Would This Make Me A Bad Person?

[Judge Smails]

<p>Here's the deal:&nbsp; When I moved into my house about nine years ago I bought a little 1200 psi powerwasher for about $90.00.&nbsp; I've only used it twice in nine years.&nbsp; Recently, I was noticing that my pavement in the backyard has gotten really discolored and could use a good powerwashing, except when I plugged the thing in, it was broken.&nbsp; Man was I pissed, considering it was only ever used twice.</p><p>I checked Home Depot and I could rent a big one for $80.00 for five hours.&nbsp; This isn't very long taking into acount travel time to and from Home Depot and the amount of walk that I need to clean.&nbsp; I could buy another little one for $99.00, but considering how often&nbsp;I'm probably going to use it, it's probably not worth it.</p><p>So, I'm talking to my dad and he says that Lowe's has a very liberal return policy.&nbsp; He suggests that I should buy a powerwasher, use it and then return it.&nbsp; I looked into it and I could get a 2500 psi one for about $300.00.&nbsp; I could probably return it in excellent condition since I'm only going to use it once and, after all, I'm only going to be running clean water though it.&nbsp; </p><p>My parents do this kind of shit all the time and it always bothers me.&nbsp; I'd hate to turn into them but I'm not above saving $80.00-$90.00 either.&nbsp; I'm torn.&nbsp; So I've decided to leave it into your hands. What should I do?</p><p>Sincerely,</p><p>Washerless in Jersey&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

[Fallon]

Do it!<br />

[Death Metal Moe]

<p>I would be conflicted too.</p><p>On the one hand, it's every fucking man for himself, and I'm A#1 in my own book.&nbsp; Part of me says &quot;Do what you have to in order to get yourself by.&quot;</p><p>but then there's that part of me that thinks &quot;How would you feel gettting a used power washer?&quot;&nbsp; You used a part of it's overall life, and with that gone it could break a week after the warranty and you screwed someone.&nbsp; You'd be pissed if it was you.</p><p>I guess it just really depends on you.</p>

[Tall_James]

Get a&nbsp;bucket of soapy water&nbsp;and a scrub brush and go Old School!

[A.J.]

How much would it cost to just get the thing fixed?&nbsp; Or is it unable to be repaired?

[crb1]

<p>Personally, I would rent (or if possible: borrow) one.&nbsp; It doesn't sound like you used the old one enough to merit a purchase.&nbsp; I wouldn't do the buy and return thing for the same reasons DMM mentioned.&nbsp; If it was a suit you needed once, then go ahead. But that is a functioning item, and has only so much life.</p><p>One side note...if you do decide to rent, look into a rental place.&nbsp; I've had to rent a number of things before (tile saw, aluminum brake, scaffolding), and rental places have been cheaper than Home Depot EVERY time.&nbsp; </p>

[Judge Smails]

<strong>A.J.</strong> wrote:<br />How much would it cost to just get the thing fixed?&nbsp; Or is it unable to be repaired? <p>I wouldn't trust that as I've been the victim of that in the past.&nbsp; I've paid a lot of money to have a tv and dishwasher fixed, only to have them break again a few months later.&nbsp; For a little more than what I paid for the repairs I could have gotten new ones right off the bat.&nbsp;&nbsp;Instead, I paid for repairs and new ones.</p><p>As for Moe's concern that someone else will wind up with my used powerwasher: I'm pretty sure that Lowe's won't re-sell it once the box is open.&nbsp; In fact I believe Lowe's won't even be stuck with it as they'll probably return it to the manaufacturer.</p>

[Death Metal Moe]

<strong>judge_smails</strong> wrote: <p>As for Moe's concern that someone else will wind up with my used powerwasher: I'm pretty sure that Lowe's won't re-sell it once the box is open.&nbsp; In fact I believe Lowe's won't even be stuck with it as they'll probably return it to the manaufacturer.</p><p>OK, so that means a $100 dollar power washer now costs us $190 because the company's cost of doing business went up due to constant forced returns.</p>

[mdr55]

