Gumtree Purchase - Gone Wrong

Fedup2009

Bought a wooden Babies R Us cot-bed & mattress for £50 from a seemingly nice couple last night via Gumtree (picked it up unassembled from their garage - all looked fine). I'd explained I wanted to use it as a dog bed base with storage underneath, which they thought was funny. The second my dog hopped up on it - CRACK! - one of the sides of the base broke, failing neatly at a comb-joint. I did say straight off in my query email that I'd be using it for a dog and even said "could I check if it can be used as in the first photo (high up), but with one of the set of slats taken off?"

They've now come back to me after I sent photos and explained what had happened and their response was "As its not intended to be used by a dog we do not consider a full refund to be fair. If you are willing to drop the cot off to the tip we will be willing to offer a 50% refund". The tip would cost £5 for this type of item, so I'd end up £30 out of pocket, while they have had part of their garage junk cleared and gained £25 ... doesn't seem fair to me!

I've looked it over very carefully, and however it's put together the base is only supported by the ends of the bed. The bars and the side-slats are only for the stabilty of the outer frame; neither touches or supports the base. There's no doubt that it would have broken anyway, other than being used for a light baby ... but as it's a cot-bed of substantial size (mattress 51" long), then it's reasonable to assume it should have supported a young child of approaching 4 feet tall - of same weight or heavier than my dog (30kg ... sorry, don't know how heavy a 4 feet tall child would be!). I don't know, but I think maybe being in their garage affected the glue at the comb joint. I know that's not their fault - but it's not mine, either.

Do I have any legal rights or protections I can quote to them?

Voyager2002

Could you not just glue it back together?

You have minimal or zero consumer rights when you buy something second-hand from a private individual, so the vendors are already being nice offering to suffer half of the loss.

soolin

I think the sellers have been fair. They cannot possibly know how much your dog weighs, and this was not a dog bed after all. You also mention taking slats off- in that case, take the part refund and consider yourself lucky.

Fedup2009

Let's take the dog out of the equation. What if a 4 foot child had broken it? The cot-bed is designed for use as a cot or a bed - you can take the side bars off - that's not the issue. This issue is that I bought something and it broke - beds aren't meant to break???

somethingcorporate

You have no rights, them offering to stump up for half the loss is more than generous.

Forwandert

The way you mention the base only being supported by the two ends is completely normal for a cot bed. We've had 4 cot beds and they where all like that. As the child gets heavier and you removed the side bars you are supposed to take the ends apart (there is a split in them usually) and lower the middle base to maybe a couple of inches off the floor. With the sides off and in a high position the cots are extremely unstable nobody would expect them to last in that position.

Edit: Just to add, with the cot in the highest position the cot would be very high for a small dog. How big is the dog?

Fedup2009

Great advert for Gumtree!

Wow, I'm so lucky ...

ILW

Fedup2009 wrote: »

Great advert for Gumtree!

Wow, I'm so lucky ...

Im surpised they didnt just tell you to shove off. You seem to have been very lucky.

soolin

Fedup2009 wrote: »

Great advert for Gumtree!

Wow, I'm so lucky ...

I think you have been lucky, yes.

You bought something, modified it to make it less stable, used it for the wrong purpose and have *still* been offered a partial refund.

visidigi

If I'd have been the seller I would have told you where to go, its a cot, not a dog bed.

Hintza

Fedup2009 wrote: »

Do I have any legal rights or protections I can quote to them?

No, bought as seen I'm afraid, you needed to check it thoroughly before handing over your cash. They have offered you a 50% refund which sounds reasonable and I'm sure you could fix it with a bit of effort.