Need opinions w/ Notebook deception

[SocrPlyr]

ok my father is an impulse buyer... (i had it cuz he wastes so much money...) anyways he bought a new laptop http://www.twinhead.com/PRO/a3400/abbra3400.htm
he called up twinhead who would not sell to him but gave him a local store - authorized reseller (one my dad has been going to for year, that is how he saw the twinheads before...) twinhead supposedly makes for a bunch of big name companies...
he got it configured w/ 256MB RAM, CDROM (not dvd), 20GB HDD, 1GHz p3, 14.1" LCD, etc. (Edit: and was told win2k, on the phone w/ twinhead, so it wasn't discussed at the local shop)
when it arrives to my dismay it is horribly out of date... running windows 98 on a desktop cpu (later i looked up on their site and it does say fcpga... which i am now pissed that they would do something like this...) it has only 1 USB port (my father was told 2) (as well as lacks many things that newer ones have like speedstep -important for the use he is going to use it for, and highspeed connectors like firewire (or usb2.0))
now not only did he get a crappy computer he payed way too much for it... over $1400 with a 3yr warranty plus 83 for winXP upgrade... so we'll say ~$1500

now just as a comparison ~$1650
Dell Inspiration 8100 p3-M 1.0GHz, 256MB RAM, 16MB GF2go (built in SIS on twinhead), 30GB HDD, DVD drive (w/ extra bay for whatever-floppy but can be swapped), 3yr warantee, winXP, MS works (twinhead had nothing), and firewire oh yeah and 15" LCD

now i have to figure out what to do, b/c not only was he ripped off pricewise but he also got a product that was meant for the desktop and that is totally inferior...
here are my options that i am looking at:
1. call twinhead up and ask that they give me a similar thing as that dell, b/c of the hassle and the fact that we already spend unrefundable money on this thing - winXP
2. demand that they refund the money spent
3. i deal w/ the local dealer, but the deception was made by twinhead, not them, they were only the middlemen...
4. i stop payment, but that only hurts the local dealer
5. any good input by you guys

one thing that is definately going to happen is that the BBB is going to be hearing from me about Twinhead, i'm not too worried that they put desktop cpus in laptops, but they should explicitely (sp?) state so on their website
by the way my father stands by me so if you were wondering about the fact that he purchased this not me (why couldn't he have asked me in the first place)

oh well this is really long and i hope some people w/ good opinions read it and give me some good input

thanks everyone

Josh

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

They did nothing wrong, caveat empor. Do your research, lesson learned; like you said an impusle buyer.

It doesn't matter one bit what Dell offers or what their price is. They told him what it had, they didnt lie, they just didn't say every little thing. They probably should have, but as a buyer you have to watch out for stuff like that.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

btw you have a valid complaint on the usb port thing, that they told you 2 and it only has one. the website however says it only comes with one.

 

[SocrPlyr]

added the bit about win2k, and just to add something to show why i feel they did something wrong with the processor
you buy a laptop, you expect a laptop computer, average Joe (including my father) doesn't know what in the heck fcpga is, also if you follow the link to their website it says that the laptop has "latest in technological advancements" wouldn't that include things such as speed-step... what i am saying was their advertising and then phone people were misleading...

Bruno - i do see where you were coming from on your first post however... so i will add an option
6. suck it up and take the loss...

thanks guys
Josh

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

id definately complain about the win2k and usb deal. i dunno about the desktop cpu. i guess they did it so that they felt good about having it in the open that it was a desktop chip, but didnt say it in lay-person speak. kinda iffy. i looked at it from my point, knowing what the cpu was. id feel pretty burned too if i found out what happened though.

if your father would have done more research and not been as quick to jump on it, do you think he would have caught the problem?

 

[SocrPlyr]

my father would have never caught the cpu problem... i mean i would have never thought about it but i saw an article how some companies were doing that now, and i noticed that the notebook didn't have speed-step... so i looked into it...

oh well

thanks for your input

anyone else?

thanks
Josh

 

[hans007]

i dont think twinhead is gonna do anything. you should have checked at the reseller to make sure it was what youw ere getting, you are SOL . btw that is the most generic looking laptop i've seen in a while

 

[DaveSimmons]

My sympathy, but it's like buying a $399 eMachines and complaining because it doesn't come with an AGP slot or XP Pro. When buying anything it's up to you to know exactly what you're buying. If you go to a car dealer and just say "I'll take that red car" you deserve what you get.

Even if you buy a good brand like Toshiba or Dell it's still up to you to pay attention to the specs of the model you buy, since they have different processors (some without speedstep), OS's, graphics chips, etc.

The only thing I see they might have done wrong is being told 2 USB -- even the Win2K probably only applied to certain models. I'm sorry, but your dad should have read the box / spec sheet at the local store.

Stopping the check would be fraud, but if your dad talks to the shop and explains nicely about buying the wrong model / not understanding what he was buying they might let him exchange it for something better or take it back with a restocking fee.

 

[DaiShan]

<< caveat empor >>

 

[SocrPlyr]

yeah, well the problem is that he was then required to order the machine from the store... he couldn't just pick it up... if he could have seen the thing before purchasing it, somethings could possibly been different...

Josh

 

[Cuular]

<< and just to add something to show why i feel they did something wrong with the processor
you buy a laptop, you expect a laptop computer, average Joe (including my father) doesn't know what in the heck fcpga is, also if you follow the link to their website it says that the laptop has "latest in technological advancements" wouldn't that include things such as speed-step... >>



What this boils down to to me is that you interpreted a different meaning into their words than they did. Just because to you "latest in technological advancements" meant Speed-Step or or something else, does not mean that is what the company meant by it.

The company delivered a working laptop, with the components they listed, minus one USB port. Just because it wasn't what you thought it should be doesn't make them wrong. Look up the model number you father got, and if it has the components that are listed, then you got what you paid for. End of discussion.