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[Damien]

I will try to make a long story short.

I bought a boat off of a classified site in January. A bit of a leap of faith, sight unseen. But after multiple calls and emails with the seller, I felt comfortable enough to buy it.

We agree on the price, I get it sent to me via Uship.com.

Everything checks out as well, if not better than advertised/discussed. I almost feel guilty for the price I paid....almost. He said he has too many toys and he doesn't want to pay to store them all anymore, so he dropped a few grand off the price without me even negotiating.

We complete the sale, notarized bill of sale, title transfer etc, all done tickety-boo. I send him a cheque via fedex (he works there!). I get confirmation that he signed for it, and all is good.

All sorts of red flags, I know. But something made me go with the deal. I have had the boat checked over by a mechanic since it arrived to me, and I have had it out on the water 3 times for hours, runs as it should.

Weeks have turned into months now, the money is sitting in my account still, and the cheque is 9 days away from being 'stale dated'.

He has my personal email address, my work email address and my personal and work phone numbers. He has not reached out to me at all.

Would you call or email him, to remind him to deposit the cheque?
Let it play it out?
Figure he won the lottery and doesn't care?

For perspective, we aren't talking a lot of money here ( Think ~$5K)

My heart hopes all is well and nothing bad has happened and I should reach out to him, my wallet says let it play out.

Last night I had a dream/nightmare that the true owners of the boat have flown across the continent to take it back. Threatening me with violence in the process.

I'm starting to lose my mind on this...

[ThatDeafGuy]

I would reach out to him for sure.  Just for the sake of completing a honest transaction.  It'd be nice to keep that money but this kind of thing, karma would get to you if you turn a blind eye.

[Humpy]

A phone call wouldn't hurt, we are human beings and forget things once in a while.

[Fish Assassin]

Seems strange that he has not touch the money. One would expect otherwise. Red flags

[RainbowMan]

Just out of curiosity, did you register the boat with Transport Canada? If yes, has the new paperwork arrived?

[BananasQ]

You should reach out to them - do the right thing. However, if he actually deposited the check and got the money, but somehow it didn't come out of your bank then somewhere a bank has screwed up and I say keep the money.

[Dylb]

Check with the bank to make sure there's nothing pending or anything you're unaware of. If not then call/email the guy and let him know. I don't believe in karma but I do believe in doing the honest thing.

Could be that there's something fishy (no pun intended  ) happening and he doesn't want to have record of the transaction for tax/legal reasons. If he's trying to evade something he could be waiting until the dust settles. IE - maybe the boat was hot or something of the sort.... But if you have all the legit paperwork etc then that seems hard to imagine.

Definitely seems weird. Having said that, I have had transactions go awry during the process or just afterwards because the guy died or something dire happened.

[TNAngler]

It is entirely possible he got busy and just forgot he even had to deposit the money.  If he has as many toys as it seems he does, about $5k might not mean much to him.  I would send an email.  I think it is clear you owe him the money.  It would be better to check with him now and get him to take the money than for you to assume it isn't going to happen, you spend the money, then he comes back and wants the money and you don't have it.  Him waiting too long to deposit the money likely will not be a sufficient excuse if it goes to small claims court.

[Damien]

For more background, the boat was imported from the states.  I have a notarized bill of sale and clear titles for the boat and trailer.  Also years of receipts for work done on both.

I have the boat registered and trailer icbc insured.  All is good on my end.

This was done after successfully importing them at the border myself.

I guess I will send him a note.  The money is sitting in my usd account, waiting...

My friends say let it ride out, it's not up to me to babysit him.  Most here say to reach out to him.

[tburns]

This shouldn't be a question for you.  Make every effort to complete the honest sale... 

[whereismyfloat]

This shouldn't be a question for you.  Make every effort to complete the honest sale...

Exactly.

[ByteMe]

Exactly.

X3

[turbine]

This shouldn't be a question for you.  Make every effort to complete the honest sale... 

I agree as well, if I was the seller and I forgot to cash the cheque then I would appreciate a reminder.  If you can speak to him in person and he still hasn't cashed the money then at least you tried.

[fishmonk]

This shouldn't be a question for you.  Make every effort to complete the honest sale...

Ditto...

[paulj]

This should not be even be a question to be asking in this forum. 

You have received the boat in good condition and he should be paid for it.  He may be sick, dying of cancer, caring for a loved one who is sick, has Alzheimer, etc.  The reason as to why he has not deposited your cheque does not matter.  As a human being with ethics and moral values ( I am assuming you are ) you should reach out to him ( send him a letter or call him ) and kindly remind him that you have sent a cheque. 

Someone saying that the bank should eat the cost if an error was in by the bank -What a shame to hear such non-sense comment.  I  wish the best for our next generation. 

As many have mentioned ( thankfully ), you should make every effort to complete the sale.