Buying a television is an investment, but sometimes even the best electronic devices become outdated and difficult to repair.
When a neighbor decided to put a family’s old television back on the market despite repeated warnings about its condition, a dramatic argument ensued, resulting in a barrage of accusations and leading one family member to question the family’s goodwill.
Read on to find out the full story.
My parents and I bought a 60-inch smart TV about 9 to 10 years ago.
Since it was on sale, we thought we’d treat ourselves to a nice TV for our living room.
Well, 4 months ago it wouldn’t turn on.
We called a family friend who owns an appliance repair business and asked him what the problem might be and if we could fix it.
He said that we could probably fix the problem based on the issues described, but that it might be difficult to find replacement parts since the TV is an older model.
He also said the solution would be expensive and may not be permanent.
In his professional opinion, we should recycle the TV and buy a new one.
That’s what we did.
Now to the triggering incident.
We put the TV out on the street on the designated recycling day for old appliances. Our neighbor knocked on the door and asked what was wrong with the device and if he could have it.
We explained to him the problems and what the repair service said.
They took the TV and said they could find someone to fix it.
Weeks later, they asked for contact details of our repair service. He repaired the TV.
About a week ago the TV broke and he went to the repair shop again.
It was “repaired” but broke again yesterday.
The neighbor had a few kind words for the family.
Today he angrily knocked on our door and claimed we had cheated on him.
He spent almost $700 fixing the TV twice and claimed it was our fault.
He started to insult me.
I calmly replied that we had explained the situation with the television and that he had done it at his own risk.
But he continued screaming.
He demanded that I pay back the money and take back the TV because my family had “intentionally cheated” him.
But they did not want to put up with these insults.
Here is my comment on the AH: After being insulted for a few minutes, I was fed up.
I called him an idiot for wasting $700 on a TV that was broken anyway.
He took the risk of taking the TV in for repair and spent the money even though he knew there was no guarantee that the TV would be 100% repaired.
I told him that if he comes over and yells at me or uses racist language again, I will call the police and report him for harassment.
It turned out that the family was not the only person who had alerted their neighbor to the condition of the television.
After the incident, I called the repairman who fixed the TV and he said he told our neighbor all the details he had given us.
He urged my neighbor not to spend money on repairing the television.
I talked to my friends and the reactions were all mixed.
Some think the neighbor is right.
One person specifically said I was an asshole because I should have told my neighbor, “No, the TV is junk,” and I shouldn’t have escalated the situation when he came over.
He thinks it’s a bit “cheating” that we didn’t pressure him not to take the TV and send it to a repair shop that is a family friend.
The previous owner of the television is therefore wondering whether he made the right decision.
Now I feel guilty because he spent all that money and I have concerns about how I treated him.
I think maybe I should have told him no right away, then he could have avoided wasting his money.
My parents say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Is this possible?
It’s good to think critically about your own actions sometimes, but the author had only good intentions.
What did the Redditors think?
It is not the author’s fault that his neighbor spent $700 on the television.
This Redditor calls on the author to stick to his opinion.
You should not tolerate this abuse much longer before it escalates.
He received several warnings.
Next time this author will think twice before giving a gift to a neighbor.
It turns out that a man’s trash is really just trash.
If you liked this post, check out this one about an employee who took revenge on HR for refusing to reimburse him for travel expenses.
