Claiming through small claims court

fed_up_ex_civil_servant

Hi
Just wondered whether it's worth pursuing a claim for non refundable delivery costs. Cost me £525 as goods were misrepresented and delivery to my home was aborted. Seller did refund full sale price of goods but won't  pay delivery charge so I'm out of pocket by £525. I do have photos to show damage to goods which were advertised as superb condition!
Any advice please?

Thanks

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Do you have some more details?

Was the seller a business or private?

Did the seller arrange delivery and you paid them the delivery fee? If so did they offer delivery or was it something you arranged with them?

Is £525 a typo? If not was the seller in the UK?

Where did the photos come from if the delivery didn’t reach you? 

What was the goods and the nature of the damage? Did this damage occur during the delivery process?

fed_up_ex_civil_servant

Hi

Thanks for reply.

Private seller. I arranged a specialist kitchen courier to collect and deliver to me. I live in the north and the goods were in London, hence the price.
The courier who has many years experience, was so dismayed at the condition, he rang me and he took multiple photos to show me.


I decided not to go ahead and agreed with him, it was not worth bringing. The seller did immediately say, I could have a refund.

It was a used fitted kitchen, described as solid oak (not just doors), in superb condition. It was not,, half was plywood, all the appliances were also dirty. Bits were rotten.

I think a lot of the damage was caused by the builders butchering it as they ripped it out.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Thanks for the details, so with a private sale the goods need to match the description. 

As an example, if there was an ad simply saying "car for sale" and you arrange to buy without seeing but it turns out the car is on it's last legs my understanding is the car was as described because it was only described as a car, however if it said good runner but wasn't then you'd have the right to a refund.

Basically anything omitted is fine in a private sale so you'd really have to compare the ad vs the condition to see what was different to what was stated 

The rest is only my opinion (for what it is worth), a copy of the ad and the photos of the actual kitchen might help people give a better opinion.

With something like solid oak kitchen for example, would the general interruption that the carcasses are commonly made of chipboard have any bearing on the decision on the day.

Is there a question as to whether damaged caused by ripping out is the seller's responsibility.  

Could the seller claim any damage was caused in transit. 

Does the seller agreeing to the refund strengthen your case. 

Manxman_in_exile

Have you had a refund of the purchase price yet?

For £525 I'd say you should be considering suing if the goods did not conform to their description and the seller has (1) admitted that and (2) agreed to refund the purchase price.

I presume you still incurred the collection and delivery costs because your courier had to travel down to London and back again from up north?

Thrugelmir

fed_up_ex_civil_servant said:

 I do have photos to show damage to goods which were advertised as superb condition!

Why didn't you obtain photos before ageeing to purchase? 

fed_up_ex_civil_servant

Thanks for comments. The kitchen was in situ before so looked fine. Think her builders caused a lot of damage ripping it out. 

It didn't leave her premises as I decided not to take it.

m0bov

If it did'nt match the ad, then do a LBA, with the photos you have and how it differs from the description. The fact they have refunded part of the cost helps your case. Claim for delivery costs as per CRA.

Manxman_in_exile

She should claim off her builders then!

Didn't she tell them the old units were going to be sold on?

jon81uk

m0bov said:

If it did'nt match the ad, then do a LBA, with the photos you have and how it differs from the description. The fact they have refunded part of the cost helps your case. Claim for delivery costs as per CRA.

But the OP is the one who arranged the courier, therefore the seller has refunded the full cost paid to them. As this is a private sale I don't think they are liable for your costs in getting to/from a collection.
If the item was more local and you drove yourself there, inspected the condition and found it wasn't as good as expected would you have expected petrol money from the seller?
I think that if the seller has listed the item as collection only then even if the condition isn't as good as expected you don't have any recourse for your costs in arranging collection?

Jenni_D

jon81uk said:

m0bov said:

If it did'nt match the ad, then do a LBA, with the photos you have and how it differs from the description. The fact they have refunded part of the cost helps your case. Claim for delivery costs as per CRA.

But the OP is the one who arranged the courier, therefore the seller has refunded the full cost paid to them. As this is a private sale I don't think they are liable for your costs in getting to/from a collection.
If the item was more local and you drove yourself there, inspected the condition and found it wasn't as good as expected would you have expected petrol money from the seller?
I think that if the seller has listed the item as collection only then even if the condition isn't as good as expected you don't have any recourse for your costs in arranging collection?

Unfortunately I think this is correct - but it might depend upon the timing of the contract agreement between seller and buyer, when the buyer engaged the delivery agent, and when the removed units were available. (i.e. once the seller had the units removed then they could/should have informed the buyer of the change in description of the units. If this was before the buyer engaged the agent then the cost wouldn't have been borne).

However an LBA can't hurt; at worst the seller will say no, they might say yes, or they might offer to contribute towards the cost.