Q&A Your legal questions answered.

Send your questions to askdean@people.co.uk

A reader called Peter wrote to me about how his new motor came with a nasty surprise.

Peter wanted to buy a used car so he went online to hunt down a bargain. After trawling through countless listings on ebay, he found one he wanted – a red Kia Ceed Diesel Hatchback with 28,821 miles on the clock.

He swiftly secured the deal, made a payment of £7,200 and arranged collection.

The next day he picked up the second-hand motor, as arranged, and drove off feeling good about his buy.

But his joy soon faded. The Kia broke down that week and after he saw it being towed to a garage he discovered it was riddled with problems. He immediately contacted the seller, who told him his ad said nothing about the quality of the vehicle and it was down to Peter to get an inspection if he wanted assurances.

Peter then noticed something odd. The tyres were not the same as those shown on ebay and the mileage was different – Peter’s had 139 miles less on the clock. There were other subtle differences too.

Once again, he contacted the

QI’M trying to buy a new sofa. Because of all the horror stories you hear about firms going bust, I’ve asked to pay cash on delivery. The shop has refused. Can they? Trisha Kestler THE retailer is entitled to specify its payment terms and refuse to sell you the sofa if you do not agree. You could pay with your credit card because if anything goes wrong you have the protection under Section 75. With this law, the credit card company would refund your money and take up the fight with the sofa company, or with liquidators if they went bust. I FLEW American Airways Heathrow to Miami and my flight was four hours late. I claimed compensation. They offered 100 dollars and say that I

AQseller to ask what was going on. The initial response was: “You can’t trust a picture – it can be misleading.”

When pushed, the seller said the ad was “generic” so the photo of the Kia was merely “indicative” of what he could get.

When Peter said he wanted to buy it, a similar car was sourced and sold to him.

At this point, Peter, from Lincoln, contacted me.

I helped him prepare a letter to the seller stating that under am not entitled to any more. Is that right? Yasmin Dakha THE flight left Britain, an EU country, so the EU flight delay law applies – EC261. On the face of it, as the flight arrived more than three hours late you will be entitled to compensation. But if the reason for the delay was adverse weather, air traffic

ASection 11 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the car should match the description, precisely, as shown on the ebay ad.

Further, under Section 14, the motor should match the picture.

As both provisions of the act had been breached, Peter was entitled to a refund.

The seller has not responded so Peter has issued legal proceedings in the small claims court.

I have no doubt he will win his case. I just hope the seller does not disappear before then.