I got screwed over pretty good on eBay...
Allow me to explain:
I was in the market for a used Compaq office computer. I take these things, strip 'em down, gut 'em out, and spend a couple bucks converting 'em into Linux servers for my network. Hell, more than half of my computers and parts were purchased using eBay. I'd never experienced any problems with eBay - until now.
I'd ordered a Compaq EVO D500 from 24gordon_1. It was a Buy it Now deal, and I paid for the machine immediately after the auction using PayPal. I then ordered a couple of preliminary things to get the D-500 up to speed on the network. Nothing I haven't done before, probably something I'll eventually do again...
I proceeded to kick back and wait for the machine to show up at my front door. This was Thursday, 11/12/2009.
One by one, items I'd ordered that day came to my door, but no computer. I'd gotten a notification by e-mail from UPS that the seller shipped the item on the following Monday, 11/16/2009, which was cool. Two business days isn't bad for turn-around time with shipping. I waited patiently for the machine to arrive so I could get to work. UPS took its sweet time getting it here (definitely not the seller's fault), but hey, I figured with the weight of it, and the holiday season gearing up into full swing, I was patient. The item arrived at my door exactly one week later on Monday, 11/23/2009.
I popped open the box to have a look at the bad boy - and that's when the problems began.
No front-side USB, no front-side audio - hey! Wait a minute! This is the wrong machine!
Yup...
I got sent a Compaq EVO D510CMT (Convertible Mini-Tower). Still, okay - I'd actually priced these with other sellers, not bad, the case was clean enough. Let's see how much memory's in there...
Hmmm...
Popped the case open, 128 megabytes of DDR PC2100...
Damn...
Pretty much why I didn't go with a 510 to begin with. I don't happen to have any DDR RAM laying around. Lemme check that auction again, see if I got the right machine:
The seller described it as: Compaq EVO D500 , P4 1.9ghz, 256mg x 20gb, CDRW, 30 day warranty, XP Pro COAon unit. Unit looks great before we refurbish it.
Okay, the guy sent me the wrong box. Let's see what he has to say about it:
Dear 24gordon_1,
Hello,
I've received my Compaq EVO D500 today, that is I've received a Compaq EVO D510C today. This is a much different item than the one you said you were selling me.
Just a few of the differences I can name, off the top of my head:
1.) Item was advertised as having 256mb's of RAM, it has HALF that, and it's DDR memory - not SDRAM as a D500 would have.
2.) Photograph of the item clearly depicts front-side audio and two USB ports. The item sent to me does not have this feature.
As the item doesn't have an operating system, and I haven't had a chance to poke around through BIOS yet, I don't know what the processor speed is yet, but I'm betting since this is a different computer than the one I was told I'd be getting, that the P4 is clocked at a different speed than what was advertised.
I've never left negative, or even neutral feedback on eBay before, but I feel that this transaction deserves it. Before leaving it, I felt it proper to give you a chance to respond.
- mike
Commentary: Okay... Pretty simple. Pretty plain. You messed up. You messed up pretty big, and I'm gonna lay down some bad feedback that you deserve to get. I'm gonna give you an opportunity to state your case, but, in the end, you screwed up. Here's your chance to go above and beyond.
Dear 24gordon_1,
Okay, continued...
I just checked BIOS, and the machine you sold me was an EVO D510 with a P4 1.8Ghz processor. Again, a different machine, and LESS of a machine than you'd said it was. I'm understandably upset right now.
- mike
Commentary: Yeah, I got into BIOS and began to see that I'd received not only the lesser of two evils, but the evil of two lessers. I'm getting a little anxious...
Dear mike,
What is the serial Number of the unit you received? It sounds like jim and them shipped the wrong machine to the wrong location, we had 3 that were selling at the same time. I don't misrepresent anything, we've got 3 negitive feedbacks in almost 1300 transactions, on ebay alone. Thanks for not being one of the 3, they left negitive feedback without even checking with us. I can get you the other 2 item numbers, if you need to check and see if I'm telling the truth. Please advise, sorry for the mixup
- 24gordon_1
Commentary: Gee... I don't have it in front of me just this minute. Actually, I'm in work by now.
