I purchased a used IBM laptop from Computer Warehouse of North Carolina on EBay on 2/11/06 for $200 plus $26.50 shipping, item # 6848650493 (still viewable). The laptop arrived with a broken screen, dead battery, a missing track button, and Windows XPPro without disks or registration keys, which is illegal to resell like that. The included software he listed for this laptop was all trial and unregistered versions, which was worthless.
The seller misrepresented his ad just to sell a broken laptop, and tried to include "as is" as some kind of protection. "As is" does not mean a seller can misrepresent the product.
The seller refuses to give a refund despite his own admission through email that the ad had false information in it. I have had two estimates for repair done by PC repair specialists and it will cost me a few hundred dollars to get back to working
order, not including legal Windows version.
My communication with this seller by email has definitely indicated to me that he has little knowledge of computers and simply packages and sells broken units for unknowing customers. For a business owner, his customer service skills are non
existent and his business practices unethical.
Since the purchase was made through Paypal, an investigation was done and they ruled in my favor... But the seller emptied his paypal account prior to case closure. Paypal awarded me their maximum $ amount provided by their buyer insurance, but the amount does not cover a full refund. The seller now owes Paypal money and me. I will be taking the owner to small claims court to recoup my money plus damages.
I would advise consumers to not do business with this company at all, they are a bunch of rip-off artists. I have seen positive results so far with reporting this company to several agencies. They have been booted from Ebay and they owe Paypal money. The BBB, FTC and Attorney General are currently investigating consumer fraud.
Taking the time to defend your rights as a consumer will pay off in the end.
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