It's not just losing the money but the trust and the faith.
Recently, we went to Manchester to buy a car. It was my husband actually. It's not new to us to travel far to get a car as the last time we went to England to get one. To be fair they sell cheaper cars for the same ones here. We need a small car that we can use for delivery where we can save on petrol. As you know the price of petrol skyrocketed. It cost too much money to run a car now.
We live in Northern Ireland so we have to fly from Belfast to get to Manchester. This time since I was busy with work and kids I didn't mind or check when he deal with a seller over Facebook Market. He deposited £200 though he insist that we will just pay when we get there. But the man said, "To secure, so he doesn't need to entertain others in the meantime". Okay, fair enough.
So after work and Mum and the kids got sorted, we fly. From Manchester Airport took the train and had a long walk to reach the destination he sent us.
And there he was so happy to see us and showed us directly to the car. But what he is presenting us is not the car we are looking forward to seeing. It's a completely different car! And I already felt something is wrong. He apologized as that's the car he had ready for us. He thought that's what we are getting. Like how come??? Like really?
He showed us the right car and is far from what he advertised. My husband is a car mechanic so he knows that car is faulty and to be honest, it looks like it's stolen! There's no clutch, door handle is missing, engine management is on a red light and so on.
We have to drive that for almost 10 hours going to Scotland. I don't think we will make it with that car. So I told my husband and he knows himself that that car is no good. He is so chill while talking to us while saying sorry as if we can just go walk home. He doesn't look like he's sorry for us flying all the way from Northern Ireland just to get the car. He knew all along that the car is no good but didn't tell us. Instead, he let us fly and be surprised.
We ask for our deposit back and he said he will message his boss to deposit back the money. That it is his fault. That we have to send him our bank details so they can send it back to us. He even shakes our hands. And happily bid us goodbye.
That's not our problem, the main thing was how are we going home? We are meant to take the boat that we already paid for. Now we have to check for flights. But no more flight for that night! We have to wait till morning. But how will the kids go to school tomorrow? I rang Mum and told her what happened. I call my brother in law see if he can take the kids to school. Glad it's sorted. Where are we going to stay for the night? Check near hotels online? Money again! Cost too much money for a false advertisement. We felt scammed already.
We pity ourselves while sitting at the train station not knowing what to do. We are starving and exhausted.
Did we get our money back? No. After so many follow-ups, he just keeps saying he will phone his boss. He blocked us on Facebook and Messenger after. I tried to call him on Whatsapp but got blocked again. Call their company number, and then he's the very one who answers the call. So he is the Boss.
We call our bank and they said they cannot help as it is a business account. So they are good, they know how it works.
We got con of our £200. Easy money for them. But we lost not just the £200 but the boat fare, the hotel that we stayed in, the new flight going home and the extra food we have to buy. Plus the trust and faith you have in people. We lost too much in one day. I cursed too much that day, the whole week. I was fuming at that Moe Ali. I even lose my sleep because I was raging. Now, I already moved on. My peace is important to me. So I leave it to Karma.
So be warned lovely people and be very very careful if you're buying anything online or doing any transaction over the internet.
But there's one thing that is right and made us smile that day. I will share it with you in my next post.
Have you been con before? Do you have any similar experiences? Share it in the comment below.
Thank you for reading.
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