Your experiences with time wasters

equestrianabbie

equestrianabbie

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A few threads recently have left me wondering what experiences people on here have had with time wasters.

For me personally I've been on the other end of selling, I've had sharers blatantly lie to me about their horse, mess me around with price and one ignored my calls for days etc

What experiences have you had?
 
As a potential purchaser, I was amazed at the number of sellers who didn't phone or email back. I even had a couple who answered my 'wanted' ads, emailed with information and pictures and then, when I wanted to go and view, didn't reply. I don't think it was anything I said, as I hadn't really got as far as giving any information!

Oh well - I ended up with my lovely boy!

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I'm glad there was a happy ending, after months of searching I've found a sharer a few miles away so I'm excited for that! I just hope that it all goes well.

Has anyone delt with really rude people?
 
I've had private sellers totally misrepresent their horses or withdraw them from sale... I've had dealers lie thru their teeth about a horses experience or drug their beasties for what reason.
I've turned up at a 'private' seller to see one horse that was advertised to be told that that one is sold - would I like to see another one...

And I've had lovely sellers both trade and private that have been as honest as they could be and I've bough a lot of nice horses over the years. I just go with a buyer beware attitude and take everything they say with a large pinch of salt. However, with my new boy I have to say that the lady told me the absolute truth, down to details of when he will play up and what he will do...

Blitz
 
I don't really want to put her name on here - I don't think it's fair as she sold me the horse as a private deal (It was her daughter's pony).

I have been to see horses at other honest dealers but the horses weren't my cup of tea (Nothing wrong per se just not what I was looking for). I certainly don't want to slag anyone off by name on here but one of the bad ones is a well known (I know now) dodgy dealer in the West Midlands...

BnBX
 
As a seller. I've had all sorts - the last two in the last couple of weeks. One came to see a lovely 16.1 5yo RID gelding. He did everything perfectly and she asked if she could return with her instructor. That was fine - he was foot perfect again and I was quite optimistic that he'd found a perfect home. Then she e-mailed me to say she'd decided she didn't have time for a youngster! But at least she DID contact me with a reason - whether it was the right one or not ....

The other was an HHO member!! Was coming to see a stunning 4 year old IDSH filly - after seeing photos, video etc. She just didn't turn up - and never heard another word. That's just plain rude IMHO! And anyone so crass and thoughtless just doesn't deserve to find a really nice horse!

Thankfully, most of my youngsters DO find nice homes and I don't mind if they come 2 or 3 times (or more) to be SURE. And they've all stayed in touch which is nice - and all 100% happy - which is even nicer!
 
As a buyer, we travelled 3.5 hours with the horsebox to see a horse I had spent ages discussing with the seller on the phone (very exact requirements, HW suitable for novice) and she had sworn blind this would be the perfect horse for us. Turned up to find a really manky yard full of recently shipped Irish imports of all shapes and sizes, many seemingly unhandled and in very poor condition, dealer made an expansive hand gesture and said "Choose!"!!! It was a long trip back home! :)
 
I can honestly say that I have never had a time waster! In fact all 4 of the horses I've sold have gone to the 1st person to view, except the last one which sold to the 2nd person! (And I really don't blame the 1st one who came to view as the mare unaccountably didn't like her riding and was an idiot - I found myself saying the immortal words 'she's never done that before!' Lol

So all my buyers have been lovely, turned up when they said and rode well and were just perfect buyers

A whole different story when I've been buying though....
 
My friends had a horror story where a young girl emailed them and begged to share the horse/loan the horse. After gently saying that they weren't old enough the girl kept calling my friend until eventually she had to change her number.

Absolutely awful
 
I had my gelding advertised on loan. To date Ive had; people not turn up and those that have turned up exaggerated their abilities I.e. not able to sit to correct diagonal, rise to trot at all or too nervous to canter. One couple even asked that I collected them from the train station and when I got there they had 'forgotten' their riding hats and were as drunk as skunks.

The first person to view had arranged to have him but due to a change in personal circumstances could no longer have him. I was so disappointed.

I have had one promising caller but Ive only just come out of hospital and will be unable to view their yard (Ive broken a vertebrae). I've taken his advert down for now.

When buying; I had people not bother to tell me that their horse had thrown a shoe so I would be unable to see it ridden. Which would be fine if it wasn't a 3 hour round trip.

Buying from a dealer is so much more straight forward!
 
