Sold phone, buyer claims its faulty

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crysis

crysis

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Hi guys,

So I sold a second hand phone online recently, and the buyer claims his sim card does not work in it. The phone had liquid damage, but that was repaired by vodacom recently. The buyer now wants me to refund the money for the phone, or he will get his lawyers in. Im going to try get vodacom to repair it for free, but if not, I would like to offer that he sends the phone to vodacom, and Ill pay for the repair of the sim reader.

Is that fair? Is my offer correct in the eyes of the law, or will I have to refund him the full amount no questions asked? I don't have the money now, and would rather just get it fixed for him.
 
Depends, did you disclose that it had liquid damage and it was repaired by Vodacom? If yes, and he accepted those conditions, then I would say that he should deal directly with Vodacom (assuming it is under warranty). If no, then you should refund his money.
 
F1 Fan said:
Depends, did you disclose that it had liquid damage and it was repaired by Vodacom? If yes, and he accepted those conditions, then I would say that he should deal directly with Vodacom (assuming it is under warranty). If no, then you should refund his money.
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I didn't disclose because I felt that vodacom had repaired the phone completely. Surely that was an acceptable assumption?
 
F1 Fan said:
Depends, did you disclose that it had liquid damage and it was repaired by Vodacom? If yes, and he accepted those conditions, then I would say that he should deal directly with Vodacom (assuming it is under warranty). If no, then you should refund his money.
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^this.

Did you declare the damage? did you adjust your pricing accordingly?
 
sand_man said:
Did you test the phone before selling it and was it working?
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The phone worked fine. I did not check the sim functionality though. I figured since everything else worked, the sim would too. Its not something that you would attribute to liquid damage?
 
Since it had liquid damage, and it was repaired, the right thing to do would have been to tell him this, and then show him that it's working properly, with your own sim card, and then let him test it with his, then he would have had no leg to stand on.

By not doing that, you've opened yourself up to problems in this case.
 
crysis said:
The phone worked fine. I did not check the sim functionality though. I figured since everything else worked, the sim would too. Its not something that you would attribute to liquid damage?
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If not, why not?

I retract my above comment - if you didn't test the sim functionality after the repair, the liability is on you.
 
Ho3n3r said:
Since it had liquid damage, and it was repaired, the right thing to do would have been to tell him this, and then show him that it's working properly, with your own sim card, and then let him test it with his, then he would have had no leg to stand on.

By not doing that, you've opened yourself up to problems in this case.
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I just want to know where I stand legally. I don't think I needed to disclose it had liquid damage if it was repaired professionally and at great cost. I realize one probably should have disclosed it, but I want to know what my obligation is with the law. If I dont have to buy back the phone, ill offer it have it repaired and pay the cost. I dont want to rip the guy off, I dont want to do that to people, but I also dont want to be taken to court if he doesnt accept that.
 
crysis said:
I just want to know where I stand legally. I don't think I needed to disclose it had liquid damage if it was repaired professionally and at great cost. I realize one probably should have disclosed it, but I want to know what my obligation is with the law. If I dont have to buy back the phone, ill offer it have it repaired and pay the cost. I dont want to rip the guy off, I dont want to do that to people, but I also dont want to be taken to court if he doesnt accept that.
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I don't personally know the law that well to tell you what is supposed to happen legally, but if I were you, I would buy it back, take it to Vodacom and tell them they haven't fixed it properly, and they need to do properly fix it, at no extra cost to you, and then resell it when you got it back and tested it PROPERLY - sim card, wi-fi, GPS etc.

That's what I would do anyway.
 
If I sold you a car and it's unstable over 60kmh, would you be upset?

Oh, I didn't tell you that it was in an accident as the mechanics fixed it and I thought that would be fine. I didn't bother testing if it drove stable over 60kmh because I thought it would be included in the repairs.
 
Voicy said:
If I sold you a car and it's unstable over 60kmh, would you be upset?

Oh, I didn't tell you that it was in an accident as the mechanics fixed it and I thought that would be fine. I didn't bother testing if it drove stable over 60kmh because I thought it would be included in the repairs.
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Yes, I would be. So, the question im asking you is:

1 - Would the dealership repair the car, or buy the car back? Thats the issue im asking. Not whether on not I can get away with it. Thats not my intention.
 
crysis said:
Yes, I would be. So, the question im asking you is:

1 - Would the dealership repair the car, or buy the car back? Thats the issue im asking. Not whether on not I can get away with it. Thats not my intention.
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Morally, you obligated to refund the customer. Legally too, if you advertised a fully functioning phone for sale.
 
crysis said:
I just want to know where I stand legally. I don't think I needed to disclose it had liquid damage if it was repaired professionally and at great cost. I realize one probably should have disclosed it, but I want to know what my obligation is with the law. If I dont have to buy back the phone, ill offer it have it repaired and pay the cost. I dont want to rip the guy off, I dont want to do that to people, but I also dont want to be taken to court if he doesnt accept that.
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Ok lets pretend for a moment that there arent any legal repercussions.

You didnt disclose the fact that your phone has liquid damage and you didnt test sim functionality.

I try to be a decent human being most of the time. I would feel terrible and would give the dude his money back.

I personally would feel guilty about this situation.
 
I am surprised that Vodacom agreed to repair a handset with liquid damage. My phone had liquid damage a few years ago and Vodacom refused to repair it. They also mentioned that there isnt a warranty on repairs of a liquid damaged device. They stated that they cannot guarantee that it will function in the future.
 
milo69 said:
I am surprised that Vodacom agreed to repair a handset with liquid damage. My phone had liquid damage a few years ago and Vodacom refused to repair it. They also mentioned that there isnt a warranty on repairs of a liquid damaged device. They stated that they cannot guarantee that it will function in the future.
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Same here
 
milo69 said:
I am surprised that Vodacom agreed to repair a handset with liquid damage. My phone had liquid damage a few years ago and Vodacom refused to repair it. They also mentioned that there isnt a warranty on repairs of a liquid damaged device. They stated that they cannot guarantee that it will function in the future.
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In my case they replaced the whole motherboard, so essentially its a new phone underneath.
 
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