I am looking for advice as to whether this case would hold up in small claims court.
I recently made a purchase off of craigslist for a steam iron - it's basically a boiler connected to an iron so the you have lots of steam to iron with. The listing person described it as in excellent condition, used only 3 times.
My wife and I went and exchanged the money/product in a parking lot, and I did not inspect it in detail but there was no immediate evidence it was broken. I took it home that night and tested it out - it worked fine.
Three days later, I was going to iron my clothes. I dumped all of the old water out (the previous owners water) and in the process heard a lot of rattling/screws loose and moving inside. I then looked at the where the cap goes on to the boiler and found that the boiler inside was not even secured. It was obviously defective or she sold me a broken iron.
I immediately emailed her and told her the situation, and that I wanted my money back. She said she would get back to me. When she did get back to me via email, she said - essentially no. I called her up explaining the situation over the phone - and she said that she believed me that I didn't do the damage, but she wanted to explore all options. Well she contacted the manufacturer and set up a case for me to send the boiler back (at my cost) and bear the risk/cost and time to get it fixed. After all said and done, it would have been close cost wise to purchasing a new unit.
I tried to reason with her - saying that it was not fair that I bought something that she implied was close to new, and found damage that I am now responsible for. She said that's the best that she could do, and to stop harassing her (which I was not).
Now it's more of a matter of principle to me.
Do I have a case?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
I recently made a purchase off of craigslist for a steam iron - it's basically a boiler connected to an iron so the you have lots of steam to iron with. The listing person described it as in excellent condition, used only 3 times.
My wife and I went and exchanged the money/product in a parking lot, and I did not inspect it in detail but there was no immediate evidence it was broken. I took it home that night and tested it out - it worked fine.
Three days later, I was going to iron my clothes. I dumped all of the old water out (the previous owners water) and in the process heard a lot of rattling/screws loose and moving inside. I then looked at the where the cap goes on to the boiler and found that the boiler inside was not even secured. It was obviously defective or she sold me a broken iron.
I immediately emailed her and told her the situation, and that I wanted my money back. She said she would get back to me. When she did get back to me via email, she said - essentially no. I called her up explaining the situation over the phone - and she said that she believed me that I didn't do the damage, but she wanted to explore all options. Well she contacted the manufacturer and set up a case for me to send the boiler back (at my cost) and bear the risk/cost and time to get it fixed. After all said and done, it would have been close cost wise to purchasing a new unit.
I tried to reason with her - saying that it was not fair that I bought something that she implied was close to new, and found damage that I am now responsible for. She said that's the best that she could do, and to stop harassing her (which I was not).
Now it's more of a matter of principle to me.
Do I have a case?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?