Sold an item on free ads & now am having problems with the buyer

kprigg

Please could someone help me. I apologise for the long post, I will try & be as brief & to the point as I can.
My husband sold an item through Free-ads for over £300. The buyer came, saw the item fully assembled & working, helped to pack it down, paid cash, then left.
They contacted him a few days later to say that a part that was mentioned on the ad was not there. My husband realised he had made a mistake & wrongly mentioned the accessory in the ad, it had a different item included instead which he had confused with the accessory named in the ad. This part is an addition to the original item, it does not affect the way the item works.
He immediately replied to the buyer apologising for his error & explained that it was a mistake on the ad. The buyer sent an email back pretty much saying that it was not acceptable & my husband should supply the accessory or give him the money to get a new one.
My husband sent another reply saying that, again, he was sorry & he does not have the part mentioned. He then told the buyer that he could return the item in its original condition for full refund.
Getting fed up & wanting to sort this out my husband then sent another email saying that he had an accessory he could post on (which is not of the same make as the item & is of lesser value then if it were), he also said that as the original sale had included the other part which was not listed on the ad he would like that returned.
It has now ended up with the buyer sending an e-mail saying he has to supply this part, pay for it or he will take my husband to the small claims court.
I now dont know what we should do. I personally dont think we could do any more then offer a full refund on return of the item. I was under the impression that it was sold as seen & therefore we dont have to do anything, but thought it was the right thing to do if it meant that much to the buyer.
I would be very grateful if someone could help. Im sorry if the post is a bit vague, but I was hoping not to go into too many specifics.
Thanks in advance

Empty_pockets

Balls to them, them came, they inspected, they bought.

rachelhen

I agree with the above hope it resolves for you. The person had full opportunity to view the item soI imagine there is no redress.

kprigg

Thanks, that's how i am feeling now as it seems to me we are going to go round in circles with this.
I am tempted to tell my husband to ignore any more correspondence from the buyer, but wanted to double check first that we wont get into trouble or get taken to the small claims court.

hermum

I've just googled buying goods from private seller, this is the first that came up.
If you buy goods from a private individual, for example, through an advert in a newspaper or shop window, or at a car boot sale, you have very few legal rights. However, if the seller offers a description of the goods, they must match the description given. If your goods don't match the description given, you may be entitled to compensation.
The buyer could argue that it didn't match the description.
Where your husband stands as he's offered to supply the accessory, although not of the same make, I have no idea.
Maybe try giving the CAB a call.
ETA this is from, http://www.adviceguide.org the CAB online.

kprigg

Thanks Hermum.
Im so confused now. We have offered a full refund on return of the item, and we have offered a different item so I would assume we have some ground to stand on. But I just can't find any information about what to do next.
We don't want the hassle of being taken to court. We cant afford to pay out for a new accessory as the buyer wants. I'm not sure quite what they are trying to achieve by taking us to court? Grrrrrrrr

Jakg

Offering him a full refund is a good enough remedy.

While NORMALLY private sale is caveat emptor, in this case your husband entered into a contract to supply x + y, and only supplied x, and then admitted to it in writing... You can't just ignore him, but you've done enough already.

hermum

kprigg wrote: »

Thanks Hermum.
Im so confused now. We have offered a full refund on return of the item, and we have offered a different item so I would assume we have some ground to stand on. But I just can't find any information about what to do next.
We don't want the hassle of being taken to court. We cant afford to pay out for a new accessory as the buyer wants. I'm not sure quite what they are trying to achieve by taking us to court? Grrrrrrrr

I always thought that if you bought something from a private seller, went & looked at it, paid up, then you had accepted the item as it was.
You seem to have done everything you can to rectify the mistake but it sounds as though you could do with talking to someone who does know the facts, not what we think.
I would try the CAB.
Hopefully it get sorted out quickly.

paulofessex

Just to add...remember to keep copies of all emails if at all possible. Also if you happen to have the buyers address send him a recorded letter re-affirming your offer/s as a resolve.

kprigg

Hi,
Unfortunately it gets worse!
CAB could not give any more advice then we already had to be honest.
Dh has said once more he will post the lesser value accessory out, but apart from that there isn't anything else he can do.
The buyer has now got in touch & told him that apparently my husband has a lot more to loose then he has, He has made veiled references to my husbands place of work & says he will bring his name into disrepute if he doesn't get what he asked for! All worded in a way that it can & can't be taken as a threat - it just depends on how you read it.
We have no idea what he is talking about, but have a feeling it relates to my business (Im self employed) & the buyer is trying to link my husband (who is an employee of a large company) to it. He made comments about involving HMRC & talking to the MD's of the company. We have nothing to hide as I am registered with HMRC & dh has spoken to his work, they have said not to worry about it as they aren't interested in anything a random member of the public has to say.
Its now a waiting game I suppose. Im now really annoyed with it all, I feel strangely violated that someone has been digging around trying to find information about us.
I am worried, however, if it does get as far as court & we loose that we would end up deeply out of pocket as the buyer is saying he wants £200 costs to cover travel expenses etc (he hired a van & came a fair way to collect the original item).
Im getting very stressed out over it all. It seems the blame culture now gets taken to a whole new extreme. You make 1 mistake on an ad & it turns out you could be deeply out of pocket & taken to court. Common sense does not seem to come into it at all :-(

hermum

You seem to have sold to a real crazy.
I wonder if he's a strange person, who scours ads in the hope that they can see that something's wrong with it & then makes threats to get compensation.
Was there a picture on the ad, so that he could see the part wasn't actually in it?
I do hope that this gets sorted out for you quickly.