Reader TTS

Selling things on the Internet is a mixed bag. Eleven people took to Reddit to share their worst, creepiest Craigslist encounters. And after reading them, we have a deep-seated fear of

technology, which we will now pass along to you. “I was selling a TV, and a woman asked to come over to look at it. When the time came, she pulled into the driveway, and there were about 4

or 5 other people in the car with her. They all got out and started walking towards the door, and and the woman said they all wanted to see the television. I told her that only she could

come in. She said she needed at least one other person’s opinion. I said no, and then she got indignant. I asked her to leave, and she said that I wasn’t being a very good Christian. One of

the dudes who was with her pissed at the end of my driveway, then they get in the car and drove away.” via GIPHY “I was looking for a steering wheel for playing racing games on my computer.

When I got to the seller’s apartment, there were bags of trash piled up outside the door in the hallway, and I could hear yelling inside. A very young child opened the door. ‘Is ‘XXXX’

here?’ The kid said nothing but walked away from the door, leaving it open. Another door opened and out stepped a young man in his pajamas. He walked me into his trashed room. I had to

shuffle through clothing and belongings on the floor to reach the stained office chair. I told him I’d take the unit, and he surprised me when he pulled the original box out of the closet

and packaged everything up like it was brand new. The best part of the entire exchange was the argument between him and his mother over who was going to keep the money as I was leaving.” “I

bought a Keurig on Craigslist. I used it for a couple of days and started noticing coffee grounds in my cup. I ignored it. The next day, I saw a cockroach in my kitchen, and I found out it

was coming from the Keurig. I took a flashlight to the inside, and it was infested with a nest of cockroaches. It hadn’t been coffee grounds in my cup.” “My brother posted a fake ad under my

name and number, saying I had a dozen fighting gerbils for sale. The onslaught of inquiries lasted for weeks. I was quite impressed by the amount of people who went to Craigslist for

gladiator-like gerbils.” via GIPHY “I sold a juicer on Craigslist and ended up dropping it off at this dude’s house. The next day I see a desk for sale that I want. So I inquire, and it’s

the same dude. Weird coincidence. I go over, and the desk isn’t the one pictured. It was a piece of crap that he had clearly cobbled together from scraps. The next day, I got a text from him

wanting to know if I want to come over for a beer. I said no thanks. The next day, I found an ad for rims for my exact year, make and model of car. Same dude. I realized at this point that

during the course of casual conversation, he was picking up on other things I said I wanted, so he was posting ads specifically for me to respond to so I’d come over and ‘hang out.’ I

decided it was a good time to change my number, the locks on my house and swap the batteries in my stun gun.” “My roommate sub-leased his room without telling us. The three of us in the

house were all around 22 years old. The guy that sublet the room was 36, unemployed, socially awkward and would blare Metallica all day. He would just stay in the house and only leave at odd

hours. Then one day my roommate noticed his guitar was missing. And then his other one went missing. We confronted him. After about 20 minutes of excuses, he admitted he pawned them for the

power bill and he wouldn’t have rent for us this month.” “I sold a washer to a guy on Craigslist. Later that night, I get texts from him about how it doesn’t work and he wants his money

back. I told him that it was sold exactly as it was written in the post. I assume he damaged it the way he rigged it on his truck. After a day, he starts calling me and cussing me out and

texting death threats. I have other random numbers calling me doing that same. Two nights after I sold it, I wake up at 3 a.m. with people banging on my door yelling. Luckily, I live on the

second floor with no easy access to the windows. I sit there for about 15 minutes while they continue to yell through the door. I still get calls and texts from him on random numbers.” via

GIPHY “My husband made a fake account and then trolled a free dresser ad that I made for almost a week. He kept asking me to smell it and describe the smell and silly things like that. By

the time I figured out I was being trolled, he had asked if I could cut the dresser into more manageable pieces so it could fit onto his motorcycle.” “I sold an air conditioner on

Craigslist. I listed it for $60, but let the guy talk me down to $40. We met at a parking lot. He handed me a wad of dollar bills and started putting the unit in his car. I managed to sort

out the mess as he was getting in his car to leave. He had only handed me $27. I called him out, and he kept saying things like, ‘That’s all I have; you don’t want me to drive all the way

out here for nothing.’ Just guilt tripping me. I had to stand behind his car so he couldn’t back out until he gave me the rest of the cash.” via GIPHY “We were selling a house on Craigslist,

and we started getting calls about it being for rent. Sure enough there was a ‘for rent’ ad picturing our house and giving a phony realtor email address. I contacted the advertiser who

claimed he was the owner away doing missionary work in Africa. He wanted me to wire the deposit. I played along with some back-and-forth emails until he got suspicious and stopped

communicating. We reported this fraud to Craigslist, which then responded by blocking OUR email address. Now when we use Craigslist, we have to use a different email.” “I had a guy say he

could maybe fix my TV. He said he’d have a look at it no charge and give me an estimate if he could. He came over. He said he couldn’t fix it and then hit on me. I’m straight, but he didn’t

seem to care.” _All posts have been edited from Reddit for length and clarity._