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Hi, I was just looking for some advice on going to the small claims court in regards to an item I purchased that was not as described and was internally damaged. I will try to keep it as short as possible but will explain what happened first then put my questions at the end.
On 29/12/16 I went over to Dartford to collect a mobility scooter that was advertised as having brand new batteries and fully working. I pay a man with van £60 to take me and bring it back to where I live. We get there around midday and the guy selling it informs me he trades mobility scooters which wasn't in the advert but I wasn't bothered as at least I would have more rights if it went wrong. We go to a small back garden which is completely flat and he lets me test it. I have a drive and all seems OK and I ask again about the batteries and he confirms they are brand new. I inform him that the scooter is for me as I was on chemotherapy for colon cancer at the time and wanted something modern looking to drive around on while on chemo as I am only 35 (no offence intended to anyone older than me!).
I decide to buy it as I thought he was unlikely to lie given that he was a mobility trader and I had already saved a copy of his advert before I set off in case there was a problem. We then spend 5 minutes squeezing it around the side of the house and to the back of the van where the man with van is stood waiting. The trader then goes to lift the back to put it on the van and I said it is OK the van man has ramps to which the trader looked a bit flustered which I didn't think much of at the time. When the ramps were put in place I told the trader it is ok the scooter will just drive itself up if I walk alongside it while pressing to go forwards. As it started to get to the foot of the ramp the trader runs up behind and gives it a huge shove up the ramps and I laugh and say it's ok that isn't needed but he only releases his hands when its completely on the van. I just took this as him being helpful at the time. Also I should add that the van man witnessed all of this.
2 hours later we arrive back at mine and me and the van man unload the scooter. I pay him £60 and he grins as he watches me zip around on the flat road outside. I then thank him and go to go up my sloped drive as he was about to get in his van to leave. As soon as the scooter hits the slight slope it stops. I turn it off then on and have another go and get the same result. The van man witnesses this and we spend a couple of minutes wondering what is wrong and trying a few times more to drive up the slope which all fail. I ask the van man if he is willing to be a witness and he agrees. I then open the battery compartment to see if the batteries had a date on them and they did. The date was from 2012!
I push the scooter up the slope (while on chemo so felt quite unwell after) and got inside my house and headed straight for the PC. I typed him an email describing the fault with going up slopes (it cannot even get up dropped kerbs) and also asked why it was advertised with brand new batteries when they were over 4 years old. He replies within minutes basically saying it isn't his problem as I tested the scooter in his back garden (which is flat) and that it drove up the steep ramp into the van by itself which is a lie as he pushed it. He also said the batteries may be 4 years old but he had never opened them until he installed them onto the scooter a couple of weeks ago so therefore they are still brand new. I protest and ask for a refund but he basically says tough. I then say I will get an opinion from a mobility scooter engineer to which he doesn't reply.
We then go through the motions. I write a letter of complaint to which he responds with a letter headed "without prejudice" where he offers £100 as a goodwill gesture and repeats that the batteries are new and adds that I or the engineer must have tampered with the scooter to damage it. I inform him that even Superman wouldn't have had time to tamper with it after the time it takes to make the 2 hour journey and that I made my complaint 2 hours and ten minutes after we left his. Also the engineer I booked was not due to come and look until a few days later after I received his reply letter. The engineer turns up on the 5/1/17 and informs me the batteries are knackered and that the motor needs replacing. I do not take up his offer of £100 as I paid £650 without van man fees and a new motor is £750 and new batteries alone are £200. I then write a letter before action stating that I would like to exercise my short term right to reject the scooter as it wasn't as described and is damaged but he ignores it.
I then start a claim through money claim online and he replies with a part admission on the batteries and offers £100 again which wouldn't even buy new ones that he advertised it with. He also states that he has been unemployed for 2 years and that he only has a few pence in the bank and that his parents would pay the £100. I am shocked at this as he told me at the time of sale that he had been trading scooters for a couple of years so he was definitely working for himself whether registered or not. I then go and find about 30 adverts of his spanning the past year selling all kinds of different mobility scooters and showing the same back garden I purchased from in the photos each time.
