned, she isn't much of a friend. I'd distance myself and move on.