Gumtree Scam

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MashedPotato

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May 21, 2012
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I recently contacted a guy on gumtree about buying a 2011 taylormade rescue that he posted an ad for on Gumtree. He accepted my price of £80 and decided to meet to exchange goods. As i am only 14 years old (which he knew) i had to get my mum to pick it up from the guy as i was in school. My mum returned with it that night and i could immediately tell it was a fake. I texted the guy politely asking where he had bought the club and i phoned him a few times too. With no surprise, there was no reply. It makes me sick to think someone, who may even have kids of their own, would take advantage of a younger person and scam them out of their money. I just thought i should post this here to warn anyone to be careful with sites like gumtree and to maybe seek help/advice or just what i should do. Thanks
 
I maybe wrong but I am not sure there is much you can do, buying used anything is always a risk and it is unfortunate that there are people who will take advantage.

Welcome to the forum enjoy lots of info and opinion to keep all amused. Enjoy.
 
Legally you do have a cause of action if the seller represented the club as a TM club and it was a fake BUT it would rely on you proving the seller knew it was a fake, deliberately misrepresented the facts to you and financially benefitted from his misrepresentation. And, of course, you need the sellers identity and address etc, which is why these shysters deal through sites like Gumtree.

Sadly you may be left with an expensive mistake.
 
I have a phone number and a text conversation, and im sure gumtree could find the ad but the number just goes straight to voicemail now so i think he just got a £2 sim and used that. As you've said i think im going to have to accept this as an expensive lesson and learn from it.
 
Nothing you can do I'm afraid, Gumtree is only an advertising space, they don't deal with the transaction so wont be able to do squat about it. Expensive lesson but think yourself lucky it was only £80, some people spend hundreds only to find out they are fake.

You could file a small claim against him but you'd need to know his name and address and for £80 it's not worth it.

Best thing you could do is stick it on eBay and sell as a fake club, you might get £20 for it to limit the damage.
 
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At 14 I feel for you, harsh lesson but learn from it and grow as a person, "cheat me once shame on you, cheat me twice shame on me"

Is the guy selling other things on gumtree? another issue is he prob knew it was fake and might not be the nicest of characters so maybe just move on, accept the punishment and only buy from reputable dealers in future like Golfbidder or local pro shops (they always have loads of second hand clubs at great prices)

He knew you were 14 and still proceeded to rip you off and was even wanting to meet to do so, speaks volumes about his character.

Stick around the GM forum, you'll prob get some decent clubs here from time to time
 
It's a harsh lesson to learn and an expensive one too. Trust no one at the outset and have a healthy level of suspicion. If it looks too good to be true then it probably is.

The guy that did this to you is a scumbag though - no doubt about that!
 
not the first time iv heard about bad golf experiences on gumtree. my friend sent money online to someone then didnt send the irons. think the best way to deal with gumtree is to deal face to face, so you can inspect the goods first!
 
I was looking for a stand bag on Gumtree the other day and saw a Titleist one for £35. Thing is, the seller seems to have posted the same ad multiple times over the last few months, using a stock photo of the item every time. Maybe I'm just paranoid but it seems unlikely that either a. he has a big supply of identical 2nd hand Titleist bags or b. he's been trying unsuccessfully to sell the same one for months. Either way, I'm steering well clear.
 
Are you sure its fake ?


Report the guy if you are sure to your local trading standards

Even if its a car boot sale you have rights to not buy fakes second hand or new


Report the case just to be sure
 
With Gumtree as well im sure that you have to put in an address as part of 'signing up'
so if the guy signed up properly his address will be stored somewhere on gumtree.
first course of action is to contact citizens advice or even the police and take guidance from them.

as stated before the issue is that you need to prove that the seller knew he was selling dodgy fake gear.
If he is selling more on gumtree (as he may) you could try to buy and let the police or trading standards know.

Good luck and sad to hear that there are sc*mbags out there that would do this
 
Thanks a lot for the advice and support guys! Just signed up and already seeing what a great community this is!
I payed in cash and my mum and the guy met up in a mutual place.

I tried to hit the club and just felt like a can of coke on a stick, no technology used at all to make it! Also took about 30-40 yards off of what i would usually hit with a hybrid.

Yes, definitely a fake. I checked it up on google and someone on another thread on another forum was asking about the exact same and he put up pictures and it looks exactly the same as mines. The head cover is wrong and the paint is just pathetic, alos the alignment on the face barely resemble a TM logo and is way off centre of the clubhead.

I think i might report to police and have already reported to gumtree and just waiting for a response. If anything comes out of this then ill be sure to post it here!

Just shows you what some sc*mbags will do for some money eh!

Thanks again guys!
 
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