An ongoing crazy story selling a car.. need advise
Discussion
So I listed my BMW for sale on AutoTrader - after a few weeks I had a buyer interested - calls me and we agree on a price, he offers to leave a £1,000 deposit and collect a few weeks later when he gets paid. I said that’s a big deposit but sure. So he came up from
London to the Midlands to view on 29th April with a friend for assistance. Let’s call the buyer Morty and his friend Rick, two chaps in their 50’s, Morty supposedly a builder & I get the impression Rick has his finger in a few pies.
So we take the car out for a test drive, both happy with it and agree to take it. Morty said he was only able to muster up £300 for the deposit - I said that’s fine, I print off two receipts with details & ‘collection by May 22nd’ and we sign them keeping one each.
Morty gives me a call a week before collection to confirm everything is still on.
Collection day: 22nd May.
So I’m selling the car because I changed jobs and no longer working from home, as well as needing some cash - in fact lost all income because of Covid so things are tight. I won a cheaper car on an eBay auction and left a deposit for that, and arranged to collect on 23rd May once I had cash from the BMW.
We’d agreed the Friday afternoon and it’s gone 8PM. I’m trying to get hold of Morty and nothing - phone going straight to voicemail & sent a few texts. Right. Surely something is up as it was a large deposit so I didn’t think he wouldn’t show up.
I end up having to borrow some money to buy the replacement car the next day. Still nothing from Morty. I decide to try his number on WhatsApp - it delivers & my message gets read straight away. A few hours pass and I send another message saying I can see he read it, could he let me know what’s going on and if he’s still buying the car..
Pretty soon after I get a reply from him - well his sister, saying he is in hospital and unconscious after having an accident at work and she’s been going through all his messages hence delay getting back to me. Horrible thing to happen if true, but seems odd that she’s accessed his phone while he’s unconscious. I don’t reply as not quite sure how to respond.
Couple hours later I get a call from Rick (the friend he came up with). Seems exasperated, asks me if I’ve heard from Morty at all as he can’t get hold of him and he’s vanished. Apparently they live together in a flat and he’s been gone since Wednesday - load of his clothes missing too. I told him what the message said - seems shocked and said he was working on some roofs on Thursday - said he would try the local hospitals. He seemed confused that his sister would be messaging me as Morty isn’t in touch with his sister. Said he’s glad I left the ad up as that’s how he found my number, and would keep me updated.
Couple days go by and I get another call from Rick. He’s tried all the local hospitals and Morty is nowhere to be found. Tells me the deposit money was actually his that he’d lent to Morty. In fact, Morty owes Rick a lot of money, over £10k, which was due. But they’ve been friends their whole lives and nothing like this has ever happened - Rick even booked Morty onto his family holiday with Ricks wife and kids (so the two of them share an apartment together but Rick also has a wife and kids..), so he doesn’t think Morty would do a runner. Rick then said he’ll still buy the car as it’s a good car, and he gave me his word he’d be collecting it next Tuesday (2nd June). I said sure, if you’re still buying the car, no problem.
Today is the 2nd June - I had marked the car as deposit taken but still had a couple other people interested and told them if it wasn’t gone by today they could have a look.
Haven’t heard from Rick or Morty - left Rick a voicemail (has a Lyca phone that you can’t call, only leave voicemails?) - no WhatsApp or anything. At about 8PM I get a call from a woman - Ricks partner.
She tells me this; Morty is in hospital after an accident at work, isn’t doing to well and has also caught Covid - he might not pull through. Given the situation with what’s happened to him, can Rick have the deposit back.
I say sorry it’s a horrid situation but I was relying on the car being collected as agreed to buy another car and pay some bills, I had to borrow money to buy it and don’t have the deposit to give back. She said ok, I don’t think Rick will be happy, and hangs up. She calls again 5 minutes later saying Rick isn’t pleased, she understands how deposits work but given the situation would I agree to giving half, £150, back. Or what about after I sell the car. I say the same thing again & that I’ve got debts to pay the with money.
Then I get a call from Rick 5 minutes later. Very aggressively down the phone he said ‘I understand you’ve been speaking to my Mrs. and that you’re not giving me my money back, is that right?! Is that what you’re telling me?! Are you gonna give it back or not!?”
