Well this may not be the longest wasted journey - I thankfully have not had one of those - BUT it sure was a crushing disappointment
Back around 2006 I bought a Swords Of Fury unseen on ebay, said it worked but needed attention, got it for £100 I believe. Super happy as it was a game I had been after. Anyway it was up near where my parents lived, so spoke to my Dad and off he went to fetch it. He confirmed it was working when he saw it - some lights and stuff, was a bit tatty , but yeah ok. So he loaded it up and took it home.
It was several weeks until I could get up to my folks to collect it. This is what greeted me .......
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To say I was gutted was an understatement. Apparently it had been rescued from a closed down ice rink ....and it looked it
Amazingly - it did power up, a few lights and 3 of 4 displays worked. But cab was beyond hope, and boards were damaged/hacked to pieces. Shortly afterwards I made the executive decision to put it out of its misery and part it out - the playfield ramps/plastics etc were actually pretty good and at that time unobtainium so I easily made my money back.
Never buy blind on ebay and expect great things.
A year later I ended up with a lovely Swords so all good in the end