I sold my mobile car valeting business earlier this year; 3 vans (all fairly old-ish but in decent nick) fitted with water tanks, pressure washers, generators, etc. Each van was advertised and sold seperately, mainly via ebay.
The last of the vans to be sold was a Renault Kangoo, R reg, but only 67K miles. Including all the kit, it went for £1200 which is hardly a fortune (less than the other 2 vans which went for £1500 and £1600)when the kit is worth £500 at least.
All the vans were kept serviced and mot'd by local garages, and this van had just been driven back from Northampton to Southport, before being sold.
So I am surprised to get a telephone call from the buyer, saying that on his way home the exhaust fell off, damaging another vehicle, and then a tyre blew out, causing him to swerve all over the road. My second-in-command had checked the vehicle when it was returned from Northampton; I had checked the vehicle over before sale and the buyer had spent a good half hour poking about, fiddling under the bonnet and under the van.
I'm as certain as I can be that the van was fine when it was sold. Anyway, this buyer rabbits on for a good 30 minutes moaning about "guarantee" "sold as seen" and all sorts, so I suggest that, as I am driving, he sends me an email.
Finally after a few weeks he phones again and I remind him to send an email so I have everything on paper to look at.
The email duly arrives, and asks for "some sort of refund"
I discuss the event with a few people, one of whom is a police traffic officer. His opinion is that for two events to happen within a few minutes of each other, the likely cause is that something on the road hit the exhaust and tyre, loosening the exhaust and damaging the tyre. Had either the exhaust been loose or the tyre badly damaged, one or both of these would have been easily spotted in even a cursory examination.
I email back with this opinion, stating that I am convinced that the vehicle was roadworthy when sold.
Almost immediately another email comes back...... "we would hate this to get out of hand and for your reputation to suffer all for us to collect what we had to pay out on a new exhaust and tyre"
Again, I reply with my opinion of the likely cause of the problems, and my belief that the vehicle was fine when sold: but I do not of course know how it was driven afterwards (the road from us to the motorway is a country lane with quite a few potholes)
Another phone call comes, and goes on for ages and ages. I still maintain my position. After several minutes I terminate the call as I have customers waiting at the counter.
So the next email comes. "my wifes grandparents live 5 minutes from you ..... have explained to them ........ you could have nearly killed my wife and their granddaughter ...... they will be informing your possible clients of your antics" "we have been in contact with trading standards and advise you to watch this space" "look forward to seeing you soon"
Is this not getting a bit heated? Do I now expect "grand-dad" to pay me a visit with his twelve-bore?