What would you do...advice please!

freebird65

I stood at a small collector's fair just before christmas and sold a crystal ornament to someone. I held it up to the light for him and we both inspected it before he handed over his money.

I've now had an extremely aggressive email from him saying that he sent the item to his mother in Spain and when she opened the parcel, a foot was missing from the ornament and that since the piece wasn't in the parcel, it must have been broken when I sold it to him. He wants a full refund including postage or he says he's going to "take further action".

Can anyone tell me what my legal position is? I thought that according to Sale of Goods act if he inspects before buying, he can't complain afterwards as he's accepted the item is firt for the purpose it is intended. Which it was. I want to do the right thing, but this reeks of "trying it on".

Any advice welcome!

richt71

It falls under the 'buyer beware' catorgory for me. He inspected it at time of purchase and agreed to buy. I think he's trying it on myself.

Snow_Dog

Sounds to me like he's trying it on, sent it in bad packaging and wants to blag his money back, we all know people like it, they will always try to blag refunds when unwarranted in shops and so on, tell him he inspected the goods and was happy with them at the time of purchase, if he wants a refund it should be returned as sold (ie with two feet).

ukbill69

tell him to stick it where the sun dont shine lol. hes trying it on. he wont take it to court. dont worry.

sarahlouise210

I would tell him to hop it !!!:rotfl:

oigoi_2

Tell him to !!!! off. What is he going to do? take you to court? Ultimately he's got no proof of anything - he could have broken the foot off himself

freebird65

Thank you all......I'll tell him politely to take a hike!

Happy New Year all

Wig

Out of interest, can you remember the item? Surely you would know if was broken or not when you had it.

But anyways,
sold complete and he breaks it = his fault

sold broken and he inspected it before sale and it wasn't sold "as new" = his fault.

sold as "new" and it was broken at point of sale, he is due a replacement, but the fact you both inspected it makes his case impossible.

freebird65

Hi Wig......

I'm always inclined to give people the benefit of the doubt as I believe in looking after my customers. If this had been sold through my website, I would immediately arrange a replacement. In this case I clearly remember it (absolutely flawless!) and he spent about 10 mins examining the piece, asking questions and haggling hard, before going ahead and paying. The piece in question (an angel ornament) is such that a broken/missing foot would have been immediately obvious to us both.

I think I knew all along what line to take - I just wanted other opinions in case his overly aggressive email threatening legal action had clouded my judgement.

Thanks all.