To ask what to do since I've been a fool...

[cantbelieveivebeensostupid]

I've name changed because frankly I'm sitting here wondering why I've been so fucking stupid!

Our combi boiler broke two weeks ago... we couldn't afford a new one (oil combi so around £3500) so looked on Ebay, found a couple that where being sold by a business seller. Rang him and he spent an hour chatting to me about my boiler helping me to try and fix it, really went above and beyond and sounded like an old school genuine guy. I got outbid on the boiler but rang him and he said he was having another coming in the next couple of days.

We were desperate since we have no hot water or heating and I agreed to buy the boiler from him. I sent the money (£900) to his bank and we agreed he would send the boiler this week. I've been calling him since Monday and his phone is going straight to voicemail and despite leaving tons of messages he's not returning my calls.

Now If I were reading this I would be screaming at the poster telling them how stupid they were to send the money. I've been had haven't I. I don't have money to buy another one and don't know what the hell I'm going to do.

Any advise very welcome but please avoid telling me how much of an idiot I am. If you knew me you would never believe I could have been so bloody stupid. I am sat here sobbing because I genuinely don't know what I'm going to do.

I think is looking really bad ...I was ebay scammed a few years ago (for a much lower amount - a DVD box set just before Christmas) and I think they have done similar to you.
Double checked - found your seller and it looks like they did... So will post so others can watch out for the same trick.
First of all I guess they had 100% positive feedback when you looked...so you feel safe but if you look most of their positive feed back is as a buyer. They have actually only sold 4 items and 3 are listed as private - so you don't know what they sold -they could have been items for £1...not boilers (they did sell one flue for £16).
My scammer was also a newish business seller - 100% feedback when you looked they had sold 20 very cheap items and then a few DVD sets - one like I had ordered - feedback was good - buyers said they were genuine (not fakes) and they were cheap but not too cheap ...(I think the one who said it was genuine wasn't a genuine sale -just so it looked good).
They were very slick (as I guess all conmen are) ...sent lovely really genuine sounding emails - any problems please get in touch, please leave feedback as it is so important when trying to establish a business. Then when item didn't arrive I contacted them and I got an email saying there were terribly sorry -it had been dispatched (really not what they needed being a new business) could I give it another day or so and then it must have gone astray in the post and they would send a new one out first class. Delayed for over a week. Then silence - no reply, messages straight to answer phone. Then the negative feedback started - lots of item not arrived - from the feedback it seems they got away with about £1.5k. The address was fake -real address but nothing to do with the seller. I got my money back through paypal - seems not everyone would be as lucky. Did report to police but they said ebay/paypal wouldn't do anything and would write if off as a loss - it was peanuts compared to their turnover... and the guy would set up again and do the same again ...
I'm so sorry OP there are some really horrible human beings out there ... you are not a fool and you haven't let your DCs down.
Conmen are good at what they do - experts at manipulating us and exploiting our human nature.
Try the small claims court, try your insurance for legal expenses. I really hope he gets caught...and they must have his bank details so the police should be able to do something to trace them.
Good Luck - I really feel for you

What A Cunt!

Could you log into eBay under another account and enquire about a boiler, ring off a different number and see if you can flush him out using potential new business?

Sorry to hear of your trouble, but it seems like you're doing the right thing by contacting Action Fraud etc.
You could try googling his mobile number to see if that turns up anything, and his name, etc.
Just in case you didn't do it already.

I'm sorry to hear this has happened.
I don't know if this is any help- maybe not, but I found the seller you're talking about on ebay with the user name beginning with "O". If you search his past user names, he has an earlier name which looks like it could actually be his real name.

