Help with a dishonest buyer who doesn't want to return an item!

[malbranque80]

Hi Everybody,

Can you please advise if I can legally do anything against a dishonest buyer?

Last week I sent by mistake a game boy game that was supposed to be for a buyer to another buyer.
I am not looking for justifications. I sc****d up, because even if I had a rough week, I should have double-checked the labels. So please no need to point that out. I am sorry, I don't want to come across as rude, but I am really frustrated by now.

Anyhow, I thought it would have been easy to make things right. I contacted both buyers and told them I would create a return label for both and then when I have the games back I will post them again free of charge.
The problem is that one of them is basically lying and doesn't want to return the game I sent by mistake because it is worth more than the one he bought.
And he is being a cheeky *********** in the process.
Two hours after I contacted him saying please return the game and I will send the correct one, he replied just with "Nah mate I think I am good". 
When I replied that I didn't understand what he meant by that and that another buyer bought it he replied again saying that I am wrong and he got the right game.
Which is obviously a big fat lie, since I didn't have 2 copies of that game and the other buyer got his game.

He is basically stealing that game. Is there anything I can do to get it back? Any consumer law or anything else I can use to force him to return it? Of course, I can't prove he got another game and if I ask him to take a picture of the game he got he'd probably send me a picture found somewhere online.

I have been looking for answers on google but I just found cases of shops sending the wrong items, but this is different.
I don't mind getting a lawyer. It would probably cost me the equivalent of 30-40 of those games or more, but at least I'd get the satisfaction of forcing him to return it and learn honesty.

Please let me know if you know anything that can help me.
Best, Fredi

[four_mid_able]

This happens now and again ,i did same myself many years ago.

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do to force the buyer to return the item.

Going to court is a non starter as you would have to prove 100% that the buyer didn't get the item they paid for.

[theelench]

"I don't mind getting a lawyer.  It would probably cost me the equivalent of 30-40 of those games."

Baring in mind what @four_mid_able has already said about going to court, I'd forgo trying to get satisfaction from a 'bad' buyer.

I'd be inclined to buy one game and send it to the 'good' buyer when they return their wrong game.  Perhaps getting some satisfaction by barring the 'bad' buyer from buying from you again?

You will at least keep the 'good' buyer happy and perhaps shock the other into some sort of remorse when they realise the consequences of their actions, if they ever want another of your games and get the ebay message telling them they can't buy from 'This Seller.'

I got that message once when tried to buy from someone I'd forgotten I bought from (it was so long before) and it was a shock.  Looking back in my FB they sent me a badly chipped piece of glass, without mentioning the chips and I was banned for telling them I wanted to return it as damaged.  

[malbranque80]

Thank you for your answers. I understand your point.
Yes, I blocked him of course, but that's a very cold comfort. I can't even leave a negative feedback to warn other sellers and that basically means he will be able to do it over and over again if something like this happens again.
Not to mention that if I go back and write to him what I really think of him, he could even put a negative feedback for whatever fake reason. Not that I care too much about a negative feedback from an idiot, but it's the principle.

But yes I got your point and unfortunately know there's nothing I can do to prove it.
Will it count if I somehow make him admit he got that the game on an ebay message?

[dancewithadingo]

Good Afternoon Fredi

There is possibily one last throw of the dice that you could try. Tell the 'bad/greedy' buyer that 4 times a year you have a  draw into which all buyers that have bought from you in the last 3 months get entered and that you are delighted to tell him that he is this quarter's winner.

Tell him that you know that he will be delighted with his unexpected gift however you are not inclined to send out his prizeI until the wrongly sent game is returned.  As he is a greedy buyer he might just be tempted to fall for your ruse.  Don't disclose anything else ie what it is etc.

I am afraid that you have no other options. Could be worth giving it a whirl. 

Good luck

[4_bathrooms]

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@malbranque80 wrote:

Will it count if I somehow make him admit he got that the game on an ebay message?

