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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to never buy from police auction site again

70 replies

springydaffs · 04/10/2011 10:26

I bid for a bike for ds on a police auction site. The problems with the bike were listed as 'Tyres / front wheel / front suspension require attention - seat is ripped - General maintenance required'. I got it for £36. During the bidding I began to feel a bit uncomfortable that someone was pushing up the bidding... somebody from the site?

I picked up the bike - looked fine to me; the back tyre was flat. It has been pumped up and there is nothing wrong with it (ie it hasn't gone flat again) and I wonder if it was purposefully let down so I couldn't ride it when I picked it up - and obvious faults would have been apparent. I put it in the car and drove 200 miles with it, dropped it off at a bike shop in ds's uni town.

The bike is rubbish. ds has taken it to two bike shops who both say the cost of repairs is in the region of £200+ as there are fundamental problems with it (the front wheel, front suspension, tyres are fine though!). The bike would only be worth £150 brand new.

I have spoken to the police site and they don't want to know - the guy was aggressive and nasty. £36 isn't much but I feel I've been blatantly ripped off. The police site say they aren't bike experts and just put the bikes up on the site as is. I say that if that is the case they shouldn't list problems with the bike.

I thought that as it is a police site they would be kosher, honest. am I an idiot to think that?

OP posts:
Original poster
springydaffs · 04/10/2011 12:29

I am not within the 14 days Sardine. Yes the faults are dangerous SDT. I've been had is the bottom line.

Thanks to all who have suggested I've been a silly billy to buy from a POLICE WEBSITE which I thought would be kosher, straight, upfront, honest. My mistake.

OP posts:
Stoirin · 04/10/2011 12:51

You havent been had, you just didnt understand how it works. Looks more like your fault than theirs.

PigletJohn · 04/10/2011 13:02

Police doesn't come into it. You bought a second-hand, faulty item off the net without inspecting it. You even chose the price yourself.

Original poster
springydaffs · 04/10/2011 13:05

What, that they post inexpensive, minor faults an item doesn't have, omit to post expensive, dangerous faults it does have; say they aren't bike experts, let down the tyre so I can't ride it, push up the bidding (can't prove this last bit but pretty sure that was happening). Scam!

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 04/10/2011 13:09

no, that you buy things without inspecting them, even when you know they are used and faulty.

If you didn't want to bid £36 for that faulty bike, you didn't have to.

Sorry.

CroissantNeuf · 04/10/2011 13:12

The difference between an auction site like that and one like ebay is that on ebay the bike is more than likely being sold by its owner who could list a more detailed description of faults etc. (although obviously there is no guarantee that this will happen)

With the police auction site the bike has probably been seized as stolen property or retrieved when abandoned. The auction lister is not going to be able to assess the nature of any possible faults or problems -they will list it as seen to them ie. any obvious faults that are visible rather than testing every bit of it. They may have no working understanding of bikes beyond 'has it got 2 wheels, handlebars and a saddle' !

CroissantNeuf · 04/10/2011 13:14

Why do you think they were pushing up the bidding as opposed to it being a genuine person bidding against you?

TalkinPeace2 · 04/10/2011 13:14

That website is skirting VERY close to breaking the law.
Under the Distance Selling Regulations, all internet sellers should have contact details clearly stating their REAL address and telephone number.
It is also not clear whether they are a company or a sole trader

Have you checked with your local police force that it is a REAL police approved site?

Original poster
springydaffs · 04/10/2011 13:15

Then they shouldn't post a list of faults if they are not experts!

OP posts:
TalkinPeace2 · 04/10/2011 13:16

OK
have just dug deeper
they are police agreed
but I suspect TRading Standards would be interested about their compliance with internet consumer law

Original poster
springydaffs · 04/10/2011 13:20

I am calling the police station today to see if I can talk to my local bobby. The people I picked the bike up from were shifty to say the least (honestly! I'm not making it up!) but they were wearing sweatshirts with the local police logo on. I had to sign something and signed it, then went back to ask what I had signed for. the whole encounter was dodgy, they were dodgy. The website also states that bumblebee do not represent the police, or some such thing.

OP posts:
CroissantNeuf · 04/10/2011 13:22

springydaffs Tue 04-Oct-11 13:15:32
"Then they shouldn't post a list of faults if they are not experts!"

I don't think they are claiming to be experts are they?

Similarly anyone selling anything second hand can list the faults they are aware of but if they aren't an expert then other faults may go unnoticed and unmentioned eg. if you sell a second hand car.... when someone buys it, takes it to their mechanic who says that x,y,z need doing (and these weren't mentioned by you in the ad) then are you going to take the car back and refund the buyer?

sunshineandbooks · 04/10/2011 13:23

As far as I can see, the website isn't breaking any laws and the OP has no comeback. Sad What they're doing is perfectly legal, even if it is completely disingenuous.

