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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think she should refund me?

50 replies

DisneySenior · 22/02/2017 00:57

I bought an iPhone off a Facebook sales page yesterday. Put my sim in the phone and seen it working so I paid for it. I bought it off a friend of a friend and asked her if it was fully working she said yes and she was selling due to an upgrade.

The phone is fucked, it's had a new screen and it's been poorly fitted so the touchscreen jumps all the time and doesn't recognise the keypad so I'm struggling to text or call.

It's also holding charge for a couple of hours max.

I had a message from our mutual friend earlier tonight telling me that she was moaning about the phone and she was going to sell it.

Aibu to ask for my money back or is this an expensive lesson?

OP posts:

OnionKnight · 22/02/2017 07:54

It was sold as seen.

And of course iPhones can be bought second hand, why the hell would it be a bad idea to buy a second hand one?

LurkingHusband · 22/02/2017 09:19

Why did it have to be an iPhone ?

You can get a brand new (so with guarantee etc) Android for £100.

Aeroflotgirl · 22/02/2017 09:24

She knew it was broken, so sold it knowing that it was not in good working condition. I don't think there is much you can do really. That is an awful thing to do, but it will teach you a lesson. Never to buy expensive items such as this from Facebook as you have no come back. Go to a mobile phone shop, see what deal you can get, or look on e bay, and pay via Paypal. If there is something wrong with the phone, you can get a refund via Paypal.

OnionKnight · 22/02/2017 09:25

LurkingHusband

Some people prefer iOS to Android, I use both

WaitrosePigeon · 22/02/2017 09:28

OP you must be gutted. I don't think there's much you can do. She obviously doesn't have a conscience.

TizzyDongue · 22/02/2017 09:34

Battery aside (iPhone battery life is pants) it's not fully working. If that's how she sold it to you then yes she should refund you, but as it was a FB sale with cash she doesn't have to.

Could be an expensive life lesson I'm afraid.

thecatsarecrazy · 22/02/2017 09:37

Someone did this to me on Facebook. I saw it working but when I got it home the main scroller button was fucked, worked sometimes but not enough for phone to be useful. Bitch tried to say it was fine when she had it. Yeah must have been the 20 minute car ride home.

SpongebobRoundPants · 22/02/2017 09:40

Judge Rinder can sort this.

passmethewineplease · 22/02/2017 09:42

I'd chalk it down to an expensive lesson unfortunately. One of the negatives of buying on Facebook.

Why on earth didn't you're mutual friend tell you this before you bought the phone?

WeAreEternal · 22/02/2017 09:44

There's a legal term which is referred to as 'buyer beware' it basically means in these situations you need to fully inspect and test the thing you are buying before you had over any money, once you've done so you are accepting the item as it is.

So she may have lied but it was your responsibility to check the phone was in working condition, not just take her word for it.
Morally she should refund you but legally she doesn't have to.

expatinscotland · 22/02/2017 09:44

You can ask, but there's about a snowball's chance in hell of your getting your money back.

LexieLulu · 22/02/2017 09:49

Let us know what she says, I hope you get it back

Sundance01 · 22/02/2017 09:49

You have every right to ask for your money back - but you have to accept you may not get it.

Probably a very expensive lesson learnt i'm afraid

Maverickismywingman · 22/02/2017 09:52

What luckylucky said.

I say - buyer beware. I've been caught out with fake ghds and uggs before and vowed never to buy from a friend of a friend again. It's not morally right but unfortunately that's the way it goes

bigearsthethird · 22/02/2017 09:58

She must have know it wasnt working, and so based on that its probably unlikely you'll get your money back. Some people are just unbelieveable. Just think of Karma, she'll get her time.

It also sounds like its had water damage. I have an iphone that does what you describe and its because it was dropped in water. It just got gradually worse and Its pretty much impossible to use now. I thought at first it was just the touch screen and was going to get it changed but its something else apparantly so wasnt worth changing the screen.

Feel bad for you, she should have told you the problems it had.

Kiroro · 22/02/2017 10:05

She ripped you off. I'd only buy a 2nd hand phone off a person if I coudl do a full test of it first.

