considering getting a reconditioned laptop of ebay, they seem to be cheaper than straight second hand.
what do you guys recon, what brands should i be looking out for
reconditioned laptops
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djastroboy
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I use ebay a lot, but I don't think I would buy a laptop there. I'll be the price is not much, if any, cheaper than a dealer would have with a webshop.
I've heard horrible things about laptop scams on ebay...Don't send checks or money orders. Only buy when you can use a credit card that will cover you and let you cancel the transaction if things go wrong.
I've heard horrible things about laptop scams on ebay...Don't send checks or money orders. Only buy when you can use a credit card that will cover you and let you cancel the transaction if things go wrong.
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kent_sandvik
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You could get reconditioned laptops directly from the manifacturer, Dell, HP, and so on... Even Macintosh ones. Sometimes they back it up with a decent guarantee. The laptops tend to be somewhat on the high-end scale so they are cheaper than the original one, but still expensive.
I would look for good deals where a new model comes out, and the existing ones have to be dumped. The switch to faster Centrino chips just now is a case -- not that I think Macintosh laptops are more frienly for audio people to use... --Kent
I would look for good deals where a new model comes out, and the existing ones have to be dumped. The switch to faster Centrino chips just now is a case -- not that I think Macintosh laptops are more frienly for audio people to use... --Kent
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hacktheplanet
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robbmasters
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montrealbreaks
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- Location: Montreal Canada
I shall bestow upon the forums a truley shameful tale of WOE.
Not many people know this about me, but I GOT SCAMMED OUT OF FIVE GRAND ON EBAY ONCE.
Yes, I got suckered. I bought a computer (3.2EE P4 Alienware Area 51, this thing was MAXXED) on ebay, and it all looked good. Dude had like 300+ positive feedback, and he lived in my old hometown. He had photos of the computer, in the box on a kitchen table, open with all the kit laid out... So, figured it was pretty safe. It was the perfect feedback score which lulled me into a sense of security.
Anyways, I pay him with PayPal, and then when we are finalizing the delivery arrangements, I ask if I can just pick it up - I could go for a visit with my dear ole mum back in me old hometown for a few days, and I can drop by in person.
The seller replies telling me that unfortunately, I can't pick it up because - get this - IT HASN'T ARRIVED YET.
"huh?"
Well, he claimed he was having it sent from his "supplier" and that it would be easiest if it went direct to me. Naturally, I wanted to know WTF was going on.
It turned out that the seller was contacted by a dude who offered him a job - they met on a "find a job" sort of career finder website thingy. Anyways, the seller is told by the mystery man that he has been hired as the "canadian internet sales and distribution director" (or similarly inflated title) for Alienware computers, since he is such an effective seller (from ebay of course).
Well, Alienware has no "canadian distributor", they sell direct from their website - in fact they have no distributors. I push further for more info from the seller, and he informs me that the computer is coming from a reseller of Alienware computers in ROMANIA.
gadzooks!
Well, to make a long story short, I had a number of email exchanges with both the seller and this Romanian con artist who recruited a naive but well intentioned guy to be his fall guy. In Canada, this guy was responsible to return my money (which he did not have, as he forwarded it to the Romanian right away) regardless of his sob story. I had to get pretty threatening to this dude to get my money back - it all took like six months to resolve.
My advice: Don't buy computers on ebay.
If there's a warranty problem, it's a pain to return - unlike a local store or large internet retailer
You have no guarantee that the computer has never had a nasty BIOS virus that's still in there.
You are taking your chances that it's not stolen goods.
You have no guarantee that it isn't full of cracks and illegal crap.
You don't know if it used to host kiddie porn or if the hard drive contains illegal bomb making instructions.
etc etc
Not many people know this about me, but I GOT SCAMMED OUT OF FIVE GRAND ON EBAY ONCE.
Yes, I got suckered. I bought a computer (3.2EE P4 Alienware Area 51, this thing was MAXXED) on ebay, and it all looked good. Dude had like 300+ positive feedback, and he lived in my old hometown. He had photos of the computer, in the box on a kitchen table, open with all the kit laid out... So, figured it was pretty safe. It was the perfect feedback score which lulled me into a sense of security.
Anyways, I pay him with PayPal, and then when we are finalizing the delivery arrangements, I ask if I can just pick it up - I could go for a visit with my dear ole mum back in me old hometown for a few days, and I can drop by in person.
