How best to rip off and con an OAP

[tim.....]

Someone wants you to supply a replacement battery and you supply one.

How is it your fault of they then go and connect it up to dodgy equipment

tim

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[tim.....]

Need a new consumable item for your Audi?

Just go and order the same item from your Skoda dealer for a fraction of the price.

tim

[tim.....]

After the first time, but how does a one time ebay user know (and yes I am that user).

Not everyone uses ebay 100 times a week!

He doesn't, but he will have rights to a replacement (that can be enforced) if it fails prematurely

tim

[Dave Plowman (News)]

So not speaking from experience? Ebay operates a feedback system. If a supplier supplied dodgy goods they'd get poor feedback. Read their feedback and see what it says. If you are unsure about them.

FWIW, the only time I've received fake goods from Ebay was when buying a new Nokia phone. It was a good fake to look at - but the camera performance let it down immediately - and that was my primary reason for buying it. Got an instant refund, and bought another from a different supplier, which I still possess.

Of course it's possible I've bought fakes which perform as well as the genuine item. ;-)

Most of these sort of things will fail quickly if rubbish - or not perform correctly. In which case the Paypal time limit for a refund is ok. But so many Ebay sellers are respectable firms these days that a normal warranty period applies. Because at the end of the day, they get a refund from the maker.

A shop which overcharges the disabled is equally as likely to make problems about a warranty claim, IMHO. Because they are sharks.

[Dave Liquorice]

Aye, a poor trader stands out like a sore thumb. You can even do your own background checks, does the contact information tally with other sources etc. As for drop shipping from HK, there is "item location" information clearly visible for each item. Most of the HK shippers are very easy to spot and don't try to cover it up.

And it's impossible to get anything like eBays feedback on single physical shop. As for the "markup" on medical/care related stuff I guess it's down to "charging what the market will bear" and most of the market is the NHS...

It will be interesting to see if Bills "unreplaceable" failed batteries really are anything other than a stock SLA. If they are a standard part that is still available I'd really be looking at some form of redress.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd be most surprised if a maker of such things which ain't going to sell by the million could afford to have a special battery made.

[Bill]

In message , Dave Liquorice writes

Rest assured, as soon as I find out more I will post here. If it turns out that they were an easily replaceable item then keep an eye on uk.legal.moderated

[tim.....]

I worked for a company that "made" a special battery for their goods, by soldering three together and putting them in a weird shaped plastic case.

tim

[michael adams]

Did your parents get anything in writing to the effect that the battery was no longer available and they would require a new unit fitted ? Did they record any phone calls ?

The problem is that if it was only word of mouth - and batteries are in fact available then it may be possible for the trader to wriggle out of it by claiming there was a misunderstanding and that he understood your parents to be asking for a replacement unit having used the present one for five years.

This would probably succeed if the trader can produce evidence of other customers, who've replaced these units after five years of use. As some possibly do.

With many of these products aimed at OAP's, mobility scooters, stairlifts, step in baths, with basic bath lifts coming at the lower end of the spectrum maybe, the thinking seems to be that if a customer can afford one at all, then they can be charged top dollar, with no real price competition among suppliers at all. I have no direct experience of this but that's the impression I get anyway.

michael adams

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[ARW]

Cheaper to run:-)

They have non of those annoying air bubbles in the clay that waste electricity like those inferior heaters.

[ARW]

I would shove it up their arse.

[dennis]

"This repair"

[hugh]

In message , Bill writes

Extra cost for them to dispose of it. Probably not aware that the elderly people actually have a relative with knowledge of batteries to follow this up.

These cons happen all too frequently. One in our local paper of an elderly couple being conned out of £150 ostensibly to fix some roof tiles - just happened to be doing some work in the neighbourhood and noticed you need a couple of tiles fixing etc. etc. Bring back the stocks I say.

[hugh]

In message , Bill writes

Many places now provide II training for older people - I know 3 or 4 in Cheshire, AGE UK in Hartford, Wishing Well in Crewe Might be worth having another go.

[Bill]

In message , michael adams writes

Hi Micheal. I have no idea what the paperwork consists of, yet, that is one of the reasons that I need to go and visit them and take a look at it. Unfortunately Dad is of the old school where a verbal agreement is fine.

Within reason they can afford it, it certainly isn't going to put them into financial difficulties, which is fortunate.

I'll know more after I've visited.

[Owain]

Thank you for explaining that.

It wasn't made clear in the last ASA adjudication against Cornwall Heating

[Bill]

And then turn it on, now there's an idea :-) The video will be placed on YouTube.

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[Bill]

In message , hugh writes

NO :-)

It wouldn't be fair on the trainers, or on the trainees, computers are a black art to them. Believe me, we did try some very basic things to allow dad to catalogue his fuchsias so that he had an incentive to learn.

But the web cam idea and also a remotely accessible CCTV system are looking promising. I already have the CCTV kit to do it, just need to learn a bit about the networking side and find the cheapest way of getting a fixed ip address. BT seem to only want to offer them to business accounts. Although, with the addition of a PC I have seen ways around that with the PC checking what ip has been allocated and then reporting by email if it ever happens to change. I'll leave that to a mate of mine who is much more into these sort of things though.

[F]

I have a static IP address with Plusnet. And they're a pretty good ISP as well.

[Frank Erskine]

Oxygen-free clay?