I've got my cob advertised at the moment and I've had lots of emails asking questions which I've answered and then never heard a dicky bird since! I had a very novice friend of an acquaintance come to look at him last year who would not even ride him but wanted him on loan and wouldn't confirm a price until he'd 'seen what he was really like'. Needless to say I wasn't too happy with this and decided to keep him a while longer, the horse has been a good friend and I want to be happy with who I sell him to - it works both ways, it's not just the buyer who has to be happy.
 
People who dont turn up at agreed appointments are time wasters.

But people who come and see the horse and decide it isnt what they want are not usually. Even if they see it twice.
 
Loads of timewaster with F.

People calling and not turning up, people just turning up out of the blue !

Had one that seemed perfect in emails, mature confident experienced rider. Got to the yard and it was actually her mum buying for her 8 yr old novice daughter.
 
Four hour journey to see a horse that a friend was interested in buying. Friend had telephoned that morning to confirm that the horse was still for sale. Got there, tried the horse etc.....turned out the sellers had taken a deposit on him the day before, but "werent too sure if they were very keen on the people":rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
equestrianabbie said:
My friends had a horror story where a young girl emailed them and begged to share the horse/loan the horse. After gently saying that they weren't old enough the girl kept calling my friend until eventually she had to change her number.

Absolutely awful
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THis happened to me aswell! To the extent the girl actually put an advert on the same website mine was on branding me a fake advertised and that I didn't actually have a horse to share :mad:
 
I've had a few people waste my time too, I'm currently looking to buy.

The first was very sweet but way too green, didn't have a clue, was strong and kept trying to rush off with me, the owner then said she will put him back up for sale as a project.

The second, was a lovely little Pony, But the owner would not let me hack! I wasn't prepared to buy a Horse when I didn't know what it was like on the roads.

The third, Sounded so promising on the phone spoke to owner for hours on the phone, sounded just what I was looking for, got there got on and Pony was so lazy! owner said the only way she would move if if I clicked at her. I couldn't even get Pony to canter! she was completly dead to the leg. Owner said time and time again on the phone Pony was forward going and not a kick along ride!

Seeing one later today though so fingers crossed.
 
When selling I haven’t had that many real timewasters, it’s on the whole that the horse isn’t quite what they want for whatever reason, which is fair enough.
One TB I was selling I took a deposit on within a couple of days of advertising to the first person to view. A week later he was vetted, and was then due to be collected the following week. The day before collection the buyer called up to say she would have to pull out of sale as her current horse had failed vet big time and was unsellable. She hadn’t told me that buying mine was a linked to needing to sell current horse. So yes she wasted my time but I think it was through unintended naivety on her part, and I kept the deposit.
Then last year I was selling a little coloured MW horse. Had one viewing arranged, sat around with horse waiting for an hour before texting the viewer to ask when they were coming. Got a reply to say they had changed their mind (well thanks for telling me!!!) Also on that horse had chav family from hell turn up to try him 1 hour late and who had completely overestimated their abilities!
From a buying perspective I have to say I have had very little bad experience of timewasting sellers. Recently while shopping with a friend has been the only timewaster ....
Went to see a 16 week broken in 4yo on Saturday, not cheap. Arrived to find an exhausted horse that had already been tried twice that day which had the sellers cared to divulge before we arrived we would have rearranged the viewing. As it was we saw a knackered and bordering on lame horse that we were not in a position to judge if it was worth it’s 6.5K price tag.
I actually think very few buyers set out to timewaste and a lot of buyers are branded timewasters because instead of just telling the owner that they don’t like the horse, or that the seller has misdescribed the horse, (which can be difficult, especially with private sellers) they make up some lame excuse. In a way it is much easier to buy from dealers because at least you can be pretty honest about what you like/don’t like about a horse without generally offending them.
 
I have had experience with time wasting sellers!

When we were looking for a pony for our daughter we found a lovely sounding little first ridden pony about 3.5 hours drive away. chatted to the owner loads, pony had been used in a riding school, sounded absolutely perfect.I didn't have any of my own transport but a friend offered to come up and view with me, and that we would take her lorry up there so we could bring him back if he was right to save the long trip again. He wasnt very expensive so decided to take a chance and not have him vetted.All arranged, we trekked up there in the lorry and about 5 mins away from their yard i called the seller as we were a little unsure on directions into their yard. No reply from seller. left a voicemail. parked up for 10 mins and waited for her to call back. I then had a text from her saying something had cropped up and she no longer had time to show us the pony that afternoon! No apology or anything and she knew how far we had travelled I was furious as was my friend, and we wasted so much time and diesel!! Not to mention the devastated 6 year old we had to contend with!

