Re: "Niel Humphreys of `Snowdon Computers' is a lying incompetent ***"

On Tue, 25 Dec 2007 23:00:48 GMT, Palindrome <me9@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Fran wrote:

I'd read Niel's descriptions, if I were you. They're pretty clear.

I had read it.

I think it perfectly reasonable to equate "Working environment" to
"everything works". The only point in including those words is to
provide the expectation that the unit will work.

Not really, it describes where it came from. If you are looking for
eBay scammers there are several million in the queue before you come
to Niel who, for as long as I have known him, has been accurate rather
than misleading in his descriptions.

"No warranty" simply means no warranty in addition to SOGA rights.

And your SOGA rights are constrained by the description.

"Sold as seen" is meaningless for a distance-selling auction where the
buyers are not present and clearly have not seen the goods.

It certainly can be meaningless and is often used as fraudulent
attempt to avoid responsibility. However "New in unopened box - sold
as seen" and "Second hand, powers on but untested beyond that - sold
as seen" are different kettles of fish.

It is not on to add statements that could lead the buyer to believe that
he is purchasing something that works unless they are countered by even
stronger ones saying that the unit must be considered for all purposes
to be non-functional - if the unit is being sold on the basis of being
non-functional/non-returnable/not covered by SOGA.

Untested and sold with no guarantee it works can be a perfectly valid
description and is often quite appropriate to second hand
commercial/industrial equipment such as the item in question where the
buyer is expected to have some specialist knowledge and testing by the
seller may be impossible. People can make their own minds up how much
such equipment is worth to them and offer an appropriate price
accordingly. Remember this wasn't a fixed price sale.

I once bought a dozen server power supplies from Niel described as
untested for a few pounds, every one worked. I've also bought 30
computers for another company from him on the basis that we would test
them and he would replace any faulty ones (as he didn't have time to
test them all). The price reflected that and when one was found to
have faults he quickly sent a replacement.

When he says untested he really means it unlike many eBay sellers for
whom "untested" means "I've tested it and its broken so I'll call it
untested to hoik the price up".

The Item Description should be "Sprodget - Non Functioning"

He doesn't know its non-functioning. The requirement in the SOGA is
that the description should be accurate and in this case untested" was
accurate. Similarly "removed from a working environment" was accurate
-it (probably) came from a server room which was in operation until
the business closed. That doesn't mean every single piece of kit in
the room was fully functional or that anyone (by the time it ended up
with Niel) knew which bits worked and which didn't.

Unfortunately in this case (which was 4 years ago remember) the
customers response was irrational and he appeared to be incapable of
accepting any point of view other than his own. He had apparently
also placed an unexpectedly and probably unrealistically high offer on
the item. He was also often unable to string two sentences together
without expletives so by the time two e-mails had passed there was
undoubtedly more than a slight element of both seller and buyer
getting overly antagonistic towards each other..

To describe the occurrence, as the buyer did, as "the worst [customer
service] I've come across in 5 years" was probably not altogether
honest given his regular rantings elsewhere about others he decided to
dislike. He had an obvious lack of trust in everything and everyone
and committed suicide in 2007.

.