deal gone bad

[mary siner]

i live in virginia and i recently wanted to purchase a purebreed kitten. i found someone on line and she asked me when i would like to pay her for him. i sent her some money and i was going to just send her some every couple of weeks. i decided not to buy the cat from her and now she will not refund my money. she states that the "deposit" is non-refundable. she never stated anyof this before and i never signed a contract. my question is can i take her to samll claims(and win) for the money i sent her.

the reason i decided not to get the cat from her is because she said that unless i came to pick him up on a certain day that she would sell him to someone else. i couldnt drive the 2 hours that day to get him though b/c i was very sick.

 

[JETX]

First and important, is the seller in the same state??? If not, even if you have a case against her, you would have to sue in her state. (Not necessarily due to statute, but in order to enforce any judgment that you might receive, it would have to be done where she has assets.)

Obvously, the next question is do you have a case. Based solely on your post, I doubt that you have worth pursuing due to several factors. The main problem you have is that NONE of the issues are in writing. The seller can claim that you agreed to a non-refundable deposit, then who's 'version of the facts' will the court believe. If you are the Plaintiff, the burden of proof will be on you to prove that such an agreement did NOT exist and that the court should refund your money.