I gotta say I think this lady got a raw deal off of Ebay

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MisterJackson

Lifer
Jun 19, 2004
10,860
1
81
This lady just brought in an IBM Thinkpad 600e. It's a P2 400mhz, 128mb, 6gb, XP Pro (not licensed) for $450. She wants me to fix her "modem not found" issue.

Now, she bought it from an Ebay user who has an Ebay "store" and around 3000 feedback she says. When she installed AOL it told her no modem detected so he sent her a PCMCIA modem and still no dice.

She did say if it needs too much work to fix (I haven't had time to fully check it out yet) to let her know and she'd send it back and ask for a refund. I can only imagine how much fun that would be.

Now, in her mind it seems $450 isn't that bad of a deal on a laptop, but she doesn't know enough to realize it is on a P2 laptop.

Do I say something, or would that be interfering beyond what I should do.

I just see this as if it were my Mom or Grandmother in her place I'd tell her to get her money back in a heartbeat.

That and the fact there's no sense in me billing her for a diagnostic or repair work if it isn't worth it in the first place.

Whadda ya think ATOT?



EDIT:

The lady is just a walk in customer. I guess I just felt bad for her because she kept on about how her teacher said she was using one of the two school pc's they had in that class too much. She said she had to scrape up the $450 she spent for that. It was painfully obvious she knew nothing about computers and had little money now or then.

The PCMCIA modem seems to install fine, I can't test it until tonight when I have a LAN line that works (#$%#!@%$ BellSouth).

If all works well I'll just tell her to have a nice day and come see me in the future if she wants to buy a machine. I won't mention my thoughts on the deal.

If the modem he sent her ends up not working I'll give her the option to buy a PCMCIA modem from me, or she can decide to try and get a refund from the guy.

I just hate to see the lady get reamed like that when she obviously didn't need to be. Yeah, she's gotta learn, or she should have done some research first, but it sounds like she was in a tight spot to begin with.

Someone here mentioned that bringing up the fact she got ripped might make her feel stupid to the point where she resents me (more so my business), I hadn't looked at it that way, and that does make sense.

Live and learn I suppose.
 
E

EngenZerO

Diamond Member
Dec 24, 2001
5,099
2
0
i wouldn't. she will probably get defensive then afterwords hate her self for buying it.
 
mugs

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,920
46
91
If you don't tell her, she won't know to ask someone to HELP her pick it out in the future and she'll only get ripped off again.
 
V

Viper GTS

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
38,107
433
136
Caveat emptor.

Forget what she paid for it, it's not your problem. Fix it for her (if you can) and send her happily on her way.

Viper GTS
 
B

BriGy86

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2004
4,537
1
91
i'd tell her, the sooner she sends it back the better her chances of a refund, if she has a chance of one at all
 
L

Looney

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
21,938
5
0
I would tell her... and i do tell customers that all the time if they got ripped.
 
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DaiShan

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2001
9,617
1
0
It is none of your business. Did she ask you for your opinion on the price? If not stay out of it, it will make you look unprofessional. Think of it this way: You just bought a used '00 Honda Accord for $5000, you take it to the dealership to get scheduled maintenance and the dealer tells you "You paid $5000 for that? That is a rip off, I have a '01 Accord that I would sell you for $5500" You'll come off as sleazy telling her the price that she paid was unfair.
 
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MisterJackson

Lifer
Jun 19, 2004
10,860
1
81
Originally posted by: DaiShan
It is none of your business. Did she ask you for your opinion on the price? If not stay out of it, it will make you look unprofessional. Think of it this way: You just bought a used '00 Honda Accord for $5000, you take it to the dealership to get scheduled maintenance and the dealer tells you "You paid $5000 for that? That is a rip off, I have a '01 Accord that I would sell you for $5500" You'll come off as sleazy telling her the price that she paid was unfair.
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Yeah, I see your point, but I'm not trying to sell her something else.
 
