Am I being scammed by the guy who bought my Macbook pro?

[abaganov2]

Here is something strange that is happening to me

I sold my Macbook pro M1 a few days ago , before selling it I was doing a "erase all content and settings" which reinstall the OS, met the guy at the coffee shop, we examine the machine together, everything was working fine (never had any issue with the device) he paid me in cash and bought it. 15 min later I get a msg from him telling me the machine is on but the screen is black , I told ok let's meet again, we meet again as the same coffee shop, I was thinking maybe he is trying to scam me and replacing my working laptop with a different none functioning one , so I examine the device and it's indeed my laptop but it is now showing a black screen, keyboard light is on, the device seems on but the screen is black , i try everything (brightness, hard reset) nothing works, then 1 hour later after trying again and again, all of sudden the screen is normal again, everything works great and he takes it and I think we are all good.

But then again now (Which is a few days later) he send a msg that again the laptop show that black screen again , telling me he did a full reinstall of the system and this is still going on and he wants his money back

Can anyone tell me what could be going on here? it just seems strange to me that a machine that was working perfectly for 1 year all of sudden after 15 min with this guy have some hardware problem , so my thought was it must got to do with me reinstalling the software before selling it and this is some kind of software bug, but after he told me he reinstall the OS I am not sure about that anymore

this is all very strange, and would love to hear any opinions you guys have about this?

 

[Emit0r]

Person could have messed with the machine. All sales are final. I would block this person and call it a day.

 

[Technerd108]

First off I am not sure how you sold the laptop. I would avoid things like Craigslist and personal meet ups. Also any time you sell a device as the previous poster said all sales are final. There are no returns. Try to sell used on Swappa, Amazon and maybe ebay but never allow for returns. Ship never meet up.

The reason for having an all sales are final is because the buyer could do anything with your previous laptop like accidentally drop it, scratch it, etc.

You can help with software issues like maybe the device is still linked to your icloud account. Beyond that there is nothing you can do.

DO NOT TAKE THE LAPTOP BACK and don't refund his money.

He bought a used laptop and once he paid and took the device out of your physical possession it is his.

If you met him he had a chance to check everything out and if there was a problem he should have seen it in the initial meet and buy.

I would block him as well. You could explain you can't take the laptop back because once it left your possession you have no control what happens and when you sold it, it was working fine. Then block.

If you were to take it back now you have a device worth considerably less or have to make a repair through no fault of your own.

 

[UltimateSyn]

First off I am not sure how you sold the laptop. I would avoid things like Craigslist and personal meet ups. Also any time you sell a device as the previous poster said all sales are final. There are no returns. Try to sell used on Swappa, Amazon and maybe ebay but never allow for returns. Ship never meet up.

The reason for having an all sales are final is because the buyer could do anything with your previous laptop like accidentally drop it, scratch it, etc.

You can help with software issues like maybe the device is still linked to your icloud account. Beyond that there is nothing you can do.

DO NOT TAKE THE LAPTOP BACK and don't refund his money.

He bought a used laptop and once he paid and took the device out of your physical possession it is his.

If you met him he had a chance to check everything out and if there was a problem he should have seen it in the initial meet and buy.

I would block him as well. You could explain you can't take the laptop back because once it left your possession you have no control what happens and when you sold it, it was working fine. Then block.

If you were to take it back now you have a device worth considerably less or have to make a repair through no fault of your own.

Agreeing with this approach. Hard to give people the benefit of the doubt these days.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

If it’s still under warranty tell him to get with Apple. It was fine at the coffee shop so not much else you can do about it so not sure what he wants.

 

[JPack]

Could be Flexgate, as it seems to complicated to be a scam.

 

[maflynn]

Selling laptops (and other electronics) tend to be a risky endeavor it seems.

OP, depending on how you sold it, will dictate your response. Using a service like eBay means the buyer as a lot of options, including chargebacks. If you sold it to you in person, then I'd avoid trying refunding him his money, and instead try to work with them.

Could be Flexgate,

Is flexgate an issue with the M1? Its only a year old (or there abouts) laptop, that seems too new for the display cable to wear out.

 

[laptech]

People are saying the buyer could have done something to the laptop and thus as all sales are final it's basically a case of tough luck. Are people really suggesting this as a way forward, to ignore the buyer?

What about from the buyers perspective, he buys what he thinks is a fully functional machine and then withing hours/days it stops working. Now are you telling me if you was in this buyers shoes you would put it down to tough luck and thus lost your money because the seller will no longer deal with you?

