Worst buying decision ever

[swee'pea99]

Nothing like an embarrassing admission .

Thinking about this on my walk I decided it would come down to a tight contest between a £180 set of Panasonic walkie-talkie-type phones for the house that I bought just as everyone quit making calls on landlines - sat around mocking me for years from four different locations, the bastards - and a Sony camera I spent over 200 quid on (second hand) just before phone cameras became good enough to make it completely obsolete. Mind you in truth those both pale before the £1600 I paid for a car whose engine seized up on its maiden voyage, but it was only 40 years ago so it's still a bit raw and I can't write about it without crying. *sob*

So come on, whether it's 'I should have thought that through' or 'I couldn't have known but with hindsight', what's the biggest wedge you've effectively torched, and what in the world made you do it?

 

[Electric_Andy]

My first big bike, a Suzuki bandit, won it on eBay for £1400. The owner had done a lot of "work" to make it look like a cool street fighter. I got the train to pick it up, owner took it up the road and back so I thought ok this works. rode it home at dusk which is when I found out the lights didn't work, the speedo didn't work, and after nearly getting taken out by a lorry, it broke down. plus the brakes were binding. many garage bills later, and 2 used banks of carbs, still ran like a bag of spanners so ended up spending an extra grand on it then selling for £400

 

[oxoman]

Brought a 2nd hand car as a family pool car. Used it a few times for tip runs and about 500 miles before discovering every time it rained the bloody thing went into limp mode. Water getting into the main ecu apparently. Waste of 700 notes.

 

[Mike_P]

Buying a replacement tape drive for backing up the PC just before CD writers came mainstream. Not sure if it ever got used.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Citroën BX - brand new. Utter crud.

 

[Drago]

BMW 745i.

Technically the ex wife bought it, because she was a snob and didnt like me smoking about in an old Peugeot 405TD. It was a £50k+ car 25 years ago, only a few months old when it came my way, and was the most unreliable car I've ever had the displeasure of owning. Constant alarm and immobiliser problems, central locking that wouldnt let me in but if I used the key to gain entry it thought it was being srolen and wouldnt run. In the year I owned it it honestly spent 8 odd months sat at the dealer.

At the time I also owned a then 30 year old Rover P6 (which she also hated) as a weekend toy but the Bimmer was so bad I ended up relying on the Rover more often than not for work. I was quite relieved when we split and I was able to sell it and use the cash for a Peugeot 406 HDi and a deposit on a cottage

 

[sevenfourate]

A 6-pack of Flamin Hot Monster Munch.

Should have stuck to the Original pickled onion flavour…..

 

[gbb]

I wont (generally) but new tech, (thats changed now because everything has proved to be reliable) but as flatscreen TVs suddenly became the 'thing', we needed a new TV and I stoically stuck with CRT , brought a top of the range Philips TV, cost an absolute fortune, weighed an absolute ton and probably used twice as much electric.
Within 2 or 3 years, CRTs had effectively disappeared,fllatscreens were so much more attractive ..and reliable..and i was stuck with a then £1k TV that was effectively worthless and couldn't bring myself to write off.
When I did get shot, I had to literally give it away, completely worthless, to someone I suspect only reluctantly took it because it was free.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

£300 for a Rover 200, another £75 for a replacement windscreen after getting a nasty chip on the way home. Five days later it was on a scrappies trailer after the head gasket blew.

 

[wakemalcolm]

BMW 745i.

Technically the ex wife bought it, because she was a snob and didnt like me smoking about in an old Peugeot 405TD. It was a £50k+ car 25 years ago, only a few months old when it came my way, and was the most unreliable car I've ever had the displeasure of owning. Constant alarm and immobiliser problems, central locking that wouldnt let me in but if I used the key to gain entry it thought it was being srolen and wouldnt run. In the year I owned it it honestly spent 8 odd months sat at the dealer.

At the time I also owned a then 30 year old Rover P6 (which she also hated) as a weekend toy but the Bimmer was so bad I ended up relying on the Rover more often than not for work. I was quite relieved when we split and I was able to sell it and use the cash for a Peugeot 406 HDi and a deposit on a cottage

Smoking about in a P6: did anyone call you 'The Gaffer' behind your back? Can almost smell the sheepskin jacket from here.

Despite all that I hankered after a P6 nearly as much as I did an SD1.

 

[Electric_Andy]

oh and another one. sat on an L shaped sofa last year and bought it. after a few months we decided it wasn't that comfortable. sold it to a friend for £100 only about 16 months old!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Never having had a lot of money in my life, I cannot think of any particularly great howlers, so I'll have to get back to you about it. 🤔

 

[Fastpedaller]

Buying a flat - Just in time for the biggest drop in property values, coupled with the 15% interest rate as well - This was early 1990's.
Contrast that with the 'best ever buy'.........
A couple of guys in Southend-On-Sea advertised they could give the flat back to the building society using a legal avenue, and I would be free of the problem- They were true to their word, and their £500 fee was the best purchase I ever made. Moral..... Don't EVER buy anything leasehold.