Advice Needed Before a Washer & Dryer Lands my Family on Springer!

In My Humble Opinion
1

There are three main players in this short anecdote: my brother, my cousin, and my boyfriend. And me somewhat. Follow closely so that you can answer the quiz at the end.

November: Brother just moved into a house, bought brand new washer and dryer. No longer needing fiancee’s washer and dryer offers the set for sale to me and my Cousin, whoever hands over the money first.
I discuss it with the Boyfriend, and we decide that it’s a great deal for a washer and dryer set that is only a year or two old, but since we’re in an apartment, we’d want my brother to store it.
By the time I talk to my Brother again, my Cousin has already purchased them.

Fast forward to May/June: Boyfriend and I move into a duplex, with laundry hookups in the basement. “Too bad we don’t have that washer and dryer from your brother.” But since Cousin is in a highrise, maybe he’s not using them. We ask, and he isn’t. We will purchase them from him for same price he paid. He will bring them over in his truck. Payment details are not hashed out. This transaction was taken care of by my Boyfriend and Cousin. I was not really involved directly.

So my Cousin brings over the washer and dryer, and they are not what we were expecting! They are not a full set. They are a tiny little washer, a tiny little dryer that can maybe hold half a load each. The washer does not hook up to our laundry tub properly. The do not look less than 2 years old. There is no separate bleach dispenser in the washer. There is no fabric softener dispenser in the washer. Most importantly, there is no way to have separate temperatures for the wash and rinse cycles! It is totally not what we were expecting.
Boyfriend puts in a call, ends up getting a great deal on a full size washer and dryer for only $200 more than what we paid for this set.

Now that we have the background, here’s the problem:
We have not paid for the washer and dryer and so want my Cousin to come and take them back. We have not had them for more than a week, and have not used them. He claims that he considers them sold and has already spent that money that he was expecting to get for them for other things (stuff for his gf).
We discussed the option of selling them, but Boyfriend and I don’t think there is anyway we could get the price originally offered by my Brother for this old washer and dryer.
If we had purchased the washer and dryer from a store and not been satisfied with the products, we would have been able to return them, but this is a private sale, not from a store.

So what is the right thing to do here? Is my Cousin obligated to take them back since we have not paid for them? Should we just try and sell them and eat the cost?
My Boyfriend is quite perturbed with my Cousin right now and I am staying out of it because the last thing I want to do is cause problems with one of the few family members we still talk to.

Help so that it doesn’t get messy.

2

You should have found out what you were buying before agreeing to buy it. Esp. since the cousin brought them over, asking him to take them back isn’t fair. You’re stuck with them.

3

“Let the buyer beware.” Unless the washer and dryer were described to you as being full size, you bought them sight unseen and weren’t misled as to what they were.

4

Go on Springer. They probably pay a guest fee and you can then afford the new washer!
Problem solved AND 15 minutes of fame.

5

twickster & Ferret, that’s pretty much my stance on the issue. It’s the men that are at odds.
We were led to believe they were quite new, which they are not, and I can’t recall anything saying one way or another about being full size or not. We never even considered that they weren’t a standard washer and dryer.

6

This sounds like a job for a Judge Judy and Executioner.

7

Well, on the one hand, you should not have bought them sight unseen.

That said, you haven’t paid for them yet, and it’s not your fault your cousin already spent the expected money. Tell him you’ve changed your mind and offer to return them to him. I would give him maybe $50 for his trouble of delivering them.

Next time, check out what you’re buying!

8

You should pay the cousin since you had him haul them over there. It’s not his fault that you ended up not liking them. You should have checked them out first. He paid that same price from Brother afterall.

Haj

9

You should pay the cousin. If you agreed sight unseen to purchase the machines, they’re yours. Holding out on the money will only create discord and hard feelings. Pay up and consider it a lesson learned.

StG

10

Imagine, if you will, that you had bought a washer and dryer from a newspaper add - you would have called and asked how big they were, etc. and you definately would have gone over there and looked them over before making any sort of agreement.

