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Have you ever sold something online? What would you do if the person you sold it to later told you the item you sold was broken? Would you be willing to pay to repair it?
In this story, one man was in this situation when he sold a water heater. He did agree to pay for the repairs, but he later found out that it had all been a scam. That gave him an idea about how to get the buyer back. Two can play this game, but he was going to have the law on his side.
Let’s read all about it.
Landscaping owner rips my friend off of $400 – so my friend makes him incur $15,000 in expenses.
Awhile back my friend was selling some stuff online and among the items was a water heater. You know – the ones you see in every community hall / church kitchen.
It was in working condition, he threw it up online for $150 and got a email from a person who runs a landscaping business saying he’ll give him $100 cash today. Done.
Two weeks later, he got a email saying that it’s not working. Weird. So my friend offered to give a full refund or cover repair cost if it’s under $100.
This sounds like a scam.
The guy instead sent a invoice for $400 saying the repairs been done and if my friend doesn’t pay it in 48 hours he’ll send a debt collector after him.
He paid it (out of fear) and emailed him the confirmation.
The landscaping owner then emailed back saying “this is the price you sometimes have to pay when selling second hand electronics” followed by a “have a great day, don’t let this hold you back” with a 🙂 at the end of the email.
This is an interesting coincidence.
A month later my friend was in a bar and he overhears a girl talking about how her boss – who runs a landscaping firm – screwed over some dummy selling a water heater.
My friend said ‘oh damn I gotta hear this – do you mind if I join your table?’
And the girl said sure and told the story. Her boss had brought a busted water heater from a second hand store for $25 and a working one for $100 and billed the seller for the repair for the busted one before he sold it on for $300 to some community group.
My friend asked “who did this so I don’t hire that guy to fix up my yard” (hahahahahas all around)
I bet you can guess.
She says the company name and – lo and behold – it’s on the email of the guy my friend sold the water heater too.
He was the dummy in the story.
He told me he was pretty angry about it but COVID then hit so he had other stuff to worry about.
18 months later he was browsing the website he originally sold the water heater on and he saw a bunch of landscaping materials – shovels, gardening stuff wheelbarrows, lights for working at night, drills, nail guns, some construction materials and….a generator.
I can sense an idea brewing.
Now – in my friends location – apparently – if you’re selling a generator then you need to have a warrant of fitness for it (proving that it works, it’s safe, no flayed wires ect ect) most people ignore it – and he saw that this generator is being sold by the landscaping firm.
This generator he said – just by looking at it – there was no way in hell would it have a WoF.
Word of note – failure for a business to provide a WoF upon request for a generator after 2 weeks – when reported too the offical departments and enforced by the court – the punishment is a hefty fine and the courts often force the seller to refund the affected party and pay any costs that they incurred.
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They bought the generator.
He talked to his flatmate who agreed that they would go 50/50 on the generator but he would transfer the money.
Now – my friend had never met the landscaping firm owner face to face when selling the water heater (he left it outside and pickup was confirmed via his security camera) and when he get there it’s was clear that the owner – this old grumpy looking man who enjoyed yelling at his employees – had emptied out his storage unit.
The owner was very much “as it is, no refund” and the flatmate showed him the transfer confirmation and they take the generator for $800. No warrent of fitnesses provided.
They then took it to a friend of theirs who is a electrician and he agreed to check it and give a invoice for repairs and to quote the friend “it would be cheaper to buy a new generator and to be honest – this generator shouldn’t have been sold. It should’ve been scrapped”.
They also found that the main identifier number had been scratched off – but not a second number that is often recorded as well on WoF’s for tracking purposes.
They contacted the seller.
So they got in contact with the seller telling him the cost for repair – around $5,000.
He promptly tells them that he’s not paying “as it is, no refund”
To which they then asked – have you got the warrant of fitnesses for this generator?
Silence for two days – they followed up with another email asking for it. No response.
The seller tried to negotiate.
They then ask again and get a email from him saying that he’ll take it back for $800.
They said no, we want the WoF and they get no response.
They emailed him every day for two weeks, nothing.
So they printed out the original item listing that had been screenshooted (and had been archived on the website) and reported him to the website – and then the government.
They refused to negotiate with the seller.
4 months later my friend is in court and the guy went up to him. He tells him that he will take back the generator for $800 and that my friend and his flatmate will be going in to tell the judge that the seller has refunded them and that they want it all dropped and that’s what’s happening here full stop end of story they are doing what they are told to do.
My friend said no.
So they went into the court room and it’s over very quickly.
The inspector the government sent out to inspect the generator stated that it was in poor condition, shouldn’t have been sold, was highly unsafe AND that the seller had tried to get the generator a WoF in early 2021 but instead had been told that it was to be repaired or scrapped and that it was not to be sold. They identified it by a second number on the generator that they took down in the original attempt to get it WoF’d which had not been scratched out like the first.
The judge was on their side.
The judge ordered the landscaping firm owner to refund the flatmate the $800, pay the $5,000 for repairs to the generator AND was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine – which would be given directly to my friends flatmate as the affected party.
When they left the courtroom the owner was furious and told them that under no uncertain terms was he paying them a penny more and and that he couldn’t understand what he had done to deserve such treatment.
To which, my friend said, “remember the water heater?”
He gave him a very confused look.
Realization sunk in.
“Remember the water heater you brought for $100? Well I do – because I sold it to you – and I know that you had a different one repaired and invoiced me for it.”
His jaw was on the floor and to hit it home he said “it’s bad isn’t it, when what goes around comes around – especially when it accumulated interest. You have 48 hours to pay, or a debt collector will be contacted. Remember – this is the price you sometimes have to pay when selling second hand electronics. Have a great day, don’t let this hold you back!” And they left.
He paid the $15,000 two days later. My friend and the flatmate split the $10,000 50/50 as they agreed (combination of rent payments and study stuff) The generator they got repaired – and then got a WoF for it before selling it for $1,000 with a newly replaced identifier number.
They then went out for a wonderful dinner and night out in town.
That was some really epic revenge, and it never would’ve happened if he hadn’t been in the right place (the bar) at the right time (when the girl was talking about her boss).
Let’s see how Reddit responded.
This person is impressed.
But another person thinks the story didn’t really happen.
This person points out something that didn’t add up for them.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about people who have to go to court to get their land back after their neighbor sells it.
And this person thinks OP’s friend is a liar.
Let’s keep in mind that the person who wrote this story is not the person who had this experience. It is possible that his friend was lying to him. Regardless, if it really happened the way his friend said it happened, it was a lot of coincidence and a very satisfying ending.
If you mess with someone, don’t be surprised if they get you back.