I’ve been well and truly ‘done over’!

Trading standards so you have to give as much detail as possible. make notes of everything. Good luck

If it’s a private seller it’s very difficult, if the item is blatantly misdescribed in writing and he will not refund all you can do is take him to the small claims court, if he still won’t refund you have to get a bailiff to seize his property.

If you paid in advance you could have inspected the doors and refused to accept them, having accepted them puts you on the back foot. Buying on EBay with PayPal gives you a lot of protection because they will not release the payment if you complain, private sellers usually use PayPal instead of credit cards online.

Nannan2, I seriously hope you never have to eat your words. I would have thought something similar to you (but not so brutally) until yesterday until I was tricked myself. Really thought I was on the ball with the trickster stuff. Not so.

Lots of good advice here, maybe Citizens advice might help too. Good luck!

Well done Luckylegs, it sounds as if you are taking the correct steps to stop this happening to others, as you say, it is easy to be swept along by someone who is a confident and experienced swindler and con artist, we can all be wise after the event. Don't let him get under your skin, it sounds as if everything is closing in on him anyway.

Hi thanks for all your replies. I know his name and address and loads of other people have come forward with tales of how he scammed them. Him and his girlfriend seem to make a living from it. I’ve got him blocked on some selling sites and am making a nuisance of myself every time he posts by announcing AVOID AVOID AVOID and an explanation but it’s going to be impossible to get my money back I think.

I know what you’re all saying and I’d be saying the same thing about buyer beware etc but it’s so difficult when you’re being hassled and you have zero experience of doors! I know more now. I will try to ring the local police and Trading Standards. I’ve been asked to tell a certain police officer and his Housing Association about him as he’s a nuisance to the neighbourhood and they want him out so I’ve done that.

It’s taken over my life for two days now and upset me very much. My H says I should get over it but it’s helping me to channel my annoyance and embarrassment into trying to inconvenience him at the very least.

You’ve all come up with some very helpful suggestions. I too scoff when I hear of stupid people being suckered in and I’ll have more sympathy in future. Perhaps one person might reflect on that and not rub salt in the wound?

Contact the Trading people - can't think of their correct title but it's trading standards. They might know about him and if they don't, they will act. I don't know if you'll get your money back though if you gave him cash. Do you know his name?? Always assuming he didn't use a false one, you can get the operator to check his number and you might get his mobile that way.

Nannan2

Don't mean to be harsh, but i can't believe there's folk still falling for this type of scam tbh.....??

Very unfair comment, and it is a very rare occurence on FB marketplace actually.

All of you suggesting Trading Standards/Police/Credit cards ....this is a scammer, luckylegs has been unfortunate and obviously people like him don't take payments by credit card. Just do what you are doing, report him to FB marketplace and hope that other's don't fall for it. Maybe use the doors as flooring for your loft? That's what we did when we replaced our doors, and just treat it as a lesson learned and don't beat yourself up about it. I buy quite a few bits on FB marketplace and have got quite a few bargains with things people just don't want anymore, but I always go to their address, always view before paying, but I realise this may not have been the option with something as big as doors. Don't let it spoil your day, just feel sorry for someone who is so awful they make their living by scamming decent honest people.

If any of you do word games online,don't buy from advertisers on there, particularly a company called Magoloft. They are all Chinese shysters. I got done.

Not very helpful nannan2.

Unfortunately it's a case of "buyer beware". Expensive lesson I'm afraid. All you can do is warn others

Don't mean to be harsh, but i can't believe there's folk still falling for this type of scam tbh.....??

I was cheated out of £750 paying to have my roof repaired The rain was pouring in so I was desperate to get it fixed. I wouldn't have minded paying this out if the the problem was solved, but it was not. I should have realized at the time as the man was only on the roof for ten minutes. I had to pay another roofer to come and do a proper job. The whole incident has made me very wary and I now only use recommended tradespeople. It cost me over a £1,000 in the end.

www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Have a look at this website. It may help.

Good luck ??

Sadly a visit to the police (suggested above) is pointless as no real criminal offence has been committed there is a slight element of misrepresentation but this is a more a civil matter, (breach of contract).
If you can track him down you could issue a County court claim against him,but there is no guarantee that he would pay up and then you might have spent the court fee for nothing.

Get in touch with your Bank and explain the situation to them if you paid by Debit or Credit card. They will be able to pull the money back from the sellers Bank Account.

I’m sorry to read about your experience. If I were you, I’d contact the BBC’s Rogue Traders programme and report this bloke. Also give as much negative feedback as possible wherever you can to warn others.

I got "done" a year or so ago after buying something on ebay, bit of a complicated issue. Not as much as your loss but I ended up with literally nothing to show for it and lost about £80 with no fault of my own. I tried everything to get some redress but to no avail. In the end I just had to let it go, but it still makes me furious when I think about it. So many scammers and bastards out there. I know how you feel and sympathise

Sorry to hear this Luckylegs, I hope the situation gets resolved to your satisfaction.

I was scammed recently by ordering something from a sponsored advert in my Facebook feed. I ordered some t-shirts for my daughters which looked lovely in the pictures but when they eventually turned up 3 months later (they were made and shipped from China which was not indicated in the ad) they were poorly fitted and horrible cheap material not even good enough to be used as dusters! Expensive as well.

You could try the Small Claims court, as by law, things must be ‘fit for the purpose for which they were intended’.

Citizens advice will explain how to go about.

I hope you do proceed.

Luckylegs I'd have rang the police if only to help stop someone else from being fleeced. There are some sharks out there who don't think twice at extortion, a crime in itself.
Too much to lose at any time of year let alone now.

I would let the police know, Citizens Advice, Trading Standards, the lot. These people will get away with this time and time again if it's just left. I'd trouble with a well known site that sells homeware and I've finally got my £190 back into my account this morning. It has been over a month of daily emails and upset. The item was badly damaged when I opened the box, I took pictures and emailed them straight away. Each time a different person came back with different information. Waited in 2 days on my replacement only for them to tell me it hadn't even been sent and a resolution dept was dealing with it. That made me dig my heels in even more that my money was sitting in their big fat bank account. Don't let these people get away with it. It's really awful you won't see your money again, I was lucky, but it's all the upset its causing you too, it's not right.

Another one to contact is Radio Four's You and Yours. They're very good at tracking down scammers and getting money back. Especially if a lot of people have been caught. You may not want to go public on air, but there will be other victims who will.

In your shoes I would collate all the screen shots of conversations, his location details and name etc and get it all over social media, Name and Shame!

I'm sorry that you've been ripped off in this way, actually there was a feature on Martin Lewis Money Show last night about scams!

I trade a lot on Market Place, but I only ever deal in cash, insist on collection and I never post anything or deliver personally.