so I sold a used computer on craigslist for $70. The guy used it for 3 days no problem downloaded a bunch of shit and now he says it doesn’t work. He called 2 nights ago at 9pm and I gave him an hour of phone support to help him troubleshoot it and we ended up rolling system back using system restore. Worked great he said and we were fine.
Ended up getting a call tonight a week and a day since he bough it from me (mind you $70) all upset and want to return it tome and wants his money back.
the question being, do I just take it back and give this crazy guy his money back for buying an “as is” computer? or just tell him too bad. I do not exactly know what he did but it worked when I sold it to him for a few days and then again after he rolled the system back after his “downloads”??
That hour of tech support you gave him was worth more than $70… Buddy is SOL.
However:
Does he know where you live (and are you concerned)?
Is $70 worth the potential telephone (and potential in person) harassment this nut job could give you?
I say burn a CD’s worth of porn from your own stash and give it to him as a goodwill gesture. The tell him to FOAD.
I don’t really see the ethical question if you sold him a working computer. However, I tend to agree with Khai and others that if he knows where you live, that might be a concern. If it’s not, he’s SOL and blow him off.
It would take someone with a working computer ( ) about 30 seconds to extract your address from the telephone number using a reverse lookup… for 70 bucks, I’d take the computer back… use your expertise to make sure it’s ok, and sell it to someone else… or for 70 bucks, donate it to a local school or something…
I was going to call this ass and work with him if there is a real problem untill he threatened me on my voicemail. I was going to instruct him to take it to BestBuy or something like that and have them diagnose if itis a hardware or software problem. If it is in fact hardware, i will take it back but if it is software, him downloading spyware and such that it is so slow, F him and his investigator he was going to get to find me and serve me for small claims court. opinions???
btw he does not my address since it was never on the computer and he never came to my house to pick it up. He says he has my license plate and was going to find me that way.
I would just take the PC back and return his $70, and move on. This situation is more trouble than it’s worth and you are going to end up investing more of your limited time and stress than you should in the matter.
I’m not sure “ethically” there is a right/wrong answer. The customer did buyt the PC “as is” meaning there is an inherent risk. The customer did complain that the PC stopped working 2-3 days after purchase, which IMO is not a reasonable assumption on any purchase.
Refund, Move on with your life. It’s not worth the hassle and it definately not worth all the hassle that may result from telling him to FOAD. A lot of life’s stress, to me, seem to stem from situations where people have willingly chosen to escalate the situation to where it never needed to go in the first place.
I kind of want him to escalate a bit to have it cost him money and to mess with him a bit. I don’t take being threatened very lightly and I know I could take this guy But yes he is a nut and I do not want to deal with him anymore. If after tomorrow he contacts me again I will just have to pull a favor from the wife and have her issue me a restraining order for me
If your time is worth $70.00 per hour and you sold a computer to this idiot for $70.00, but already gave back one hours worth of tech support, you are breaking even. Taking your precious time to post the details of this event on ST means you are losing money. Save yourself additional grief and tell the idiot that he’s not getting his money back…the computer worked when you sent it to him. If he continues to talk shit and you know where he lives, there are a number of ways you can get him to be quiet.
If he continues to talk shit and you know where he lives, there are a number of ways you can get him to be quiet.
Over a $70 computer?
There are much more colorful, interesting, and worthwhile thngs to get into fights about.
Personally, if I’m going to beat the snot out of somebody, and take a chance at being arrested, paying fines and court costs, as well as, his medical expenses and lost wages, etc … it’s going to be over something “more fun” than a stupid $70 computer sale.
Me thinks the machismo talk is getting carried away.
I ask only because my attorney (which I spoke with this morning) told me the same thing. Tell the guy to FOAD!! Maybe you have a career in law coming your way?
