Very disappointed, timewasting seller

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crellow4

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I agreed a couple of weeks ago to buy a coloured broodmare from a lady in Hertfordshire. She declined a deposit assuring me that she would not change her mind, the home I was offering was perfect. Transport was arranged to collect the mare next Saturday.
Last night I got a text from the seller asking if I could pay more than double the price agreed as she'd received a better offer. I explained I was unable to do that but did agree to increase the price I was paying by £200 - this was the price she had advertised the mare for. This morning she text back to say she was going with the higher offer after all. I'm really disappointed and so annoyed that she can do this. She had agreed verbally and in writing to sell the mare to me. We get lots of posts here about potential buyers wasting your time, it's equally annoying when the table's turned.
 
Although its very disappointing I doubt there is many people who could refuse a double price offer for their horse in the currently climate tbh.

I'm sure there will be something equally as nice out there for you somewhere, good luck.
 
sounds like she has changed her mind and is keeping the horse
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Fortunately I've been able to cancel the transport without incurring a charge. What people are overlooking here is that a verbal or written agreement is a legal contract.
 
It's not on is it!
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People should honour their verbal and written contracts.. But i'm afraid that is life, and life is such. Probably wasn't meant to be. At the end of the day don't stress yourself over it.

ETA sorry meant verbal agreement
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Just got in from work and my brain is frazzled
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Unfortunately because an agreement is verbal it is very difficult to prove. To be quite honest would you really want to persue this with such an unreliable seller? The horse may have failed the vetting when it was done anyway!
 
In a sense you are right, although there are two things to consider if you feel this way, first you can only force a contract to be adhered to by pursuing it through the courts- do you really want the stress and cost of doing so? Presumably she will sell the horse to someone else anyway and so what exactly would you be wanting from her after the six months or so it will take for the hearing? Second, it is only a legal contract if there is some element of 'consideration'- which basically means that you have to have 'done' something to fulfil your side of it, not just be promising that you will do it. i.e If you say to me "I will clean your car if you pay me £5" and I say yes, ok and then change my mind, you cannot force me to still participate in the exchange, UNLESS you have already washed my car, in which case I must pay you. 'Consideration' however does not have to equal in value of any form to the promise made by the other party, so it may be the case that your arranging the transport would be enough to act as your part of the 'bargain' as it were, it depends exactly what you have in writing really (unless you have neutral witnesses it is very difficult to validate a conversation and the other party would likely just deny it in court- it would be your word against theirs). Check all this with a solicitor- this is the case to the best of my knowledge though. Is it worth it??
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It is suspicious to me that she declined your offer of a deposit and not unheard of for people to make up these things to try and get you to pay more money. If you get some story further down the line that she will still sell her to you if you up your offer I would be VERY suspicious and personally, I would flatly refuse to buy the horse at all now anyway. Money isn't everything, courtesy and good manners on her part should have dictated that she still sell the horse to you, having made an agreement. It is on a par with agreeing a house sale to someone only to accept a higher offer further down the line and let them down. Gazumping, I think it is called, very rude and discourteous. We have turned down offers before in this exact situation having agreed to sell a house as we did not think it was fair to the original buyers.
 
Why would someone offer double the current offer, which sounds like it was also way more than the asking price, and in this market? Sounds very iffy to me...
 
If you still have the text I'd have thought it would be proof of a verbal contract / agreement. I think it would be worth going back to her and saying your contemplating taking this further.

I'm sorry you've lost out. Your being much calmer that I'd have been.
 
If you have a written contract you could probably act on it but it is worth the time? Annoying as it is, you should probably just carry on your search and you'll most likely find a better horse than this one.

I agree sellers can be just as timewasting as buyers. I've been searching for a new horse for a friend and we have gone to see horses where the seller is late for us! They also dont even have the horse groomed or anything. I know my friend only has a budget of 3.5k but I cant believe the lack of effort some sellers make. She has struggled to contact a lot of sellers too. Some never return calls or anything.
 
Some years ago I viewed a five month old DiMaggio filly who was to be weaned the following month, liked her, agreed a price and paid a deposit.

A couple of weeks later I phoned the vendor to confirm when she was going to be weaned as the agreement was that she would travel the mare and foal to me, drop the filly off (I had my homebred foal and she was to be a companion for him). It took me a few days to get hold of her only to be told that she had had a better offer. At least she did return my deposit!
 
I know you must be really annoyed but maybe the mare wasn't meant for you after all. I'm sure you will find another equally as nice if not even better.xx
 
It's funny, up until recently I thought that timewasters tended to be buyers rather than sellers. However, when my boss was looking for ponies to buy she has had so many people waste her time. She saw two nice ponies and made an offer on one, very reasonable and was refused but the man selling it kept phoning her up and emailing trying to get her to make a big offer on a pony that wasn't worth it. The other experience she had was that she'd agreed to buy a different pony, shaken hands, had arranged transport, money transfer etc and had been given a rug to take away, she got 10 mins down the road and they phoned up saying the deal was off! If they had done that the next morning then they would have had the money and not much she could have done about it. Luckily she stopped the payment going through, but it was a very odd situation.
 
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Why would someone offer double the current offer, which sounds like it was also way more than the asking price, and in this market? Sounds very iffy to me...

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Sounds VERY iffy to me as well. Perhaps you should ask a few more pertinent questions as to why - but never buy from this person in the future.
 
if the horse was for you you should have paid for it and collected it within a few days. she maybe thought you would pull out of the sale ! however i am a strong beleiver in fate and i doubt that you wont find a nicer one!! just walk away and put down to experience! not worth getting worked up about as you are not out of pocket! (unless you paid for a vetting then i would want that refunded!!)
 
She maybe just trying it on and trying to get some more money out of you. I wouldn't be surprised if they contact you again to say the "better offer" has fallen through and do you still want the horse? If she does, either refuse to buy at all or negotiate an even better deal if you really do want the horse, saying you had to pay for the transport costs
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I doubt someone wanted to pay double the asking price?! Who would do that? Unless she has changed her mind about selling....in which case why didn't she just say that?
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I couldn't collect her any earlier as the owner had a holiday booked so I arranged the transport for the weekend after she got home. With the benefit of hindsight I would have insisted she was collected before the holiday, you live and learn I guess. I don't think it would be worth pursuing this case through the courts however I think people need to be aware that this option is availble. I am so cross I just needed to get it off my chest!
 
She wasn't meant for you and like the rest are saying the seller is trying to get more money from you, because if she had decided not to sell she I think would have told you. Keep looking
 
I don't know, if I was selling a horse, and if I was in financial hardship (which this lady might have been) then I would have done the exact same thing. I would have given you the opportunity to match the offer, but there was no contract; 'deposit secures' is not compulsory.

If the other home is just as good, then she's probably assuming an extra few hundred pounds for her is worth a few hours of you sulking.


(It is annoying though, and I do feel for you!)
 
So annoying when people change their minds!! The few we have sold i have always had a deosit, seems odd she didnt want one.

I met a time wasting seller last week, i drove 70 miles to see a cob youngster that sounded perfect " yearling, 14 hands now" yeah right in his dreams!! I got there to find a 12.2 up to its hocks/knees in mud and rubbish GGGGGGRRRRRRR!!
 
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