broken laptop within 12mts verbal warranty - Threatened With Police Action after played back recorded proof

[Curtmal]

Hello,

 

I hope someone can help.

 

My wife bought a second-hand laptop from a local, independent gadget store.

Two months after she purchased it, it died.

 

 

She had been told (in person) at the time of buying the laptop that they were all inspected before being resold

and could be returned to the store if they stopped functioning within 12 months.

 

 

But when trying to return the laptop, the same man who sold it to her claimed he didn't say such thing and is refusing to help.

 

Obviously we should have got something on writing, etc; but that's not what I'm seeking advice on.

 

Having also been present when the sale was made and also witnessing his verbal 'term',

I was so insulted that he would then deny it to our faces at a later date.

 

 

I decided to call up as a potential customer and enquire about a laptop,

asking whether there was any sort of warranty period.

 

 

I recorded the conversation, and low and behold he once again confirmed that laptops could be returned within 12 months.

 

We made a formal complaint and his response was that no such term exists or has ever been made.

I then offered him the recording to prove otherwise.

 

Well as you can imagine, being framed like that didn't go down well

and he informed me that he will be reporting me to the police.

 

 

Even though I researched the legality beforehand and referred him to Ofcom's website

stating that calls can be recorded without knowledge or consent so long as it isn't shared to third parties,

he insisted I'd broken the law and he would be prosecuting me.

 

So I have two questions really;

1) Have I broken the law? I haven't shared the recording with anyone apart from him.

2) The fact that I have proof he does induce customers with misleading information - this in itself being illegal - surely there is someone I can share this with?

 

The way I look at it, programmes like Watchdog obtain secretly filmed footage of these sorts of things

and they're allowed to be televised without the consent of the offending party;

surely my circumstance too is in the public interest and can be reported to a relevant body?

 

Thanks for any advice

[unclebulgaria67]

No law broken. You can use as you wish. Suggest you see what Trading Standards advise. Find out who the owner of the business is and see if you can deal with them directly. You could test this in court if needed, by issuing a small court claim.

 

The Police will not be interested and will tell them to stop wasting their time.

[i hate bailiffs]

How did you pay for this item?

By card I hope!

[Curtmal]

No law broken. You can use as you wish. Suggest you see what Trading Standards advise. Find out who the owner of the business is and see if you can deal with them directly. You could test this in court if needed, by issuing a small court claim.

 

The Police will not be interested and will tell them to stop wasting their time.

 

Hello and thank you for your response.

 

Unfortunately the man we've been dealing with is the owner and so there is no where to escalate the issue to.

 

I haven't spoken to Trading Standards as of yet as I firstly went through Citizens Advice Consumer Line; however they weren't very helpful as they said the recording is irrelevant to my case (as it wasn't our initial conversation) and that's all they and a court case would be interested in. It's really no longer about the money and simply doing what I can to make sure he is reported.

 

That makes me feel a bit better to hear someone else say that about the police. I had initially thought the same, but I know of people who have had police at their door following up on reports of the most petty of things so I just wanted to make sure.

[Curtmal]

How did you pay for this item?

By card I hope!

 

Hello.

 

No it was paid for in cash as it wasn't particularly expensive - both second-hand and a basic notebook.

 

My query isn't about getting the money back though, we can live without the money but what is infuriating me is the sheer cheek of pretending that he didn't make claims we all know he did. That's why I want to do what I can to make sure he does not continue to get away with it.

[steampowered]

No, you haven't broken the law. It is a common misconception that the data protection act prevents this sort of stuff.

 

The way to escalate this would be to begin a county court claim against this business through the money claim online system. It is quite straightforward to do. You'd need to write a letter before claim giving him 14 days to put this right first.

[i hate bailiffs]

Go with the letter before action

Then on to small claims

 

It is the only realistic way of getting this sorted