We had the foreign art students around near Brighton last night, and for our naive innocent minds we were taken in by the story, invited them in, viewed the work, and in the end bought a painting for £100 which we paid for by cheque. We've since read forums such as this, and even seen the painting for sale on a website for £80. On the back of the cheque I put my name, address, home telephone no. and an email address. I was told a 'framer' would contact us, but that sounds like the real con.
On the face of it, we've bought a mass produced oil painting (that we like) for £100. At the moment, we've probably been the victim of mis-selling. I've contacted the police in case there are reports of any extra activity such as identity theft etc. and it's gone to their intelligence unit. Obviously I'm aware nothing criminal has occurred so far.
Reading some of the posts it's clear some people are happy with their art, and life just goes on.
My wife likes ours and is tempted to keep it, if we do I'll hang it by the front door as a reminder not to talk to any door to door sellers! (if you can't believe people fall for it, then believe me, I can't either!!!).
Our other option is to cancel the cheque and give the painting back when they realise the cheque was stopped (and keep my 3 wood by the door just in case!) I don't have contact details for them, so it would be a case of them contacting us.
Has anybody any further advice on this, whether it's better just to leave it as is in case there is a 'heavier' element behind or it all, or to simply cancel and chalk it down to experience?
My understanding is that under British law, you have a 7 day cooling off or cancel period for anything sold on your doorstep above the value of £35.