Feeling ripped off by aggressive seller

Bubble16

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. I bought a car off of e-bay (not something I would reccommend now) and have had an ongoing catalogue of problems with it. It started with the fuel return pipes leaking, the tyres being borderline legal and the heating not working. I was disappointed by the fact this wasn't mentioned in the description but accepted that a cheap secondhand car was going to have faults. I then went last Saturday to get a quote on getting the back end repaired which had taken a knock prior to my purchasing the vehicle and had been included in the description. I was told by the body shop (reputable) that the vehicle was an economical write off as the entire back panel need replacing, something which had most definitely been excluded from the description and something I have no knowledge of and therefore didn't know to look for. I was/am really upset and my (almost) father in law rang the dealer who had sold me the car. The upshot was if I was willing to drive the car back to Reading he would look at some the mechanical faults I was claiming were wrong with the car and consider contributing towards the costs. The body damage however was my problem, he claimed to have told me the back panel needed replacing when I collected the car (utter rubbish) and said he wanted to speak to me. I finally worked up the courage and felt calm enough to ring him yesterday evening and had a thoroughly unpleasant 25 minute phone call with a very aggressive man abusing me. Claimed he had said nothing of the sort to my father in law with regards to the back panel and kept on reiterating that if I had approached him with regards to the fuel lines he would have worked something out with me and it didn't need to have got to this. My point was that it wasn't the fuel lines I was upset about and he just ignored this and talked louder. Finally got so riled up that he said that if I buy "cheap Vauxhall rubbish" then I "should expect problems" with it. The upshot is that he has told me that he will "aggressively fight" any negative feedback I leave him and leave me negative feedback in return. This doesn't bother me, I don't run a business through ebay but he has I admit left me feeling nervous about atagonising him despite feeling really ripped off, I met him, he is HUGE!! I also don't know how you "aggressively fight" negative feedback on e-bay?

frivolous_fay

He can't aggressively fight your feedback. All he can do is 1) leave something rude in return, or 2) ask you to remove it.

Princessa_2

Maybe if you left him negative feedback he'd have to do something about it, like rectify the situation so that the feedback can be mutually withdrawn. If you leave him bad feedback and he doesn't like it, it's tough! There's nothing he can do except ask you to withdraw it, and you're not going to do that unless something is done about it!

Googlies_2

I think you should be contacting trading standards, it appears that he has sold you a non road worthy car.

deanos

Googlies wrote:

I think you should be contacting trading standards, it appears that he has sold you a non road worthy car.

Yes, as you said he was a dealer you have alot of rights, speak to them ASAP

Russ66

Post the item number so we can have a look at the description etc, maybe someone will spot something.:idea:

krisskross

How cheap was it?

BertieMeldrew

Googlies wrote:

I think you should be contacting trading standards, it appears that he has sold you a non road worthy car.

It's also perhaps worth checking on whether or not he is selling used cars regularly (e.g. look at the other stuff he has sold). If he is, and they are in an unroadworthy condition, then I believe he is commiting an offence and could be prosecuted!

You could also try contacting one or two of his previous (car) customers (if he has any) and ask if they had bad experiences.

Good luck! I've recently had a bad experience with an e-Bay seller (not as bad as yours) and it has put me off dealing with some of these folks again!

Edited: Ah... just saw that he IS a dealer. Definitely get on to Trading Standards...

blessings3

Ah... just saw that he IS a dealer. Definitely get on to Trading Standards...[/QUOTE]

Big FAT FACTUAL NEG then tell him you are going to trading standard unless he gives you your money back - PS If he is agressive dontt negotiate just keep repeating your request

He can do nothing about a neg on eBay except give you one back

Russ66

The car may have been "Sold as Seen" on a "Trade Basis"

The OP should post a link to the sale details.

Altarf

Russ66 wrote:

The car may have been "Sold as Seen" on a "Trade Basis"

A dealer cannot sell a car on a "Sold as Seen" basis in a retail sale, as the law does not allow you to sign away your legal rights, even if you want to.