Titan Industrial Equipment, Near-miss! Charleston, West Virginia
Today, May 15th 2010 I was approached by a man in a pick-up truck in the Lowes parking lot selling Titan industrial equipment. The truck had a placard on the side that said Spartan Equipment Company. The man asked me if I new any contractors that might be interested in some equipment he was selling. He probably thought I was a contractor because of all the supplies I had just purchased. He told me that he was a forklift operator for the company and his boss had sent him out in the truck to sell the equipment that was in the back of his truck. He said that the company was an equipment company that serviced the coal mines and that the item were overstock items and that it cost too much to ship the stuff back. The truck contained two generators, an air compressor, a pressure washer and a trash pump. He showed me an invoice that indicated the equipment was worth $18,000 and said that he would sell me the entire lot for the price of the diesel powered generator that he had onboard. He was asking for $5200 for the entire load. He called his boss and had a very convincing conversation that was apparently on speaker phone so I could hear it. I said I needed to make a few phone calls before I could make such a purchase and he relayed this to his "boss" who protested that he wouldn't wait very long. All of which was loud enough for me to over hear. I was very interested and feeling like I would miss out on a great opportnity if I didn't act now. Luckily for me I just couldn't justify the expenditure and recently had trouble selling some other equipment I owned. So I told him I would have to pass and walked away. I wasn't sure whether I had just dodged a bullet or missed out on a great opportunity. Now that I have read of other stories on this web-site I now know I just dodged a bullet.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Buyer
pelzer,South Carolina,
United States of America
I bought that load
#2Consumer Comment
Sat, November 20, 2010
I bought that load of equipment almost 3 years ago when times were tough for me in the masonry trade. I didn't really need anything on the truck except for the presssure washer.
Once I got the equipment, I called a builder I knew would want the big pump for footings he always has flooded before inspectors would arrive to clear for concrete pouring. The guy was using buckets, milk jugs and shovels all day to clean the footings out. He bought the pump for $1000 right off.
I took the rest of the stuff to the Anderson jockey lot in Anderson, SC and sold it all in a day. Except the pressure washer. I got to keep the pressure washer and still profited $600. I still have the pressure washer and use it for every brick job I get. I get paid $75 for every 1000 brick I clean, so I see continuing profit from taking that load. I don't know how the generators and compressor are holding up, but I gave a receipt to each person I sold them to, which included my phone number. And I never did get any calls or complaints.
The builder is still using his pump, so I would guess the quality of the stuff is acceptable. I don't know the expected life span of this kind of stuff but I think my pressure washer would have easily paid for itself if I paid full price for it, whatever that was. Overall my decision to buy that load got me a free piece of equipment and $600 cash. I don't care what reason it was being sold for as long as it wasn't stolen. I think I got a wholesale-type deal for whatever reason and made out really well. How does that qualify as a scam? Think back and figure what you could have done with that stuff if the idea of being scammed hadn't been the overpowering concern at that time. It's smart to be wary and it's smarter to be sure you're not dealing with stolen goods (which I did). But sometimes a good deal is just that: a good deal. Do you know anyone who would say that stuff is garbage?
Other that having to replace O-rings and washers, I can't complain.