Next nightmare was a riding school about an hour and a half away. They were advertising a pony, again used in the school, used to kids, loved attention perfect first pony bla bla bla...called and made an appointment to view, woman who we spoke to was the owner and instructor of the yard and said he would be ideal for us. Got there to find a terrified 4 year old pony who was shaking and had his eyes on stalks at us...he was very sweet though and i agreed to see him ridden by one of their yard helpers. Pony had to be led round the school and did a huge buck when asked to trot. Needless to say my novice 6 year old didnt get on board! their excuse was that we were the first people to come and see him and they had intended to use him in the school but didnt get round to it! AAGGH!

Typically, we found our perfect pony in the end, just 5 minutes round the corner though pony club, he is a super star. We will need a bigger pony for her next year and i will go through PC and word of mouth again, far safer!
 
Have my fair share of timewasters in the past. With my current horse who's for sale - all I seem to get is people who phone and chat for an hour about the horse, they sound super keen and say they'll organise when they can fly up (usually they're South of England and we're NE Scotland) - but then I never hear from them again... I guess they're put off by the journey to see him, but hell if the horse is right for you (as you claim on the phone) WHY wouldn't you hop on a 50 mins flight?!
 
I hate selling! When I was selling my last one I had a few people just not turn up leaving me waiting for over an hour each time. Then I had one girl come up who sounded perfect, she came up and rode about 3 times, the first time she came up with a friend I showed her my old boys feet/frogs as they had a split down each one, nothing bad and I had been disinfecting then daily and spoken to the farrier about them and he said they were nothing and he was never lame.

I took a small deposit and I agreed that I could deliver him (about 1hr away). Then she arranged a vetting that she couldn't be present at so I took the day off work for it. Obviously the vet didn't say a lot but the vetting went well and he said it was fine, just asked a few questions about his feet. Anyway later that eve I heard from her quite upset/angry that he failed, this point I was really shocked as worried that something was the matter with him. Especially as the vet didn't seem that concerned. After a lot of phone calls from her...some at 11pm and texts saying she wanted her deposit back etc. Anyway I managed to find out when asking her a lot about what the vet had said about his feet as I was quite concerned that he DIDNT fail and it was just a point on his notes! I explained to her that was really misleading (I spent time on the phone to vets and farrier concerned) and that he passed the deposit isn't refundable. I turned a lot of people away as thought she was having him. She still bothered me after that for a long time about her deposit or trying to get the price we agreed on down, in the end I thought I just couldn't be bothered so gave her the deposit back to shut her up! Next person who tried him bought him and I am very happy where he went so all ended well!

A few months later when buying my new one I had the same vet and he asked me what happened as he heard there was some fuss and I told him, he was quite shocked!
 
Far too many stories. Most frustrating when you're an honest seller yet people just do not listen to what you are saying then brand you a time waster.

Had an absolutely lovely 148 pony who was recovering from injury, she'd had surgery, I had the vet's number on hand and he was perfectly willing to discuss the pony with anyone. She was cheap as chips and it clearly stated in the advert she was NOT SOUND, and needed work to come right. She was the most well mannered, polite pony to be around. Had people call, explained in full detail about her injury and what she needed etc. Was perfectly happy to get on and ride her walk/trot so they could see she wasn't wild from being out of work. It was such a frustrating time but had about 5 people come and view (this will happen when you advertise a pony for £600) then never ever hear from them again even though they promise to call. My favourite was someone telling me she looked stiff, no ***** sherlock! Eventually sold her to a lovely home, they actually listened to what I had to say, rang the vet then gave me a cash deposit there and then, she's now out jumping newcomers.

My friend had a green, forward going pony for sale, another 148, advertised as not a novice ride. So of course mother turns up with nervous 12yo child, owner rides pony walk, trot, canter fine. Child gets on and asks to be led and won't ride it, then gets off, why?! What a royal waste of time.

I could think of a hundred more but it just winds me up.

I'm not looking forward to selling my current pony mare, why do people overestimate their abilities so much? Then turn round and tell you your horse is naughty etc when its clearly their riding upsetting the horse.
 
I have had several REALLY irritating timewasters that I can think of.

