Why is the PC from Eazycomputing different to the one I ordered?

I saw an advertisement for a £290 PC on Gumtree from Eazycomputing Ltd. It was advertised as a custom-built PC with an AMD quad-core processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, graphics card with 1GB of its own memory, DVD rewriter and anti-virus protection.

The PC I got had only 2GB of memory, not four, and it was the older DDR2 standard, not the faster DDR3. There was no 1GB graphics card and no anti-virus software. The sound had not been properly set up and I paid a local computer expert £35 to do this.

I contacted Alex Nocera who runs the company and he seems to have washed his hands of the problem.
Sid Hollands

Mr Nocera said he couldn’t remember Mr Hollands because he had no order number and had not bought the PC through his sales website.

We explained that Mr Hollands had contacted Mr Nocera through his advert on Gumtree. But Mr Nocera said he had received no emails or letters from Mr Hollands. He said Mr Hollands might have been mistaken in believing he had bought the PC from him.

We explained that Mr Hollands had transferred the money to Mr Nocera’s bank account by wire transfer as requested, so Mr Hollands would have Mr Nocera’s bank account details and could prove he had paid him for the PC.

Mr Nocera then seemed to recollect Mr Hollands and we asked him to call the customer about the problems with the specs of the PC. Mr Nocera later called us back saying Mr Hollands had been abusive and unpleasant on the phone – something Mr Hollands denied.

Mr Hollands then sent a letter by recorded delivery to Mr Nocera. It was signed for on 13 May but Mr Hollands got no reply. We contacted Mr Nocera again to ask him about the progress of this complaint. Mr Nocera said he had not heard from Mr Hollands, but when we told him Mr Hollands’ letter had been signed for, he said he would look for it.

We still need to know if Mr Nocera is actually going to dispute the claim that the PC was not as described, which is a breach of the Sale of Goods Act. Will he unearth Mr Hollands’ letter and if he doesn’t dispute the claim will he offer redress?

Case update
Mr Hollands told us he has yet to speak to Mr Nocera, despite sending him letters. We then tried to contact Mr Nocera again and left a voicemail for him asking him to return our call, but he still has not.

Mr Hollands’ only recourse now is the small claims court because he paid by wire transfer so can’t get a chargeback as he could have with either a credit card or possibly a Visa debit card.

He is reluctant to take the legal route – not because he fears losing but because he feels that even if he won his case he would have difficulties getting Mr Nocera to abide by the court’s ruling, which could leave him even further out of pocket.