Dear mike,
I've already responded waiting on you to verify serial #. Just so you know, I will not be back onlie until 9:30 tonite, don't think I'm ignoring you, got to run to the airport and pickup some kinfolk.
- 24gordon_1
Commentary: A little anxious? A little impatient? Or, genuinely concerned? I'm not sure. Anyway, I'm at my desk, working. I never once felt ignored at this point. Visit with the kinfolk, dude. I'll get that serial number when I'm at home and able to do it.
Dear 24gordon_1,
Hello,
That's okay. I'm at work right now anyway. I won't be home until nearly 2AM EST. I'll check the serial then.
The computer is something I can work with, so I'm not looking to ship it back or anything. Besides, I've already pulled it apart and rebuilt it with new drives and everything. That's what I do, I restore these older Compaq EVO's and Deskpros - normally into network servers running under Linux.
It's a nice machine, and it's in good enough shape. I was just expecting a D500, which takes SDRAM (which I had plenty of laying around), now I've had to order DDR 2100 for it. Even for a server, the 128mb's of RAM you included in there wouldn't do too much.
Again, I'll get that serial number for you sometime after 2AM tonight.
~Mike
- mike
Commentary: Okay, you need me to grab a serial number off the back of the box, for whatever reason, that's cool. Not a problem. Just so you know, I'm keepin' the thing, even though it's less than what you promised. A decent seller may've offered me a couple bucks as a partial refund at this point. He doesn't want to go that way. Let's read on...
Dear mike,
Sorry, kinfolk very long winded, i know where my wife gets it. They finally passed out, about 11 cst. You've sorta limited what I can do, I emailed the other 2 ebayers involed, asking them to let me know what they receive, there were 2 others, 1 is ok, 1 got more than they should have machine wise, I don't know which is which until they respond, even if just one responded saying he was ok, I'd know. I just can't believe it was such an issue, yet you've proceeded with doing all you've done, how do i fix it now, when i was going to have the correct machine sent to your location. I'm now hoping there was not a specific reason whoever got your machine, wanted/needed the machine you've now worked on. Please tell me what makes you happy now, I at least need to give the other folks the chance to respond, to make sure we didn't screw one of them up, I know don't have the option of send ing the machine you got, to either of them. Just so you know I'm not making anything up, the 3 compaq evo sales are 260503253434,370287192764 and 370287193634
- 24gordon_1
Commentary: Hmmm... Lots of whining. Lemme get this all straight in my head, y'know, 'cause sometimes I get confused a bit. You wanted me to mail this thing back to you? With who's money? Mine? You wanted me to give up a machine that works for one that might not, and wait weeks to do this? Incidentally, the middle number, the one that ends in 64, is the one he sent me. He claimed that it had 256 megabytes of memory in it as well ( Compaq EVO D510 CMT, P4 1.8ghz, 256mg x 40gb, CDRW, 30 day warranty, W2K COAon unit. Unit looks great before we refurbish it ). It didn't. It had half that. All of these auctions state: 100% money back if not as described. Must be notified within 3 days of receipt - yet he hasn't once offered me a refund in all this. We've got a very amateur seller trying to act big league here, and failing miserably.
Dear 24gordon_1,
Sorry, dude, but I have demands of my own. I needed to replace a server, and this machine will do the job adequately once I have the memory for it in place.
The S/N on the back of the machine is:
W226KN8ZA070
with the word "Compaq" underneath it. You'd also stated that there was a 20gb hard drive in it, this one has a 40, and there was supposed to be a WinXP Pro COA on it, this one has a Win2K COA sticker in place.
The nearest UPS facility is like fifteen miles away from me - as I said before, I work nights, and losing sleep (and money) to ship this machine back to you doesn't interest me. I'd rather just keep it, and be done with it.
- mike
Commentary: What's this, the third time I'm telling him I'm keeping the machine? I've ended and checked out of the conversation at this point, but he wants to drag the dead horse a little further along...
