Last week I bought a car (unseen) on eBay as a private sale having been satisfied with the very wordy description and plenty of photos of it's condition. I paid via PayPal a few days later having arranged a collection date. The purchase price was £4000. The car is a 1960's vehicle so some wear and tear was expected.
On arrival to collect the car I found it generally to be in the description as listed, but with one exception. The car been parked outside. In the listing it had suggested that it was 'under cover', but on arrival it was indeed under a breathable cover (not stated in the listing). However on inspecting the inside of the vehicle it was evident that the car had a leak somewhere around the windscreen etc as a plastic carton was placed in the passenger footwell area and was half-filled with water. On picking it up it was evident that the carpets were completely waterlogged in the front and some rust underneath was present likely as a result. Also the carpets which were loose, as i picked them up to inspect underneath, they completely disintegrated and crumbled such was the rot from the soaking wet interior. I put this to the owner that this was not stated in the listing and the owner denied any knowledge of such problem. Having studied the whole car I decided that the car was not acceptable and refused to take ownership thus informing the seller that I did not wish to proceed. He offered to reduce the purchase price but I politely declined. The owner was insistent that he wanted the car taken that day, but again I refused on the above grounds. The owner (60's) said he had sold cars for over 15 years and had never previously had a dissatisfied buyer and did not know how to proceed and I advised him that he could cancel the sale and refund through eBay. He stated that he would respond by email at which point he said, "If you walk away, we have no deal" and we shook hands. At this point I Ieft.
On returning home I contacted my insurers to notify them of the cancelled purchase and as expected they charged a cancellation fee and time on cover charge.
I also contacted eBay to request a refund, which would send a link to the seller. Having heard nothing the next day I contacted PayPal and requested to open a customer dispute requesting refund for an item not as described.
I telephoned both eBay and PayPal and neither have offered any advice other than that cars are not covered on their refund guarantee so to wait to see what the outcome of the request to cancel purchase results is, or to contact Citizen's Advice.
At the current point in time PayPal have not taken funds from my account (as payment is scheduled to be taken 14 days after purchase) and I have instructed them not to do so, however they stated that if there is no resolution then they will release the funds and seek payment from me.
I have contacted my bank and they advised that this issue 'may' be covered by the Visa payment scheme.
I have had no response from the owner.
Any consumer / legal advice or opinion is helpful. (Apart from why didn't you view it first)
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Isn't your paypal account linked to your bank card? if it is and they haven't taken the money yet, cancel your card and request a new one.
4k unseen? Too much for an unseen purchaseI think.
Is it not possible, that the car might not have even existed ?
Anyone can put out a glorious description and photos of a car they do not even own.
Citizens advice bureau ? They must come across this all the time.
If no joy, I'd get a refund from them in person and bang on their door forever until I got it.
Aren't they linked in some way?
Parting with £4k before you have seen the motor in the flesh is a no, no.
I can't find any precedent of someone paying in advance of seeing a car and subsequently deciding not to take it. As it's a private sale and you chose not to pay the final balance on satisfactory viewing of the vehicle, it could be argued you knew the potential risks.
That said, in the instance of a private sale, the car must match the description provided by the seller. Get a copy of the advert as proof, document everything that was wrong with the car that wasn't mentioned on the advert. Specifically mention the amount of discount offered as that would be deemed admission that the car had faults, detail your contact with Ebay / PayPal and any other information that may add value if you have to go to court to reclaim the money.
If you can cancel the card so that the payment doesn't go through I would do that. It'll be a lot easier to hold on to the money than it will to get it refunded, even if it does land you in grief with PayPal.
It sounds like the description of the car was a misrepresentation made in order to obtain money from you or another party. In which case, isn't that fraud ? And if it is fraud, surely PayPal shouldn't part with the money. Does PayPal have a fraud dept you can contact. Also I haven't checked but are they authorised and regulated here in the U.K. ? The MLRO (he'd be the person holding CF10 or SMF17 for the firm on the financial services register) might want to consider whether it would be a money laundering issue. Picking up on the comment that the seller had never had this problem before that sounds like he is a car trader but the fact that the car was parked outside suggests he may not be registered as such if it was a 'private sale'. Are you able to tell if he has other cars for sale ?. Have a word with the local Trading Standards if he has. Drop the bastard in it with HMRC as well
The buyer protection section of the user agreement is designed to help buyers recover their money from sellers who:
•don't deliver the goods which have been paid for; or
•deliver goods which are "significantly not as described".
Since 30 September 2008, PayPal will reimburse the buyer in full where the buyer makes a successful claim although there are various eligibility requirements to make a successful claim.
Let's be honest if it was a genuine mistake on his part & he had morals he would refund the money, as he hasn't offered ....
If MyHermes are involved (fictional deliveries) then it's even worse as they are owned by Ebay.
Still though, very silly to pay 4 Gs without even seeing the car in person. At the very least cancel your card so that PayPal cannot take the money. It will be easier for them to recover the money from the seller than you from PayPal. At the very least you know where the seller lives so if he makes your life difficult I'm sure you could find 3 large friends and pay him a visit to advise that he gives the money back to PayPal.
Also, what's the point of PayPal having a 14-day cool-off period if you are explicitly saying you have not taken receipt of the product and you refuse to pay for it? What a load of shit.
Surely you should have at least kicked the tyres before committing to buying.
I would think you will get your money back once PayPal investigate or the seller and you come to an amicable agreement.
There has to be an element of trust on Ebay by both parties.
if his justification is to simply say 'it's your look out' the he is of course being a bastard over this.
Your bank works for you.
They must stop the payment absolutely now, and let the bloke and paypal have the grief instead if they want that.
As a First Direct customer I am confident that one phone call from me would stop payment immediately.
first priority is that your bank does not pay...whatever technological 'authority' is presented, it must be over ridden.
Just as a warning to anyone else who may find themselves in this situation I'm pretty sure my bank account and not just my card is linked to my Paypal so cancelling the card may not have stopped payment.
I'd have closed my account and gone to another bank.