If this happened to you lot there is no way you'd allow the seller to behave the way your telling the OP to behave. You lot would be demanding your money back.

 

[maflynn]

People are saying the buyer could have done something to the laptop and thus as all sales are final it's basically a case of tough luck. Are people really suggesting this as a way forward, to ignore the buyer?

I agree, I usually try to put myself in the buyer's position but as the seller is posting and not the buyer, I think the advice provided is to take steps to protect themselves from potential scammers.

 

[darngooddesign]

Could be Flexgate, as it seems to complicated to be a scam.

The M1s did not suffer from Flexgate.

 

[laptech]

I agree, I usually try to put myself in the buyer's position but as the seller is posting and not the buyer, I think the advice provided is to take steps to protect themselves from potential scammers.

You do realise when faced with the same problem people will search on MR to see if anyone has had the same problem and how it was dealt with and when they see this thread with the advice being 'ignore the buyer' what do you think is going to happen when you become the buyer or others in here become the buyer and the seller ignores you because that is the advice they've seen.

 

[DMG35]

Is flexgate an issue with the M1? Its only a year old (or there abouts) laptop, that seems too new for the display cable to wear out.

No, its not an issue with the M1's. It's not even an issue with most of the intel machines. Its was an issue with the early Touch Bar models (2016-2017).

 

[DMG35]

OP here is what I think. If the guy paid you and you saw that it was your laptop messing up then I honestly think you should probably refund his money. He clearly isn't scamming you because you saw first hand that it was your laptop messing up. I just think you are asking for trouble if you ignore the guy.

Put yourself in the buyers position. Wouldn't you want your money back if you purchased an (I'm assuming) expensive laptop only for it to have an issue that keeps it from working?

 

[maflynn]

Put yourself in the buyers position. Wouldn't you want your money back if you purchased an (I'm assuming) expensive laptop only for it to have an issue that keeps it from working?

I've been burned by buyers in the past, so that's no doubt coloring my perspective, but I do think more communication and working through the issue is needed first.

The issues I ran into was that the buyer messed up the laptop and then wanted their money back because of their mistake. If the buyer here did something wrong, messed something up, its not the OPs fault, nor should she quickly refund the money.

I do agree, about the whole Do unto others as you would have them do unto you mentality, but first see if it can be resolved before going down the patch of refunds.

 

[spiderman0616]

OP, did you do this as a private sale or through Swappa/eBay/etc.? I don't have much to say about your current situation, but I can tell you that next time I would go with Swappa. They monitor all transactions there and there's a lot more recourse for the seller in situations like yours.

I know that doesn't help you CURRENTLY, but just my 2c.

 

[diego.caraballo]

The fairest thing to do is have the machine diagnosed at an Apple Store/Authorized Service Provider first. Is the machine has not been tampered with neither has liquid damage, then you can agree on split the cost of repair (if any, maybe a firmware revival solves the issue).

The machine failed on him just 15 minutes later, and even if never failed to you, I feel that's not right to ignore the buyer.

 

[russell_314]

The fairest thing to do is have the machine diagnosed at an Apple Store/Authorized Service Provider first. Is the machine has not been tampered with neither has liquid damage, then you can agree on split the cost of repair (if any, maybe a firmware revival solves the issue).

The machine failed on him just 15 minutes later, and even if never failed to you, I feel that's not right to ignore the buyer.

I think I agree with this comment. It’s a good balance.

If the buyer and somehow damaged it with liquid then it’s on him. If it’s just some minor issues, then Apple will fix it.

There are too many people that will take advantage of a situation to benefit themselves. This dude could’ve put the laptop on his car seat, stopped at the McDonald’s drive-through then spilled entire cup of coffee on it. He figured oh easy I’ll just blame this on the seller.

Absolutely don’t give him his money back. He bought the laptop and now the best he can expect is you can work with him on figuring out what’s wrong with it. As long as he didn’t damage it by doing something like in my scenario it should be an easy fix.

 

[DMG35]

I've been burned by buyers in the past, so that's no doubt coloring my perspective, but I do think more communication and working through the issue is needed first.

The issues I ran into was that the buyer messed up the laptop and then wanted their money back because of their mistake. If the buyer here did something wrong, messed something up, its not the OPs fault, nor should she quickly refund the money.

I do agree, about the whole Do unto others as you would have them do unto you mentality, but first see if it can be resolved before going down the patch of refunds.

