I will refrain from mentioning any names, I just want perspectives on this matter.


Sometime towards the end of 2019, I contacted a known dealer here on Nairaland when I wanted to get a car to replace the car I was using at the time.

I admit I did not take necessary precautions such as a concrete agreement, mainly because I felt the dealer was honorable and would not try anything shady.

When I contacted him on Whatsapp, he told me I would have to pay him some money to find the car I wanted. He requested I pay 50,000 Naira for him to search for the car, I had a contact transfer 20,000 Naira to him to find the car, I also sent him the specs I desired.

Over the course of the next month or so, I constantly asked for updates and he kept telling me it would take some time to find all the specs I wanted, which made sense to me, he also sent pictures of a couple of cars which had none or few of all the specs I told him I wanted.

Along the line he mentioned one may have to import the car because it may not be found locally, but he then said he was still searching locally. I eventually decided to explore other options while waiting for him to deliver what he was paid for, because I was running out of time and I did not want to put all my eggs in one basket.

I contacted another trusted agent here, and through the agent we were able to find a suitable car, import and clear it. The car eventually landed towards the end of November 2019.

Through all this, the dealer I sent the 20,000 never updated me at all, not even to say he was still searching for the car or anything.

I ultimately took delivery of my car from the trusted agent sometime in December but had to travel for work almost immediately, and was very busy over the holidays.

A few days ago when the holiday workload finally lessened, I contacted the dealer who had not said anything to me for months, and I asked him about the status of the money I sent to him, his response was that the money could not be refunded and that the only thing that he was prepared to do was to find the car, the same car he claimed to have been searching for but had not found for months and he never even bothered to update me.

He also said he was surprised I contacted him again, by that I guess he hoped or thought I had forgotten all about the 20,000. He also said that he was aware I contacted somebody else to import the car even though he told me that he also runs an importation service, and that at the end of the day he was still involved in repairing the car the agent imported for me.

My response to all this was that it did not and does not concern him if I contacted anybody else, and that I paid him money to perform a service.

He further insisted that he would not refund any money to me.

My question now is, is the dealer right?

Do I forfeit the money I sent him just because we did not have a concrete agreement initially?

He knows I already have the car I wanted, so by telling me he can only search for a car, he is implying i have to forget about the 20,000 I sent to him.

What if I had sent 50,000 as he requested, what would be my situation now?

If someone paid for a service and the person he paid did not fulfil the service, should the client forfeit the money?

Have I been a victim of a scam, or is the dealer right?