<p><img width="450" height="304" border="0" src="http://colby.tjs.org/~br/Syllabi%20fun/darth_vader_gr.jpg" /></p><p>judge_smails......I
am your father. Come join the dark side my son and buy that power
washer. We can return it together later after we are done using it. I
can teach you many tricks of the free trade.&nbsp;</p>

[Death Metal Moe]

<p>What's next?&nbsp; Ordering an assload of Chinese food then never picking it up?</p><p>WHERE DOES IT END?!?!</p>

[FUNKMAN]

<p>only the lowest of the low, a real scumbag would date his brother's ex-girlfriend</p><p>and return a used power-washer</p>

[Death Metal Moe]

<p><img height="210" src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/winter/student/images/eddie-izzard.jpg" width="167" border="0" /></p><p>&quot;You fuck my wife?!&quot;</p>

[Lumber]

That my friend is called &quot;Dope Fiending&quot;...But I would still do it.

[ChimneyFish]

<strong>mdr55</strong> wrote:<br /><p><img height="304" src="http://colby.tjs.org/~br/Syllabi%20fun/darth_vader_gr.jpg" width="450" border="0" /></p><p>judge_smails......I am your father. Come join the dark side my son and buy that power washer. We can return it together later after we are done using it. I can teach you many tricks of the free trade.&nbsp;</p><p><strong><em><font face="georgia,times new roman,times,serif" size="2">Sweet lordie, I had quite a giggle over that.</font></em></strong></p>

[FUNKMAN]

<strong>Death Metal Moe</strong> wrote:<br /><p><img height="210" src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/winter/student/images/eddie-izzard.jpg" width="167" border="0" /></p><p>&quot;You fuck my wife?!&quot;</p><img height="185" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b8/Wifebeater.jpg" width="181" border="0" />

<span class=post_edited>This message was edited by FUNKMAN on 7-10-06 @ 11:39 PM</span>

[Judge Smails]

<p>I have to admit that I'm pleasantly surprised at the voting so far.&nbsp; With some of the cynical, sarcastic and snarky posts that I've seen on this board I was expecting an overwhelming vote for &quot;Fuck Lowe's and get the the powerwasher&quot;. So far there's only been two votes for the &quot;Dark Side&quot; and one was mine.&nbsp; I admit that I was leaning that way after talking to my dad and a friend who was bragging all about a three year old plasma tv and used bbq grill that he returned to Costco.</p><p>I'm going to leave the polls open until midnight tonight and unless there's an overwhelming change in the vote I'm going to keep my conscience clean and not buy/return the powerwasher.&nbsp; I still refuse to spend any money on it though.&nbsp; So my wife is going to have to live with some discolored concrete for the time being.&nbsp; </p><p>Thank you all for setting me straight.</p>

[OGC]

<p><font face="times new roman,times,serif" size="3">I couldn't use it and return it with a clear conscience. We all hear storys about how the country is going to hell in a handbasket, and these are the kinds of things that show it. </font></p><p><br /><font face="times new roman,times,serif" size="3">Anyone who is a decent person knows what the right thing to do in this situation is. Whether they do the right thing is another story. </font></p>

[Don Stugots]

<strong>Death Metal Moe</strong> wrote:<br /><p>What's next?&nbsp; Ordering an assload of Chinese food then never picking it up?</p><p>WHERE DOES IT END?!?!</p><p>i do that all the time.&nbsp; hahahahahahaha.&nbsp; also, if someone calls my house by mistake thinking that they called the chinese take out place, i take their order using a fake chinese voice.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>hasnt anyone ever returned a nintendo back in the day?&nbsp; </p>

[HeyGuy]

you stated you could buy a new for $99 or rent 1 for $80 for 5 hours? I would just go buy the new one for $99. That way you didnt throw away your money renting one ad it will be there in the future if you need it. Even if you dont use it that often, spending the extra $19 is worth it. Think about if you do buy the more expensive one for $300 and they dont let you return it, then your screwed. just my 2 cents

[PapaBear]

Power washers are one of the most returned items at hardware and discount stores. Even if they have a liberal return policy, they tend to have a different policy for power washers. In most cases, the policy states that the washer can't show any signs that you actually used it.