This store is in my neighborhood, and I went in to check out a "sale" they had going on. I needed to replace my laptop ASAP, because I had just won a bid on a web contract. The sale prices posted on the exterior of the building are what caught my eye, but I quickly found out that those only applied to notepads and netbooks. Any decent-sized laptop was much more expensive than the advertised "sale" prices. A customer service person did tend to me right away. I told them what I needed, and he quickly told me what he had available (which wasn't much) that would suit my needs for my web and multi-media work. Now granted, I didn't show up right away when the sale first began, and I knew that their stock may have been picked over a bit by the time I got there. So I asked the sales person if they had originally had more stock at the beginning of the sale, and he said "no, not for the type of laptop you're needing". At least he was honest about that. So I asked if he had anything in my price rage of $400, and he said yes, but not for what you need. Then he walked away and tended to someone else without excusing himself, which I thought was rude. It was like if I didn't have more money, I wasn't worth his time. Finally, he came back around to me, and asked if I saw anything I wanted. I said that if I was going to spend that kind of money, I wanted to get what I needed. The only one laptop that they had was a Gateway that was refurbished, and it was nearly $800... Totally out of my price range. Since I'm not a total novice when it comes to pricing, I thought that was WAY TOO MUCH for a refurbished product. And it is. I asked for a business card, and left. I went home and looked up other NEW laptops similar to what he tried to sell me, and there are several BRAND NEW laptops that are less money.
All in all, most of the pricing for the refurbished laptops they sell are the same price or more than a new one would cost that has a manufacturer's warranty. And Laptek only offers a 90-day warranty on their products. After that, any repairs are on the consumer. Unless you need a simple notepad or netbook for normal every day usage, this store's prices are a total rippoff. And even for those, you can find new ones for the same price, or maybe just a tad more.
I've seen this sales tactic also used at another laptop store in the same area, Laptop World. The product usually doesn't last long after the 90 day warranty is over, and then they want to charge you an arm and a leg for repairs, or take your laptop in trade for another of theirs, which won't last any longer (they don't give much credit on the trade-in, either, and charge you MORE MONEY). Many of these shops install bootleg copies of Windows that have been used so many times that you can't even get a product key to register it, and you have to contact Microsoft to give you a new key. My first laptop purchase was at Laptop World, and that's exactly what happened. They had installed a Windows OS that was licensed for a DELL, and it was installed in an IBM Thinkpad. Not only that, but the laptop had no Antivirus installed. It took me 2 days of installing my own programs and getting a key to register my Windows XP, before I could even install updates. And they told me when I bought it that it was internet ready... Yeah, right.
After my previous experience with Laptop World, I knew what signs to look for with this new shop, Laptek. They are basically the same type of store, and my ZoneAlarm Extreme Security warned me not to enter any personal or identifying information on their web site.
The rule on a shop like this is, only go there if you have a referral from someone you know and trust, and check their BBB rating, too. Chances are, you'll find all sorts of complaints about them. However, there are reputable shops out there. You just need to be aware that there are those that aren't, and check them out before doing business with them. If your gut tells you that they may be shady, listen to that and double check first.
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