Two that come to mind immediately had put down substantial deposits saying they'd be in touch within 24 hours to arrange transit, never heard from one of them despite emails, telephone calls to their contacts. The other made excuse after excuse and in the end (weeks and weeks) said they'd changed their mind but that I could keep the deposit...and they thought they were getting it back?!:confused::mad:

These types annoy me more than those who just don't get back in touch as it creates a bit of a moral dilemma for me, I have a deposit therefore I am morally bound to hold the horse for 7 days (my rules) but I am still paying for 7 days feed, or losing out on other viewers. Until the horse is fully paid for then I no longer take down advertisements and I explain the situation to other prospective viewers...just in case.

I take payment on horses too, I don't have a problem with that, the horse stays on the yard and the 'buyer' pays a nominal board and signs an agreement. That can be a PITA too, someone once bought a horse over 5 months, came and visited blah, blah, blah and then buggered off! Poof ... vanished! Never heard from them again, I even went to their house, left hand delivered letters, spoke to neighbours. I kept that horse for three more months in case they turned up, in the end I had to go through the legal system to be able to sell the horse to recoup costs.

Oh, and the no-shows :( It isn't so bad as I show my horses from the field, so never bring in until someone arrives, and I live on site so I am not hanging around, but if someone doesn't get in touch then if I have plans I don't hang around on the off chance they may roll up, neither do I put off other viewers if I have set up appointments. I had a really rough dealer type chap turn up at 9pm one day when he was due at 10am, I'd sold the pony at 6pm to someone else, he'd not have had the pony anyway, I didn't like him and neither did my dogs - I trust my dogs.

Nowadays my favourite buyers are the ones that turn up with a trailer and a pocketful of cold hard cash, and they don't get the horse unless I like them.

I would hope that I would not be labelled a TW.
I go, I look and if I don't like I say "Thanks, but not what I was after" and if I do like I pay the deposit/price (get a receipt) and either load up (often we take the trailer) or arrange collection/delivery for asap.
 
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I had an hour and a half drive to see a dealers horses and when i got there the weather was too windy to be safe which was fair enough so I rearranged another visit and drove home. Seller cancelled that visit due to another reason and rearranged another appointment for a few days later.
Drove all the way down again to find the seller had apparently forgotten and gone for an appointment elsewhere! Staff couldn't show the horses to clients in her absence and said she didn't really have anything suitable anyway as they had just sold loads. Website not up to date!
Was furious and have yet to receive an apology!
 
Had someone come and view our horse for sale, was exactly as advertised, saint on roads etc, safe but not kick along.

Had someone come to view, got on and EVERY stride in walk was kick kick kick kick kick kick .....you get the picture, they then MOAN that the horse ignores the leg when asked to trot!?!?!?

After explaining SEVRAL times that the horse does not require being nagged at every stride they lay off the horses sides for a moment then ask for trot.........guess what......horse trotted.

Some people SERIOUSLY need to take a look at their riding before thinking of buying a horse!
 
greylover said:
Had someone come and view our horse for sale, was exactly as advertised, saint on roads etc, safe but not kick along.

Had someone come to view, got on and EVERY stride in walk was kick kick kick kick kick kick .....you get the picture, they then MOAN that the horse ignores the leg when asked to trot!?!?!?

After explaining SEVRAL times that the horse does not require being nagged at every stride they lay off the horses sides for a moment then ask for trot.........guess what......horse trotted.

Some people SERIOUSLY need to take a look at their riding before thinking of buying a horse!
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I hate people who ride like that! What are we, a Nation of Nigglers?

Get on any of our horses and niggle and they'll either tell you to naff off, or tune out and fall asleep.

The number of people who say "I can ride!", then get on and niggle... Almost as annoying as what D1 is doing to my hair - she can see the screen so excuse me folks but GET OFF! Thank you.
 
MrsMozart said:
I hate people who ride like that! What are we, a Nation of Nigglers?

Get on any of our horses and niggle and they'll either tell you to naff off, or tune out and fall asleep.

The number of people who say "I can ride!", then get on and niggle... Almost as annoying as what D1 is doing to my hair - she can see the screen so excuse me folks but GET OFF! Thank you.
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PMSL! Nigglers sounds like some sort of creature from Harry Potter! MrsM what are you on tonight?
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Although I'd love to see a 'niggler' get on Andy he'd soon be in the next county. Sadly I get loads of people asking to ride him and I just dread to see what would happen. I can't stand people who lie about their ability.
 
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