Ultimately, I would like the repair paying for and as this is unlikely to happen and I would be happy with a contribution. My exact wording at the end of the email was "Please let me know what you think" and I had not suggested that they pay for anything prior to this; I wanted to give them an opportunity to reason with me. Sorry if I didn't explain myself properly. Perhaps they could reply and say "it's not our responsibility and here's why...". Closure is more important to me than anything else because at the moment I have a car that could let me down at any point. I am not looking for sympathy as the poor buyer who got ripped off by the nasty seller. I am preparing for the likelihood that I will have to pay for the repair myself. The only thing holding me back from booking it in is the possibility that I might be able get some assistance with the bill. Had it been a private seller, it would be booked in and probably fixed by now. I will contact either Consumer Direct or Trading Standards on Monday and see if they think it's worth the effort of pursuing this.

I got a lovely response from the dealer today. After not receiving a reply to my email a couple of days ago, I sent another today during my lunch break. Again, very polite, presenting the facts and just asking what their thoughts were. I was hoping that I would get an email response so that I have a record of everything so far. However, later on whilst I was dealing with a customer I got a voicemail message. Once free, I had a listen and what I got was this "It's xxx from xxx.... NO. Thank you.". From the tone in his voice it was pretty clear he's not willing to listen to a thing. I didn't suggest in either email what I was after, I just wanted their point of view.

The first time I noticed low coolant was on Christmas day, so only two days after the sale. With the holiday period however I could not get it pressure tested until the 4th. Of course, I have no way of proving this. The timing is a shame, had it been a normal working week I would have had it tested as soon as I noticed the coolant kept dropping. In hindsight I should have sent an email from the first hint, but at that point I thought it no more than a minor leak.

I emailed them yesterday using an address that they have answered before, so that my concerns are on record and there is no doubt as to what has been said. I was very polite and simply stated what has happened since the day I bought it, as well as the diagnosis after pressure testing. They haven't replied yet so I will try to contact them tomorrow during work if I get chance. I can genuinely understand the point of view regarding what I paid, however for the cost of fixing the head gasket I may as well have bought it without an engine.

Hi, It was advertised as "good runner" with full service history and MOT until August 2012. I'll have to check the miles, but I've basically done about a tank and a half of fuel if I recall correctly. That would equate to around 400 / 500 miles by my reckoning.

Thank you for the advice. It is appreciated and is what I came here for. I realise it may sound silly asking about such an inexpensive purchase, but I would have always wondered in the back of my mind whether there was something I could have done to save myself the money had I not bothered. "Enthusiast" cars are often very much a labour of love and I was fully expecting to pay more than the car is worth over the course of ownership.

I completely understand what you are saying regarding the price; it was bought for a relatively small amount of money and I certainly didn't get a warranty with it. I could not get a perfect car at this price, nor did I expect one. However, I understand it's not a case of "sold as seen" as with private sales, and I think this is a serious inherent fault. If I have any comeback with the dealer I would be happy. If you could link me to some literature regarding the law in these situations that would be great. My last BMW cost £650 and had a number of issues I was happy to fix; sensors, air conditioning, etc. I ran it for one and a half years and it had done 175k miles when I sold it.

Hi, I'm after a little advice. I bought a second hand car from a dealer at £775. Now at this price one would expect a fair amount of wear and tear, and a few jobs to do to get it running nicely. I'm not too bad with a spanner so this was my line of thought whilst looking for the right car. I found one with full service history, long MOT and a few cosmetic problems that I intended to sort out; a few minor patches of rust here and there, stained leather in need of a bit of TLC, that sort of thing. There were also a few mechanical/electrical issues with simple fixes such as half of the dashboard pixels missing and the bonnet catch not operating properly. The car drives very well indeed. However, I noticed that after a few journeys it was losing coolant every time I was out in it. I've owned the car for two weeks now and have had to top it up with over a litre. I could not find a leak myself so took it to someone to perform a pressure test. No leak was found but the oil was forming emulsion and there was a lot of steam coming from the exhaust even after an hour of running, heavily suggesting the dreaded head gasket. As you will know, this is a serious issue and never a cheap fix. Particularly so on a six cylinder BMW. This is clearly a problem that was present before I bought the car, and one I would imagine does not come under general "wear and tear". I realise I bought this car for relatively little, however I was under the impression that faults as big as these that were not noted at the point of sale would afford me some rights as a consumer. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks guys. I got a result last night and I'm pleased to say that eBay refunded me in full I hope the seller starts taking note of his obligations as a distance seller - and certainly his customer care - but judging from his attitude I think he'll more likely see this as a mere speed bump. I wonder if he'll get his item back eventually. I get the impression he purposefully leaves the return address off in an attempt to shift responsibility so that customers feel the only option is to collect and send back at their own cost.