The seller replies telling me that unfortunately, I can't pick it up because - get this - IT HASN'T ARRIVED YET.
"huh?"
Well, he claimed he was having it sent from his "supplier" and that it would be easiest if it went direct to me. Naturally, I wanted to know WTF was going on.
It turned out that the seller was contacted by a dude who offered him a job - they met on a "find a job" sort of career finder website thingy. Anyways, the seller is told by the mystery man that he has been hired as the "canadian internet sales and distribution director" (or similarly inflated title) for Alienware computers, since he is such an effective seller (from ebay of course).
Well, Alienware has no "canadian distributor", they sell direct from their website - in fact they have no distributors. I push further for more info from the seller, and he informs me that the computer is coming from a reseller of Alienware computers in ROMANIA.
gadzooks!
Well, to make a long story short, I had a number of email exchanges with both the seller and this Romanian con artist who recruited a naive but well intentioned guy to be his fall guy. In Canada, this guy was responsible to return my money (which he did not have, as he forwarded it to the Romanian right away) regardless of his sob story. I had to get pretty threatening to this dude to get my money back - it all took like six months to resolve.
My advice: Don't buy computers on ebay.
If there's a warranty problem, it's a pain to return - unlike a local store or large internet retailer
You have no guarantee that the computer has never had a nasty BIOS virus that's still in there.
You are taking your chances that it's not stolen goods.
You have no guarantee that it isn't full of cracks and illegal crap.
You don't know if it used to host kiddie porn or if the hard drive contains illegal bomb making instructions.
etc etc
I have changed my username; Now posting as:
M. Bréqs
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spiderprod
- Posts: 1120
- Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2004 10:11 pm
my first laptop was a p2 toshiba reconditioned & bought directly from the toshiba reconditioning blahblah for a resonable price at the time .
result :
the batery was dead , the joystick was dead , a few keys were dead too,the screen started melting after 2 weeks & the wonderfull new windows 98ME was missing drivers & the windows sticker with the code was the wrong one .
of course there was a 3 month warranty but for some reason the warranty was not covering these defects .
most of the time reconditioned laptops are ex repairs or part exchange from big firms .
the worst that can happen to you is the laptop is an ex repair & the fault was a broken cpu fan ,your laptop will die in 2 weeks.
to be honest ,wait until you have the money to buy a new one instead of gambling on a reconditioned laptop .
result :
the batery was dead , the joystick was dead , a few keys were dead too,the screen started melting after 2 weeks & the wonderfull new windows 98ME was missing drivers & the windows sticker with the code was the wrong one .
of course there was a 3 month warranty but for some reason the warranty was not covering these defects .
most of the time reconditioned laptops are ex repairs or part exchange from big firms .
the worst that can happen to you is the laptop is an ex repair & the fault was a broken cpu fan ,your laptop will die in 2 weeks.
to be honest ,wait until you have the money to buy a new one instead of gambling on a reconditioned laptop .
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sweetjesus
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- Location: www.fridge.net.au
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another victim of an ebay laptop scam right here. a couple years ago. sent $900 via money order. never got a laptop.
apparently the money order that i sent to a california address was somehow cashed by someone in hungary.
never purchase anything over $175 via ebay (that's how much their fraud insurance covers). and unless you personally know the seller, never purchase anything via money order.
apparently the money order that i sent to a california address was somehow cashed by someone in hungary.
never purchase anything over $175 via ebay (that's how much their fraud insurance covers). and unless you personally know the seller, never purchase anything via money order.
<<shudder>> ebay horror stories, they are so painful to hear! I have relied heavily on ebay and have endured scams (paying for non-existent goods), rip-off mofos who try quadruple the shipping weight, and plenty of long and stressful waiting times (like 5 months of not knowing where my shit is at).
That's the real cost of internet trading - stress! And good feedback isn't always a guarantee either.
But somehow everything has always worked out in the end. Personally I'd never buy anything as valuable and delicate as a laptop via ebay. Case of buyer beware!
That's the real cost of internet trading - stress! And good feedback isn't always a guarantee either.
But somehow everything has always worked out in the end. Personally I'd never buy anything as valuable and delicate as a laptop via ebay. Case of buyer beware!