Gumtree Advertisement falsely advertised health of dog

[yellowdaisy]

Last week I visited and then bought a dog on Gumtree which was advertised as "recently vet checked and in excellent health". However, when I got him home I noticed that he kept shaking his head and upon looking saw that he had an extremely serious ear infection....his poor ear was a complete mess Next day I took him to my own vet who couldn't even inspect it properly because it was so sore but started him on antibiotics. I tried to get hold of previous owner but she was not returning my calls or texts. i tracked down her vet who confimred she has taken him in 10 days previous for his ear problem and again it was so sore it could not be properly inspected. they started him on antibiotics and was due to take him back 3 days later but never did ...that is obviously when she put him up for sale. As she advertised him as recently vet checked and in "excellent health" do I have a case against her of false advertising and fraud? thanks you

[hightail]

Even if you got judgement against her you've no guarantee of getting any money. How did you track down her vet and persuade them to give you the information? On one hand I'm glad you could but on the other I'm appalled at them discussing another client with you.

[yellowdaisy]

Even if you got judgement against her you've no guarantee of getting any money. How did you track down her vet and persuade them to give you the information? On one hand I'm glad you could but on the other I'm appalled at them discussing another client with you.

 

 

They did not give me information about their client, they gave me medical information about the dog. My own vet gave me his chip number and I emailed a number of the vets in the area I bought him, explained that I needed his medical history and fortunately one of them was the right vet and they called me back. Money here is now really irrelevant....I want to know if I can take action for posting an advertisement that basically told lies and influenced me as towhether or not I bought the dog.

[hightail]

In terms of the seller misrepresenting the condition of the 'goods' then money is the only thing you can sue for. It's never irrelevant. I'm not sure there's any other action you could take. I'm not even sure Trading Standards would be interested. Misrepresentation is relevant under SoGA for private sales but I doubt they'd get involved on a one off sale of a dog.

[yellowdaisy]

Thank you for your response....didn't word my response correctly. I would like compensation, if only to cover the vet fees, just wasn't sure how you would go about pursuing someone if the "goods" were bought via an advert rather than through a shop. Regards

[hightail]

Do take into account that you may not get your money even if you get judgement. Animals are regarded as property for legal purposes so I don't know if an easily apparent minor fault would be a clear cut case. I know it isn't minor to you but a serious deliberate misrepresentation would be something like a heart defect which they knew about and then had advertised the dog as healthy. If the vet had said something like apart from the ear the dog is in robust health and they'd given a course of the prescribed antibiotics so assumed it was sorted then the ad doesn't seem so awful.

 

If the seller is avoiding your calls then it's unlikely to be totally innocent I know and I do understand how angry you must be but this is what you'd be up against. They have the evidence of their own vet to prove it had been recently vet checked and treated. That vet will not provide anything for you. It was the owner who was the client, not the dog. They should not have discussed the details with you unless they had the permission of their client.

[jackieandwayne]

Thank goodness the poor dog got a good forever home. X