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DaiShan

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2001
9,617
1
0
Originally posted by: BriGy86
i'd tell her, the sooner she sends it back the better her chances of a refund, if she has a chance of one at all
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Why on God's green earth do you think she deserves a refund? She thought $450 was a good deal, they entered into an agreement whereby she purchased the laptop for $450, if it turns out that she made a bad decision, that is not the seller's problem. The seller should however make sure that she has a working modem, if that was listed in the item description.
 
Baked

Baked

Lifer
Dec 28, 2004
36,052
17
81
She got totally riped off. She deserves a full refund so she can go get a Dell.
 
D

DaiShan

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2001
9,617
1
0
Originally posted by: MisterJackson
Originally posted by: DaiShan
It is none of your business. Did she ask you for your opinion on the price? If not stay out of it, it will make you look unprofessional. Think of it this way: You just bought a used '00 Honda Accord for $5000, you take it to the dealership to get scheduled maintenance and the dealer tells you "You paid $5000 for that? That is a rip off, I have a '01 Accord that I would sell you for $5500" You'll come off as sleazy telling her the price that she paid was unfair.
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Yeah, I see your point, but I'm not trying to sell her something else.
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Yeah I know you aren't, you seem like a good guy, but you run a computer shop, she doesn't know that the next words out of your mouth won't be "I have a great deal on a laptop in the back"

 
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cerebusPu

Diamond Member
May 27, 2000
4,008
0
0
Originally posted by: MisterJackson
Originally posted by: DaiShan
It is none of your business. Did she ask you for your opinion on the price? If not stay out of it, it will make you look unprofessional. Think of it this way: You just bought a used '00 Honda Accord for $5000, you take it to the dealership to get scheduled maintenance and the dealer tells you "You paid $5000 for that? That is a rip off, I have a '01 Accord that I would sell you for $5500" You'll come off as sleazy telling her the price that she paid was unfair.
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Yeah, I see your point, but I'm not trying to sell her something else.
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QFT. he's not a computer vendor selling his stuff.

tell her its not worth fixing, have her get a refund and buy a dell laptop for $600.
 
Mermaidman

Mermaidman

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
7,987
93
91
If you tell her nicely, she might see you as a trustworthy source and you get repeat business.
 
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crystal

Platinum Member
Nov 5, 1999
2,424
0
0
Originally posted by: DaiShan
It is none of your business. Did she ask you for your opinion on the price? If not stay out of it, it will make you look unprofessional. Think of it this way: You just bought a used '00 Honda Accord for $5000, you take it to the dealership to get scheduled maintenance and the dealer tells you "You paid $5000 for that? That is a rip off, I have a '01 Accord that I would sell you for $5500" You'll come off as sleazy telling her the price that she paid was unfair.
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If only he offers to sell her his laptop which in this case he doesn't.

OP. Just tell/educate her so she could make a better buying decision in the future.
 
D

DaShen

Lifer
Dec 1, 2000
10,710
1
0
If it is what she needs and she can't do anything about it, don't tell her.

If she can return it, doubt it, then tell her. (What would be the point other than making yourself feel elitest if you told her and she couldn't do anything about it?)
 
D

DaiShan

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2001
9,617
1
0
Originally posted by: DaShen
If it is what she needs and she can't do anything about it, don't tell her.

If she can return it, doubt it, then tell her. (What would be the point other than making yourself feel elitest if you told her and she couldn't do anything about it?)
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Tru, also, why does everyone seem to think that you are entitled to return something when you thought it was a good deal at the time? This is why places charge restocking fees of 15% or more, people buy then decide it wasn't such a great deal after all and return it, the store then has to make it sellable again, it costs them money.

Plus, to all of you saying she should go pick up a $600 Dell, you are asking the OP to tell this lady not only that she got ripped off at $450 but that it would be a better deal for her to spend $600 on a dell. How is this different from the scenario I gave previously? Just because the OP isn't selling her the laptop directly? If all she is using this thing for is surfing the net and typing up word documents, why should she spend another $150 to get a higher clocked celeron, so she can tell all of her friends how l33t she is?
 
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