Lasagna · 22/02/2017 10:16

I hate to be this person but if the screen wasn't fitted properly and that's causing the problems why not take it to someone who can fit it properly?

DDs phone screen was fitted properly but a screen came loose in the bottom corner making it a bit wobbly and like yours the screen jumped. All we had to do was take it into a phone repair shop in town and the man redid it all, we had to pay but it was only like £15 and we'd much rather £15 than the £50 for a replacement screen or worse, £300 minimum for a new phone.

NoFuckingRoomOnMyBroom · 22/02/2017 10:23

Yes try taking it for the screen fitting properly if ahe refuses refund-I also agree the battery life on an iPhone is pretty short-one of the many, many reasons I couldn't wait to get shut of mine-which incidentally was bought 2nd hand & worked perfectly well, I just detested it.

Original poster

DisneySenior · 22/02/2017 11:02

Thanks for the replies

I sent her a message this morning asking for a refund and got a whole load of abuse in reply, she told me it was my own fault and I should have checked it first. She had the cheek to send laughing emojis alongside the messages which really pissed me off.

I got my money back though, knocked her door (maybe a bad idea but I was furious) and told her dad (who answered) what had happened and he was mortified, very apologetic and gave me my money back and took the phone from me. He was lovely and knew the phone was broken because he had bought her a new one. It's a shame his adult daughter (18) doesn't have his manner because this has stressed me out.

I will never buy a phone from Facebook again, I trusted someone local who I vaguely knew and I still got ripped off.

I'm off to the carphone warehouse for a phone that works!

OP posts:

Aeroflotgirl · 22/02/2017 11:06

Disney that is a good result, and her dad sounds like a lovely man, decent and honest, wish his daughter was as well. It is a hard lesson to learn, with technology, best go to an authorised dealer. Even e bay, I would be loathed to buy a secondhand phone, as you don't know.

SistersOfPercy · 22/02/2017 11:26

Good result Disney. For those asking I'll tell you another reason why buying second hand phones from any sales pages or ebay is a bad idea...

You know the ad, 'unwanted upgrade'. DH was looking for a phone and saw one on eBay. The guy was local. Exchanged a few texts, went to his house, paid £400 for the phone and that was that.
6 months later one Sunday morning the phone has stopped working. Called EE who said it was blocked.
Fortunately I never delete messages and retrieved the guys address. He was more than a bit shocked to see us on the doorstep. We overheard him talking to his wife, they reported the handset stolen. Wife was frantically backtracking and claiming she'd accidentally reported the wrong one stolen. We insisted he had 2 options. Refund, or call EE and retract the statement and register the phone to our account. Sheepishly he did the latter.

Unwanted upgrades can go a couple of ways. Seller will leave it a few months and report stolen as in our case, or, phone is sold and seller stops paying their contract. Either way, phone gets blocked.

We've never bought second hand phones of any variety since that incident.

Mummyoflittledragon · 22/02/2017 11:37

OpalFruits. He got the replacement engine on the cheap. That's why he was largely responsible and had it installed by some local mate. When I told him how much we paid for our replacement and for fitting, he told me I'd been ripped of as his cost less than half and a minuscule amount for fitting. So he just put any old shit in it basically. Suffice to say, it made a lot better noise with the new engine than the old. He also didn't tell me he'd changed the engine until it blew up. He has big issues with money and saw me coming so yes, he was definitely an arse.

Anyway, op great result.

kali110 · 22/02/2017 12:41

Good one op! What a nice guy. ( though i maybe telling everyone what a scam artist and abusive cow she was )

lottieandmia · 22/02/2017 16:30

Great result OP - well done. I hope her dad gives her a piece of his mind.

headake · 22/02/2017 17:08

We got DD's iPhone 2nd hand & it has been great (6 m ago).
She was the one welded to that specific iPhone model btw, irrational teenager.
Did check if it was stolen before purchase.
DH played with it a fair bit so could see how fast battery went/how well touch screen worked.
No regrets. Agree it's a type of transaction to be careful about.

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