That is where I am at at this point. I am nervous because I have never been to the small claims court before and am also still recovering from the chemo which a finished a few weeks ago so easing my mind a bit by asking for advice on here hopefully will relieve some of the stress.
My questions are as follows:
1. Does he have a leg to stand on seeing as the batteries were over 4 years old? Surely they cannot be "brand new" even left unused for 4 years in a box? As far as I am aware mobility scooter batteries usually need replacing after 2 years and go bad quickly if left uncharged.
2. I am guessing that I cannot use his only response to me which was headed without prejudice in court? Or even mention it? If the judge asks did the trader respond am I meant to say no?
3. The mobility scooter engineer who came out to look at it is willing to write a statement confirming the scooter was broken and the batteries were bad. Am I allowed to use that or is it considered to be an expert opinion?
4. Does his part admission in regards to the batteries being bad hand me the win as by admitting it the scooter was obviously not as described?
5. Does it change anything if he was unemployed but trading? He told me he was a trader. I suppose even if it were to be considered a private sale the scooter still has to match the advert as having brand new batteries which it didn't and he has made a part admission to. Oh and just to add since about a month ago he is now miraculously working as a mobility scooter engineer for some business so not like he can claim he was just any old Tom Dick or Harry that was selling his mum's prized collection of 30 mobility scooters.
6. He is still selling them but has changed his name on the selling site but is still using the same number which when you search his number in Facebook it shows his profile and face. I have screenshots of all of this. All the photos of the new ads show the same back garden too. I have print outs the size of the Bible showing all of this. Can he just claim it isn't him but the name selling them and get away with it?
7. Even if we exclude the batteries seeing as the fault happened within 2 hours and 10 minutes of purchase shouldn't it be down to the trader to prove the fault wasn't there at the point of sale and will it look good on him refusing my short term right to reject it which I did exercise?
Basically do you think I have a strong case? Is it worth going all the way to court?
I really do not want him to get away with what he did as doing that to someone on chemo who needed the scooter to get around is the lowest of the low. Also I imagine I am not the only person he has treated this way going by how dishonest he has been all the way through the process.
Thank you for any help you can offer and I apologise for waffling on and if I didn't set the post out correctly. I am new to all of this and just typing all of this up has been quite stressful and exhausting.
On 29/12/16 I went over to Dartford to collect a mobility scooter that was advertised as having brand new batteries and fully working. I pay a man with van £60 to take me and bring it back to where I live. We get there around midday and the guy selling it informs me he trades mobility scooters which wasn't in the advert but I wasn't bothered as at least I would have more rights if it went wrong. We go to a small back garden which is completely flat and he lets me test it. I have a drive and all seems OK and I ask again about the batteries and he confirms they are brand new. I inform him that the scooter is for me as I was on chemotherapy for colon cancer at the time and wanted something modern looking to drive around on while on chemo as I am only 35 (no offence intended to anyone older than me!).
I decide to buy it as I thought he was unlikely to lie given that he was a mobility trader and I had already saved a copy of his advert before I set off in case there was a problem. We then spend 5 minutes squeezing it around the side of the house and to the back of the van where the man with van is stood waiting. The trader then goes to lift the back to put it on the van and I said it is OK the van man has ramps to which the trader looked a bit flustered which I didn't think much of at the time. When the ramps were put in place I told the trader it is ok the scooter will just drive itself up if I walk alongside it while pressing to go forwards. As it started to get to the foot of the ramp the trader runs up behind and gives it a huge shove up the ramps and I laugh and say it's ok that isn't needed but he only releases his hands when its completely on the van. I just took this as him being helpful at the time. Also I should add that the van man witnessed all of this.
2 hours later we arrive back at mine and me and the van man unload the scooter. I pay him £60 and he grins as he watches me zip around on the flat road outside. I then thank him and go to go up my sloped drive as he was about to get in his van to leave. As soon as the scooter hits the slight slope it stops. I turn it off then on and have another go and get the same result. The van man witnesses this and we spend a couple of minutes wondering what is wrong and trying a few times more to drive up the slope which all fail. I ask the van man if he is willing to be a witness and he agrees. I then open the battery compartment to see if the batteries had a date on them and they did. The date was from 2012!
