Paying for a laptop I broke

[steveevan]

Hey,
So a few weeks ago I broke a laptop at my school while trying to do something that was incredibally stupid and wrong. I have a notebook that shipped with a celeron M and i wanted to see if a Pentium M cpu would work in mine, so I tried out a cpu from the school laptop (a laptop in the psych department that I have access to because I'm a psych major)

Anyways, i borrowed the laptop for the weekend (something i didnt have permission to do) took it apart, swapped cpus, and put my celeron cpu in there for kicks to see if itd work, and it didnt. then the original cpu wouldnt work in there either. me thinks i mesed up the motherboard somehow.

Well, I did the right thing, fessed up, and told the school about what happened. And my boss at IT found out about this and he fired me (not that big a deal since they were only giving me 6 hours a week at pretty low pay)

But IT wanted me to pay $1500 for the laptop. (Gateway ROG450, pentium M 1.5, 256 mb ram, 40 gig HD, dvd/cdrw, wireless 54g, and radeon 7500 video)
The laptop had about 2 years of warranty left on it.

Anyways, they want me to pay for a new one, but the thing is they wont even give me the broken one in return. I asked them if that laptop was even worth $1500, and when brought that question up and a few other things, they eventually changed their mind and decided to only charge me $1250, but they said I still wouldnt be getting the old laptop in return.

The funny thing is, with a new motherboard that laptop is as good as new, ha. They said they didnt know what they were gonna do with it. to get motherboard/case barebones of ebay for it would cost $250.

I was hoping they would give me the broken one in return, but they said they wouldnt on any terms.
I wont try to negotiate with them anymore though, since they already lowered the price though, and i dont want them to raise it back up, heh.

Okay, I know I'm a moron for what I did. I just wanted to post this up for additional opinions on the matter.

------------

Cliff notes:

I broke schools laptop
I'm paying $1250 for it
They arent giving me the broken one in exchange
Watcha think?

 

[sixone]

You seem to have no options - what good are opinions gonna do?

 

[ColdFusion718]

Have your lawyer call them. Someone is trying to screw you. They'll keep the laptop for themselves and try to repair it. Did you try clearing the CMOS before you fessed up?

 

[funkymatt]

damn, you're stupid.

 

[randomlinh]

i wouldn't give you the broken laptop, and wouldn't have given you a discount either. you essentially stole the laptop, and then returned it broken. why the hell would i give it back to you?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: ColdFusion718
Have your lawyer call them. Someone is trying to screw you. They'll keep the laptop for themselves and try to repair it. Did you try clearing the CMOS before you fessed up?

Sure, lawyer up and maybe they'll decide to give you a criminal record (isn't over $500 a felony?)

 

[Mermaidman]

It does seem unfair, but you have to take into consideration the time and labor that are wasted on resolving your indiscretion.

I would get everything in writing. Get a receipt for any payment you make. Make sure the receipt states exactly what you are paying for.

What will happen if you refuse to pay?

 

[Rock Hydra]

Just pay up and be done with it. The could have easily gotten the police involved, so just take it as a learning experience. Don't take what's not yours.

 

[UDT89]

<----woulda put it back like nothing happened

but wouldnt have tried or took the laptop in the first place.

 

[beyonddc]

Originally posted by: steveevan
I have a notebook that shipped with a celeron M and i wanted to see if a Pentium M cpu would work in mine, so I tried out a cpu from the school laptop (a laptop in the psych department that I have access to because I'm a psych major)

Not to be offense, but it kind of sound like you are about to keep the Pentium M CPU if it worked on your lappy.

 

[Kelemvor]

If you pay for a new one, then you should be entitled to the old one. Or you can pay to have the old one repaired. THey don't get to have 2 laptops.

Tell them you will either pay for a new system board (and processor if needed) for their current one, or you will buy a new one and take the broken one.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Originally posted by: Mermaidman
It does seem unfair, but you have to take into consideration the time and labor that are wasted on resolving your indiscretion.

I would get everything in writing. Get a receipt for any payment you make. Make sure the receipt states exactly what you are paying for.

What will happen if you refuse to pay?

No, it does not seem unfair since what the OP did was literally try to steal property that belonged to the school.

If the OP checked out the laptop through the school and was using it for school purposes and accidentally broke it somehow, then I would say he should get to keep the laptop if he has to pay $1250 or $1500.

But the fact that he tried to steal something makes him lose any kind of "fairness" in this matter.



OP, you said the laptop had warranty on it. Is it possible that you can get the school to send it in for repairs under warranty and you pay any additional charges and also pay extra for time compensation?

And also, you thinking that you getting fired is no big deal b/c of low pay, you aren't really thinking too brightly. You realize that getting fired hurts your future job opportunities? When you're in an interview, and the interviewer asks about your old job and you say you got fired b/c of stealing, well, you can kiss your chance for the new job bye bye.

 

[timswim78]

Glad to hear tha you fessed up to what you did.

It sounds unfair that they won't let you keep the laptop that you broke and will be buying. If they are totally unreasonable, tell them to see you in small claims court and let a judge decide.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Originally posted by: beyonddc

Originally posted by: steveevan
I have a notebook that shipped with a celeron M and i wanted to see if a Pentium M cpu would work in mine, so I tried out a cpu from the school laptop (a laptop in the psych department that I have access to because I'm a psych major)

Not to be offense, but it kind of sound like you are about to keep the Pentium M CPU if it worked on your lappy.

That's exactly what he was trying to do. I remember reading his previous thread about this and he said he was going to keep the Pentium M chip.

