A car seller sent a hopeful buyer on an 85-mile wild goose chase for offering less than half the asking price of his vehicle.
Charlie Murry drove all the way to a hospital miles from his home, only to then be told by seller Janis Drikis to 'make an appointment and check yourself'.
This all started when Charlie, 51, offered Janis, 37, £250 in cash for his Honda Civic that he’d advertised for £550.
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Instead of telling him no and ending the exchange there, the dad-of-two pretended to be happy with the bid and told Charlie to collect the car the next day.
He gave him the address of a local hospital, but kept his trick secret until Charlie had made the two-hour trip.
Once he’d arrived, Janis texted Charlie to ‘make an appointment’ to check himself for making such ‘stupid’ offers.
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Charlie replied, “You are one rotten b**tard.”
Janis, from Newry, Northern Ireland, said: "I had lots of messages offering £450 and £400 and I don't mind if someone asks like that. I would probably ask.
"But I got that message for £250 in cash and I thought 'Jesus Christ'. It made me sick and I was just about to send some nice words but I sent him a thumbs up instead.
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He continued: “The next day he text saying he couldn't find my house so I directed him to the hospital.
"He text me saying he was at the hospital five minutes later. I told him to go make an appointment and check yourself for making that stupid offer.
“It was a good way to teach him a good lesson. He called me a rotten b*stard.
"He came from Ballymoney, which is hours away. I feel sorry about that but it's a good lesson for him."
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But Charlie was not amused and defended his offer, claiming that the advert described the car as an MOT failure and that it had a blown turbo, meaning it was only good for scrap.
He’d been helping his son’s scrap business when he'd offered to travel from Ballymoney to Newry to pick the car up.
Charlie said: "It was an MOT failure and had a blown turbo on it as well. It said that in the description. He had it up for £500 and it was only for scrap.
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"It could have been used again if you wanted to spend £1,000 on it. If it's good enough to be used, why didn't he take it back to MOT, repair it and drive it…
"I was pretty annoyed when I got there because it was an absolute low-down act to do on anybody.”
He added: "From now on, we'll ask for a phone number so you can contact the client and speak to them verbally."
Luckily, Charlie had already planned to pick up two other cars from the same area that day.
Unsurprisingly the pair haven’t exchanged any messages since, and Janis has decided to keep the car for the time being.
Charlie added: "Just say no like other people and there's no harm done. I don't know why he'd take it into his head and play this trick.
"Everyone thought it was smart and funny but I didn't find it funny."
Daisy Phillipson