I push the scooter up the slope (while on chemo so felt quite unwell after) and got inside my house and headed straight for the PC. I typed him an email describing the fault with going up slopes (it cannot even get up dropped kerbs) and also asked why it was advertised with brand new batteries when they were over 4 years old. He replies within minutes basically saying it isn't his problem as I tested the scooter in his back garden (which is flat) and that it drove up the steep ramp into the van by itself which is a lie as he pushed it. He also said the batteries may be 4 years old but he had never opened them until he installed them onto the scooter a couple of weeks ago so therefore they are still brand new. I protest and ask for a refund but he basically says tough. I then say I will get an opinion from a mobility scooter engineer to which he doesn't reply.
We then go through the motions. I write a letter of complaint to which he responds with a letter headed "without prejudice" where he offers £100 as a goodwill gesture and repeats that the batteries are new and adds that I or the engineer must have tampered with the scooter to damage it. I inform him that even Superman wouldn't have had time to tamper with it after the time it takes to make the 2 hour journey and that I made my complaint 2 hours and ten minutes after we left his. Also the engineer I booked was not due to come and look until a few days later after I received his reply letter. The engineer turns up on the 5/1/17 and informs me the batteries are knackered and that the motor needs replacing. I do not take up his offer of £100 as I paid £650 without van man fees and a new motor is £750 and new batteries alone are £200. I then write a letter before action stating that I would like to exercise my short term right to reject the scooter as it wasn't as described and is damaged but he ignores it.
I then start a claim through money claim online and he replies with a part admission on the batteries and offers £100 again which wouldn't even buy new ones that he advertised it with. He also states that he has been unemployed for 2 years and that he only has a few pence in the bank and that his parents would pay the £100. I am shocked at this as he told me at the time of sale that he had been trading scooters for a couple of years so he was definitely working for himself whether registered or not. I then go and find about 30 adverts of his spanning the past year selling all kinds of different mobility scooters and showing the same back garden I purchased from in the photos each time.
That is where I am at at this point. I am nervous because I have never been to the small claims court before and am also still recovering from the chemo which a finished a few weeks ago so easing my mind a bit by asking for advice on here hopefully will relieve some of the stress.
My questions are as follows:
1. Does he have a leg to stand on seeing as the batteries were over 4 years old? Surely they cannot be "brand new" even left unused for 4 years in a box? As far as I am aware mobility scooter batteries usually need replacing after 2 years and go bad quickly if left uncharged.
2. I am guessing that I cannot use his only response to me which was headed without prejudice in court? Or even mention it? If the judge asks did the trader respond am I meant to say no?
3. The mobility scooter engineer who came out to look at it is willing to write a statement confirming the scooter was broken and the batteries were bad. Am I allowed to use that or is it considered to be an expert opinion?
4. Does his part admission in regards to the batteries being bad hand me the win as by admitting it the scooter was obviously not as described?
5. Does it change anything if he was unemployed but trading? He told me he was a trader. I suppose even if it were to be considered a private sale the scooter still has to match the advert as having brand new batteries which it didn't and he has made a part admission to. Oh and just to add since about a month ago he is now miraculously working as a mobility scooter engineer for some business so not like he can claim he was just any old Tom Dick or Harry that was selling his mum's prized collection of 30 mobility scooters.
6. He is still selling them but has changed his name on the selling site but is still using the same number which when you search his number in Facebook it shows his profile and face. I have screenshots of all of this. All the photos of the new ads show the same back garden too. I have print outs the size of the Bible showing all of this. Can he just claim it isn't him but the name selling them and get away with it?
7. Even if we exclude the batteries seeing as the fault happened within 2 hours and 10 minutes of purchase shouldn't it be down to the trader to prove the fault wasn't there at the point of sale and will it look good on him refusing my short term right to reject it which I did exercise?
Basically do you think I have a strong case? Is it worth going all the way to court?
I really do not want him to get away with what he did as doing that to someone on chemo who needed the scooter to get around is the lowest of the low. Also I imagine I am not the only person he has treated this way going by how dishonest he has been all the way through the process.
Thank you for any help you can offer and I apologise for waffling on and if I didn't set the post out correctly. I am new to all of this and just typing all of this up has been quite stressful and exhausting.
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