Members praying on newbies

Hi all,

Please forgive me if this post is in the wrong section, but we are not only new to Caravanning but also this Forum!

Last year my wife and I decided to invest in a new Caravan after the birth of our son. After much investigation we decided to purchase a Bailey Pegasus 2 Milan .

This then led to the need for an awning. We decided due to our initial setup costs to purchase a second hand Isabella. The reason was simple, we where told this would be the best second hand investment. After trolling through adds online I decided to investigate the Clubs  classified section.

I found an advertisement for an Isabella Commodore awning, with an extra set of curtains, fiber glass poles and two side annexes  which had never been used (or so they said) but best of all the add stated the awning had only ever been used a couple of dozen times. After some discussions on the phone the seller stated it was three years old and in excellent condition. The seller was pitched up on a Club site in Brighton, so we set off to view. The price was £750.00 no offers and we were told by the seller that purchasing from a member was the safest option as members look out for each other and also he had several other parties interested in it and we would have to leave a sizeable deposit to secure the awning. As we were young and new to caravanning he wanted us to have the awning. So after discussing with my wife we decided to leave the depsoit and pick the awning up at the end of their holiday. On returning to collect the awning, we discovered they had removed not only the side skirts but also the guy ropes and pegs. They had also awapped their tow vehicle and pressured us to comlete the sale quickly. I asked for their address but was told that as members they could be traced, so I handed over the cash.

I had a feeling that I had been hoodwinkled so decided to investigate the origanal price of the awning as they stated it was over three thousand new. I was saddend to find that the awning was in fact a Commodore Alpha and was over ten years old. I've now decided to sell the awning and invest in the Campa Rally Air 390 as the single handed set up time with a baby would suit us better.

So sorry for the long drawn out post but my questions are; was I just unlucky when purchasing throug other members and what would my awning be valued at?

Kind Regards