Bought a Trek but it was stolen

[GARY_470]

I bought a Trek off gumtree yesterday from someone in Manchester , I paid £500 for it , today I gets a phone call from the Police asking did I buy the bike yesterday as its been stolen , apparantly the lad had stolen 2 from a shed , I said yes and arranged to meet them with the bike , the lad who I bought it off has been arrested and they got my number from his phone , only problem is im now £500 out of pocket , the police said they will be on the case but ill probably only get a £1 week for so many years when he's charged , is this correct

[Jimbo.]

You're stuffed.

Gumtree: buyer beware.

[anonymous-user]

You can get a new Trek for that. All these sites - gumtree, eBay etc. are a veritable snakes nest.

Long live SHOPS.

[Birdthom]

What he said. Gumtree is unfortunately stuffed full of scammers when it comes to bikes.

[GARY_470]

Great well P****d off now , is honesty always the right policy , maybe I should of said no I didn't end up buying it , I dont side with anyone who has stolen a bike there scum and need to be punished , but it now seems im the one getting more punished being £500 out of pocket and the police and law doing naff all to help me get my £500 back !!!

[grumbledoak]

GARY_470 said:

is honesty always the right policy

No. There is always "receiving stolen property".

[GARY_470]

grumbledoak said:

No. There is always "receiving stolen property".

That doesnt make it right though me £500 out of pocket does it

[jogon]

Yeah its pretty st.

Witnessed something earlier today which sounds similar, can't be certain as I don't like to profile certain race groups, but as I was driving up the A214 towards the A3 turn off I saw young lad on a nice Trek race bike although he wasn't wearing the usual attire and his nike sneakers didn't seem to have the correct clips as he struggled with the large frame. If I was a copper I would have pulled him.

[Eddh]

I suggest speaking the to chav and requesting your money back.

[anonymous-user]

Which Trek is it? Was it a 'bit of a bargain' or priced accordingly?

[JEA1K]

A few dodgy Treks on Gumtree ...

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/trek-madone-leop...

In fact these images have been used in various ebay ads.

I know its st but when buying used, its the risk you take. I suppose at least if you use paypal via ebay you might have a bit of security.

Anyway ... you know where he lives dont you???;)

[GARY_470]

Eddh said:

I suggest speaking the to chav and requesting your money back.

Thats whats annoying mate the chavs been arrested thats how the Police got my number when they confiscated his phone and found my text messages on it

I do know where he lives but it seems if I go round with some mates in a few months or so and give him a beating ill be putting myself inline to get into more trouble with the Police and to be honest they'd treat me worse than the bike thieving chav

You just cant win either way !

[80sMatchbox]

garyhun said:

Which Trek is it? Was it a 'bit of a bargain' or priced accordingly?

Usually the easiest way to tell...

But..I did buy an Allez a year ago off Gumtree, at a bit lower than they usually go for. I was a bit dubious when he wanted to meet "down the road" from his house. But it all turned out legit. His house was on a pedestrianised road.. He gave me the orginal receipt, spare tyres, pump, and lock. I was a happy bunny.

[Gizmoish]

GARY_470 said:

That doesnt make it right though me £500 out of pocket does it

You seem to have overlooked that the bike belongs to someone else.

I sympathise, but there is an only saying about things being too good to be true.

There's a more recent saying about almost everything on Gumtree being nicked, too.

[JQ]

Gizmoish said:

GARY_470 said:

That doesnt make it right though me £500 out of pocket does it

You seem to have overlooked that the bike belongs to someone else.

I sympathise, but there is an only saying about things being too good to be true.

There's a more recent saying about almost everything on Gumtree being nicked, too.

Yep, I tried to buy a bike on there. Looked at 4 decent bikes and following a few technical questions over the phone it was quite obvious the seller knew absolutely nothing about the bikes or had any interest in cycling. I didn't bother to look at any in person as it was pretty obvious they were all nicked.

[SuperHangOn]

That's a bummer. At least you weren't spotted riding it by a pissed off PO though!

You've really got to read between the lines on these adverts, a good half of them are blatantly nicked (why would someone be selling 50 s/h bikes a month from his shed - be realistic!)

I got lucky in finding both the used bikes I just bought, they were obviously legit (one even had the original receipt and booklets) but I think I would just get a new one from Halfords next time!

Edited by SuperHangOn on Friday 30th August 08:24

[TheLemming]

Bought my road bike off there. Very cheap, great nick, bloke didn't know much about it and wanted to meet somewhere else (his parents house)

Turned out he had just moved, bike was being stored in their shed and was his sons and I figured the nice guy who showed up in a new m5 wasn't selling dodgy cheap bikes....

Sometimes there's a reason for dodgy sounding scenarios, but random chav selling a nice bike I'd walk away from....

[KeithR]

GARY_470 said:

I do know where he lives but it seems if I go round with some mates in a few months or so and give him a beating ill be putting myself inline to get into more trouble with the Police and to be honest they'd treat me worse than the bike thieving chav

You just cant win either way !

That's not the answer mate! You're just lowering yourself to their level.

I think what's happened to you is awful, and I'd be livid too! Maybe speak to citizen's advice to see if you have any rights at all? Probably not I'd say. To live and learn I think is the only thing you can take away from this experience.

[Raven Flyer]

Citizens Advice? He is a bike thief not a dentist. He is hardly worth suing. Plus he is just about to be fined by the courts.

You either beat it out of him, language he will understand, or you write it off.

Either way, don't ever buy anything off gumtree.

[shouldbworking]

This is why when buying used bikes I always want to see the original paperwork with it, or at least have the frame number beforehand to check.

That said if it was a high end madone that'd probably set off alarm bells. Did we find out what it was yet?