Private sale rights??

isitafox

Last Monday (23rd) I swapped my bicycle with a guy on a straight swap basis but keeping our own handlebars, brakes and forks. The guy had given me a few pictures and was pretty basic about the bike not really telling me much. Due to the fact it was 2 days before Christmas when I did the swap I was in a bit of a rush to get home so instead of checking the new bike over properly I just swapped my bits across as it looked pretty sound and the guy doing the swap seemed genuine enough as I'd travelled to him to do the deal. Since I have had a proper look at the bike only to find it has been cracked at some point and welded, now the type of bike it is means it could easily break again causing me a big injury if I rode it so I messaged the guy and text him asking about the crack and asking either for compensation towards the frame or to swap back. The guy then spent the next 3 days fobbing me off with stories about how he didn't know the frame had been repaired, a friend had bought it on his behalf but he didn't know the friends name or where he got it from and that he'd never noticed it. He told me whilst riding it he had snapped a set of forks previously and the frame had held up fine then so there shouldn't be a problem.
Earlier however I was browsing his Facebook page to find some more info and found a picture he had posted on 1st August when he snapped the forks and you can clearly see the frame hadn't been repaired or cracked at this point.

Do I have any rights in getting my bike or some money back from this guy given that I have messages from himself and a friend pleading innocence and this picture proving he wasn't telling the truth??
I'm sure in the sales of goods act there's something about items being fit for purpose but doubt I'd be able to use that if it came down to taking him to court (which I'd rather not do as the frame is only worth £100-200).

frugal_mike

isitafox wrote: »

Last Monday (23rd) I swapped my bicycle with a guy on a straight swap basis but keeping our own handlebars, brakes and forks. The guy had given me a few pictures and was pretty basic about the bike not really telling me much. Due to the fact it was 2 days before Christmas when I did the swap I was in a bit of a rush to get home so instead of checking the new bike over properly I just swapped my bits across as it looked pretty sound and the guy doing the swap seemed genuine enough as I'd travelled to him to do the deal. Since I have had a proper look at the bike only to find it has been cracked at some point and welded, now the type of bike it is means it could easily break again causing me a big injury if I rode it so I messaged the guy and text him asking about the crack and asking either for compensation towards the frame or to swap back. The guy then spent the next 3 days fobbing me off with stories about how he didn't know the frame had been repaired, a friend had bought it on his behalf but he didn't know the friends name or where he got it from and that he'd never noticed it. He told me whilst riding it he had snapped a set of forks previously and the frame had held up fine then so there shouldn't be a problem.
Earlier however I was browsing his Facebook page to find some more info and found a picture he had posted on 1st August when he snapped the forks and you can clearly see the frame hadn't been repaired or cracked at this point.

Do I have any rights in getting my bike or some money back from this guy given that I have messages from himself and a friend pleading innocence and this picture proving he wasn't telling the truth??
I'm sure in the sales of goods act there's something about items being fit for purpose but doubt I'd be able to use that if it came down to taking him to court (which I'd rather not do as the frame is only worth £100-200).

The vast majority of the Sale of Goods Act only applies to consumers, and you are not a consumer since this is a private contract. As far as I know the item he gave you just needs to be 'as described'. Did he ever tell you before the swap that the bike had not been welded?

OlliesDad

In a private sale you are very limited to any recourse. That said, the bike does still need to be as described.

Did he explicitly tell you that there was no damage to it? Do you have any evidence of how he described it?

If he said the bike was "in excellent condition" or that it had never been cracked then you have a good chance of getting some sort of recourse.

frugal_mike

Oh, and you are almost certainly not getting any money back without going to court since no one else can force him to do anything.

isitafox

Yeah I knew it was going to be tough with it being a private sale! He never stated beforehand the official condition of the bike until after I had done the swap when he said he knew nothing of the crack despite the evidence I have showing otherwise

OlliesDad

isitafox wrote: »

Yeah I knew it was going to be tough with it being a private sale! He never stated beforehand the official condition of the bike until after I had done the swap when he said he knew nothing of the crack despite the evidence I have showing otherwise

As he has not mis-described the bike he has technically done nothing wrong.. it is a case of buyer beware.

frugal_mike

Yes, nothing he said after the sale is relevant because it isn't part of your contract.

arcon5

Sorry but he never told you of the condition before the swap, thus never mislead you in to believing it was in an otherwise condition. If the fault was not obvious then you could argue he mislead by omitting material facts - but you had the opportunity to inspect the goods before completing the transaction.
Private sales are often a case of buyer beware.

Even if you bought it from a business, since there's no indication the goods are defective and this is nothing more than cosmetic then you'd still be on rocky grounds in getting a remedy

bris

You needed to do your own due diligence on this, as you swapped in person then you had the chance to inspect and reject the deal.

As it stands you have no rights.

It does not mean it's dangerous however if it was repaired properly, take it to a specialist bike shop for an inspection.