Do I refund the deposit?

[MrsExpo]

Last weekend, advertised an expensive item for sale, with lots of extras for an asking price was £10,500 - very fair compared to similar for sale elsewhere. A lady (let’s call her Mary) messaged and asked to come along to view it. She arrived with her partner, looked the thing over thoroughly, and offered me £10k, which I accepted.

She gave me £500 deposit but said she couldn’t collect it until Sunday for various reasons. I agreed and, in the last few days, have turned down other interested parties believing the thing to be sold.

Mary has now just texted to say she’s changed her mind and isn’t able to purchase the item after all. Many apologies and could I please refund her £500.

So ....... Do I do so with good grace and re advertise my item? Or do I keep the money? I feel that I should refund, but DH is saying tell her to naff off. We could probably have sold the thing to someone else this week but have probably now lost the opportunity to do so, and I have no idea about the legalities of the situation ..... so WWYD oh wise MN collective?

Will you be able to resell the item quickly again?

I personally would refund her, it's the moral thing to do.

Maybe you could hold on to her deposit until you sell it ?

Was there any paperwork/contracts involved ?

Nope. The money was to ensure it was waiting for her when she came to collect it at the weekend.
She changes her mind, her loss.

Tell her you’ll refund the money once it’s resold or she can come and buy it in full

I would tell her that you have turned away several potential buyers this week and that she will have her deposit back when you manage to find another buyer.

Did you say it was a non refundable deposit?

You may be better posting this in legal matters to see where you stand.

No, a deposit is to retain the goods and in my opinion is non-refundable. If it is refundable there is no point in taking it in the first place, one would just sell it to whoever comes up with the money first.

The other thing to consider is how big was he, and he knows your address.

The whole point of the deposit was so that you had confidence she wasn't messing you around. Same as booking a holiday. Refunding her is not 'the moral thing to do'.

Re-advertise and see what you manage to sell it for - you might not be able to get £10k from someone else.

How are you to know that she's not money laundering?

I'd also repay once it resold at same price.

Presumably you’re going to be able to re-sell it? I think trying to keep her £500 would be very unfair unless of course you had a signed contract which stated the £500 was non-refundable.

Honestly - if I was Mary and you told me you’d be keeping my £500 I would stop at nothing to get it back out of principle. I’d be going to small claims court and splashing the details all over social media to boot. And if I had your bank details or knew who you banked with I’d be calling your bank to report a theft/scam which would have the likely effect of them instantly freezing your account.

It’s really not worth the risk in case Mary does the same.

What was the point of the deposit then if you weren’t going to keep it if she changed her mind?

The deposit was to secure the item, you did that. She doesn’t want it anymore but that doesn’t change the fact the deposit is yours.

I thought legally deposits ARE non refundable unless specified otherwise. That's kind of the point of them, isn't it?

@DinoDeb

Presumably you’re going to be able to re-sell it? I think trying to keep her £500 would be very unfair unless of course you had a signed contract which stated the £500 was non-refundable.

Honestly - if I was Mary and you told me you’d be keeping my £500 I would stop at nothing to get it back out of principle. I’d be going to small claims court and splashing the details all over social media to boot. And if I had your bank details or knew who you banked with I’d be calling your bank to report a theft/scam which would have the likely effect of them instantly freezing your account.

It’s really not worth the risk in case Mary does the same.

That’s harsh for something that is your fault isn’t it ?

Was it advertised as non refundable ? When I bought my car off a dealer there was £100 deposit. I asked if I didn’t like the car whether they’d return it and they said yes.

I’m currently on my way to an Airbnb. They told me that their cancellation policy is that if I have to cancel and they manage to resell my night I’d have the money back. If not then they’d keep it.

Honestly - if I was Mary and you told me you’d be keeping my £500 I would stop at nothing to get it back out of principle. I’d be going to small claims court and splashing the details all over social media to boot. And if I had your bank details or knew who you banked with I’d be calling your bank to report a theft/scam which would have the likely effect of them instantly freezing your account.

This is one of the silliest things I’ve read 😂

Go to small claims court to claim what? You put a deposit down on an item you then decided against purchasing? Not sure that would go in your favour....

What would you put on social media? That you put a deposit down on an item you then changed your mind about....I think the replies on this post show how that would go down!

And as for calling the bank 😂 yes because banks always freeze people’s accounts because Mary phones up and alleges that XYZ is committing theft without any evidence (I’ve worked with banks and this categorically doesn’t happen otherwise every disgruntled ex would be getting their former partners accounts frozen!)

Easter - unless I’d explicitly agreed the £500 was non-refundable (in which case I’d not have asked for its return anyway) then I’d be willing to be harsh for the sake of my 500 quid in Mary’s shoes.

The op isn’t a business. She’s just flogging something second hand - it’s just an expensive something. She’s already had other enquiries so there’s no reason to think she can’t sell it to someone else.

There’s no real reason for the op to keep the £500 other than ‘because she can’ - which is shitty imo and is risking an equally shitty reaction from Mary if she tries it.

And as for calling the bank 😂 yes because banks always freeze people’s accounts because Mary phones up and alleges that XYZ is committing theft without any evidence (I’ve worked with banks and this categorically doesn’t happen otherwise every disgruntled ex would be getting their former partners accounts frozen!)

Mmhmm.

I work in bank fraud. It’s kind of my thing - and this happens every single day to hundreds of people in the UK. Plenty of scammers, plenty of innocents too that arise from a mixture of misunderstandings, errors or malicious reports.

If I’m forwarded an allegation from a third party that a customer of ours has scammed someone - unless it’s blatantly obviously malicious which happens often and are usually easy to pick out -the first response is a full account inhibit.

The investigation timescale is open-ended and the bar is low for the inhibit criteria.

Not ridiculous in the slightest.

I once put down a similar deposit for a car that was about £10k. For various reasons I decided not to buy the car, and requested a refund, which I got.

Given that it was a slightly questionable dealer (one of the reasons I decided not to buy the car), I was suprised when they agreed to refund me.

I think you should refund, but perhaps minus any costs for readvertising. It's annoying, but you shouldn't just keep it.

galling as it is to have to return her deposit, I think you should, maybe minus any re-advertising fees if you would be out of pocket

it's not like you are making her a dress and have already bought fabric and patterns in which case I would tell her to go hang.

bloody vexing though.

Did you specifically tell her that the deposit was non refundable? Did you give her any paperwork telling her the deposit was non refundable? If not, she would win in a small claims case

What deposit?

@DinoDeb hmmmm not in my experience....

If you froze someone’s account based on an unfounded (which it is in this case as the OP hasn’t scammed or stolen anything and there’s no evidence to suggest she has), and the customer complained, then the regulator would find in the customers favour and your company would be penalised. Are you up to date with current regulations?

Thank you all for your interesting replies. I am going to re-advertise today and contact one person who asked to be informed if the sale fell through, so hopefully I will be able to re-sell it shortly.

I am going to refund the £500 and have asked Mary to provide her bank details so I can do so.

@DinoDeb
So you'd make a malicious report simply because you don't understand how deposits work?

@DinoDeb I’m afraid I don’t believe for a second you work in banking “fraud” - for a start theft allegations don’t get passed through to the fraud team.

It’s just a convenient occupation to fit your earlier post because you didn’t like someone calling you out on it!

Love @DinoDeb’s outlandish posts!

Surely the point of putting down a deposit is to secure the item and if you change your mind you forfeit your deposit.