I reiterated the same thing, sorry I don’t have any to give back.
He goes “Who the f do you think you are?! You don’t want to f around with me, it’s not worth the grief mate! She even offered to only take half back and you said no!?”
I said sorry but it’s how a deposit works and I don’t have the money to give back. He said “I’m going to send you my bank details and you’re going to send me £150” then hung up.
He then text bank details with no name.
So we’re now at present time. My thoughts are it’s all a big story, or that Morty did a runner on Rick and Rick is trying to recoup some of his money back.
A) It was a deposit with an agreed sale date, car was viewed and everything ok. I also spent that money to buy a replacement car.
B) Why would I send money to the buyers ‘friend’ - and I haven’t heard from the actual buyer and person who’s name is on the deposit receipt. For all I know it’s all a lie and Rick just wants to get some money back that Morty owes him - doesn’t have anything to do with me
The problem is he was quite threatening down the phone, repeating it’s ‘not worth the grief for you’, seems a bit unsavoury and knows where me and my family live.
I’d feel horrible if it was true Morty is in hospital but a lot of things with that don’t add up and seems like it’s a falling out between friends.
Any suggestions?
Got someone viewing the car in the morning who is keen. Don’t fancy sending back the deposit as I am tight for money as it is and it’s cost me money to borrow funds for the replacement car - plus I shouldn’t have to on principle.
My only concern is he turns up and damages my property - though it would be an hour long drive and not achieve much.
London to the Midlands to view on 29th April with a friend for assistance. Let’s call the buyer Morty and his friend Rick, two chaps in their 50’s, Morty supposedly a builder & I get the impression Rick has his finger in a few pies.
So we take the car out for a test drive, both happy with it and agree to take it. Morty said he was only able to muster up £300 for the deposit - I said that’s fine, I print off two receipts with details & ‘collection by May 22nd’ and we sign them keeping one each.
Morty gives me a call a week before collection to confirm everything is still on.
Collection day: 22nd May.
So I’m selling the car because I changed jobs and no longer working from home, as well as needing some cash - in fact lost all income because of Covid so things are tight. I won a cheaper car on an eBay auction and left a deposit for that, and arranged to collect on 23rd May once I had cash from the BMW.
We’d agreed the Friday afternoon and it’s gone 8PM. I’m trying to get hold of Morty and nothing - phone going straight to voicemail & sent a few texts. Right. Surely something is up as it was a large deposit so I didn’t think he wouldn’t show up.
I end up having to borrow some money to buy the replacement car the next day. Still nothing from Morty. I decide to try his number on WhatsApp - it delivers & my message gets read straight away. A few hours pass and I send another message saying I can see he read it, could he let me know what’s going on and if he’s still buying the car..
Pretty soon after I get a reply from him - well his sister, saying he is in hospital and unconscious after having an accident at work and she’s been going through all his messages hence delay getting back to me. Horrible thing to happen if true, but seems odd that she’s accessed his phone while he’s unconscious. I don’t reply as not quite sure how to respond.
Couple hours later I get a call from Rick (the friend he came up with). Seems exasperated, asks me if I’ve heard from Morty at all as he can’t get hold of him and he’s vanished. Apparently they live together in a flat and he’s been gone since Wednesday - load of his clothes missing too. I told him what the message said - seems shocked and said he was working on some roofs on Thursday - said he would try the local hospitals. He seemed confused that his sister would be messaging me as Morty isn’t in touch with his sister. Said he’s glad I left the ad up as that’s how he found my number, and would keep me updated.
Couple days go by and I get another call from Rick. He’s tried all the local hospitals and Morty is nowhere to be found. Tells me the deposit money was actually his that he’d lent to Morty. In fact, Morty owes Rick a lot of money, over £10k, which was due. But they’ve been friends their whole lives and nothing like this has ever happened - Rick even booked Morty onto his family holiday with Ricks wife and kids (so the two of them share an apartment together but Rick also has a wife and kids..), so he doesn’t think Morty would do a runner. Rick then said he’ll still buy the car as it’s a good car, and he gave me his word he’d be collecting it next Tuesday (2nd June). I said sure, if you’re still buying the car, no problem.
Today is the 2nd June - I had marked the car as deposit taken but still had a couple other people interested and told them if it wasn’t gone by today they could have a look.
