Second hand fridge faulty - do I have to keep it ?

Austinhead

I bought a second hand fridge freezer off Gumtree on Wed. The seller very helpfully delivered the item into the room where I wanted it. I paid via a bank transfer on the night.

Unfortunately the item is faulty and does not cool, despite being advertised as in full working order. The seller won't return my calls or respond to messages. I contacted my bank who suggested they could attempt to get the money back, but I needed to wait 14 days before I could start that process.

So, my question is, do I need to keep the item in order to give the seller 14 days to respond ?

Its a large american fridge freezer, bought to replace an existing faulty Beko which i hadn't had time to get rid of (engineer only came Wed morning to confirm the fault). I now have 2 large broken American fridge freezers in my utility room, leaving little room for anything else - let alone one that actually works.

Please don't reply with comments about how I could have avoided it etc, i just need to know what i have to do in order to have the best chance of getting my money back.

Thanks in advance.

eddddy

Austinhead wrote: »

I bought a second hand fridge freezer off Gumtree on Wed. The seller very helpfully delivered the item into the room where I wanted it. I paid via a bank transfer on the night.

Unfortunately the item is faulty and does not cool, despite being advertised as in full working order.

Not an answer to your specific question - but was it transported lying down?

If so, a lot of people say it needs to be left upright for 24+ hours before being switched on. Some even say the compressor could be damaged, if you turn it on too soon.

Try googling 'fridge transported lying down' and similar phrases.

Austinhead

Apparently you need to leave it upright for as long as it was left lying down for, which I did. If it wasn't faulty I would have expected them to respond to me. Also I was told it was less than 2 years old, but having checked the serial number, it's over 10 years old. I really believe they sold me a faulty appliance.

Thanks for the response though.

soolin

Austinhead wrote: »

I bought a second hand fridge freezer off Gumtree on Wed. The seller very helpfully delivered the item into the room where I wanted it. I paid via a bank transfer on the night.

Unfortunately the item is faulty and does not cool, despite being advertised as in full working order. The seller won't return my calls or respond to messages. I contacted my bank who suggested they could attempt to get the money back, but I needed to wait 14 days before I could start that process.

So, my question is, do I need to keep the item in order to give the seller 14 days to respond ?

Its a large american fridge freezer, bought to replace an existing faulty Beko which i hadn't had time to get rid of (engineer only came Wed morning to confirm the fault). I now have 2 large broken American fridge freezers in my utility room, leaving little room for anything else - let alone one that actually works.

Please don't reply with comments about how I could have avoided it etc, i just need to know what i have to do in order to have the best chance of getting my money back.

Thanks in advance.

The bit that worries me here is I contacted my bank who suggested they could attempt to get the money back, but I needed to wait 14 days before I could start that process. I can't see what on earth the bank are saying they can do, or why they want you to wait 14 days- I wonder if they have the wrong end of the stick entirely? All the bank can possibly do, and they don't have to even do that, is write to the recipient bank and ask them to contact recipient and see if they will refund. A bank transfer carries no enforceable repayment scheme. There is certainly no reason to impose a 14 day restriction on starting that either.


That leaves you with basically only small claims, to even start considering that you will need the full geographic address for the seller, do you have that? If you do have that and have a copy of the advert where it was guaranteed in working order then you have a potential case, but even winning at small claims doesn't automatically get you your money back.

Austinhead

The bank said that they could only try to get the money back from the sellers bank. I explained it was second hand and was not from a retailer. I think I might call them back again and speak to someone else.

I don't know exactly where they live, only the region - and they could have been lying. I have a screenshot of the ad with the description, but as you suggest, this means nothing unless they can be traced.

So frustrating..

lammy82

Are they selling anything else on their Gumtree account? Could you message them from a different account posing as a buyer and try to get an address for them?

Austinhead

I phoned the bank again, the original woman I spoke to was wrong. I've now spoken to someone in fraud and scams and they are going to try and get the money back - although he did say they can't guarantee anything,

The guy isn't selling anything else, and has obviously taken the original ad down.

Unless the bank can do something i think it's lost money. They also advised me to keep hold of the appliance until they have a response, unfortunately.

Aylesbury_Duck

Austinhead wrote: »

Apparently you need to leave it upright for as long as it was left lying down for, which I did. If it wasn't faulty I would have expected them to respond to me. Also I was told it was less than 2 years old, but having checked the serial number, it's over 10 years old. I really believe they sold me a faulty appliance.

How long was that?

macman

Sorry but your bank are talking nonsense. There is no scam, you made the bank transfer of your own free will, and they have no legal means of recovering it, nor can they ascertain whether your claim is valid.
Your only means of recovery is via the small claims process of the County Court, but to do that you obviously need a name and address. You would also have to prove that the fridge was faulty, and that it was faulty when delivered, and described as working. The first requires an engineer's report, and the second you can't do.

boo_star

macman wrote: »

Sorry but your bank are talking nonsense. There is no scam, you made the bank transfer of your own free will, and they have no legal means of recovering it, nor can they ascertain whether your claim is valid.
Your only means of recovery is via the small claims process of the County Court, but to do that you obviously need a name and address. You would also have to prove that the fridge was faulty, and that it was faulty when delivered, and described as working. The first requires an engineer's report, and the second you can't do.

It depends on the nature of the fault.

If it's clear the fault is as a result of transportation then they have a fairly solid case.

seashore22

boo_star wrote: »

It depends on the nature of the fault.

If it's clear the fault is as a result of transportation then they have a fairly solid case.

Why do you think that? Proving that the seller was at fault would be next to impossible. The fridge may not work for many reasons. It may have been faulty before the op bought it, it may have been transported incorrectly, it may have been accidentally damaged or the op turned it on too quickly. How would you go about proving which it is?

In any case banks don't get involved in sales of second hand goods between private individuals. That has always been buyer beware.