Hello, new to site, need some help if possible please.
We sold our van last week after 5 good years of use, we purchased it 2nd hand. The buyer has now told us now a week later there is damp/rot in the van he has found and either wants a repair or his money back. He viewed the van after emailing with offers I rejected a couple of times. He spent a good half hour or so checking in and around the van we left him to it so not to make him feel pressured. He came back to us to say he was pleased with it and offered £145 lees than we had it advertised for. We agreed the sale, he requested a receipt which I gave him, he asked me to put 'sold as seen' with the price and my signature. We delivered the van to him 2 days later
We were not aware of any problems with the van up until he called us.I gave it a thorough clean up and never came across anything before putting it up for sale. He is suggesting we knew of the problem as its not a new one he tells us. We have used this van for 5 years am very sure we would have noticed any damp. He has emailed photos and they do show some damage, some of which he has done to find the source. Where do we stand with this ? and advice would be appreciated, Thanks
as above sounds like a barrack room lawyer type ,sold as seen means exactly that .his only recourse is to take it to law and it doesn't seem from what your describing as if he has a leg to stand on ,just tell him that you have spent the money so tough titty
Same answer here, if he has given it a good check over, he should of spotted the damp if he had a meter. Sold as seen is just that, means he was happy with it.
just tell him it was sold as seen, and use the £145 he knocked off you to help towards fixing it..
Thanks for all the replies, van was sold as in a clean tidy condition. He did email to ask if there was any damp my reply was there was non that I was aware of, which is the truth. He had called before this too to say the waterpump was not working and other minor faults. these were all checked prior to sale and in good working order. I believe he had tried to run the pump dry.
It's horrible, isn't it? You do your best to be honest and fair when you're selling things but some people expect too much in my opinion. There's not an easy answer to this sort of thing, you just have to let your conscience dictate what you do.
I think if I were you I'd put your side of things in writing to him with your decision as to your liability and inform him that you won't engage in any further communication with him regarding the matter. If he wants to take things further then he can take the appropriate action.
As said earlier, it doesn't sound as if he has a leg to stand on so that will likely be the end of it. Even if you decided to refund his money you would expect to get the caravan back in exactly the condition you sold it which doesn't sound possible if he's damaged it during his investigations?
Just my opinion.
Having been in the motor sales trade for many years I have never heard of the purchaser requesting that the seller puts sold as seen on the receipt . It's without question the seller who states this, which means you are selling sold as seen , meaning no warranty given or implied.
If you are unsure pop into Citizens advice office , they will put you right.
you are under no obligation to do either. It's buyer beware and you marked the receipt sold as seen and gave unlimited access for him to inspect prior to purchase.
Just to make it a little clearer the buyer asked for a receipt, me being unsure of what to write asked him and he said sold as seen, the price and my signature. I'm very grateful for everyone's input today.
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Topic: caravan sold - buyer wants repair/ refund
