is this company legit or is it a scam?

mardigrasgirl

I have advertised my smart car for sale in Autotrader. I received a phonecall from a company called Octavia in Peterborough who advised that they had seen my advert and asked if my car was still for sale. I advised that it was. He then went on to say that if I paid him £39.00 he could guarantee an offer within 30 days. I told him I was not interested in unrealistic offers. He then advised me that if my car was still for sale by 30 days, that I would get my £39.00 fee back. Has anyone heard of this company? If so is it genuine? Obviously I'd love to sell me car sooner than later but don't want to spend any more money than I already have advertising it. He is calling me back tomorrow as I told him I couldn't commit without talking to my partner.

All comments appreciated. Thanks for reading.

jumperjohn

Scam. Avoid all who call and offer this service.

maninthestreet

Tell them to get lost - they will make all sorts of claims to make you advertise you car for sale with them - including claims they have already found a buyer, and just need you to pay their fee to release your details to them. They cannot guarantee to sell your car, no matter how long they advertise it for sale - they cannot make someone buy it, can they?? Their offer to refund you fee after 30 days will also turn out not to be true as well.

Herzlos

All they'll do is stick it up on another website for sale, and drag out the issuing of the refund as long as possible.

If it was genuine they'd either (a) just buy the car from you and sell it on or (b) only accept money after the sale has been confirmed.

mardigrasgirl

Thank you so much for your replies. I thought the very same about having a guaranteed buyer. If there was a buyer out there, I'd have sold my car by now.

thenudeone

You need to be very wary of anyone offering to buy your car in any unusual circumstances
eg:
Buyer is abroad or at other end of country
Can you pay shipping costs and I'll repay you
your car is just what they're looking for and they'll pay more for it
I'll pay you by a cheque for more than the car is worth, can you give me the difference in cash?
Anything else out of the ordinary

They are nearly all scams.

Cash is king. remember a cheque, transfer, or even a bank draft can be "bounced" for many days after they appear as cleared, and much much longer if it's fraudulent (eg from a hacked bank account)

forgotmyname

Guarantee to get offers on your car in 30 days, But then says if you get no offers they will refund you?

I bet you do get offers though, He will have someone especially to phone people and make stupid offers.

So no refund.

fivetide

forgotmyname wrote: »

Guarantee to get offers on your car in 30 days, But then says if you get no offers they will refund you?

I bet you do get offers though, He will have someone especially to phone people and make stupid offers.

So no refund.

Exactly

"I'll give you a fiver for the car"

"Not a chance"

"Refund please"

"you had an offer and turned it down"

Total scam. I honestly can't believe people phone for it. They used to claim they had a buyer waiting but that was easy to stop, you simply asked that instead of paying their fee upfront that if their buyer made a purchase you'd pay them commission for the introduction.

Unsurprisingly they never took up that offer despite the fact they had "a number of people keen to buy the car"

5t.

Robisere

The only "Octavia" legitimate company in Peterborough is this:

http://www.octavia.uk.com/

Check the site - it's a Software company. The only other Octavias are Skoda cars for sale, either private or dealerships.

AVOID!