Boro

iTrader: (1)

<rant on>
Just got back from a long drive to Swansea and back to see a car we saw advertised on Ebay. Car was a CAT C light front ender (repaired), even saw a pic of the before repair and it didnt look too bad so thought it was worth a look.

Got there and was impressed with the quality of the work/repair. Everything was looking good until we got round the back of the car. Rear bumper was a really bad fit which made us look a little deeper. Opened the boot and looked in the spare wheel well. So many creases and ripples, paint missing, seam sealer everywhere. Panels not fitting lining up, clips broken, the list goes on.

Anyway, after deciding the rear end had been in a previous smack we told the guy we didnt want it and that he really should have told us about the state of it. His reply was "I really didnt notice any of that". What a load of bollocks. How can you not notice that when you wash a car!

Where do people get off on getting you driving hundreds of miles to buy a car that they havent described properly!

Oh and to top it off, i dont think he's going to refund the £100 paypal deposit. Stupidly, i paid as a gift, thinking i was doing him a favour on the fees. Turns out you cant start a dispute unless its for goods/services. Wont be making that mistake again.

So, what are my options on getting the deposit back? I have his name, mobile number, email address, ebay ID, the town he either lives or works in and possibly his work details, name, address, telephone number, etc.

Ive considered buying/bidding on some of his other stuff for sale on ebay and then requesting his contact details, hoping i can get his address, is that likely?

I hate being ripped off and am quite happy to make his life a misery until he agrees to refund the deposit he got by mis-describing the car.

</rant over>

Thanks for being there

The Chief

Feckin annoying isn't it? i did this once but for a friend, who i had to drive from Manchester to North Wales to pick him up to drive him down to Dartford in Kent to have a look at a MK1 Cortina. The pics looked ok and teh guy said it was in great nick and first to see will buy blah, blah, We got there and i swear it was falling to f**king bits, it was full of rust. we literally spent 10 minutes there and left, the thing is because my mate didn't have a car to drive back in i had to drop him back off in North Wales before heading back to Manchester.

Not sure about the mileage but total driving time was 13 hours, i was dead on my feet. The sad thing this friend (who's in his 60's was gutted that he'd messed me about he literally didn't say a word on the way home)

I could have smacked the guy that lied to us for wasting 13 hours of our time!!!!

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

You might have to chalk it down to experience and try and get your money back via ebay as item not as described I'm not sure where you stand with paypal there but you could claim it was an accident clicking that.

Boro

iTrader: (1)

Yeh Chief, time and fuel. Isn't cheap these days driving 500 miles!

Unfortunately we didnt buy it via Ebay, just sent him the deposit as a "gift" and took cash with us for the balance. Paying by gift means you cant dispute it, although there is an option to click "Unauthorised payment" which i guess means, you're saying someone other than you or your family took control of your account and made a payment without your knowledge.

I'm going to give him until tomorrow evening to refund the deposit before i do anything else.

The Chief

At the end of teh day he's blatently lied and tried selling you something through deception, if he refuses to refund your payment tell him you'll report him to the police for fraud.

It might work, it might not.

Good luck fella.

Boro

iTrader: (1)

After a little bit of googling, ive found a post he made on a forum asking for a paint code as he couldnt read the sticker in the boot as it was too damaged. So this bollocks about not knowing about the rear end being creased is now proven.

Grrrr!

LG John

I've booked a flight to Heathrow on Sunday at a cost of £88 and will have to spend a further £40ish in a taxi to Marlow to see a car at a dealers. I really, really hope it's straight as I'll be super hacked off it it's not and considerably out of pocket by the time I get my way back to Edinburgh.

scooby_me

iTrader: (1)

best thing to do is b then buy something off of ebay from him, then reuest that you pay by postal order/chq.

Then call him up and inform him of your new found information.

and just hint that a refund would be in the best interest for his health, and future well being.

TOSSERS! - i hate it when people cant just be honest. if your car needs fixing, SELL IT AS THAT!. i lost out when selling my RX7 that had a overheating engine....

But when i sold it i knew i had done the right thing.

I have bought 2 cars that lasted 1 week each, 1 was my red scooby, the 2nd was the RX7.

I`ve learnt my lesson, now i ask for lots of info before travelling.

I`ve just recently bought a Legnum VR4 from essex, it was described spot on, and is now in my driveway!..

Good luck fella

Daz

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Mate give me the details and I'll take a look for you. Marlow is 5 minutes away and I spend most of my life there Have you booked the taxi yet?

Timwinner

iTrader: (3)

The problem you have by the sounds of it is this doesnt fulfill the definition of fraud. At best you could try a small claims court but you will need his details.
Should you decided to obtain his details and find an alternative way of obtaining the funds be careful of what and where you say in forum ( I am sure you would be careful anyway)
My personal inclination would be, find another car as the main priority. Things might seem better when you do.
You could become a pain about everything he lists on ebay but he can just change his account name or block you.

Its people like him that make it so hard for the rest of us to sell cars privately, sounds like a proper bellend.

SVXNUT

I must admit, when I bought my 1st SVX, it was 250 miles away, so I paid £200 for a full RAC inspection report. Inspector phoned me, confirmed all the details, spent over 1/2 hr on the phone discussing the car, paint depth analyis etc. Front end had been resprayed, but no accident/insurance history. RAC did some digging and found to be a victim of a brake fluid incident after contacting the paintshop that did the job, from the reciept in the history file!!. All service/repair/parts reciepts from new. Good car. Paid deposit over phone, arranged insurance bought train tickets and picked it up the following weekend.
Lasted 4 yrs until the gearbox went 2 weeks ago ho-hum. Just bought another lower mileage one without inspection, but I now know what to look for.