OP I have sent you a PM

mmm - you didn't offend me. I know how solicitors firms work big or small. Once you start giving advice that a "client" reasonably believed they can rely on (ie in an office, holding yourself out as a solicitor etc), you owe them a duty of care and they can sue you if that advice is negligent. Solicitors if any size if firm are happy to meet clients and have a general chat, some will give a free 30 mins if advice. What they won't Is happily give out 30 mins of free advice to punters coming in who clearly just want that free advice/are lawyer shopping and have absolutely no intention of instructing them. It is not accepted practice (unless lawyers are giving free, pro bono advice, but that is a different arrangement and all parties are clear about that at the beginning) and the Law Soc specifically warns against it.

can't - don't worry.

Hope you can get something sorted. You can instruct tracing agents who will go out and see where the person lives and see if they have any assets that you could seize if you sure them and won (one good thing is that you have bank details although I'm sure this guy will regularly empty that account ). That's not too expensive but it might be worth doing before you raise any small claim as - even with a judgement in your favour - you still need to enforce it.

The whole thing is just crap and he's s bastard.

I've only read your replies so sorry if I'm repeating things, but you really should contact your bank. My sister paid for something online that turned out to be scam and her bank refunded it straight away whilst they investigated. They decided it was a scam so she got to keep the money.

I know this sounds a bit bizarre, but I might be able to help practically with the boiler. I've sent you a PM.

Thank you for all the very kind helpful posters

I've spent the last couple of hours on the phone speaking with Action Fraud who have registered the case. Trading Standards and Citizens Advice, all have been extremely helpful.

I now have step by step instructions on the process I need to follow and the first letter is winging its way to him via signed for delivery. I'm not hopeful of getting my money back any time soon (if at all), but feel I need to be doing something to stop me from falling apart.

Don't begin to know what we are going to do re getting another boiler but this thread has reminded me that most people are kind and helpful.

My little boy asked me why he couldn't have his usual daily shower which made me feel very guilty and teary again but managed to hold off crying until I got back home.

Maybe get an electric shower installed in the meantime. They are really cheap and easy to install.

Are you renting or are you a homeowner?

Have you checked if you are eligible for a boiler grant? INFORMATION HERE. I haven't read up on them but presume they might be for low income families?

It looks like the boiler grants are for gas boilers.

Sadly we don't have any spare funds for an electric shower, we really are broke after sending him the £900.

We are homeowners but sadly the schemes only deal with gas boilers not oil. The irony is that they all said we met the criteria too. I investigated all of this when the boiler broke.

We don't have a gas supply near us at all so a gas boiler is not an option.

don't beat yourself up - this could happen to anyone and is entirely the fault of the perpetrator and not you.

What about the £300 that you were saving for the installation of oil burner?

Have you tried phoning him from a different number in case he's screening calls from your phone?

Or posing as a new customer on his eBay shop to get a response?

Or could you tell us where in the country his shop is and maybe someone locally could drive by to see if his shop is open.

what if someone on here was nearby? could they go round and visit or have a mooch around at least? have you tried phoning his local police station to see if they can go round?

if you have a name for the person have you tried to find their address? other numbers? relatives? etc. etc. its not really hard to dig up information about people tbh.

Could you say roughly where in the country he is? I know if it was near me I would happily have a nosy for you and help if I could.

if its the ebay used beginning with an o they seem to be in kirkcudbright

if it is that location its a tiny little place where I would guess everyone knows everyone else.

If you google the location + oil boilers you get an 'interesting' review plus address and landline number on Yell.

I don't have an eBay account so can't cross reference the details.

Yes he is in Kirkcudbright...

I've tried ringing him from different phone and no joy. We are 250 miles away so paying him a visit is not an option. I have two numbers, email and address, I've checked the address is valid and it is.

I've just spoken to my bank as advised by the Action Fraud team and they will process it through their fraud team but have advised it's probably unlikely they will refund since I sent it to him willingly.

I'd prefer to hand on to the £300 we have left since we will probably have to buy some electric heaters for a some of the rooms. We can at least boil water for a strip wash which is what we are doing currently, but it's pretty grim and the thought of doing that indefinitely is even grimmer.

The house feels very cold already...