Thank you for that, I have now escalated the case which incidentally is 30 days after the original request to cancel was made. I certainly do hope they side with me and the DSR, rather than their own rules in that the item must be back with the seller before a refund is made. Apparently I have to allow 24 hours for their decision so I'll let you know what the outcome is.

Thanks for the reply. I opened a case on eBay on the 11th of December and initially there were messages back and forth, but the seller has now been quiet since the 14th. eBay will automatically close the case on January the 25th, which seems too late from a DSR point of view. Should I "escalate" the case for eBay customer support to make a decision? I would also like to open a PayPal dispute, should I do this after the eBay case if I don't get the desired result? Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the response. I have just checked the transaction and unfortunately it was funded by my bank account through PayPal, although I do have a credit and debit card registered on the same account. I take it this won't help me? Am I correct in my theory regarding the situation; ie. my rights and his obligations?

OK, looking back at my post it is embarrassingly long! It would be really appreciated if someone could take a look at the brief summary at the top and my thoughts at the bottom. I'd like to know what you think, and more importantly what I can do about this.

Hello everybody! Glad I found you. I'm having trouble with a business seller on eBay. I will outline the key points below for those of you who don't want to read the full thing : I ordered and paid for something in error late one night, and sent a cancellation request straight afterwards. The request was ignored the following day until I chased it up later on. I was told that the item had been posted First Class, the day after the order and that if I wanted to cancel I could return for a refund. I argued that I cancelled in a very reasonable timeframe and was not happy having to pay to return it. The package didn't turn up after several days so I ordered from elsewhere. Six working days later the package arrived, I took a photo of the exterior and rejected it. The franking and tracking information showed the package had in fact been posted four days after the initial order and not the next working day as stated by the seller. The seller now refuses to refund until I send the product back, although I never took posession of it. The tracking shows the item as "returning to sender" but as the sender neglected to include a return address, it is currently stuck in the Royal Mail system. And now the long version for those brave/bored enough to read it : Tuesday 29/11/11 around 10.00pm I purchased a product via Buy-It-Now with immediate PayPal payment. The problem was that this was the incorrect listing and what I actually wanted was the same product with an essential bundled extra. This listing was priced higher and came from the same seller. Realising my mistake about 15 minutes later when the confirmation came through to my email, I quickly sent the seller a message via the resolution centre. A polite message along the lines of "Hi, really sorry but I clicked on the incorrect listing. What I actually want is ... and if you could refund and cancel this purchase I will place my order with you again". I chose the resolution centre as I knew that the seller would get an alert when they next logged in, and the message wouldn't get missed as can sometimes happen with conventional messages. The next day (Wed 30/11/11) I got no reply and so I sent a message through the standard eBay system asking if they could cancel for me as per my message last night. I got a message back which said something along the lines of "no message received, item has been posted, please check your sent messages as we have nothing at this end". Note at this point that the item was supposed to go First Class with Royal Mail. I send another polite message on 01/12/11 stating that I left a message in the resolution centre and got the response "item has now been sent sorry if you want to return item no problem at all". Another message then, stating respectfully that I did inform them straight after the transaction and that by sending the item back I would incur unnecessary costs, especially as I actually wanted the item in question. To resolve things amicably I suggested paying the difference for the extra item, which I thought was quite reasonable. This was ignored and on Sun 04/12/11 (5 days after the original transaction), I was starting to get annoyed. I sent a message stating that I wasn't impressed by the lack of responsibility and professionalism by a) shrugging their shoulders at the fact I had requested to cancel (to order from them again no less) and b) ignoring my suggestion to resolve matters. I chose this particular seller as they were "top rated" and a business, which generally give me more confidence than private sellers as I expect a professional service adhering to the DSRs. I