 

[UDT89]

Originally posted by: beyonddc

Originally posted by: steveevan
I have a notebook that shipped with a celeron M and i wanted to see if a Pentium M cpu would work in mine, so I tried out a cpu from the school laptop (a laptop in the psych department that I have access to because I'm a psych major)

Not to be offense, but it kind of sound like you are about to keep the Pentium M CPU if it worked on your lappy.

i was glad you said it b/c i sure as hell was thinking it. "hmmm let me see if the better cpu works instead of my crappy cpu" and if it does, hell, i'll just put it back and buy one.

Honestly if he got away with leaving the building with it and wasnt caught, he shoulda just kept it. Im not promoting stealing, but why steal just the chip?

thats like breaking into a jewelry store, stealing a diamond......then breaking back in to put a cubic zirconia in its place the next day.

 

[Schfifty Five]

double deuce...er post.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: Schfifty Five
When you're in an interview, and the interviewer asks about your old job and you say you got fired b/c of stealing, well, you can kiss your chance for the new job bye bye.

It's just a part time college job; it has little bearing on anything and can easily be omitted from your resume.

Regarding the "negotiations" it seems a bit odd. Why don't they just send the laptop in for replacement/repair and charge you that cost?

But they pretty much have you buy the balls...I'd just bend over and be glad I didn't get arrested or expelled!

 

[HyTekJosh]

I am going to pull an AMD chip out of one of my computers and try putting it into one of my dual xeon servers. BRB.

 

[sixone]

Originally posted by: timswim78
Glad to hear tha you fessed up to what you did.

It sounds unfair that they won't let you keep the laptop that you broke and will be buying. If they are totally unreasonable, tell them to see you in small claims court and let a judge decide.

He lost all claims to 'fair' when he stole the laptop. He ought to be grateful he's not going to have a criminal record.

 

[WolverineGator]

Originally posted by: funkymatt
damn, you're stupid.

No, he's psycho.

 

[Patt]

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
If you pay for a new one, then you should be entitled to the old one. Or you can pay to have the old one repaired. THey don't get to have 2 laptops.

Tell them you will either pay for a new system board (and processor if needed) for their current one, or you will buy a new one and take the broken one.

Why should he be entitled to the old one when he stole it? Seriously. Kudos to OP for stepping up and admitting it, but criminal charges could have (and probably should have) been applied.

 

[tami]

thanks for not syringering us but you do not deserve to keep the laptop which you "borrowed" without permission.

 

[akubi]

so you attempted to pull the old switcheroo and steal the pentium M cpu?

lol karma got you good

 

[UncleWai]

$1250 buys you a second chance in life, sounds like a good deal to me.
I would just move on and thank your ex-boss for not sending you to PMITA prison.

 

[steveevan]

Originally posted by: ColdFusion718
Have your lawyer call them. Someone is trying to screw you. They'll keep the laptop for themselves and try to repair it. Did you try clearing the CMOS before you fessed up?

yes I tried that, didnt work unfortunately

Originally posted by: lnguyen
i wouldn't give you the broken laptop, and wouldn't have given you a discount either. you essentially stole the laptop, and then returned it broken. why the hell would i give it back to you?

borrowed you mean. i never had any intention of stealing it.

Originally posted by: ColdFusion718
Sure, lawyer up and maybe they'll decide to give you a criminal record (isn't over $500 a felony?)

exactly, i dont want to get charged for vandalism or taking the laptop out of the building without anyones permission, or entering the laptop closet without anyone's permission.

Originally posted by: Mermaidman

I would get everything in writing. Get a receipt for any payment you make. Make sure the receipt states exactly what you are paying for.

What will happen if you refuse to pay?

yeah, in writing would be good perhaps. if I refuse to pay, then I will not be allowed to sign up for classes next semester, since this goes on my student bill.

Originally posted by: Schfifty Five


No, it does not seem unfair since what the OP did was literally try to steal property that belonged to the school.

If the OP checked out the laptop through the school and was using it for school purposes and accidentally broke it somehow, then I would say he should get to keep the laptop if he has to pay $1250 or $1500.

But the fact that he tried to steal something makes him lose any kind of "fairness" in this matter.



OP, you said the laptop had warranty on it. Is it possible that you can get the school to send it in for repairs under warranty and you pay any additional charges and also pay extra for time compensation?

And also, you thinking that you getting fired is no big deal b/c of low pay, you aren't really thinking too brightly. You realize that getting fired hurts your future job opportunities? When you're in an interview, and the interviewer asks about your old job and you say you got fired b/c of stealing, well, you can kiss your chance for the new job bye bye.

Yeah, I think the man was trying to explain to me that I lost 'fairness' in this situation, since i broke multiple rules in the process.

unfortunately the school will probably profit off of this though and end up with 2 working laptops.

im glad that this is avoiding the law though (IT said they wouldnt mention it to authorities, and hopefully Student Life wont either)

The laptop WAS under warranty, but what I did changed that, so no they cant sent it in for free repairs, and they wont send it in for repairs anyway since they want a new working laptop right away.

Thankfully because they honored how I approached the situation and turned myself in, they said that if any employers called they would not say that I was fired, but would only mention the duration of my employment.

That's exactly what he was trying to do. I remember reading his previous thread about this and he said he was going to keep the Pentium M chip.

[/quote]

this was not my intention when going into this. I told myself I would only be doing this to test the cpu. I'm not sure if I would have kept the cpu or not.

whether not I would have kept the cpu is impossible to foresee, since I didnt even succeed at showing that it would have worked fine that way.

When I put my old cpu in the school laptop, (which I felt I was doing out of stupid curiosity), things stopped working.

Originally posted by: UncleWai
$1250 buys you a second chance in life, sounds like a good deal to me.
I would just move on and thank your ex-boss for not sending you to PMITA prison.

yeah. I think overall the turnout of this is pretty good. it could have been a lot worse.

One way of looking at it could be to say that the 2nd broken laptop which they get to keep is compensation for their troubles which I caused.