My question involves small claims court in the state of: California
Need some advice on this bait & switch incident that happened two days ago.
Description of the Incident
This Guy in Union City posts ad on craigslist for high-end speakers Boston Accoustic speakers (VR975) for $400 saying they sell for $1400 new. I communicate with him over email and agree on a price of $320. We talk over the phone a couple of times and he invites me to come look at them at his home in Union City.
I go over and the speakers are in fine condition. I ask to look at the model#/serial# and he shows me this sticker on the bottom which has the model# in very small print. I was not wearing my glasses so I just thought it said VR975 when in fact it was VR950. The guy basically threw a fit that I ma paying him less than market value for VR975s and so I ended up paying him $350 for the speakers.
When I got home I checked the speakers and noticed that they were VR950s which originally sold for $700 and sell used for around $175. I got pissed and sent this guy an email asking him to either take them back or give me back $150. In response, he told me to try and re-sell them on CL to recover my loss. I told him I will sue him court and we have not communicated since.
I have the seller's full name, phone number, home address and place of work etc.
Questions
1. Do I have a criminal case for fraud here or is this only small claims? I tried calling the local PD and they told me to go to small claims.
2. Do you think I have a good case in small claims court? Its not really about the money, I want to teach this guy you can't get away with these kinds of scams.
3. How do I ask Craigslist to provide me copy of his original ad which he conveniently deleted right after the transaction ?