Dear mike,
I just can't believe all of this was done, you spent money for memory, etc, when obviously you received the wrong machine, I would have never done it, esp. the spending of money, I would have notified you and given you the option to resolve/pay it, only a common courtesy(sorry about the spelling, on the 1st cup of coffee.) Now i don't even have the option of replaceing/swapping for the other user, if in fact he has an issue, all I can do is refund, but you've shown you'll do what you want anyway, even if it's to an "inferior machine". Do whatever you want on feedback, after seeing this unfold, I'm sure you'll leave neg itive feedback just to put the icing on the cake,thanks for allowing me to resolve, don't like being notified of a problem after the fact of youtaking action on your own, such is life
- 24gordon_1
Commentary: Is this guy chastising me for mistakes he's made? I never once said it was an "inferior machine" in any of this. Let's drag the dead horse just a few more yards with Cletus the Computer Salesman...
Dear 24gordon_1,
Okay...
I've checked out the other item numbers that you forwarded in your last message, and this one:
370287192764
is what you sent me. Actually, in this listing, you described the item as:
"Compaq EVO D510 CMT, P4 1.8ghz, 256mg x 40gb, CDRW, 30 day warranty, W2K COAon unit"
Which is all true, except the part about the memory. This machine arrived on my front porch with a single 128mb PC2100 DRR memory module in it.
This is all beginning to look VERY shady to me now...
- mike
Commentary: Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm overly cautious, but yeah, at the time, it was beginning to look pretty shady. The way he kept insisting on me sending the machine back to him, when I told him three times I was keeping it, I dunno... Looking back with a little hindsight, this guy strikes me as some one who absolutely has to be right no matter what. He sent me the wrong box, he screwed whomever was to receive the box I got out of some memory, but it's all my fault. I'm done with the conversation... again... but our would-be master eBayer has to get in the last word.
Dear mike,
Dear mike,
Then leave me negitive feedback and get on with it, so i can resond to it. I don't know how in the hell it looks shady,my guys made an accident on who got what, if it's shady to be human, please mention that in your negitive feedback, been trying to be nice about this, since it was our fault, but i willnot sit here without responding to your ludicris claim of bait and switch on a 30 dollar system, not enough money involved to be playing with anything, and all I have is my feedback, you can be the 4th to leave negitive feedback doesn't concern me in the least after you attacking my character, leave negitive feedback and move on, your obviously more important than the rest of us, just going to delte any other emails i see from you without responding, never seen 7 emails in ref to an issue on a 30.00 unit, geez
- 24gordon_1
Commentary: "my guys made an accident on who got what" - does that mean somebody peed on my computer? Hmmm... I never used the words, "bait and switch" in any of this, but you did - 'nuff said about that. Human is one thing, incompetent is another. Dude, you haven't seen me attack your character - well, I take that back, if you've read this far, you have. Thirty dollar system? I take it you have money to burn, right? Must be nice to be rich. I wouldn't know. I'm just a humble civil servant. Spending close to fifty bucks (with shipping charges) was a decision for me. Giving that money to you was obviously a mistake. Maybe you'll learn from this experience, but something tells me you probably won't. I'm not more important than anyone, sir. I'm just a poor, dumb working man who trusted his money with some one who's too stupid to really understand what he's done to screw over another human being. I've heard ignorance is a blissful thing, and you, sir, are the most blissful person I've ever known.
The Bottom Line: Was 24gordon_1 malicious or malevolent in all this? Probably not. He's a stupid, bumbling, pig-headed hick, yeah, but he isn't evil.
"What we've got here is... failure to communicate..."
This is the first time in three years of shopping on eBay where I've had to leave negative feedback for some one. I don't enjoy it, but this man deserves it.
He sent me the wrong thing, and then got angry and belligerent with me about it.
I guess, what it all comes down to is: If you walked on to a car lot, to buy a car, and the people selling you the car didn't know the difference between a Mustang and a Miata, would you expect to buy a good quality automobile from them? Probably not. I take it, from these conversations, that Cletus the Computer Salesman feels computers are all the same under the hood - Mikey the Mechanic here can tell you exactly how wrong that is. What I bought and what I got may look very similar from the outside, but inside they're different animals.
If you value your time and money - don't buy a computer from this guy.
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