Should I proceed with a legal claim or just let it go

December 24, 2019 5:55 AM

Recently brought a house with a very expensive high end refrigerator worth approx $10k included as part of the sale . It appeared to be working and wasn’t disclosed as having a fault (on sellers disclosures), but after we closed the sellers sent us a note that they knew it had a fault and had tried to fix before close but couldn’t and they will get it fixed. Two months later and several repair attempts - no fix. So should we make a legal claim?

I have a lawyer. I’m not asking for specific legal advice on how to make a legal claim. I am asking the hive mind if this is one of those “yeah you could, but you really should just take the $1k and just let it go already”

The cheapest replacement I can find at the same size and type (not brand) is about $7k (huge fridge - and if we don’t get the same size it will be an issue as it was built in model and the area behind the fridge was never remodelled so will look super out of place if the fridge isn’t the same size - plus because of its position against one wall there are some quirks that mean only certain styles of fridge will work without doors hitting the wall.

The sellers used their home warranty to attempt repair. Because of how many times the repair was attempted there is only around $1000 being offered by the home warranty company to replace it. We can’t claim on our home warranty as we now know the fault was pre-existing. And I’m not about to commit insurance fraud to make a second claim.

The owners did try and get the repair performed in good faith - but are now saying “take the $1k and go claim on your home warranty”. So now I am left with a choice - make a legal claim - or take $1k and suck up a large bill to replace a very expensive fridge - or buy a low end fridge and have a butt ugly kitchen and reduced value on a new and fairly expensive house

If the owners had disclosed it was non-functional before we would have happily negotiated a lower price, but we never got that option. They hid it from us.

Assume the fridge can not be repaired at this stage (parts required for this model no longer available).

Assume I have a legal group plan so my cost to engaging with a lawyer and seeing this through is minimal.

Assume this is in the United States and the amount is less then the max for small clams court in this state

posted by anonymous to Law & Government (13 answers total)

Yes. I'm nothing even resembling a lawyer so this is just my gut.

They knew about a $10,000 flaw in the contract they signed with you and did not disclose it. And they committed those details in writing. That strikes me as a good starting position for you, and a very poor one for them.

You don't have to be mean about it, as it does sound like they put some effort into a resolution, but the resolution is still their responsibility. Accepting an alternate and cheaper model is one way to be nice if you're not that terribly concerned about the specifics. A letter from a lawyer detailing how you would like to be compensated properly for what seems like a pretty cut-and-dried contract violation may just be enough for them to be the ones to let it go.
posted by cCranium at 6:50 AM on December 24, 2019 [14 favorites]

I'd make some sort of formal claim, but given the sellers are cooperating hopefully it'll settle short of an actual lawsuit. They know they messed up, otherwise they never would have admitted to the lack of disclosure.

You say the fridge is worth $10k; is that the price of a new fridge? There's an argument the fair value of the used-fridge-in-the-house is less than that, even if replacing it with a new one would cost $10k. That's a matter of real estate law and your broker or lawyer should be able to advise you. No matter what, $1000 doesn't sound like enough.
posted by Nelson at 7:19 AM on December 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

The owners did try and get the repair performed in good faith ... They hid it from us.

This is the crux of the issue. They should have said "This fridge has an issue; we're working on getting it fixed. If we can't get it fixed, we'll drop the price by $X." They didn't, so they need to make it right as represented when you made an offer.
posted by Etrigan at 8:11 AM on December 24, 2019 [9 favorites]

Side Note: if you involve your agent they will probably try to convince you to do nothing (because they want to maintain relations with the other agent). Not saying what you should do, just pointing out that your agent has a certain bias here.
posted by aramaic at 8:18 AM on December 24, 2019 [5 favorites]

My opinion: the sellers should make good on what they said they would do. They should buy you a new fridge. This is a business matter, not a personal matter, so the idea of "gee, they're made a good faith effort and they deserve credit, etc." is a red herring. They tried to run the clock out and now they're weaseling in hopes of running off with your money.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 8:42 AM on December 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

I’d have my lawyer formally threaten legal action for sure and see where it got me, and I would expect an offer from the seller to settle the matter for $5k. Although I’d ask for $7500 to make it right in the initial approach, expecting to settle lower. The fridge was used when you bought it and you’ll get value out of a new one you wouldn’t have had, so that number seems minimally acceptable to me. They don’t owe you a new fridge but they owe you more than $1000 that isn’t even out of their pocket.

Agree this is business and unless the seller is someone you have to deal with in other contexts in the future in substantial ways, failed good faith attempts don’t close the circle. Good faith means making it right.
posted by spitbull at 9:20 AM on December 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

Keep in mind that they don't owe you a new $10K fridge, they owe you the value of a working fridge X years old that was $10K when new.
posted by bgrebs at 10:15 AM on December 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

The sellers are trying to tie you up in the details of their home warranty. Forget that. It is totally irrelevant. They owe you a refrigerator whether they had a home warranty or not. They are trying to suck you into their problem, which is that their own home warranty wasn't worth spit. That's not your problem, that's their problem.

As bgrebs points out, they probably don't owe you the full cost of a new refrigerator but they certainly owe you the value of working refrigerator of the given age.

Of course the exact value is going to be up for negotiation, but I wouldn't just write it off for an appliance of that cost.

(By the way, home warranties are generally a bad investment, as this example demonstrates. You might consider if you can back out of your own if that is possible.)
posted by JackFlash at 10:32 AM on December 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

And by the way, the sellers are suggesting that you engage in what may be illegal insurance fraud by making a claim on your own warranty for an appliance that was not working when you purchased the house. It depends on the language in your own insurance contract. In any event, you would be making a claim that may count against future claims.
posted by JackFlash at 11:05 AM on December 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

Figure out the cost of a proper repair, the value of the fridge, the cost of making it fit, etc. Depending on where you live, small claims court may be useful. But most of all, develop a number that will make this work. They should be in the hook for the full expense of having a high end fridge, properly installed. I would not factor in any inconveniences costs, though they are real. They were less than honest, it's a genuine issue and it is on them to make it right.
posted by theora55 at 7:13 AM on December 25, 2019

I know you said it can't be repaired but just wanted to confirm that you've consulted with service companies that specialize in your brand. Those home warranty shops can be really lousy especially when it comes to non-standard brands.
posted by acidic at 7:19 AM on December 25, 2019 [2 favorites]

Seconding what acidic said - I agree with all the above posters about how to handle it otherwise, but in my area there are a number of service companies who will do work on out-of-warranty/production appliances, and have access to warehouses full of parts. Home warranty shops are rarely great for this sort of thing.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:19 AM on December 25, 2019

Nthing the repair comments. A way out for a repair person who is struggling with a difficult to diagnose repair is to go though the parts list, find something that's been discontinued and say that you've determined that the discontinued part is what's needed for the repair- presto, you're off the hook for figuring out the problem. I'm not saying that this is what has happened in your case, but it's a possibility.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 12:27 PM on December 25, 2019