I would recomend just eating the cost. You had a verbal agreement, Cousin has upheld his end of the bargain. It was possibly a little shady of your cousin not to describe them to you fully, but I think it should be the buyer’s job to know what they’re purchasing. If they were actually defective in some way (didn’t actually get clothes clean and dry) then you would have something to complain about.

The familly thing makes it even more difficult. Decide for yourself - is a few hundred dollars it worth years of bad feelings in your familly? It wouldn’t to me. Take out an add and sell the damn things at a loss to defray your costs, and be more carefull in the future.

11

Lots of people are surprised to hear this, but the law governing contracts for the sale of goods in most states does **not **give the buyer the right to return the merchandise and rescind the deal simply because the buyer changed his mind. Rather, each store gives its customers that right (by inserting the right into the contract made with each customer) because it’s become a commonly expected business practice.

So, I think you are the proud owners of a couple of stinkers.

12

Put them up on Ebay, and advertise them as being haunted or something.

Then when the schmoe/buyer comes to pick them up, stick a sheet in the dryer, and say the ghost was doing his washing and it will be done soon.

13

What’s not clear to me is whether these are the same appliances that your brother sold to your cousin, or whether he pulled a switch on you. But I think you’re stuck with them either way, unless the cousin wants to be a nice guy.

14

Discreetly have your brother verify they are the same machines.

15

As much as it rankles, it does seem as though you’ve bought yourself a washer/dryer set. Too bad this guy takes the health of his relationships so lightly.

No matter what, don’t put them out on the landing and then start arguing. One of you will accidently push them through the railing and they’ll be wrecked. Well, it happened on Lucy!

16

You made a verbal contract with your cousin which is enforceable in a court of law. Everyone is required to perform “due diligence” when entering into a contract. That means you should have examined the items before purchasing them. This type of purchase is generally considered “as is” and you are stuck with it.

If you went to court, your cousin would prevail. So, save yourself the trouble and pay the man. The only way you could possibly win is if the set is not the same one your cousin bought from your brother.

17

Eat the cost and learn. This is not worth feuding with family over.

(Your cousin was stupid to spend money he didn’t have, though.)

18

Pay up and learn two lessons.

  1. Get details, preferably seeing things first before agreeing to buy something in future.

  2. Don’t mix friends or family and money. Ends in tears too often.

Show boyfriend this thread and let us know what he says.

19

I say if you havn’t yet paid for the machines, give the things back. Go rent a truck if you have to.Just drop 'em on his front lawn and let him figgure it out, or offer to help him oft them. Perhaps a ‘For Sale’ sign on them?
He’s being mad because he prespent the money he was expecting from you. Don’t let him run you over for his mistake.
Granted, not paying may yank him off for a bit but, I’d lay a dollor to a doughnut if this was in front of one of those TV Judges, they’d rule either pay or give the machines back.

I’ll also repeat what has been said about checking stuff out before you buy.

20

You and your BF go to your cousin and ask him to sell you the W+D combo and essentially agree to take it sight unseen. After it’s delivered (and FWIW it’s a major PITA humping large applicances around) you are shocked (though neither you nor your BF inquired) that it doesn’t have the feature set you really want.

Now, after the deal is agreed to, done and delivered you have the stones to want him to take it away as if he’s some retail store and you have essentially dumped the problem into your BF’s lap because you don’t want to be the bad guy.

This a lot less about strict legalities and a lot more about the interpersonal ethics of making handshake deals with friends and acquaintances in good faith. You and your BF’s behavior and attitudes in this context is and are appalling.

Your cousin, at your urging, made a deal with you in good faith and delivered on his end of the deal and now you are jerking him around. Your decision not to inquire about the specifics of the washer is not his problem, it was your responsibility to do this and you didn’t.

Based on the scenario you have described it was your fault, not his, for where this situation has wound up. Stop trying to make it his problem. Pay for the units and move on. If you keep jerking him around I wouldn’t blame the entire family if they stopped speaking to you.