joe of loath Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 (edited) So, looks like I got scammed! I bought a laptop labelled 'Spares or repair' on ebay. I was intending to repair it, and lug it around to places I wouldn't want to take my dell. Anyway, the seller was only a few miles away from me, so I went to pick it up. The laptop seemed ok, and as described. I paid £20 for it, and also bought a 'new' 20gb hard drive to go with it on the spot (saw the auction and did a deal in person). He agreed (with me and my dad there) it would be sufficient to run linux. Anyway. Got home, found the correct adaptor in the loft, plugged it in, nothing. CD spins up, floppy chugs, nothing much else. I fiddle with it for a few hours, before giving up on it. I then take a closer look, and notice some screws are missing. I counted, it's 15. Fifteen! There are only 2 screws holding it together! I grumble a bit, and also notice the screen is wobbly. it moves about 4cm backwards and forwards at the top. That wasn't described either. Ok, under the bed it goes until I test the hard drive too. Plug the hard drive into my external USB caddy. Plug it in. My immediate thoughts were 'this isn't new'. It had a full windows installation on! I did some exploring, and found it wasn't even an OEM installation, as it had a user (called 'David'), and some programs installed. I did a deep scan on the hard drive (using recuva on windows), and found 10,000 deleted files, including company web design files, names, and (!) pr0nography. I tried to retrieve some stuff to see who owned it before, but couldn't get much. I also found this drive has been in use for 7 years! Not 'New' as described. I just did a "dd" command on it to image the hard disk to a file, which I will encrypt and put on our external hard drive. I'm wondering if this is stolen, so it might need to go to the police, and I know what they're like, so it would be good to have a backup. It was also described as SATA, when it is actually ATA, and he said it was formatted and tested. Which, obviously, it was at some point, but about 10 years ago Ok, that's the story. Here are the auctions: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270512888766&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270512894525&_trksid=e11051.m203&_trkparms=algo%3DCRX%26itu%3DLM%252BLA%252BUCI%252BUCC%26otn%3D1&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1348 If anyone is still reading, where do I stand? Do I stand a chance of getting my money back, or at least replacements that work and are new? Or will ebay complain about me not checking it over properly in person? Thanks Joe Edited January 15, 2010 by joe of loath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerrorTrooper Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 (edited) hmm. You were definately scammed mate. Possibly not intentionally, but scammed nevertheless... Perhaps not in a blatent way though, as the laptop description was ambiguous at best, you will have trouble claiming anything against that as its sold as "spares or repair" and thats, in essence, what you got. The HDD however, is sold as new, and it obviously isnt. You may be able t claim against that, however, in my experience, if it is functional, and just needs a re-format, i have found E-bay less than helpfull in such situations. But is certainly worth a shot. Edited January 15, 2010 by TerrorTrooper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe of loath Posted January 15, 2010 Author Share Posted January 15, 2010 Oh, also, the guy's username is louise5480. I thought that was Louis E, but I got an automated message about feedback or something (not left it yet) saying HIS name was 'Lousie'. I find that a little hard to believe. Is he impersonating someone, or using a stolen account? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayce Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Could be a wife/gf's ac****. I've just had a similar prob with pp siding with the seller because they wont get involved with 'quality of items' claims,only non delivery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kpowell911 Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 you bought as spares or repairs, you got spares or repairs you aint got a leg to stand on with the laptop HDD you may have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe of loath Posted January 17, 2010 Author Share Posted January 17, 2010 I know that about the laptop, it was still misdescribed though. He said the case was in good condition. I'd say poor, being held together with only 2 screws... Plus the wobbly screen... I finished imaging the drive, just in case. If there's anything dodgy, it's encrypted, so won't leave anything on my hard drive. This guy was doing an awful lot of selling for someone else's account though. And he smelt too bad to have an SO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creamsodauk Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 (edited) tbh you did collect the laptop, i assume you gave it a look other if you missed the screen then thats tuff luck and as its sold as seen you have nothing to come back on as im sure you know and for £20 it was going to be useless anyway. As for the hard drive i read you did a deal on the spot so sounds like you didnt even use ebay? if you did you could claim it was wrongfully described and im sure you could win id try contacting the seller first incase he was unaware and simply didnt know what it was he was selling. As for the account name it could be family freind or gf/wife. Happens all the time ussualy as they either dont have an account themselfs on ebay and paypal or because they dont have a bank card due to financial reasons and so use a family members etc. Edited January 17, 2010 by creamsodauk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoothybb Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 tbh you did collect the laptop, i assume you gave it a look other if you missed the screen then thats tuff luck and as its sold as seen you have nothing to come back on as im sure you know and for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibo Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 (edited) Laptop no chance,Spares or repair covers Trading Standards Policy,the HDD yes,You have a case owing not been of merchantble quality, EG not working correctly from new,.......Good Luck........ Edited January 28, 2010 by ibo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerrorTrooper Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 just a matter of Curiosity.. What did the seller say when you mentioned this to them??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe of loath Posted January 28, 2010 Author Share Posted January 28, 2010 The seller bulls***ed about the laptop (said I was changing my story etc), and when I asked for his email to talk about the hard drive (at the end of another message), went silent. I tried sending an ebay message, but it said it might block it, so I guess it didn't get through. How's this for weird though, he said he'd contacted his SOLICITOR about the laptop. AND not just an email to see where he stood, his choice of words suggested he'd been for a visit and talked it over. For Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.