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I Sold something on Craigslist, now the buyer is taking me to small claims court

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JLG72085

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

I moved into a house with my fiance and the previous owners had left a fairly new hot water heater. We were told that they purchased it 4yrs ago and used it for 2yrs as a spare heater. They left us with the impression, it still works, has no leaks or cracks (which visibly, it did not). So we thought we'd sell it, make a little off it.

It was a 50gal electric heater, Marathon Brand. We decided to post on Craigslist as we had success in the past selling items. We had someone contact us about it and we described the condition of it and what the previous owners said. He was still interested in it. He agreed to purchase and my fiance drove it over for him as he was headed into town. I was asking $200.00 or best offer, my fiance took $175.00 for it.

2 days later the buyer emailed me stating that it wasn't working and he found out that the internal heater coil (thermal coil) was shot, therefore it wasn't producing hot water. He purchased the new part and insisted that we pay for at-least half of it. We replied to his email stating that this was a used item and again told him it was As-Is. No warranties or guarantees implied.

This was sold in April. Since then he has been harassing us, he left a threatening message on my fiance's cell phone stating that if we don't take care of the problem, he will find out where we live. This was 13 days after the purchase.

On May 7th he contacted my Fiance's employer asking questions all around, (his employer refused to admit anything) and then he proceeded to say he was taking him to Small Claims court.

Today May 9th, he sent both my Fiance and I a private message on Facebook, with the following:

"On April 16, 2010 you and your fiance Richard XXXX(Deleted for privacy) sold me a used domestic water heater under the pretense that it was working properly. After installing the unit and subsequently removing the heating elements it became clear that it hadn't worked at the time you sold it.

This ultimately left me and my family without hot water for approximately 1 week at which time the heater was discarded and a new unit purchased.

Pursuant to the requirements of NY State Civil Law I am providing you an opportunity to make restitution before filing suit in small claims court.

Please notify me no later than end of day Friday, June 18 of your intention to refund the $175 paid to you in cash."

Please advise if he can do this???? He's very persistent and threatening as we see it digging information on us!

What can we do about this???What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
 


JakeB

Member
You can certainly be sued, and if the buyer can convince the judge that you misrepresented the condition of the hot water heater, then you're going to lose.
 

princessicys1

Junior Member
Misrepresentation

You should have turned it on to make sure it worked before you tried to turn around and sell it. I'm taking someone from craigslist to court for showing a picture of one washer & dryer set and sending a totally different one to me through my delivery person. I have all printed communication and documentation. Shame on you!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

justalayman

Senior Member
a heating element is what? $20. You should have given him the $10 and been done with it.

Now you risk having the sale rescinded.


We replied to his email stating that this was a used item and again told him it was As-Is. No warranties or guarantees implied.
the problem with that is you said this:

We had someone contact us about it and we described the condition of it and what the previous owners said.
They left us with the impression, it still works, has no leaks or cracks
It would appear you did imply a warranty of it being a working water heater.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
You should have turned it on to make sure it worked before you tried to turn around and sell it. I'm taking someone from craigslist to court for showing a picture of one washer & dryer set and sending a totally different one to me through my delivery person. I have all printed communication and documentation. Shame on you!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you do not turn on water heaters unless they are fully filled. You can burn out an element very quickly with no water in the tank.
 

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