This is the e-mail I have had to send to the person who bought my cattle earlier this year, I think the contents make it obvious what has happened. It is a warning to everyone SELLING cattle, buyer beware is well aired, but sellers need to be just as careful of the expensive traps laid by buyers. We bent over backwards to help this person and have already had to pay more than double the expected bill to the chap ferrying the cattle because he had to hang around for hours before we could start loading. On this buyer's reasoning it is a damned good job that his lorry didn't fall off the ferry or get written off on the motorway on the way here - no doubt he would have expected me to pay for that too.
It also underlines another matter which goes completely against what most people would automatically do. If someone gets themself into trouble, let them get on with it. Whatever you do don't try to help them, because it is you who will end up out of pocket. What a terrible world we now live in.
The bill in question is not large (nowhere near what he would have had to pay a commercial company) it is the principle of this situation which is so utterly depressing.
"I understand that you have returned Mr ******’s bill unpaid claiming that it is my responsibility. I fail to understand your reasons for this when I provided you with a map carefully marked with your route and also e-mailed you to suggest someone could meet you if you let us know when you were in the vicinity.
It was YOUR driver’s decision to take his lorry down an unsuitable lane which was clearly not on the route we had provided.
It was your good fortune that I had someone available with the capability to get you out of the mess you had got into. If this had not been the case you would have had to arrange this yourself with another company and I am sure you would have been stuck there for much longer than you actually were.
As for our arrangements, we gave you full instructions for how to find us, we had the cattle ready to load, we had the lorry ready to take them to your correctly placed lorry and the vet here so they could leave. All these people had to waste time because of a mistake by your driver. We fulfilled our part of the contract. I never agreed to be responsible for what your driver chose to do on his way here.
I would therefore like to know why you could possibly think it is my responsibility to pay this bill.
I did everything I could to help you. I gave the cows the treatments you asked for, took delivery of your large packages and stored them, provided a pallet and straw, neither of which you offered to pay for and I am aware what a bargain you obtained with my pedigree Dexter herd. This makes it even more despicable that you have refused to pay this bill.
Kindly think again and pay Mr ****** for the work he did for you.
Sellers beware
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natmadaboutdexters
- Posts: 220
- Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2006 3:49 pm
- Location: Brackley
Hello Sylvia,
whatr a terrible mess. I can only sympathise with your story. I had someone phone me in regard to Dexters for sale who didn't own a stock trailer and asked me how I would get the cattle to him. I explained that it was probably best to get a local haulier to him to move the cattle. I am not suggesting he was the same chap as you came across, just that if you are buying cattle surely you would look into how to move them and not rely on the seller for delivery.
Natasha
whatr a terrible mess. I can only sympathise with your story. I had someone phone me in regard to Dexters for sale who didn't own a stock trailer and asked me how I would get the cattle to him. I explained that it was probably best to get a local haulier to him to move the cattle. I am not suggesting he was the same chap as you came across, just that if you are buying cattle surely you would look into how to move them and not rely on the seller for delivery.
Natasha
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Peter thornton
- Posts: 326
- Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2004 4:41 pm
Hmmm
I bought my first Dexters when I didn't have a cattle trailer and I did a deal including delivery. It was no problem.
If the seller hadn't been prepared to deliver then I wouldn't have bought them and perhaps wouldn't be into Dexters today.
I can't remember the exact arrangement, but I think I gave him half the money up front, anyway, it suited him and it suited me. Most people are straighforward and honest and a few simple precautions can usually protect us against those who are not. There's always the exception, and I guess it's hard to protect yourself against the kind of situation described by Sylvia.
I bought my first Dexters when I didn't have a cattle trailer and I did a deal including delivery. It was no problem.
If the seller hadn't been prepared to deliver then I wouldn't have bought them and perhaps wouldn't be into Dexters today.
I can't remember the exact arrangement, but I think I gave him half the money up front, anyway, it suited him and it suited me. Most people are straighforward and honest and a few simple precautions can usually protect us against those who are not. There's always the exception, and I guess it's hard to protect yourself against the kind of situation described by Sylvia.
This buyer insisted on collecting them in the lorry of his choice which was far too big to get to my farm. I offered delivery in 2 smaller lorrys which would have been able to load straight from our barn but he insisted on his choice, meaning we had to tailgate all the cattle from one to the other. As you can imagine this took military precision in getting all the parties to the same point at the same time. So his driver took their lorry and firmly jammed it down a lane which he could not get out of. The chap waiting to help me load went to find him, went back and got his tractor and chains and a chainsaw and managed with some difficulty to get him out. I'd put all this out of my mind until this cropped up, it just brought it all back to me. We should have left him there. 