To stand my ground re gumtree buyer?

[BasinHaircut]

Sold an old pc on gumtree last night for £60. Wasn't sure how much to sell for but must have been a good price as I had 6 texts in 40 mins or so.

Anyway guy comes to collect and asks if it's working ok and I said yes as it was. DH had restored to factory settings so the new owner could re-do set up etc. he checked it worked, tried to haggle (I said no as lots of interest), paid and went on his way.

This morning he texts and said he had tried to set-up and it had been loading for 1hr 45mins and wasn't working. He also said it was over heating probably due to dust and there is something wrong with it.

I replied that it hadn't over-heated before but if it wasn't loading up then he could return and I will happily give him his money back.

He reckons that it cost him £15 in petrol to collect (he came from 7 miles away) and so if he returned he would be £30 out of pocket and could I collect. I have declined.

He says that he is getting 'his tech guy' to look at it and then he will be in touch.

I have explained that I sold in good faith and to my knowledge it was working just fine when he collected. I accept that if it will not let him re-do the start up then I have to give him his money back and have offered to do so but he must return. I feel that in doing this I am also taking it in good faith that it has not been damaged since it left my possession.

It absolutely will not have cost him £30 in petrol unless he drives a tank, and I think that expecting him to return it is fair, as he would have to if I was PC world.

AIBU?

'I accept that if it will not let him re-do the start up then I have to give him his money back and have offered to do so but he must return. '

You don't, actually. It was sold in good faith.

Caveat emptor It is sold as seen.

Yeah I know I don't have to expat but I mean that I will.

I won't really lose anything, and I know that because we didn't go through the set-up after restoring to factory settings that he could very well be telling the truth about it not loading today.

I wouldn't want to see anyone out of pocket and if he is trying it on then let's just hope that Karma gets him!

I will update if I hear from him again.

PinkPyjamas, please keep trying to find that thread!
It sounds hilarious!!

Definitely trying it on

I agree it is sold as seen. He has no right to return it.

What you should have done, in the interests of all parties, is to turn it on and demonstrate it works before he paid for it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though!

It sounds like he is a chancer.

hibble he did see it turned on before he took it, but as it had been restored to factory settings it was only the initial screen that he saw. What he is saying is that he can't set it up therefore he can't use it.

I was giving something away on Freecylce, they pissed about over the weekend saying they'd come at so and so time, eventually confirmed a time on the Monday at noon, 5 mins before noon "I'm 5 mins away", then a couple of mins later, "Oh, I'm half an hours drive away, please give to someone else", jeez, My location is right next to the advert.
Another time I was selling a pine bed frame, a man phoned up and said "can I pay you in kind" yuk.

Caveat emptor. End of.

We had something similar, last year we sold something electrical just before Christmas. Buyer came to collect, we showed it turned on but not actually doing anything. Come Christmas the buyer contacted us to say they'd given it to someone as a present but it didn't work and could they return it for a refund.

We knew it was fully working when we had it as it had been used regularly and we only sold it because we bought an upgraded model. So we had our suspicions that it had been dismantled for parts, or swapped altogether for a non-working one.

We bluffed and replied 'of course, provided the tamper seal is intact and the serial number on the label matches our records'.

We never heard from them again.

PS we really do take photos of serial numbers now if we sell anything with one!

Tamper seal? Would the pic have one?

I'd recognise the shell as it has some scratches on it that the guy went to great lengths to point out to me when he was trying to knock a fiver off last night. But if it would have a tamper seal that would be useful to know!

havent heard from him since -pm though so hopefully that's the last I'll hear from him

1pm

I think it depends on the model- most electrical items that are designed only to be serviced by trained technicians would have a seal (or be impossible to get into without damaging the actual case). However, most PCs are designed to be able to have extras added into them at home so wouldn't need a tamper seal on the case.