buying off facebook do you have any rights

stesilc

hi my wife bought a 2nd hand laptop from a friend of a friend it didnt do half the things he said i would there was no sound and it was very old she paid £180 via bank transfer i took it to a computer shop the man looked at it and valued it at£65 when my wife tried to complain via facebook he blocked her we live in liverpool and the seller lives in wellingbough does she have any rights:mad:
thankyou

mo786uk

only the same rights as you would get in any other private sale - you could pursue the seller for misdescripton but it will prob be pointless.

mattyprice4004

If you want a warranty, you buy from a shop really.

A chance was taken, it didn't pay off. Best to learn from it and move on.

bris

You have no recourse about the price you paid, it was offered at £180 and you accepted it, due diligence would have saved you there. If it has been misdescribed, then yes you can sue for a refund. Private sale or not a seller whoever they are can not lie about the condition of an item they sell. Whether it's worth going to court over is something for you alone to decide, but even if you do it's still no guarantee you will get your money back.

stesilc

bris wrote: »

You have no recourse about the price you paid, it was offered at £180 and you accepted it, due diligence would have saved you there. If it has been misdescribed, then yes you can sue for a refund. Private sale or not a seller whoever they are can not lie about the condition of an item they sell. Whether it's worth going to court over is something for you alone to decide, but even if you do it's still no guarantee you will get your money back.

so im right in thinking i could take him to a small claims court and if i win and he still refund it could go on his credit file
thanks for your help

stesilc

sorry it shoud say if i win and he still refuses to refund

mo786uk

i dont think you can affect his credit file as such - it will only go on his record if he gets a CCJ. If he pays straight away then he wont get a CCJ I believe.

Guardsman

Have you made your mutual friends aware of the situation?
What do they have to say about it.

pendulum

"it was old" - well why did you buy it then?
This is the biggest clue that you didn't do proper research before purchasing.

If the sound doesn't work and this is due to a hardware fault (ie not your lack of skill in installing sound drivers etc) AND the laptop was described in "perfect working condition", I'd expect you to have some comeback, though it would probably be better to buy a cheap USB sound card (I've never tried one but have heard good things about them; they're about a fiver IIRC).

fozmcfc

Guardsman wrote: »

Have you made your mutual friends aware of the situation?
What do they have to say about it.

Agree contact the mutual friend and see what they say about it. If it was me, after speaking to them, if I found they had conned my other friend, I would be telling them they were out of order and to refund the difference or accept the laptop back.

The problem is it could be a cyber friend (i.e. someone you know from online, but have never met), then it is unlikely to make a difference.

I'd personally do what I could with the laptop, I.E. try to get the sound up and running and accept that it wasn't the bargain it seemed.

Sometimes we take a chance, sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.

somethingcorporate

How were they conned? I fail to see what the issue is.

There is no protection in contracts or consumer rights for someone paying over the odds for something.

The OP's wife offered to buy something for £180, the person selling it agreed the price. Done deal.