2nd hand fridge freezer faulty - Refund?

dunroving

AGray wrote: »

Oh dude that's cold, colder than my original fridge freezer anyway...

Anyway, the market trader came to the property as agreed within the agreed timescale, so was happy that things where going somewhat smooth about it.

He confirmed again about the procedure to be undertaken, and that he has the temporary replacement on his van at the moment. So he collected the old one first, again, somewhat rough with the jolting about taking it out but heyho.

Now at the time he did say with the replacement, since essentially i'm not going to be using it that he offered to clingfilm it closed since it hadn't been opened in a few weeks and so if opened, it would smell quite badly.

Okay...

Anyway, he dropped off the replacement and i left it at that. About 20-30 minutes later there was a few concerns just about the state of the item, so i wanted to get some pictures taken of it. Obviously meaning that i'd have to take a brunt of the smell and fight through it just to take some pictures.

What we seen was... Disgusting. It wasn't the smell, it was the STATE. Disgusting...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/echrsrzh2ysr8kq/DSCN0354.JPG?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tpa12if577o3387/DSCN0355.JPG?dl=0

My mum who was out at the time came back and seen it - Obviously she was disgusted by it and wanted it out of the house because it was in such a horrible unclean state. I can understand her entirely about this.

She phoned Environmental Health to report it, and it all lead back to my contact within Trading Standards so here we are!!

Obviously never straight forward about this! How this progresses i don't know, but i've sent the whole set of images to Trading Standards about this...

Honestly, you seem to create your own problems.

If you didn't plan to use the "temporary replacement" (large paper weight), why didn't you let him clingfilm it? At least then there is no question that you have tampered with it if it turns out to be damaged or not working.

So he tells you that you probably don't want to open it, and what's the first thing you do ...?

It seems this trader is having a laugh at your expense, but you and your mum don't exactly seem to be helping yourselves.

From the current situation, it seems you don't have much choice except to get the rubber gloves on and hope that the replacement works. If it does, thank your lucky stars and learn from the experience.

AGray

It's getting closer to court now. After the issues with the trader pretty much backtracking on his word and other things that seem like lies to me, i decided to take the decision to download a phonecall recorder on my phone.

My intention is/was simple, if i have any communication in the future with the trader then i would call him, and state at the very beginning that for legal reasons the call is being recorded - It is up to him then to accept this, or have the call terminated.

I contacted the Trading Standards to make him aware of my process involved in this - His response? "I don't want to speak to him anymore". How did i see that coming?

I insisted to Trading Standards that i wanted to see this report, or at the very least visit the fridge (That's new?) to take any pictures of it to make sure that no tampering had been done to it - The trader agreed to send trading standards the report and in turn for them to send it to me.

A few days later i heard nothing, called Trading Standards and they said they've tried to call the trader (Off a landline) and he hasn't answered them. I called him ANONYMOUSLY and he picked up immediately - I terminated the call without a word spoken.

I told Trading Standards this, and they agree that he is now avoiding all contact with them, SO, they have agreed to release his home address to me so that i can send a final letter before court action to him.

At the same time, i don't want to send the court action request because of the simple fact he is APPARENTLY in possession of this report which says there is no fault - Therefor i want to see this report first, or at the very least the appliance.

Trading Standards said unfortunately that he doesn't have to send this report in to me, but at the same time they are going to provide witness statements to me stating that i have tried everything i possibly can from the beginning to get this resolved amicably, but sadly he has been avoiding.

So i'll send the letter, give it 10 days before progressing further with it, it could go either way at court especially as he isn't playing "fair" with providing me information beforehand.

AGray

The 10 working days has expired since i sent this letter before court, i spoke to Trading Standards on Friday to see if they have had any communication with him. Trading Standards called back a few hours later to say that he had indeed finally picked up the phone to them.

Here's were it got interesting to me - He had told them that he HASN'T got the report that was completed on May 29th by the suppliers, again he is going off "what they say". So the questions keep getting more frequent - Why isn't he chasing this up? If something was against him, surely you'd want all the evidence yourself.

Trading Standards are in the agreement that he may be pulling wool over our eyes still, and a report may not be what he was wanting so he's holding off on it. I told Trading Standards however that there is no more exceptions and no more waiting now - and i would be proceeding today with court action.

Again they have confirmed that they will provide witness testimony to how we've tried to get a resolution and how it's been like hitting a brick wall, they said it can take 14-28 days dependant on if he challenges the case.

I was going through the Money Claim Online website (doing it online) but it seemed a bit confusing to me, especially as i've not done a claim before.

It asks for a short statement, which i have completed but then upon getting to the payment screen i don't want to go further - I don't see anywhere which i can add witness contact details, or even upload anything to back up my claim (Receipt, post office receipts etc). Once i progress will i have the ability to upload this, or is this it??

arcon5

Jesus, what a situation.

Just clean the new fridge and put it down to experience!!!!!!!

AGray

I feel i'm in a very good position at the moment to not lose, while this is one to chalk up to experience, i'm not at all stressed anymore at the situation.

Should, for whatever reason the case fail, then yes, i guess i'll have to fall back on to the fridge freezer i have still in my possession - But at the same time, i still have the opportunity to fight the case for a full refund.

I had a shock last night though, i was watching TV late last night, and the adverts came on. I was reading through my phone and the newly released Lidl advert came on, i looked up for a split second and thought "!!!!!!?".

Hit rewind on it and re-watched it, and what i seen was true. This trader has only gone and got himself to be one of the extras on the advert. I could have died laughing. :rotfl:

Semple

Good on you for pushing to get your money back. If everyone rolled over and "chalked it up to experience" then the cowboy trader would keep getting away with it.

arcon5

Lets hope once you get judgement you actually get paid.. you done any research in to the guy to determine how likely you are to be able to enforce the judgement?

AGray

I did speak to Tradings Standards earlier this afternoon before progressing with my claim. After i finished the call with them they rung back a minute later telling me not to process the claim yet.

Instead they urged me to go onto Registry Trust, pay £10 and see if he has anything outstanding against him. I asked if this i something i could claim back but they said no, it was more for peace of mind.

I did it, thinking it was worth it in the long run - and i found he has not had a previous history in this sort of thing, so thankfully i have now submitted my claim.

He will apparently have upto 14 days to respond from the courts i think, so from here-on this is it.

AGray

Sounds like he is going to challenge this, not sure if he phoned Trading Standards today, or they phoned him - But on the conversation TS told him to expect paperwork for a court claim.

He was apparently very upset at my course of action, and has conveniently enough NOW happened to get access to this report (Or at least, i think "today" he is going to pick it up). Very convenient.

Trading Standards have said he is submitting a counter-claim against me £30 for the report and no doubt this supposed fuel cost he has incurred.

I even told TS this - He has had too many opportunities to sort this out, and now that he has forced my hand suddenly he is being co-operative? I don't think so.

Hopefully we'll get this court case sorted and out of the way sooner rather than later now especially as he seems ready to challenge this.

Semple

You shouldn't worry, you have all the evidence to show you've given him ample opportunity and time to resolve the situation. The courts should see through this, they probably see these tactics from cowboys on a daily basis. It will be interesting if they ask him why it has taken so long to resolve on his end.

Oh and how petty to submit a counter-claim for a report that he had to produce to prove no fault with the fridge. Usually when people put in ridiculous counter-claims it gives the impression that they know they're in the wrong and are trying to soften the blow.