Buyer has emailed me saying item is faulty

[VivaLeBeaver]

I sold my daughter's drum kit earlier on in the week. Expensive electronic kit. I know nothing about drum kits as I don't play. Someone bought it, he came round here it was set up - he had a quick play. I told him ot was all working as I believed it was. He's now emailed me to say the hihat pedal is faulty. I've no idea if he actually tested that when he was here or not as I don't even know what the hihat pedal is.

Now normally I'd say well sorry but its yours now. For all I know it became faulty when he transported it to his house. He had the opportunity to play/test it as much as he wanted and if he didn't test that bit when he was here its not my fault. However I know him personally, our daughters are friends. What do I do - offer him money for a new pedal (about £70 and a big chunk of the price he paid).

Bump?

What does your daughter say?

Personally, I wouldn't refund - buyer beware...

Well DD is only 9. She hadn't said that her drum kit was faulty at any point though.

Now when he came to test the kit I had to put it all togetehr for him to test as it had been folded up in a corner for a while and one of the pedals I couldn't work out where the wire went into so hadn't plugged it in. I did point that out to him at the time and he had the opportunity if he wanted to sort that out. He's a drummer and the instruction manual was there so he could have sorted it if he'd wanted to.

Plus when he took it away he put it all in the back of a van that he hadn't emptied - it was full of bricks and bags of cement and he just lay the drum kit ontop of all of this without even wrapping it in a sheet to protect it. God knows what he could have damaged at this point.

But what do I say to him? He's emailing me with prices of new pedals? I've done some googling and found that the pedal is renound for been a poor quality pedal and this is a common fault. I've emailed him a link with how to take the pedal apart and lubricate it as this often works. Do I just leave it now and see if he actually asks me straight out for the money?

I would be totally honest and say I gave you the opportunity to test it and was clear I didn't know how it worked myself. I would maybe offer a token tenner back if he really pushed and to show willing, there is no way I would get him a new peddle.

Yes - I would just leave it for now. He has very few rights against you as a private seller so long as you did not make any reps about the drum kit being in a perfect/fully usable condition but I appreciate what you say about your DD's etc being friends. I wouldn't offer any cash up front at this stage but wait and see what he says/whether he is successful with the fix you have suggested.

Even 'friends' like to take the piss Michael and seemingly this man has no qualms about doing so with you.
Give him 2 options so that you remain in control of the situation

1.Offer to buy he whole kit back (and then sell it on ebay.)
2 Offer him a token amount towards the broken pedal-about £10-£20 would be reasonable

On no account pay for the whole price of a new pedal. It was a used item and will obviously have some faults.he had the chance to try before buying and is as much at fault as you.

Erm- not that you are at fault for simply selling the drum kit

Thanks for the advice. I've spoken to the person who had the drum kit before me and she says that from what he's said she doesn't think the pedal is faulty. Apparantly its normal with this type of pedal to have to press it hard for it to work. She says it sounds like its in full working order, maybe just not to his liking. I've emailed him that and hopefully thats it.

If he doesnt accept that id offer for him to return it and then refund him. You,ll know by his response whether hes being genuine or not .
Sadly people do try it on like this , hopefully hes not one of them

I wouldn't refund him, not after he's dumped it in the back of a van full of rubble. He's brought it from you, and he had plenty of opportunity to test it first.
This isn't EBay.