Buying Off Traders

Please be careful buying from anyone who is obviously a Trader and has feedback in the lower ratings.

I bought a landRover 88" SWB from a Trader basedin Little Oakley, Near Colchester. This bloke uses several different Ids but he is based in a yard inthe village of Little Oakley. Some of his Ids have now been de registered by eBay after I complained.

I later found out that this Trader based near Colchesterbids on his own items, wins his own auctions that have hadno bids on them, then posts his ownpositive feedback. He isusing several userids and has done a fewdodgy dealsin the past.

When buying from a trader don't just look at his feedback, follow the links to see what he says and the responses are from the person that left him Negative feedback.

The eBay auction for theLandRover SWB stated it was used daily, had been well maintained and was in good condition. In factthe auctionstatedthe landy was invery good condition for its age. It had been through his on site workshop, filled and resprayed cherry red to make it look good in the photos.

AfterI won the auction the Seller insisted on payment within three days from the end of auction, which ended on a Sunday, and wouldn't accept Paypal or a Cheque.

When I collected the Landrover the following saturdayit was obvious it was in a very poor state. It had no fuel in it and the gearbox gear selection was almost unusuable. However I took it as it appeared sound and started to drive the 120 miles home. Within a few miles I found the condition of the brakes dangerous and when I filled the Tank I flooded a garage forecourt with petrol as thepetrol filler pipe was split.

The defects that became apparent on this Landrover were:

Poor Brakes

Steering drift

Bodywork been patched with Isopon or some grey fillerinmany places and then sprayed.

Bulkhead rotten requires replacement, corrosion badly filled.

Clutch slave servo wrapped with insulation tape as the seals aregone.

Fuel filler pipe split

Passenger and drivers door bottom support cross member corroded through. Snapped in the corners.

Bonnet bracing corroded through and bonnet going up and down with road vibration and movement of spare wheel