Boro

iTrader: (1)

Surely, trying to sell a car with known faults and taking money for it, is at the very least, obtaining money by deception? Im no legal expert, but if i did that and someone could prove the facts, i'd expect a knock on the door from the police.

Ive text him this morning asking whether he is going to refund the deposit and he didnt answer, although he did say the bumper came so loose when he drove it that he had to stop and phone his dad to repair it at the roadside and the best bit... me fiddling with it made it happen, lol. The damn thing was held on with a cable tie and i hardly touched it, lol.

In a way i feel very lucky NOT to have bought this lemon and thankful we managed to notice the fact it had been in a big rear end shunt at some point but people blatantly taking the pi$$ winds me right up!

If he doesnt refund the deposit, i will be having a chat with a super intendant friend of mine for some advice.

Timwinner

iTrader: (3)

The issue you might have is how you gave him the deposit. Plus the nature of the deposit, if it was to hold the car so no one else would buy it until you have viewed it (one of the many definitions of deposit) then he fulfilled his obligation with regards to a deposit.
The money that changed hands was not for an actual product it was to hold the vehicle so there is no deception.
I think the best cause of action will be a civil case, small claims court can get you your money back and most important can leave him with a CCJ making it harder for him to get credit, mortgage etc.
The county court decision will not be made solely on the legal definition of deposit or the 2006 fraud act.

HTH.

LG John

I've booked the flight so I'm pot-committed to viewing the car. Besides, all four alloys are currently off it being refurbished so there isn't a lot to see

Not booked a taxi but if you or anyone else want to make an easy £20 then you are welcome to meet my at Heathrow at 10:30am next Sunday. I'd rather give a Scoobynettor £20 to spend on vpower than a joe-baxi £40 to spend in the casino

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

You have a pm

scunnered

iTrader: (1)

Did you ask him to refund your deposit?

If you paid by Paypal, it takes a few days to withdraw money, so raise a dispute, and Paypal will freeze the money. When they find in your favour, you'll get your money back.
Also, when raising a dispute, you will have access to the name and address of the recipient.
Do it quickly, before he has a chance to withdraw the funds.
If you're too late, at least you'll have his home address.

Boro

iTrader: (1)

Tried the paypal dispute route and cant do it that way. Never ever pay large sums of money as a GIFT. You have no rights to dispute it what-so-ever

RLE

iTrader: (2)

I had a similar thing happen a few years ago. Was with a dealer but he too refused to refund my £100.00 deposit after I found the car had no service history. I wrote a letter confirming I would instigate legal proceedings and quoted certain clauses of the Sales of Goods Act and underlined the fact that they had breached the Law of Misrepresentation.

After consulting their solicitors they duly refunded the £100.00 so clearly their legal team agreed with me.

Best of luck taking this forward.

Boro

iTrader: (1)

Good idea. I guess even if the legal side of leaving a deposit isnt covered by law, the fact that he secured that deposit by mis-representation might hold water. If this isnt covered by law, what would stop someone advertising a car as mint, taking 10 deposits on it, then telling all the buyers to whistle for their deposit back after they realise its a shed?

scunnered

iTrader: (1)

Did you have existing funds in your Paypal account? Or did the funds come from a credit card or bank account?
If it came from a credit card could you perhaps do a charge back?

Boro

iTrader: (1)

Unfortunately, we had funds in the account

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

What was it, do what I do, use Autotrader to find cars locally and dont get that fussy about what it is as the chances of it being a turd are proportionate to the distance travelled.

RJM25R

iTrader: (1)

A dealer has a lot to lose, and they were in breach

Boro

iTrader: (1)

I spoke to him earlier and have him an ultimatum and threatened legal action aswell as him having to appear in court 350 miles away, i would be claiming the £100 deposit plus fuel, costs. Also told him i would re-advertise his car on ebay, pistonheads telling everyone exactly what it was like.

Also, said i'd post it up on every VAG forum i could find making sure no-one in their right mind would buy it, lol.

Guess what, he refunded the money, lol.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Excellent, good result !

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

When we were looking for our first subaru back in 2003 we made a 150 mile trip only to find the owner of the garage was under arrest for handling stolen cars. We did not re arrange another viewing

hux309

Have to say i've been quite fortunate, got myself a mint and rare 309gti in miami blue for £500 in watford.

Same with the scooby another ebay/autotrader car, could tell from the pictures it was worth a viewing, got up there to meet a couple of top asian petrolheads along with the import scooby which was a cat 4 import, haggled a bit and got £50 off for petrol to take her back home.

So there are great sellers about, you just have to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Boro

iTrader: (1)

It's been a great day. First got the deposit back and then found an absolutely mint replacement just up the road and its a better car, not CAT C and was only £200 more. Good times!

Timwinner

iTrader: (3)

Top result!! Much less hassle and it sounds like it worked out pretty good. Plus thats a sweet looking A3!

Boro

iTrader: (1)

S3 but yeh, funny how things work out, we would have been happy with the CAT C one if it hadnt had a rear end too but as it turned out, got a HPI clear one with better spec ad service history albeit a few more miles for a couple of hundred quid more. Result lol