To message this Facebook seller?

[musictomyears7]

I recently started a job working from home. I'm skint at the moment (after a slight gap between finishing my old job and starting at my new one). Luckily I found a free desk on Facebook and it's great. Since I'll be spending 8 hours a day sitting down, I obviously wanted to be comfortable and not have back ache so I decided to invest in a decent computer chair. I did look at new ones but they were ranging from £80 upwards..

I found a chair on Facebook marketplace yesterday for £40. The lady said it was only 5 months old and it cost her £130 originally. The pictures looked good and the chair looked immaculate. The lady lives over an hour away from me but my brother works just down the road so he offered to pick it up, hence why he didn't sit in it or anything. When he dropped it off I sat in it and straight away noticed that the back rest wasn't very secure. Whenever I lean back the chair starts to tip over. I asked my brother if he could sit in it to and the same thing happened to him. I've now had to put a pillow against it so that I can actually lean back now without it completely tipping over but it's still not great.

I thought it might just be the style of the chair but after finding it online and seeing reviews (with pictures) from other people it's clearly broken. There is a picture that someone has posted and the back rest is positioned straight with someone actually leaning against and it looks absolutely fine. When I compare the two mine actually looks a bit bent, as if someone has leant against it forcefully. Obviously I'm annoyed at myself for not asking my brother to sit in it before he took it away, but I do think I've been ripped off and she knew that it wasn't in great condition or how it should be at least.

I don't expect her to offer me a refund as it was sold as seen and she could even say that it got broken in transport (which is highly unlikely but I know people will say anything to prevent having to refund someone) but WIBU to at least message her, nicely off course and just explain the issue, see what she sees or if she even acknowledges it? I'm not the type to complain btw but I am slightly annoyed!

If you’re not expecting her to refund (as you said, sold as seen), then is there really any point? Your brother should have inspected it before handing over the cash, but as he was doing you a favour you can’t really complain.

@19lottie82 well no I suppose there isn't really, but it would be nice if she offered. I don't have high hopes though. I know £40 doesn't sound like a lot of money but it is to me, especially at the moment as I've been between jobs and not been paid from my new employer yet. I will now have to buy another one which might cost an additional £40-£50 and for that price I could have just gone out and bought a brand new one, so it is frustrating. I completely agree I should have asked him to inspect it before taking it away but there was nothing mentioned in the listing about it being broken/or a bit of wear and tear etc. I've sold lots of things on Facebook and always put what I believe to be aI true description of the item. I bought it in good faith and obviously I shouldn't have so I'm cross with myself more than anyone.

I’d definitely message the seller, tell her that there seems to be an issue with the chair, the back rest doesn’t support as it should and go from there.

You might not get anywhere but at least you can air your grievance all the same! I would.

Are you completely sure it’s not meant to be doing that? I have a (very common) IKEA chair where the back tips. I used to find it very annoying but 1) there is a lever at the bottom (next to the up /down lever) which switches between tippy / non tippy settings; 2) I got used to it and love it. Poke around the bottom and try pushing the levers in / out as well as pulling them up / down! It might not be it, but it might save you £40.

Yes, e mail seller

Could you email her to ask her 'which lever is it to stop the back wobbling so much?' and see what she says?

@EatYourVegetables I thought that too at first but now I'm not sure. There is a lever underneath but that's for adjusting the height. We've tried to fiddle around with it to see if anything helps or makes a difference but it doesn't. I've just sent a nice polite message explaining the issue so I'll see what she comes back with...

If you’ve found the chair online can you find instructions for how to set the back?
Is there a screw missing?

A lot of computer chairs have a tippy/not tippy option.
Can you post a link to the chair here? Maybe we can see if anyone has it/can find instructions.

She got back in touch and explained that the lever underneath was also a lock and explained how to use it. I've done what she said and it's made no difference at all. I explained that it's the top part of the backrest that seems to be really loose. In all fairness she did agree with me and said that it can be ridiculously loose when it's not locked (her words, not mine and it's made no difference locking it anyway) and explained that it was her sons chair. My brother mentioned that it was her son who answered the door earlier and gave him the chair and apparently he was quite a big/tall lad so maybe he's sat on it a bit too forcefully and it's broken slightly because of that. I'm not too sure. I just explained that I normally wouldn't complain or bring something back but because I'll be sitting down for 8-9 hours a day I need to be able to lean back occasionally.

Thankfully she's now offered to refund me if I can drop it back off to her this week. I didn't actually expect her to but it's that she has as I don't really have the extra money to go out and buy another one. She seems to be really understanding it's all fairness to her.

Great result!