Terrible Tale #3-
Get it in Writing!!!

When we were in the aircraft sales business, a friend asked us to find a particular light twin, a scarce and hard to find Grumman Cougar (there are less than 60 in the US). He told us that he'd already spent over $600 in pursuit of a Cougar, and figured it would be cheaper in the long run to just pay us our normal commission.

Obviously, our curiosity was peaked. Here's the story that came out:

It seems that he had located one on his own that filled his needs perfectly, with an advertised price of $49,900. When he was finally able to get the seller (a private owner, not a dealer) on the phone, they reviewed the specifications together. After thinking it over for an evening, our client called the owner back with a firm offer to purchase this aircraft at the advertised price, no negotiations. The seller accepted his (verbal) offer, arrangements were made, and the buyer paid (dearly) for the first avalable airline ticket to go get his new bird.