Rough caravan trader/scammer from Peterborough

[Bobster2000]

Hi folks,


Bought a caravan couple of months ago from a chap on ebay. Caravan was in storage at pe67sa and he was claiming it's a private sale etc. No warranty no returns. Caravan of course not as described with damp. No refund or return. After some ebay investigation 'I've found out that he is actually selling caravans under over 30 different nicknames to avoid tax or accept returns. He either drives 17 plate Seat Alhambra or 06 saab estate. His name is Janusz W and he has a mate that helps him too. Nicknames they operate under - agso_14, agsok, alde-7899, aldud_0, anno.2012, anslo64, anya250314, dud-nicol, j.w.boss, jan.boss, jano1337, john.dad, jul_1135, kietjone-0, kowa-alek, mamatul_0, marian10261, mds1413, nikinati1, oscar-garden, paulm8266, trifin_28, premsamie, urabu62, wiode_0.


I've informed HMRC and trading standards, but I think all should be aware of this practice to avoid hassle and wasted journey.


Cheers

Bobster

 

[Buckman]

We also got caught with an individual that was selling caravans privately. Found damp and then investigation showed he was selling caravans as a business as at the time in the past year he had sold 12 caravans. Reported him to Trading Standards who then said they would be investigating and we heard nothing further. He continued to sell caravans on a monthy base.

 

[Raywood]

Sorry to hear of the problem here. This is fairly common with almost anything on e bay and other sales forums. Frankly if you do not know enough about caravans to fully check out any for sale you should avoid private sales. The chances of being fleeced are simply too high for me to suggest anything else. If you do not know what to look for you are potentially walking into serious trouble.
You should never pay over cash prior to seeing and checking the caravan and particularly doing a damp check. Never see it anywhere other than the sellers private address, make sure you get proof that the seller owns it everything that works does work and it has a clear CRiS check. If using e bay then pay through Paypal. It is not perfect, but it has some protection, people trying to avoid that are a warning sign.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I cannot understand why some people are prepared to risk large sums of money by prepaying for secondhand goods before they have had the opportunity to verify they are what they claim to be.

Especially with caravans where there is a well documented history of damp issues and that is one of the most important things to look for when buying second hand - even from dealers.

As Ray has suggested, there are at least some safe guards when using EBay, provided you follow their rules.

 

[Buckman]

Sorry to hear of the problem here. This is fairly common with almost anything on e bay and other sales forums. Frankly if you do not know enough about caravans to fully check out any for sale you should avoid private sales. The chances of being fleeced are simply too high for me to suggest anything else. If you do not know what to look for you are potentially walking into serious trouble.
You should never pay over cash prior to seeing and checking the caravan and particularly doing a damp check. Never see it anywhere other than the sellers private address, make sure you get proof that the seller owns it everything that works does work and it has a clear CRiS check. If using e bay then pay through Paypal. It is not perfect, but it has some protection, people trying to avoid that are a warning sign.

I thought I knew everything, but when I checked the caravan seeling for £1200 I did not have a damp meter as forgot it behind. The damp was low down in the front corner of the caravan.
Luckily when we traded it in about 2 months later, the dealer offered us £1200 on a trade in so we were happy from that aspect.

 

[Kevin M]

I’ve given up with eBay, too many fake goods and poor sellers.
We are thinking of swapping our van but, although there are savings to be had with a private seller, we will most likely do a PX with a dealer.

Kev

 

[Beachball]

Hi Kev i would agree with you about Ebay i orderd something and it never came so i open a case with him 16 days later ebay got back to me and lucky for me i paid with paypal and my money was refunded . The caravan we have at the moment was to see if i could do it but when we are ready to upgrade it will be with a dealer ,

 

[littlebasher]

Reminds me of when i bought my motor mover. Very nice mover for a good price, seller told me that they were selling their caravan and didn't need it any more

Following week, they were selling two more

Week after that.......you guessed it.

Was a relatively new ebay account that closed shortly thereafter - presumably they opened a new account and continued from there.


I guess they were pulled off stolen caravans and moved on from there.