Ownership issue

Corkusr · 26-05-2023 1:01pm #1

Hi all. Last year a "friend" asked me if I could buy them a new phone and they would then pay me back (no written agreement, just verbal as a friend).

I bought the phone (proof of purchase in my name), gave it to them and a year later, still no money. I have asked via text about payment and was told things like: "next month", "100 per month", "you'll get your money" etc.

Question: Who actually owns the phone? am I entitled to get it back? and if so, how?

Thank you for any help you can offer.

GavPJ · 26-05-2023 1:03pm

How much was the phone?

feelings · 26-05-2023 1:04pm

small claims? €25 to apply.

Claw Hammer · 26-05-2023 1:36pm

In equity it is your phone. Take it back and keep it until paid for.

Corkusr · 26-05-2023 2:10pm

Phone was €1400

troyzer · 26-05-2023 2:42pm

Real cases, real people.

Trigger Happy · 26-05-2023 2:44pm

Why someone who cannot afford a phone would be getting a €1400 phone is a strange one. Even if they gave you back the phone today it would be worth a fraction of the €1400 you paid for it. Your best bet is to continue to hound them for the money owing.

And take the lesson learned!

TooTired123 · 26-05-2023 7:19pm

You bought your friend a new phone as a gift. It was a present. In Ireland you can’t take your friend to the Small Claims Court, even though you have text messages from them admitting that they owe you money. They’re not going to give you any money for the phone. You can pay a solicitor to write them a pointless letter demanding the money back but you will only have lost more money. I’m sorry you’ll just have to accept that the €1400 is gone.

Corkusr · 26-05-2023 7:52pm

I was afraid someone would say that but I understand what you’re saying. Lesson learned.

Str8outtaWuhan · 26-05-2023 7:54pm

As a great movie character once said, consider that a cheap price to get rid of a no good bum from your life.

Corkusr · 26-05-2023 7:55pm

Agreed!

Markcheese · 26-05-2023 8:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120643335#Comment_120643335

I suppose if youre going to get someone else to buy you a phone , amd you've very little intention of repaying , then you'll prob get the good one ..

I presume theres no chance of physically getting your hands on the phone . ?

Corkusr · 26-05-2023 8:52pm

Live and learn. Unfortunately not an option to physically get it either.

Furze99 · 27-05-2023 10:12am

Always difficult when friends buy something from you and then decline to pay. Just sours things and leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Seen it here with a lad I knew well, it was a few hundred € owed, no rush to pay but after a few months I give a wee reminder and the same run around followed for a year. He was able to get himself a new quad bike and other stuff in this time but was avoiding any contact at this stage. Tosser, never spoke to him again but let other mutual friends know.

tayto lover · 27-05-2023 2:22pm

This lad was no friend in the first place if he could do that. Forget about him and move on but keep this lesson in mind.

The Continental Op · 27-05-2023 2:38pm

Just mention that you got an email for a recall for the phone because of batteries catching fire ;-)

Dr Turk Turkelton · 27-05-2023 2:43pm

If you have the imei since you own it could you get it blocked?

Peregrinus · 29-05-2023 2:40am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120644277#Comment_120644277

I disagree; this is not a gift or present. The friend asked the OP to pay for a phone for them, and said that they would pay the OP back.

OP, this is a debt. You don't own the phone, but you are entitled to your money back. You've got texts acknowledging the debt and promising repayment. As feelings said, you can pursue this through the small claims procedure of the District Court.

On edit: My bad. The small claims procedure cannot be used to pursue a simple debt. So if the OP wants to pursue this through the courts, it will be via the regular District Court procedure, not the small claims procedure. The fee is still €25 but the procedures are not so user-friendly and most people would find it challenging and time-consuming to utilise them without legal advice or representation. Plus you have to make a call about the likelihood, even if you get judgment, of actually being able to recover anything.

Corkusr · 29-05-2023 8:22am

Thanks for the advice.

My original thought was that I actually own the phone as I bought it and the receipt has my name on it. Seems though as it would be treated as a gift and that’s a “one way” transaction.

And while it is a debt, knowing him now, he’d just continue to either ignore or say he doesn’t have the money. Again, lesson learned.

Peregrinus · 29-05-2023 9:24am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120652594#Comment_120652594

It's not a gift - you bought it for him with money that you lent him.

Suppose he had given you €1,400 and asked you to go to the shop and buy the phone for him (because, for whatever reason, he can't go to the shop himself). That would clearly be his phone, regardless of whose name was on the receipt — he would have paid for it, and you would have been buying it on his behalf.

Here you loaned him the money and spent it on a phone for him. Both you and he understood at the time that you were not acquiring the phone for yourself; you were acquiring it for him and it would be his phone. This doesn't change because you lent him the money to buy the phone. The fact that you lent him the money entitles you to the return of the money, but not to ownership of the phone. But the phone is not a gift from you to him, because you never owned it. For the same reason, it's not something you can claim from him now.

Corkusr · 29-05-2023 4:58pm

Thank you, makes sense.

The Continental Op · 29-05-2023 5:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120652725#Comment_120652725

While I totally agree with you how would that work out in a court? The only solid evidence is that the OP has a sales document with his name on it.

steinbock123 · 29-05-2023 6:15pm

I wouldn’t let him away with it. Call the telecoms supplier, say you’re him and the phone’s been stolen and ask them to block the number. I know this is at worst Illegal and at best unethical (and sneaky), but guys like him do stuff like this all the time because they know they can get away with it. If I couldn’t get the money or at least the phone back, at the very least I’d be making it as awkward as possible for the fecker.