Haven’t heard from Rick or Morty - left Rick a voicemail (has a Lyca phone that you can’t call, only leave voicemails?) - no WhatsApp or anything. At about 8PM I get a call from a woman - Ricks partner.
She tells me this; Morty is in hospital after an accident at work, isn’t doing to well and has also caught Covid - he might not pull through. Given the situation with what’s happened to him, can Rick have the deposit back.
I say sorry it’s a horrid situation but I was relying on the car being collected as agreed to buy another car and pay some bills, I had to borrow money to buy it and don’t have the deposit to give back. She said ok, I don’t think Rick will be happy, and hangs up. She calls again 5 minutes later saying Rick isn’t pleased, she understands how deposits work but given the situation would I agree to giving half, £150, back. Or what about after I sell the car. I say the same thing again & that I’ve got debts to pay the with money.
Then I get a call from Rick 5 minutes later. Very aggressively down the phone he said ‘I understand you’ve been speaking to my Mrs. and that you’re not giving me my money back, is that right?! Is that what you’re telling me?! Are you gonna give it back or not!?”
I reiterated the same thing, sorry I don’t have any to give back.
He goes “Who the f do you think you are?! You don’t want to f around with me, it’s not worth the grief mate! She even offered to only take half back and you said no!?”
I said sorry but it’s how a deposit works and I don’t have the money to give back. He said “I’m going to send you my bank details and you’re going to send me £150” then hung up.
He then text bank details with no name.
So we’re now at present time. My thoughts are it’s all a big story, or that Morty did a runner on Rick and Rick is trying to recoup some of his money back.
A) It was a deposit with an agreed sale date, car was viewed and everything ok. I also spent that money to buy a replacement car.
B) Why would I send money to the buyers ‘friend’ - and I haven’t heard from the actual buyer and person who’s name is on the deposit receipt. For all I know it’s all a lie and Rick just wants to get some money back that Morty owes him - doesn’t have anything to do with me
The problem is he was quite threatening down the phone, repeating it’s ‘not worth the grief for you’, seems a bit unsavoury and knows where me and my family live.
I’d feel horrible if it was true Morty is in hospital but a lot of things with that don’t add up and seems like it’s a falling out between friends.
Any suggestions?
Got someone viewing the car in the morning who is keen. Don’t fancy sending back the deposit as I am tight for money as it is and it’s cost me money to borrow funds for the replacement car - plus I shouldn’t have to on principle.
My only concern is he turns up and damages my property - though it would be an hour long drive and not achieve much.
Presumably you are not in any way obliged to give the money to Rick,as it was Morty that gave you the deposit. What happened between Rick and Morty is none of your business. Now if Morty called and asked nicely, you might feel you could give half the deposit back - or not depending on how you get on with the sale otherwise.
Sell the car for more to the next person.
Keep the deposit.
Tell the thick scamming pie-Kees to F off it’s their own fault and they will never get a penny back and stop messing decent people around - lying
s.
Don’t bother replying to any more messages or calls from these chancers.
Sounds mean but there you go - if you deal with idiots be prepared for this sort of stupidity.
Keep the deposit.
Tell the thick scamming pie-Kees to F off it’s their own fault and they will never get a penny back and stop messing decent people around - lying
s.Don’t bother replying to any more messages or calls from these chancers.
Sounds mean but there you go - if you deal with idiots be prepared for this sort of stupidity.
This is why I have given up selling cars privately there are so many cockwombles out there!
The whole thing sounds like a proper scam I would move on sell it to someone else but keep the deposit for your trouble but if you hear from them again maybe offer them half the deposit back as a gesture and then tell them to do one
The whole thing sounds like a proper scam I would move on sell it to someone else but keep the deposit for your trouble but if you hear from them again maybe offer them half the deposit back as a gesture and then tell them to do one
First mistake was communicating with anyone other than "Morty"
Why would someones sister go through their phone while unconscious, everyone i know has a lock so nobody is going to be accessing it other than maybe a partner. My brother certainly doesn't know how to get into my phone. also, why would buying a car be of interest to the sister when her brother is lying in hospital seriously ill.