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No, eBay won't be interested unless the buyer opens an "item not as described" case. Legally, there isn't much you can do either. You could start a small claim via MCOL but I believe it would be pointless. You would be claiming for the difference between what the buyer actually paid and what you sold the item to the other buyer for but - even if you obtained a judgement - it is only a judgement. If the buyer refused to settle the judgement and you chose to pursue enforcement there's actually little action a county court bailiff can take against a private person. For example, they can't force entry into a residential address for a CCJ debt; unless the debtor's car is parked on the drive they wouldn't be able to recover anything if the buyer simply refused to open their door. 

I'd advise not wasting any money pursuing this and simply treating it as lesson learned.

[magpiecorner1]

It will cost you about £30 if you lose, depending where you live.  Do don't need a lawyer.  Worth it for the entertainment!

You will need to send a letter first, so that might be enough.  At least for part of the entertainment he would have to bring the item to court - so he would have to at least have to find a copy.

That's when you offer to sell him the one he didn't get in the first place!

Sound's petty - probably is, but if this had been a very expensive item it wouldn't be petty, and hanging onto something that isn't yours is theft, regardless of the vale.

Sometimes we have to find our entertainment in the oddest places.

[fromashropshiregarden]

Sites lik eBay.eBid etc are built on trust. We all trust that we receive the item advertised.

We trust the seller to actually send the item advertised and not something completely different swearing blind that they sent you what was in the picture knowing full well that they didn't.

At the other end when the buyer says they want to return something that was not as described and they send you back some random item, where do we all stand??

I trust this helps.

PK

[uk.yourgiftsdelivered]

There are just some times in life we have to accept WE messed up and take accountability for it,  then forgive ourselves and move on so we don't dwell on it and waste time.

As soon as the buyer shows you they won't play ball then just move on there's nothing else you can do.

A few months ago I sent 2 orders to 1 address , a week later after realising the 2 delivery photos were the same photo for different orders I went cold 🤣 messaged the buyer who offered to return the wrong one back to me.

After a few minutes of thinking about how I was going to inconvenience someone because I was careless I told the buyer to keep the order and thanked them for even agreeing to return.

Most people would return but there are some out there that won't (as you have found out) there's nothing you can do to change those peoples mindsets but you can change your stress level by letting it go, block them and move on.

[rjwilmsi]

If you send the wrong item to a buyer then you can't force them to return the item.

You have to accept it and move on. Unless the item is worth thousands of pounds and/or you have an in house legal team with nothing better to do, you just have to accept the loss and make plans to improve your dispatch process and avoid mistakes in future.

I think it also reasonable to consider that for a buyer to return an item it means they have to print a label, take item to post office/shop and queue up, then photograph their proof of postage and send it to you. That could take the buyer an hour if they're in a rural area, so at £10 an hour minimum wage would you be compensating the buyer for their time wasted, petrol used etc. due to your mistake?

[*vyolla*]

Forget the legal route, any legal person will tell you that you have no case there.

[magpiecorner1]

Of course there is a legal route, the wrong goods were delivered, not unsolicited goods.

Whilst in this case going through the procedure might make the buyer think twice, if the goods were worth many thousands of pounds, would you still maintain that there was no legal route?

[4_bathrooms · Accepted solution]

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@magpiecorner1 wrote:

Whilst in this case going through the procedure might make the buyer think twice, if the goods were worth many thousands of pounds, would you still maintain that there was no legal route?

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From what I can tell the OP has lost circa £40 due to their own (innocent) mistake. Yes, the buyer has been dishonest but I just don't think it's worth pursuing. The OP will have to pay another £35 to initiate a small claim; even if they win and obtain a judgement (which would be £75 + costs like travel expenses) there is little they can do to enforce that judgement. A CCJ is a good thing to have if a business (particularly a company) owes you money but when it's a private individual there's little a court appointed bailiff can do to recover the debt. They're unlikely to take a car off the drive for such an amount (if the buyer even has a car); all their buyer would have to do is refuse to answer the door to the bailiff.

If the amount was hundreds or thousands then it obviously would be worth reporting to the police/Action Fraud and getting a solicitor involved. If the OP really wants to pursue the buyer they should find a solicitor who offers free or fixed-fee 30 minute appointments but I'm fairly certain they'll only tell the OP this isn't worth pursuing.