Craigslist Pros & Cons

Craigslist can be a great tool to find what you need on the cheap. Someone's moving and everything has to go by the weekend--you get a bedroom set and a fridge, and they'll deliver! Unfortunately, it's also easy to get scammed.

We needed:
a lawnmower
a fridge
microwave
washer/dryer

For some reason, finding a used lawnmower in the South is impossible, but we eventually found a really crappy one at a pawn shop for $35. Mr. Go has already had issues with the carburetor after just the first mow and it makes our garage smell like the Exxon Valdez. But a coworker found us a "better" one and we're going to make a trade. The importance of personal connections and word of mouth is becoming more and more evident. (This is a good opportunity for me to work on my people skills.)

As previously mentioned, we could not get anyone to sell us their fridge, so we bit the bullet and bought a new one before we drowned in grease from take out.

We found a really nice microwave for $50. Could've gotten a cheap one new for that much, but this Panasonic is like nuclear powered. Or maybe I'm just used to my old crappy microwave at home. In any case, I was happy with the deal. The people were having a sale and we got a cool end table from them for $10 too.

As far as a washer and dryer...there were lots of options on Craigslist, but we were being thrifty. Let me tell you, You Get What You Pay For. We found some people who were moving and were willing to deliver a Magic Chef dryer and Whirlpool washer to us for $125. What a great deal! What could go wrong?

Babs was napping when they dropped it off, so we didn't hook it up to test it. Mistake #1. Always test everything before you buy it on Craigslist. Yes, even if you have to wake the baby. For the price of a crabby baby for a few hours we could've avoided the fiasco.

After spending a good couple hours cleaning the groty things (how can a WASHER get so dirty??), and buying the necessary equipment to hook them up to our hookups, the drum on the washer leaked all over our floor and the dryer just plain ole didn't work.

Contacting this guy has proven fruitless so far, but we're still trying. I'm not hopeful. Mr. Go is in a Righteous Fury and calling the dirtbag 75 times every day.

But, we found another --very nice-- man to bring us an old (but working!) washer & dryer and haul away the duds for $260, which puts our grand total for the ordeal at $385. Still a decent price for a washer and dryer, but we could've done without the headaches.

Update: the washer is only sort of working, so our new pal Marvin is going to come out and take a look at it for us, since we're going to be selling them back to him when we leave here. Again, personal connections.

So you win some you lose some, but we'll chalk it up to a learning experience. Always best to be extra cautious.