Odd car buyer behavior - deposit taken but no further contact.

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Having embarked on a new project I thought it would be a good idea to sell one of my other vehicles, a heavily modded V8 Land Rover.

I advertised in the usual places and had some interest.

One buyer made me an offer and I accepted, he agreed to send a deposit in the form of a Postal Order via secure delivery, this cashed fine and is sat in my bank account. It cleared on the 8th of January.

The buyer has not seen the vehicle yet but I have run through the car with him on the phone.

The last contact I had with the buyer was to confirm the deposit had been received. I have now had no contact from the buyer in over 2 weeks. I have attempted to call him and he either blocks the call or doesn't pick up. This morning when I called I got the "busy" signal, 5 mins later and his phone just rings.

I don't have much information about the buyer other than his name and mobile number.

I'm struggling to see how this can be a scam? He has my mobile number, my address and the reg number of the car, nothing else.

He seemed very chatty on the phone initially, back in the first week of Jan.

I sent him the following SMS;

Hi ****, I have been trying to contact you for several days. I have to state that if the full balance has not been paid and the Land Rover collected by Tuesday 29/01/13 I will be re-advertising the vehicle. Please contact me to discuss further.

Any suggestions or tips?
 
How do you know he's not seriously ill in his hospital or something ?

Getting back to the buyer he gave a deposit to is probably last on his families list of priorities if this is the case.

Nobody would hand over a deposit for a car, then walk away and break all contact without good reason.
 
I bought some tools off ebay paid straight away but was too busy to collect for nearly 2 months.

He may be busy but it does sound a bit strange.
 
It does happen. My mate had his Boxster up for sale, chap came and viewed it, left £500 cash as deposit and that was the last he heard from him.

I think some people just change their mind and are too embarassed to ask for their deposit back.
 
iaind said:
Did you provide any reciept/paperwork to say what the deposit was for?
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I don't have his address and have never met him, I only have a phone number

I've just had a response, I should note here that the offer for the vehicle was made via SMS to me and was written with no punctuation copied verbatim but with names and details removed below;

****.****.if.you.will..accept.for.the.1983.series.3.8..v8.111.j**.****.o.k.

I just received this;


My.dad.in.hospital.what.my.dad.has...bought.of.ebay.canyou.re-advertise.he.wont.be.out.about.two..weeks.operation..my.name.is.****.daughter.

I know the buyer said he was 65 and had no real grasp of technology so I can semi understand that he would write an SMS like that, I can't quite believe that his daughter would also write in the exact same way. Why does his daughter have his phone? This was also not bought via Ebay.

I do hope this is some kind of scam rather than a 65 year old man being in hospital but things seem a little odd.

I'm going to re-advertise taking the costs from the deposit and return the remainder if I can get an address from them to do so.
 
How strange! Although a 65 year old's daughter could be late 40s so also technologically inept!

I'd reply along the lines of

"Sorry to hear that, I'm happy to return the deposit, please could you call me when you have a chance to arrange return of the payment" - that way you can speak to the daughter and see if it's all above board
 
Ignore.

I didn't read the Reply but still want to know How much he left as a deposit.
 
A friend did this last year. Left a £100 deposit on a MK4 VW Polo, then found a better condition, better specced one locally for £200 less than the asking price of the one he had placed a deposit on.

Technically he "lost" £100, but in his mind he was still "up" on the original cost of the car he left the deposit on.
 
The deposit was £250, we negotiated around £2500 for cash as he was willing to transfer the money the following week and pick up straight away. This was £500 below the advertised price and probably lower than market value.

He has never seen the vehicle and the deposit was paid by post.

We're not talking vast sums of money here.

iaind, not a bad idea although I need to work out how much I'm returning first so will wait till I've sold it.
 
The phone is a samsung and the texter is used to a nokia or similiar. The space key on a nokia is the full stop button on a samsung. or the other way round.
 
taske said:
I do hope this is some kind of scam rather than a 65 year old man being in hospital but things seem a little odd.
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Why does it seem odd ? its exactly like i said it would be. They've given you money for a deposit and are now asking you to keep it and re-advertise !

The only thing that appears to worry you is how inept his family is at writing text messages. But there are plenty who can barely read or write and are too ashamed to say or do anything about it.
 
His "daughter" seems unable to answer my calls but is happy to respond in a timely manner to my SMS, using her fathers phone and writing in the exact same manner.

I'm not worried about their ineptitude I just find it a little odd that they write in the same way.

Either way, as you predicted, I have a response and can re-advertise.
 
Dad types like that because thats how she taught him too. Simples :)

As said above she's probably not young if he's 65, and thus equally as unfamiliar with the phone as he is. "Blind leading the blind" comes to mind :D
 
Bit odd that she wont pick up the phone - I'd still be inclined to refund the deposit, less any expenses, given the circumstances and in the interests of being a nice human being.
 
iaind said:
Bit odd that she wont pick up the phone - I'd still be inclined to refund the deposit, less any expenses, given the circumstances and in the interests of being a nice human being.
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Not if she's on a ward. Phone on silent doesn't want to be on phone but can send a text
 
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