The site is to the police what Argos is to say Morphy Richards or Fisher Price. It is not a site run by the police or monitored by the police. The only involvement the police have is that they supply the goods being sold on it. That's where their input begins and ends.

The fact that the site states its credentials as a 'police auction' site is why this is disingenuous. The site owners will probably say they're only making this statement so that buyers can be sure they're not buying stolen property that could be reclaimed at any moment, but the site owners surely know that a lot of people will interpret that statement as meaning the site is officially linked to the police.

If you're going to challenge it OP, I'd start looking into the law surrounding 'misleading advertising' (which IMO is, at a push, all they're actually guilty of).

Good luck. I understand your frustration.

Original poster
springydaffs · 04/10/2011 13:31

there is however a devise on the site where you can claim property as yours if you see it advertised on the site re I guess if you have proof that it is yours and has been stolen. [all the best, I say!]

I'm not going to be making a song and dance about this - I'm not the type, clearly, to be going all round the houses (else I wouldn't have used this site!), plus I've only lost £36. But the site displays the police logos from various constabularies around the country, making it look legit.

OP posts:
Stoirin · 04/10/2011 13:34

The website DOES list the hosts real full company name, address, phone number and reg no. The Virtual Bumblebee site is jointly owned by Surry Police and another company.
Its fully above board and is not a scam. OP, you sound naive. You bid on items without knowing their condition, you sign documents without reading them, now you feel silly and are making it all someone elses fault.

Stoirin · 04/10/2011 13:36

Why don't you contact the actual "bobbys" involved in the project, it was designed and launched by Brian Whicher of Surrey police. I'm sure you can google for a phone number.

BranchingOut · 04/10/2011 13:38

Sorry to hear that the bike is not what you expected, but I think you should put it down to experience.

If it had been easily repairable, then £36 would have been quite a bargain. Especially given that some poor sod somewhere had it stolen from them.... :(

Wonders if the handbag she had mugged from her a few years ago has ever made an appearance on the site.

TalkinPeace2 · 04/10/2011 13:39

Stoirin
link please
the HOST is not the same as the Bumblebees
who ARE bumblebees
and why do their pages not comply with the DSR

Original poster
springydaffs · 04/10/2011 13:40

oh shut the fuck up stoirin - I am just an average person who bid on a site that I thought was totally kosher - police and all. I am not a lawyer and I didn't bid 1000s. I signed because I trusted them - police logo on their sweatshirts - then went back because it just didn't hang together. In fact, not a long hung together tbf. I don't feel silly, I feel done, I suspect because I have been.

OP posts:
TalkinPeace2 · 04/10/2011 13:42

NB
Virtual Bumblebee this site
looks legit
but they state that they are NOT
Bumblebee Auctions this site

Original poster
springydaffs · 04/10/2011 13:46

HA! meant to delete stfu before posting but typed it to have a private vent. Apologies. But the sentiment is there all the same

OP posts:
aquafunf · 04/10/2011 13:46

well springydaffs

I say well done for posting this, your thoughts and gut feel are valid and would put me off bidding on this site. you know that you havent got a leg to stand on but you may well have saved some of us from the same experience

so thank you

Stoirin · 04/10/2011 14:19

Nice language you have there. Woof to you lady.

Funny how they are linked to each other those sites, I've emailed Surrey Police to ask them, having links to a seperate force I'm interested.

Don't sign paperwork without reading it, basic lesson of the day for you.

TalkinPeace2 · 04/10/2011 14:25

Stoirin

Any website can link to any other - but it does not give them a shared beneficial owner.
The Domain name of the auction site is owned by coraider see here
but there is no evidence that the auction site is a proper legal entity and the lack of telephone or physical contact details is considered well dodgy by trading standards

ALSO
trading standards take a very dim view of "shilling" - or market manipulation as it is known when city traders get fined for it.

SardineQueen · 04/10/2011 14:28

I still think OP was had.

Isn't someone taking advantage of another's naiveity and trust the very definition of "had"?

The description was totally wrong
The apparently perfectly intact tyre was flat when she picked it up so couldn't try it out which would have revealed major faults
The terms and conditions look dodgy to me, the part I linked upthread seems to be trying to get out of consumer rights, doesn't actually spell out what they are which most retailers do
They were scary and dodgy when she picked it up
When she called to complain they were aggressive

Sounds like a classic "you've been had" situation to me.

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