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Help - Buyer wants to sue me!
Kosy101
Posts: 6 Forumite
Hello all,
I recently sold a motorbike after advertising it on ebay. The buyer contacted me and made an offer which I excepted so ended the auction.
I bought the bikes just a few weeks before advertising it as I came into some financial difficulties out of the blue so the bike had to go.
The bike was an old 70's bike that had been converted by a previous owner into a 'cafe racer' style bike so basically stripped down and re-painted and rebuilt to look a certain way. The guy I bought it from had also only owned the bike a few months but stated he was selling it as he preferred more powerful bikes.
Anyway, i was made aware of a couple of issues with it although I am not an expert on bikes at all.
I put these issues in my advert which included a 'strange ticking noise from the engine which I said I thought sounded like it could be the cam chain and the speedo clock didn't work'. I stated the bike ran fine other than this, which it did. I stated it had 8 months MOT and 12 months Tax - which it does and that the builder of the bike had rebuilt it, repainted it and added new levers and clocks (which were mentioned in the builders advert).
The buyer came to look at the bike and spent 30 minutes checking it over. I again pointed out the faults I knew of which he seemed unconcerned about and said he was happy to buy it at the agreed price. he started the engine, listened to it and was happy. V5 posted and all done, so I thought.
The following day the buyer emailed me and stated he had just ridden it and it was leaking oil and wsn't very happy and finished his email with a sarcastic 'thank you very much'. I replied and explained I knew nothing about the leaking oil (which I genuinely didn't) as i had only very briefly ridden it in the few weeks I had owned and it hadn't leaked oil when I had it. He didn't reply.
A further five days later he emailed me again to state he had taken it to a mechanic to get the leak fix and the mechanic had pointed out that the head of the engine was warped (I don't really know what this means?) and that as a result the engine was little mechanical use. He said we needed to sort this issue out between us or he would take m to small claims court as he had taken some legal advice who advised he had a case because i described the bike as working fine (as far as I was aware it was other than the ticking sound which I disclosed). i replied and stated that he checked it and was happy with it and that I had described the bike to the bestof my knowledge and had no idea about any of the issues he mentioned (which I didn't). He replied again stating that I had stated the bike had been rebuilt (i actually wrote in the ad that the builder of the bike had stated it had been rebuilt, which i had no reason to assume otherwise given the ad details I have) and that a rebuilt bike would not leak oil etc.
he has given me two options -
1. pay for the work carried out by his mechanic
2. take me to court and sue for the full cost of bike and legal fees.
I'm aware of buyer beware etc but I am becoming quite anxious about all this now. I described the bike honestly, I pointed out the faults I knew about and let the buyer take as much time as he needed to view and check it over. I knew nothing about the faults he now mentions. What is my position here?
Any help gratefully received (sorry for the lengthy post!)
I recently sold a motorbike after advertising it on ebay. The buyer contacted me and made an offer which I excepted so ended the auction.
I bought the bikes just a few weeks before advertising it as I came into some financial difficulties out of the blue so the bike had to go.
The bike was an old 70's bike that had been converted by a previous owner into a 'cafe racer' style bike so basically stripped down and re-painted and rebuilt to look a certain way. The guy I bought it from had also only owned the bike a few months but stated he was selling it as he preferred more powerful bikes.
Anyway, i was made aware of a couple of issues with it although I am not an expert on bikes at all.
I put these issues in my advert which included a 'strange ticking noise from the engine which I said I thought sounded like it could be the cam chain and the speedo clock didn't work'. I stated the bike ran fine other than this, which it did. I stated it had 8 months MOT and 12 months Tax - which it does and that the builder of the bike had rebuilt it, repainted it and added new levers and clocks (which were mentioned in the builders advert).
The buyer came to look at the bike and spent 30 minutes checking it over. I again pointed out the faults I knew of which he seemed unconcerned about and said he was happy to buy it at the agreed price. he started the engine, listened to it and was happy. V5 posted and all done, so I thought.
The following day the buyer emailed me and stated he had just ridden it and it was leaking oil and wsn't very happy and finished his email with a sarcastic 'thank you very much'. I replied and explained I knew nothing about the leaking oil (which I genuinely didn't) as i had only very briefly ridden it in the few weeks I had owned and it hadn't leaked oil when I had it. He didn't reply.
A further five days later he emailed me again to state he had taken it to a mechanic to get the leak fix and the mechanic had pointed out that the head of the engine was warped (I don't really know what this means?) and that as a result the engine was little mechanical use. He said we needed to sort this issue out between us or he would take m to small claims court as he had taken some legal advice who advised he had a case because i described the bike as working fine (as far as I was aware it was other than the ticking sound which I disclosed). i replied and stated that he checked it and was happy with it and that I had described the bike to the bestof my knowledge and had no idea about any of the issues he mentioned (which I didn't). He replied again stating that I had stated the bike had been rebuilt (i actually wrote in the ad that the builder of the bike had stated it had been rebuilt, which i had no reason to assume otherwise given the ad details I have) and that a rebuilt bike would not leak oil etc.
he has given me two options -
1. pay for the work carried out by his mechanic
2. take me to court and sue for the full cost of bike and legal fees.
I'm aware of buyer beware etc but I am becoming quite anxious about all this now. I described the bike honestly, I pointed out the faults I knew about and let the buyer take as much time as he needed to view and check it over. I knew nothing about the faults he now mentions. What is my position here?
Any help gratefully received (sorry for the lengthy post!)
0
Comments
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It's a 40 year old "collectors" piece. Tell him to grow up and and do one.0
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Isn't the usual thing for the buyer to open a dispute with Ebay and then you can refund him and have done with it.
No worries about legal wranglings then.0 -
The sale was done off of eBay. He just saw my advert on there and offered a price so I ended the auction0
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caveat emptor - or however it's spelled, buyer beware.Retired member - fed up with the general tone of the place.0
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Tell him to take you to the small claims. I bet you any money it hasnt got an oil leak, its 'head' isnt warped and he hasnt had a mechanic take a look over it.
He will run a mile and not bother you again. He has done this outside of ebay so he can try and pull this sort of trick with you - I believe its a quite common thing with cars and bikes.Dont rock the boat
Dont rock the boat ,baby0 -
Exile_geordie wrote: »Tell him to take you to the small claims. I bet you any money it hasnt got an oil leak, its 'head' isnt warped and he hasnt had a mechanic take a look over it.
He will run a mile and not bother you again. He has done this outside of ebay so he can try and pull this sort of trick with you - I believe its a quite common thing with cars and bikes.
This. Absolutely. He will not be taking you to court.0 -
Op - so long as you are genuinely not a trader and didn't purposefully mislead the buyer then his rights are zilch.
Tell him to shove it and not contact you again - and if he does then you won't negotiate, just await court papers where a judge will throw the case out0 -
Exile_geordie wrote: »Tell him to take you to the small claims. I bet you any money it hasnt got an oil leak, its 'head' isnt warped and he hasnt had a mechanic take a look over it.
There is a possibility that the head is warped and there is an oil leak and if this is the case, it could be due to a couple of reasons.
1/ The buyer already had a similar bike with a knackered engine, and rather then pay for a repair or replacement, he decided to do an ebay "swop".
2/ the buyer took the bike for a ride/race and screwed up the engine that way.0 -
No, 100% not a trader. Bought bike purely for some afternoon riding but financial circumstances dictated otherwise.
He's had the bike a week now and could have done anything with it in that time.0
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