Before I knew better, I bought a header panel, complete with grill and headlights, for a friend's '85 Buick for $325 at the "bad" junkyard. After I repaired the crack, primed it, and mounted it on the car, I noticed that the plugs on the wiring harness wouldn't plug into the headlights. I did a little research and discovered that they had sold me a header panel for an '86 Buick. The old header panel was gone when he brought the car over, and I had never seen it before the wreck, so I didn't know that the one I bought was different. When I brought it back to exchange for an '85 part, they refused to take it back because I had "diminished it's value" by fixing the crack and priming it. They admitted that they knew it was an '86 part when they sold it to me, and said the "lots of guys" put the '86 header on '85 cars, and it was very simple to rewire the headlights. I finally got them to take it back and refund my money (they didn't have and '85 part), as the guy grumbled how he was losing money on the deal. I then went to the "good" junkyard and bought the correct part, with no damage, for $150.
I was telling my mechanic about it, and he told me that the police had his truck hauled to the "bad" guys after he totaled it. His insurance wouldn't pay for his $800 aftermarket wheels and tires, so he went to the junkyard to get them, and they refused to give them to him, claiming they had paid for them when they bought the car for salvage from the insurance company. The worst part of it was that he had been buying parts from them for years, but they still screwed him over.
That is a real bummer. I could have had it a lot easier... My grandfather inherited a wrecking yard which he wanted nothing to do with so he sold it for just enough to buy a small farm.
Fortunately we have a number of yards in this area. One has weekend specials even, like any seat $15, or any tranny $25. You have to do the work but what the heck. We also have a HUGE flea market.