As for "Rick" why would the first port of call when his best mate is out of contact be some random guy whose car he went to see a few weeks earlier
Why would someones sister go through their phone while unconscious, everyone i know has a lock so nobody is going to be accessing it other than maybe a partner. My brother certainly doesn't know how to get into my phone. also, why would buying a car be of interest to the sister when her brother is lying in hospital seriously ill.
As for "Rick" why would the first port of call when his best mate is out of contact be some random guy whose car he went to see a few weeks earlier
I got bored three quarters of the way through and skipped the rest but I think I get the jist.
Text/email/WhatsApp the buyer who gave you a deposit and advise that you are giving them a reasonable timeframe to complete the sale ( whatever that may be...a week?) otherwise you will be advertising the car for sale and keeping the deposit. You have no need to communicate with anyone else, so delete their numbers and communications, it’s irrelevant .
Text/email/WhatsApp the buyer who gave you a deposit and advise that you are giving them a reasonable timeframe to complete the sale ( whatever that may be...a week?) otherwise you will be advertising the car for sale and keeping the deposit. You have no need to communicate with anyone else, so delete their numbers and communications, it’s irrelevant .
Nickp82 said:
Give Rick the money back, get him to confirm receipt by text, get these weirdos out of your life ASAP. He was right when he said it’s not worth the grief.
Good plan. Rick will have your £300, there'll be no text and you will never hear from him again. Morty will then miraculously recover, have no knowledge of the 'refund', claim he doesn't know of anybody called Rick, turn up to collect the car and pay the balance, as contractually agreed. You now have no car and £300 less than you thought you had. Nickp82 said:
Give Rick the money back, get him to confirm receipt by text, get these weirdos out of your life ASAP. He was right when he said it’s not worth the grief.
All this does is give a green light for them to then do it to someone else. OP, you've been messed around enough and been told a pack of lies. Do not give the deposit back, anymore calls from either Ant or Dec tell them to FRO and block their number..
I’d guess at one of four things:
1) You’re going to get asked for £300 when Morty makes his miracle recovery
2) You’re swapping £300 of counterfeit cash for £150 of real banked cash
3) You’re helping with their laundry
4) A combination of the above
Some banks have started to introduce name matching on transfers to help combat fraud. Understand the reasons for it, but it’s been proving a PITA for setting up some payments. You could tell them your bank will need account name in order for it to go through (and if there’s even the slightest mismatch it’ll get blocked by your bank). I’d guess they may be reluctant to provide. It’s not you that’s being awkward, it’s your bank.
More details here: https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/03/confirmation-...
1) You’re going to get asked for £300 when Morty makes his miracle recovery
2) You’re swapping £300 of counterfeit cash for £150 of real banked cash
3) You’re helping with their laundry
4) A combination of the above
Some banks have started to introduce name matching on transfers to help combat fraud. Understand the reasons for it, but it’s been proving a PITA for setting up some payments. You could tell them your bank will need account name in order for it to go through (and if there’s even the slightest mismatch it’ll get blocked by your bank). I’d guess they may be reluctant to provide. It’s not you that’s being awkward, it’s your bank.
More details here: https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/03/confirmation-...
creatzz said:
The problem is he was quite threatening down the phone, repeating it’s ‘not worth the grief for you’, seems a bit unsavoury and knows where me and my family live.
Not unreasonable to report to the police on 101. At least they can log it should be 'relevant' in the future.Leaving aside the chancer's side of it, I wouldn't have been buying a new car before I had (properly) sold the first one, and I wouldn't have been spending the deposit either. Yes in theory it's non refundable but had the original guy asked for it back for some reason I'd have been inclined to do it. If you hadn't tied yourself up with the next one it would be no problem and everyone could move on with no hassle.
That said it sounds like a load of ste from their side.
That said it sounds like a load of s
te from their side.As said, dont give back to Rick, as he didn't give it to you and Morty may appear again.
You need to be recording all the calls for evidence. So anymore calls, let it go to voicemail, or put on loudspeaker and record/use a phone app.
Get any verbal threats recorded.
Go to the 101 website and file a report too.
You need to be recording all the calls for evidence. So anymore calls, let it go to voicemail, or put on loudspeaker and record/use a phone app.
Get any verbal threats recorded.
Go to the 101 website and file a report too.
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