So I was browsing through craigslist........ a new hobby of mine, when I came across a posting for a fairly nice HP Pavillion Entertainment PC. Now.... SO you understand.... I don't really need a laptop because we bought a brand-new Acer lap-top from Walmart last Christmas ($300 and very basic) So anyway.. you can see the craigslist ad (somewhat) here above. 3 gig of ram......250 gig hard drive...... Dual core Processor...... new battery..... and so forth.... Asking price $325 because his rent is due. This laptop currently goes for $625 refurbished. And originally cost $1200.
So I decide to try and pull a trade of some sort. I put my Acer up for sale ($300) and it sales within 20 minutes. I keep in contact with this kid about his HP he is selling and get him to promise that I am the first one to look at it when he gets off work. It turns out I call him 3-4 times that day and I was really feeling I was getting on his nerves. Every time I had something new to ask along with..... "I'm the first that gets to look at it right?" When I finally meet up with him at the gas station off the freeway I tell him.... " You promise nothing is wrong with this because my wife will have my #%^$# if I buy this and its got some super virus or it doesn't work.... you all get the point. We joked and talked about some stuff as I browsed through it. Everything looked good so I wrote him a check and left. I got home and installed Windows 7 and everything went super smooth. about 10 minutes later it just shut off........... %#^$%&^ !!!!!! I turn it back on and start to install my Office 2007....... half way through........ *&$*&#^*&^# it shuts off again. So now I'm worried .... not only because the laptop doesn't work but that Gabby will be pissed off. She was asking me before if we really needed to upgrade.... even if for only $20 bucks. I convinced her that yes ... It was too good of a deal to pass up.
So I decide to try and pull a trade of some sort. I put my Acer up for sale ($300) and it sales within 20 minutes. I keep in contact with this kid about his HP he is selling and get him to promise that I am the first one to look at it when he gets off work. It turns out I call him 3-4 times that day and I was really feeling I was getting on his nerves. Every time I had something new to ask along with..... "I'm the first that gets to look at it right?" When I finally meet up with him at the gas station off the freeway I tell him.... " You promise nothing is wrong with this because my wife will have my #%^$# if I buy this and its got some super virus or it doesn't work.... you all get the point. We joked and talked about some stuff as I browsed through it. Everything looked good so I wrote him a check and left. I got home and installed Windows 7 and everything went super smooth. about 10 minutes later it just shut off........... %#^$%&^ !!!!!! I turn it back on and start to install my Office 2007....... half way through........ *&$*&#^*&^# it shuts off again. So now I'm worried .... not only because the laptop doesn't work but that Gabby will be pissed off. She was asking me before if we really needed to upgrade.... even if for only $20 bucks. I convinced her that yes ... It was too good of a deal to pass up.
The Moral of this long boring story about a day in the life of the Hobbs is this. You can never really trust someone you don't know... (sometimes even those that you do know.) Maybe this kid did need to pay his rent(He said this was the only reason he was selling it) He promised nothing at all was wrong with it and that he had replaced the battery with a brand new one just a month earlier....... but as far as I'm concerned... you better believe he knew that computer would randomly shut off after about 10-20 minutes of use. He wanted to get out of it with some money before he lost everything.
Now that you all think I have lost $325 dollars.. I shall give you the good news. With the help of some awesome co-workers we took it apart this morning and found that the fan was stuck on something and un-able to spin and cool the computer down. We fixed this and blew it out really good with canned air and put it back together. I installed all of my programs and it has been running for 6 hours straight with no problems. So with the new Windows 7 installed this $700-$1200 is just like brand new but only cost us a $25 upgrade from a very very low end Acer.
Your welcome
ReplyDeleteWe've had pretty good luck with Craigslist, but you never know. My boss was telling me about how he tried selling a rug on craigslist and he went through the entire process of the scam with the guys sending money orders from Nigeria. He didn't know until he went to the bank that the entire thing was a scam. I felt so bad for him because most of us can tell when you get an email back that something is not right, but he totally fell victim of it!
ReplyDeletei didn't know you guys had a blog! how fun!
ReplyDeleteYou need an update. Come on feel us out of towners in!!
ReplyDelete