We buy cars breach contract without any notification or refund of the deposit they still hold despite selling our reserved caravan to someone else

We buy cars have not only breached contract but have not so much as offered to refund my refundable reservation deposit effectively *****ing R10,000 for the past month. They have not notified me that they sold the caravan I reserved or contacted me to refund the money. They just do not care at all. Day 1 – Saturday 28 December 2024. My parents, my husband and I saw the Conqueror Roadster 450, we expressed our interest. salesman, Charl tried to convince us not to buy the caravan by pointing out all the faults. We left to do our research.

Day 2 – Sunday 29 December 2024, we returned and went to see the caravan, which was locked– it took over half hour to get the keys. Fridge and battery had been removed. The salesman, Rohan, said that the battery and fridge was being used by the Manager, who was on holiday, and we would have to wait for these to come back. We said we would be prepared to wait. We asked about using my parents existing caravan, a Brakhah Ingonyama as a trade in and was told that the salesman could not give quotes that another department would do that.

My husband, Alvin then requested We buy cars to come to see the Brakhah caravan –

Tuesday 31 December 2024. The buyer, Corne van Greenen, gave us the offer of R80 000 and said due to the New Years holiday they could not negotiate now but if we took the caravan to the Dome in the new year and offered it as a trade in we could try get more for it. At 18:00 I put the reserve on the Conqueror and paid the deposit required.

2 January 2025 we towed the Brakhah caravan to the dome. We went immediately to the recreation area to see the Conqueror, which had been moved. We again waited for +-30 minutes for the key. Battery and fridge were still missing. Charl said that he was surprised to see us back and confirmed the manager still had the battery and fridge. We told him that would not be an issue, as we could wait but that the reserve needed to be extended then until these were back and we could test them, he assured us that would be in order. On Charl’s advice we went to see the buyer to talk about the trade in. We were basically brushed off initially. Eventually after over an hour of waiting Alvin became annoyed and started insisting someone inform us of what was going on. This was done since the story we were being told was contrary to the Corne’s story told at our house. The buyer then said he couldn’t help as the buyer who gave the offer had the offer still open so they could not change it unless he closed it. He gave us a number to call to get the present offer closed. We tried to get hold of Corne, via cell phone. But when we failed we were told he was on leave. Eventually we were told they will not even look at our caravan, the offer, only possible, is the open offer regardless of it being a trade in. We were told the Brakhah was now a year older, and reduced in value. David, my father said the same thing app**** to the conqueror. We were told that we could maybe negotiate on the caravan price if we wanted. This we felt was fair as the conqueror had substantial damage (we had listed the damage) and also was now damp inside. To change the trade in we would have to wait until the buyer was back at work, if we were not happy with the present trade in offer, that seemed the only alternative. We wanted R100,000 for the Brakhah as older Brakhahs have sold for R135,000. One of the buyers at the Dome told us to ask for the trade in sheet on the caravan we wanted to purchase to see everything was noted when it was taken on as stock. Charl said he would get it for us. We went for lunch and when we came back, they still had not found it. He said that the reserve would hold as outstanding issues were on it. As it was near closing time, we then returned home towing the Brakhah back to Centurion.

We phoned again on the 2nd January as we had not been contacted yet. Charl mentioned the buyer of the Conqueror was on leave and would be back on the Monday. Again we raised concerns on the reserve and were assured that the reservation would not be cancelled until they came back to us on the outstanding issues. It was confirmed that the reserve is never automatically cancelled and had to manually be cancelled by them.

3 January we tried to phone Charl again. We were not too concerned as Charl told us they were trying to get the check sheet as the buyer was still on leave and they would not cancel the reservation until we got the outstanding issues addressed.

7th of January 2025 we followed up again but with no reply.

Wednesday 15th of January 2025 Alvin went to We buy cars to find out what was the hold up on the requested paperwork. Charl mentioned that he lost his brother, thus he gave all his leads to someone else. He once again promised to call Alvin before close of business. He also mentioned that they won’t show us the trade in check sheet because of company policies – BUT the buying department said that we can request the documentation. Charl said we should not worry as a reserve could not be removed since we were still waiting for the original buyer to respond on the trade in.

16th of January 2025 Alvin had a miss call from Charl but unfortunately was busy in a meeting. He then sent a voice note to say that the Conqueror was not available anymore due to us not closing the deal. On enquiry done immediately on receiving the voice note, we were told another person had reserved the caravan and they would refund us the Ten thousand Rand which they have yet to contact us to do. We were not given the chance to respond or indicate our intention. We have not been informed of the trade in situation or the caravan price request. When reserving the caravan I had to set up a full account with We Buy Cars which included my cellphone number and email address. To this date no one has contacted me to say the reservation is cancelled or to refund my money.

How is this possible? We request documents and the trade in information and were assured they will reserve the Conqueror until we receive the outstanding issues. There was no communication from We Buy Cars at any time other than the missed call. Every conversation we have with a We Buy Cars employee seems to contradict the conversation with the next We Buy Cars employee. Surely the amount of trouble and contacting of salespeople done by us indicated our sincerity in trying to buy the van? The only obstacle was the trade in value and the fact damage was present in the Conqueror caravan so we had asked for a reduction in value or a better trade in. The Conqueror is also now a year older which was a key element in the valuing of our Brakhah. We are still waiting for that response. Surely a response such as this is warranted before you cancel a contract.