mcmutt,

I sympathize with hard times and family need. God knows how many of us are a pay check or two away from experiencing the wolf at the door. That being said, I believe it was still the seller's responsibility to maintain contact with his customer and conclude all transactions in a satisfactory fashion. A logical course of action before the plug was pulled would have been to get the snail mail address of everyone who was due flies. Public libraries have free Internet access through which Hotmail and other Email accounts may be reached.

If you have just disappeared from the face of the earth and can't be contacted by phone, Internet, or mail, you look like a crook regardless of what your home situation was. When the buyer finally found you again, you experience his justifiable frustration, anger and scepticism about your honesty. If you put yourself in the buyer's shoes and consider how this transaction looked to him, you will understand his reaction. It was very bad business that looked deceptive and fraudulent. Sorry, just my two percent of a dollar. 8T