Help? - Sold Dangerous / Faulty Motorbike

jddm201

Hello,

My son turned 16 this year and he has long wanted to buy a motorbike so that he could pass his CBT and start driving.
As such, a few months ago I bought a motorbike from a dealer who advertised the bike on ebay - but he agreed to sell it to me privatley, over the phone. The cost of the bike was £1000, which was out of my sons money, but paid for through my MBNA credit card.
The bike arrived and after riding it for a couple of hours it broke down - first leaking petrol and water and then suddenly a loud bang and the engine had exploded.

It was sent to a local garage who stated that the bike was composed of mish-mash parts that were incorrectly fitted and had numeous parts missing and was in fact very dangerous!

Essentialy the entire engine would have to be replaced as well as other components - which would cost several hundered pounds.
I tried calling the sellers garage several times, only to be told that the guy I needed to speak to was unavailable, or that I had 'just missed him' and was on holiday for so many weeks.

In the end, noone from the garage would respond to me.

I tried to claim the £1000 back through my credit card company MBNA - but after so many weeks they said that nothing could be done unless I could produce the sellers 'terms and conditions'.
However, there are no such terms present on their website and I have tried emailing them and calling them to ask them for their terms and conditions but they will to reply to me?

So is there anything I can do? Is there perhaps an agency that they would have to have logged their terms and conditions with when they opened their garage?

Any help would be appreiciated, I'm worried that my sons £1000+ will simply be lost and he'll have nothing to show for it but a broken, cheap motorbike. Not to mention the fact that these 'dealers' put my sons health at risk by letting him ride this death-trap.

Thanks,
From Teresa.

missile

Time is of the essence here. After "a few months" I think your only option would be the small claims court.

vaio

Presumably the bike hasn't been used since the breakdown so get the garage that inspected it to document what they found including when they inspected it.

Once you have that then either sue the seller for your money back or send it to your credit card company with a reminder of their obligations under the Consumer Credit laws.

If the bike was actually "dangerous" rather than just prone to breaking down it might also be worth a call to trading standards.

Letters (with proof of posting) rather than phone calls is a good idea too

jddm201

Thanks for your replies!

The bike is 125cc but was restricted down to under 50cc I believe so that my 16 year old could legally take his CBT test on it.

It was being sold through ebay as an auction, but the seller then agreed to sell it out of the auction, through his bussiness / garage / company called NG Moto Quads.

The guy who repaired it said he wouldn't be willing to go though the hassle of appearing in court as he said he has done it too many times in the past.

I tried contacting the seller immieidaitly, but was of course told he was on holiday for 2 weeks and then after that I was just ignored and fobbed off so I went immieidiatly to my credit card company, but that has taken a long time for them to finally come abck and say that they need terms and conditions of the seller.

But I've checked their website and they dont have any, and of course whenever I call them up to try and ask them if they could send me their terms and conditions they ignore me???

jasons_2

So the bike has had a different engine put in it?
-from a 125cc to a 50cc??

Sounds like a bodge job.

Whats on the V5 as there could be potential issues here- as well as insurance if not covered?

jddm201

No, I think the bike still has a 125cc capable engine, but they 'restrict' it somehow so that it won't go above a certain cc, speed so that that way it is legal for someone who is 16 to drive it and then once you pass your test you can get is de-restricted back up to its' full 125cc capability?

But either way, the person who inspected the bike after it broke down said that certain parts were missing and those that were present had been badly installed and taken from various cheap bikes in order to pass it off as a complete working engine...

MX5huggy

I think MBNA are fobbing you off I am not an expert but I can't imagine you need the T&C's to make a claim on your credit card.

LandyAndy

MX5huggy wrote: »

I think MBNA are fobbing you off I am not an expert but I can't imagine you need the T&C's to make a claim on your credit card.

That wouldn't be a surprise. They are the most dreadful shysters.

LandyAndy

jddm201 wrote: »

No, I think the bike still has a 125cc capable engine, but they 'restrict' it somehow so that it won't go above a certain cc, speed so that that way it is legal for someone who is 16 to drive it and then once you pass your test you can get is de-restricted back up to its' full 125cc capability?

But either way, the person who inspected the bike after it broke down said that certain parts were missing and those that were present had been badly installed and taken from various cheap bikes in order to pass it off as a complete working engine...

I'd love to know how this is done.

boyse7en

You can restrict either a 50cc or a 125cc bike to comply with various age/test catagories, but you can't make a 125cc bike into a 50cc without replacing the engine.

If your son is 16, it has to be a restricted 50cc for him to be legal.

jddm201

Thanks for the replies again. I think that it is a 50cc that has been restricted then, sorry I didn't have the details to hand when I wrote that statement!

So are MBNA lying to me? They insisted that they needed the terms and conditions of the seller otherwise they couldn't do anything? If this is not true can you explain to why so that I can take it back up with them?