We could not sell anything which had any problems unless we told the seller what they were. Unfortunately some people are very good at lying and have no qualms about doing so.
It looks as though she just wanted to get rid of her caravan and she wasn't worried who had it as long as they took it off her hands.Telling lies comes so natural to some people.
It's a pity you didn't find the faults with the heating, shower, window and awning at the beginning, You would have had a much better chance of some recompense then.As it is seven months down the line seems a little late in the day.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Quote: Originally posted by carolmac62 on 11/5/2015So if you take away the damp issue what about:
holes in awning
delaminated front window
huge gaps in awning rail
shower tray which is unusable
air blown heating not working
Is all that ok to say that you didn't know when advertising as excellent
Not taking sides here but, when things stop working, it usually happens suddenly, so the owner may not have been aware of the defects.
holes in awning......may have been packed away damp, or could it have been nibbled?
front window.....rarely opened by many so would not necessarily have been obvious
awning rail......how many people climb up and inspect it carefully?
shower tray......many people never use the shower for showering, but many use it for storage, so could have got damaged without anyone realising.
blown air......things do just fail suddenly
If it had been me selling this van, I would have made sure everything worked, and demonstrated this to a buyer.
And I would have inspected everything closely before making any claims as to condition.
I would also have presented the full service record including damp report, and been happy for the buyer to check everything out.
Unfortunately not everyone is the same. Your seller may well have believed that it was fine as the defects were not immediately obvious, and it looked fine, even excellent, to their eyes.
However, as a buyer, I would expect to see everything in the van working and be able to look in every nook and cranny to satisfy myself as to the condition.
If the awning was important to me I would have opened it up and checked it out.
I would expect to see a recent service and damp report, or I would have had it checked over professionally before buying.
I am afraid by not taking opportunity to have it inspected as offered (same as you would on a house and car for instance surely?) you have damaged your own chances of winning any civil case I would suggest
As Billy correctly says its not us you need to convince and it isn't our money that will be required to fight anything. You can't do any harm with a a letter however as its the losses you have suffered you would be chasing
Did the receipt they gave you state anything on it like "sold as seen and tested"
Hope you update once you have had advice and that you get repairs done and enjoy your van
We feel at peace about it all now as lesson learnt. Our fault for not having it serviced. We were just novices innocently buying what we believed to be a good van.
The seller was lovely and even suggested we have it inspected but silly us had no concerns.
Have had professional advice and not worth taking to small claims as would probably have to battle out the term 'excellent' so may or may not get anything out of it.
Doing plan B now.
Not going to trade it in to get another van as that would be having to spend even more money, but husband has bought a gunge stick ha ha to glue the outside back together and someone coming to look at shower tray to seal it (speedcoat)
Booked to go away this weekend and going to use it as much as possible to get moneys worth.
Just to elaborate on last post before putting this case to rest when asked did it state 'sold as seen and tested'.
No advert stated Excellent condition throughout....
So for anyone in same or future position!!!
Legally
. You cannot use 'Misrepresentation Act' as that cannot be used against private sellers but only if you had bought from a company, shop, dealer etc
.You can use 'Breach of contract' but not for unseen damp as you would not be able to prove if seller knew it existed or not.
You can use 'Breach of contract' for everything else seen physically but that is where you have to weigh up is it worth all the hassle, plus debating what is 'excellent', and whether seller knew the problems.
Lastly you have to have a full engineers report to bring with you.
Actually we did get that for free as I think the engineer felt so sorry for us that he didn't dare charge!!! Bless
Hope that helps all future buyers who are easily 'beguiled'.
hi sunshinetours
The receipt?
Oh don't say that is another stupid error of ours. We didn't ask or get one.
We didn't get a receipt but paid into their bank account.
Actually the sellers are literally 5 minutes away and when my husband spoke to his friends about it they all commented that if it had been them they would have been straight round there!!!!
Quote: Originally posted by carolmac62 on 14/5/2015
hi sunshinetours
The receipt?
Oh don't say that is another stupid error of ours. We didn't ask or get one.
We didn't get a receipt but paid into their bank account.
Actually the sellers are literally 5 minutes away and when my husband spoke to his friends about it they all commented that if it had been them they would have been straight round there!!!!
Don't worry about it now - it was more related to your original query. As said previously, get your van ship shape and then off and enjoy this weird hobby of ours!
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Topic: Caravan Damp dispute - what action