I absolutely agree with you. I guess my concern here is that the OP did see the issue first hand only a few minutes after selling the laptop so they know that the issue is not something that the buyer themselves caused or is making up.

There are a ton of variables here. Sometimes the old "buyer beware" applies as well. I'm not sure there is going to be an outcome here where both parties are satisfied unless the issue with the MBP resolves itself and works without the black screen issue happening again.

 

[savagewatts]

If it was working beforehand you are getting ripped off. As soon as the sale was made your involvement was over. Block.

 

[Zest28]

I would ignore him. He was able to inspect the machine when he bought it.

Who says that he didn’t break it himself.

 

[ConfusedClam]

First off I am not sure how you sold the laptop. I would avoid things like Craigslist and personal meet ups. Also any time you sell a device as the previous poster said all sales are final. There are no returns. Try to sell used on Swappa, Amazon and maybe ebay but never allow for returns. Ship never meet up.

The reason for having an all sales are final is because the buyer could do anything with your previous laptop like accidentally drop it, scratch it, etc.

You can help with software issues like maybe the device is still linked to your icloud account. Beyond that there is nothing you can do.

DO NOT TAKE THE LAPTOP BACK and don't refund his money.

He bought a used laptop and once he paid and took the device out of your physical possession it is his.

If you met him he had a chance to check everything out and if there was a problem he should have seen it in the initial meet and buy.

I would block him as well. You could explain you can't take the laptop back because once it left your possession you have no control what happens and when you sold it, it was working fine. Then block.

If you were to take it back now you have a device worth considerably less or have to make a repair through no fault of your own.

Selling on Swappa/Ebay to avoid getting scammed isn't great advice.

A buyer on there can claim the same thing after tampering with it and in those cases, PayPal/Ebay will make you refund upon return. PayPal (the payment processor for Swappa) allows returns up to six months now and Ebay does not allow you to leave buyer feedback as of nearly a decade ago. They will ALWAYS side with the buyer unless they've shown a pattern of abuse of buyer protection features. The upside to selling online is that you'll usually get more money, even after fees/shipping. I've sold hundreds on several platforms. Amazon doesn't allow apple products anymore unless you're doing 7 figure sales every 6 months, I believe. Even then, you have to apply for authorization. MR did a story on this a few years ago.

Selling in person at a safe location like a Police Department is the best way to avoid getting scammed. I've bought several devices like this and most even have an online transaction meetup spot. I'll use hotspot for internet to try it out. Never had an issue.

Telling buyer he's out of luck might get her banned if she sold on FB marketplace or something like that. But she can be proactive in reporting him first. If it was something like CL, I would simply tell him all sales are final.

 

[maka344]

It's still in warranty, just. Tell him to take it to Apple for investigation/resolution.

 

[aibloop]

How hard would it be to swap the machine for a broken one? Scuff it a bit to make it look like the sellers laptop(15min period) you wind up with a crapped laptop, he gets your good one and sells it again...

Check the serial number. This smells like a scam.

 

[abaganov2]

People are saying the buyer could have done something to the laptop and thus as all sales are final it's basically a case of tough luck. Are people really suggesting this as a way forward, to ignore the buyer?

What about from the buyers perspective, he buys what he thinks is a fully functional machine and then withing hours/days it stops working. Now are you telling me if you was in this buyers shoes you would put it down to tough luck and thus lost your money because the seller will no longer deal with you?

If this happened to you lot there is no way you'd allow the seller to behave the way your telling the OP to behave. You lot would be demanding your money back.

I see what you saying, but you don't find it strange that a laptop that was working perfectly fine for me for over year all of a sudden have hardware problems 15 min after I sold him? also It's the buyer responsibility to examine the machine when he purchase it, but once it left my hands in a perfect working order, how long should I be responsible for any damage that could happen ?

 

[abaganov2]

I absolutely agree with you. I guess my concern here is that the OP did see the issue first hand only a few minutes after selling the laptop so they know that the issue is not something that the buyer themselves caused or is making up.

There are a ton of variables here. Sometimes the old "buyer beware" applies as well. I'm not sure there is going to be an outcome here where both parties are satisfied unless the issue with the MBP resolves itself and works without the black screen issue happening again.

I mean, a lot of things can happen in 15 min.. it was just so strange for me that a machine that was flawless for more then a year in my hands, all of sudden have an issue 15 min after I sold him to this guy, its just too strange.