Bought brand new bike from ebay, broke after two minutes of riding – advice please?

cupboardie

Please can I get a bit of advice – I bought a ladies bike off ebay for myself. The advert said it had only been used twice and she was selling as she’d had toe surgery and couldn’t ride it. It was in good condition but one of the tyres was deflated – she said because it had been standing unused for so long.

Three weeks later I finally get round to buying a pump, pumped up the tyres and took it for a spin. 2 minutes later there’s an awful noise and the derailleur has detached and the chain has come loose. I take it to a bike shop – they say the derailleur cannot be repaired, they quote me £50 - £60 parts and labour.

I only paid £80 for the bike!

The seller has e-mailed me the receipt – she bought it in September 2014.

What do I do?

Will Halfords replace it?

What if I buy a new one from Halfords but take back the old one a week later saying it’s the one I just bought – can they tell, are there serial numbers?

I asked the bike shop how it happened – they said perhaps it wasn’t set up properly (it says on the receipt that Halfords assembled it) – but the seller did ride it twice since the purchase.

Can I tell Halfords it’s second hand but the seller had only just bought it and they don’t have a receipt?

Please help!

soolin

cupboardie wrote: »

Please can I get a bit of advice – I bought a ladies bike off ebay for myself. The advert said it had only been used twice and she was selling as she’d had toe surgery and couldn’t ride it. It was in good condition but one of the tyres was deflated – she said because it had been standing unused for so long.

Three weeks later I finally get round to buying a pump, pumped up the tyres and took it for a spin. 2 minutes later there’s an awful noise and the derailleur has detached and the chain has come loose. I take it to a bike shop – they say the derailleur cannot be repaired, they quote me £50 - £60 parts and labour.

I only paid £80 for the bike!

The seller has e-mailed me the receipt – she bought it in September 2014.

What do I do?

Will Halfords replace it?

What if I buy a new one from Halfords but take back the old one a week later saying it’s the one I just bought – can they tell, are there serial numbers?

I asked the bike shop how it happened – they said perhaps it wasn’t set up properly (it says on the receipt that Halfords assembled it) – but the seller did ride it twice since the purchase.

Can I tell Halfords it’s second hand but the seller had only just bought it and they don’t have a receipt?

Please help!

MSE is not a place that encourages discussion about fraud -please do not get Halfords involved in this.

Open an eBay case for SNAD , return bike and get a refund.

jules888

3 weeks seems a long time to wait before having a ride on it.
You should have checked it out as soon as you got it!

Brooker_Dave

soolin wrote: »

MSE is not a place that encourages discussion about fraud -please do not get Halfords involved in this.

Open an eBay case for SNAD , return bike and get a refund.

Why can't she just try to get her local Halfords to repair it?

Surely easier???

soolin

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Why can't she just try to get her local Halfords to repair it?

Surely easier???

Of course Op can take the bike to Halfords and explain she bought it second hand and would they do anything to help her as a gesture of goodwill but that was not what OP had suggested doing though.

please also be aware that OP for some reason has posted the same question 3 times so there are a number of responses elsewhere already.

Brooker_Dave

soolin wrote: »

Of course Op can take the bike to Halfords and explain she bought it second hand and would they do anything to help her as a gesture of goodwill but that was not what OP had suggested doing though.

please also be aware that OP for some reason has posted the same question 3 times so there are a number of responses elsewhere already.

If she's got the reciept she may as well pretend that she bought it and get them to mend it. It's only a few months old after all, it's not like she's trying to cheat Halfords.

soolin

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

If she's got the reciept she may as well pretend that she bought it and get them to mend it. It's only a few months old after all, it's not like she's trying to cheat Halfords.

It would still be misrepresentation however much we pretend it is Ok- and as such not something we can discuss on MSE.

It is worth noting as well that OP refers to having been only emailed the receipt, which might suggest they only have a printed out copy

theoretica

Are Halfords close enough that you can go there and see if they will sort it out? Or phone them? Their website doesn't say warranties are non-transferable so you might as well ask and go the ebay route if they are difficult.

chrisw99

Do you have to be the person named on the receipt anyway? And would Halfords even check who you were if you took a receipt in with you for the bike.


It's no different than buying a bike as an Xmas present for someone and giving them the receipt with it in case there are problems.

bebewoo

I bought a bike from halfords and it needed a warranty repair, they did not ask for ID, just for a look at the receipt. They were quite nice and helpful too.

shaun_from_Africa

[QUOTE=chrisw99;67967800]Do you have to be the person named on the receipt anyway? And would Halfords even check who you were if you took a receipt in with you for the bike.[/QUOTE]


Unless Halford's terms and conditions state otherwise, it is only the person that originally purchased the bike who has any legal rights regarding it being faulty.
Many places will allow anyone with the receipt to return faulty or unwanted goods, but they don't have to do this.