problems with gumtree user

harry2701

hi,

was hoping for some advice on behalf of my sister in law. She replied to an ad off gumtree and transferred money via bank transfer, but she has not received the item. The seller said that his items would be sent by recorded delivery, therefore it would have a tracking number. She had been in contact with him for a few weeks concerning the item, and he just kept fobbing her off, firstly asking for the tracking reference, then just asking for a refund, to which now he does not answer any calls or texts at all. She has all correspondence between the two, and has reported it to gumtree, but is not very hopeful of anything being done through that route.

We live 4 hours away from the seller, but I'm in the sellers area next week, so I'm tempted to just go to the sellers shop and ask for money back, is there any other options she could take before this? I know her bank can't take money back, but due to all his ads (there are several selling similar items) saying it would be sent recorded, is that not false advertising, as it would have a reference we could track the item down (if it had been sent at all)?

I know gumtree do not recommend sending money by transfer, and to meet in person, and I have already read her the riot act about this.

keyser666

Nope nothing you can do here really adn I dont expect any address given to be the real one either.

hollydays

How sure are you he's got a shop?

wealdroam

Sending items 'recorded', or what is now called 'signed for', offers the buyer no protection.

At best, it 'protects' the seller against claims of non-delivery.

Sending items 'recorded' and being able to 'track' them, are not the same thing.

gb12345

harry2701 wrote: »

She replied to an ad off gumtree and transferred money via bank transfer

Read as far as this and knew your sister had been scammed and has no chance of getting her money back.

As you say, Gumtree have prominent warnings about making bank transfers for just this reason.

arcon5

If the seller has a shop then do visit it and don't leave without the money.

If she doesn't have the shop, is it a UK bank account? The police should be able to help?

harry2701

contacted the seller from my number pretending I'm interested in one of his items, has given me an address for his shop, done a bit of searching and his name does match to the shop he told me, so def guna have a pop over next week. yeah it is a uk bank account, i searched the sort code and it matches to a bank in the same area as his shop

forgotmyname

I bet the shop owner knows nothing about the gumtree adverts.