realise I made the initial mistake, and I also gave them ample opportunity to cancel my order. I also hadn't yet received my item, which surprised me for something that was apparently posted First Class the day on 30/11/11. I asked that they respond to my suggestion by Tuesday 06/12/11 so that we could move on. Instead of considering the resolution, I got a message straight back saying that the order was packaged with PayPal the same night as the order, and that the seller posted it on the way to work before even logging in to eBay. I was told that the seller was not "going to complain like you" and I could return the product for a refund and that we would both be out of pocket on postage. I asked what the seller had to complain about when the truth of the matter is that I ordered incorrectly, requested a cancellation straight after, suggested a way to resolve (paying the difference for the extra) and was ignored every time. Things escalated and I got called an idiot for not reading the advert properly and the poor seller had only been doing his job by posting the item out First Class the next working day, and had even sent it recorded delivery at no extra cost. I didn't express my doubt at the item being posted next working day and decided to keep quiet and see when it would arrive. At this point I had no confidence in the seller and so placed my order with Amazon, deciding that I would reject the delivery when it finally arrived. It eventually turned up on Thursday 08/12/11, six working days after the order was placed. Before rejecting the delivery, I took a photo of the package which had been marked at the post office as being dispatched on Saturday 03/12/11. I verified this by entering the tracking number into the Royal Mail website. So not only had the seller lied about dispatching on 30/11/11, but unless I had missed something the postage was conventional Post Office stuff and there was no printed PayPal postage in sight. In light of the fact it hadn't even been posted when I requested the order cancellation/amendment, I just can not understand why the seller could not simply charge the difference and send out the bundle instead. Even if the label had been printed, surely it could be transferred or printed again and put on another box. Things had been very polite up until that point so unless my messages were misinterpreted, I can't see the logic. Perhaps the bundle makes less profit than the item on its own, who knows. Anyway, I opened a dispute on eBay after this stating that I want a refund. I never took delivery of the product, had requested cancellation from the very first day and my rights were ignored. The product is also no longer needed due to ordering from elsewhere. The seller tells eBay the delivery was rejected and that I should travel to my local depot to collect it. Tells me again that if I want a refund I can return it. I state that as per the tracking information, I don't have the product and it is being "returned to sender". The seller states that until he receives the product back he won't refund. I tell him that I didn't take delivery of it - as evident from the tracking - and ask what would happen if the item gets lost on the way back to him; would that be my problem despite the postage being his responsibility? He ignores this and states that as per eBay rules, he will not refund until he gets it back. I quote various parts of the DSR which he chooses to ignore, repeating his mantra. It comes out that he hasn't stuck a return address label on the box (I wonder why?). If you got this far, the way I see it is this : He is obligated to abide by the DSRs as he is a high volume seller on eBay, registered as a business. He ignored my right to cancel, as evident by the date of postage. Whether he saw my message re: cancellation or not is inconsequential, as it was provided in a durable form, directly to him and within a very reasonable time frame. He has the contract with Royal Mail and is responsible for his own item until I take delivery of it, in which case the responsibility is then on me to take reasonable care of the item and ensure it is returned in good condition. If I had taken delivery of his product, he cannot demand it back before refunding me. He has to refund me after a maximum of 30 days after my request to cancel, regardless of whether the item is back with him or not. He didn't state in his terms and conditions that I would have to pay for the return postage, had I taken delivery of it. This means he would have to pay for me to return it as well as refund me. If I have any of this wrong, please let me know. I also need to know what I can do about this. The seller seems to be completely ignorant of his obligations as a distance retailer. He is relying on eBay's rules and decisions, who seem to be a law unto themselves. It is likely that eBay will rule in his favour via the resolution centre; according to their rules a "good faith dispute" does not exist if the item was rejected. Where do I go from there? A PayPal dispute? Any advice would be much appreciated!