Private seller wont return deposit, help!

Millwright94

Afternoon,

Please help.

A friend of mine is a dog breeder. She is just about to set up on her own and had found a Stud dog and a !!!!! for sale. They were for sale in Cheshire. She agreed to pay £200 deposit to keep the dogs until monday when she would travel up and get them. Unfortunatley due to bad weather she was unable to make it. So she offered £100 more to keep them for a week until she could make it up there to get them. At which point the seller said no and that she had already sold them to someone else. She then stopped answering the phone. My friend then text her saying she would drive up there and then and get them despite the high winds. She refused.

She is now refusing to give the £200 back as well saying my friend broke the contract.

Can anyone advise what to do??

pendulum

If she's sold them already to someone else she's obviously incurred no loss, and as your friend was still willing to buy the dogs at the agreed price and made this obvious in more than one way, the seller's got no losses and cannot keep the deposit. Google "letter before action" as that's probably the best bet. I'd name and shame also but that's just me.

fluffnutter

What a load of nonsense this seller's spouting. She can't just keep your friend's money because she 'broke the contract' - she can only justify keeping money if she's incurred losses. Tell your friend to write a letter to this woman advising that her £200 must be returned within 14 days or she'll pursue a claim through the small claims court.

I've got a puppy for sale. It's yours if you give me £100 deposit. Oh! Fancy that, my puppy's not for sale any more. Thanks for the deposit. Goodbye.

arcon5

How did she pay the deposit?

The_Pedant

As people have said, they can only hold onto an amount to cover their losses.
What day was the call to say that she couldn't make it & when did they say they had sold them to someone else already?

As people have said, they can deduct only an amount to cover their losses, so at a push maybe the additional 'board' for the extra time.

browneyedbazzi

Is your friend sure the dogs actually exist?? How was the deposit paid?

It's a fairly common scam to get people to pay deposits on pets and then not deliver the animals. In many cases the animals don't exist at all.