Christmas Reconsidered

I am almost a little too embarrassed to tell this story. But oh well, this is our life and this is what actually happened.


Mark and I thought this year it would be a good idea to get our kids a swingset for Christmas. We're pretty frugal folk and yet we still wanted something that would be sturdy and last a long time. We thought we'd try finding a used swingset, maybe a nice wooden clubhouse-style one off of Craigslist. Unfortunately there seem to be a lot of other people in the valley with this same idea so swingsets we'd see posted would get sold before we ever had the time to go and look at them.


Last Saturday (a week ago) we called a guy about a swingset way out in the northwest valley. The post said it was bought for $3000 three years ago and they were selling it for $500--first clue. You couldn't tell at all what the set looked like from the small black and white photos. The guy said he was selling it for his dad--second clue--who was having renters move in and for their homeowner's insurance they couldn't keep the set there. Third clue, the post left a phone number and said, "text don't call unless I say it's okay."


After texting and then talking with the guy and asking all the questions we could think of to ensure this was ligitimate, we drove all the way across town and checked out the swingset. The guy knew we were coming but said he couldn't be there and to let ourselves in the backyard. Fourth clue.


Just to be sure again we knocked on the door of the house when we got there. No answer, so we let ourselves in the backyard. Actually, we'd taken our boys with us so Mark went first and examined the set for a while then I took a turn so the boys wouldn't see why we were there since we were trying to surprise them for Christmas. This thing was massive. Wooden clubhouse with a long slide, three swings and a set of monkey bars. We have a pretty good-sized yard but we still had to determine whether we had enough room for this thing. After a Sunday to think it over Mark got in contact with the guy, Michael, and arrange to meet to make a deposit. Oh yes, we made a deposit. We paid half, $250. Michael met at Mark's work and Mark had him sign a paper to verify the transaction and state that he owns the playground set and had the right to sell it. We still had some reservations at this point but after talking with Michael, Mark felt comfortable. He knew where the guy worked which was verified by a parking decal on his car and a few other things that made it seem like the guy had nothing to hide.


We spent the next few days making arrangements with family and friends to find four great guys who were willing to drive a trailer all the way across town and help dismantle and move the thing. My sister helped me write a letter to the boys from Santa explaining that their gift was too big to keep at the North Pole and he was delivering it early. Still, when Mark left on Saturday morning I told him to call me when he got there to let me know that the playground set was still there--there was a part of me that was worried this wasn't going to work out.


If I have the story all correct, Mark and his brother showed up late Saturday morning at the house and there was a moving truck there with workers dismantling the set. The family that owned the home was moving out due to foreclosure. They didn't know anyone named Michael.

We were not the only ones dooped because earlier that morning someone else who had already "paid" for the playset showed up and started dismantling it. The neighbors called the police who showed up and got things straight. Then the movers came who were the only ones who were actually suppose to be taking it and Mark and our handy helpers came after that. Besides us there were at least two others that were scammed by Michael.

It's hard to decide if there really is a lesson to be learned from this situation. If it is to not trust people I don't know if I agree with that lesson. We thought we were being careful, and we knew at least as much not to pay the whole amount upfront. It was obvious no one was living at the house, the backyard was totally empty except for the swingset, and there were several other reasons to trust Michael's story. But I would probably not make a deposit on something anymore, I would just buy it outright when it was picked up. Before we made a deposit we tried looking up the home to find who owned it but I couldn't find the information and I gave up too quickly. More than the money lost, I felt worse about the guys and their families who took hours out of their Saturday to help us when it turned out just to be a scam.

So now we have the question again about what to do for Christmas. And since we lost a bit of our Christmas budget and I'm not feeling so fond of dealing with strangers to get a good deal right now it is likely that there will not be a swingset for Christmas this year. And we are okay with that, so don't feel too bad about us. Besides, the kids never knew about any of it so they don't have any expectations and they will have a great Christmas with too many presents, swingset or no. It could have been worse anyway, so we're grateful for that. At least we didn't end up stealing it!