eBay dispute (MBP)

[bcburrows]

He purchased a laptop with one hard drive not two. You two are meant to come to agreement, not have terms dictated to you, he is now being unreasonable and just simply trying his luck.

I would make my point i.e. hard drive exchange - reasonable, split the postage costs....

I never include the hard drive when I have sold a mac due to sensitive information kept on it - AC covers everything else and too be honest the hard drive warranties are as comprehensive as apple care so he really has no issue - if there are further problems with the hdd - the manufacturer should still replace.....

Caveat Emptor

 

[i4k20c]

Honestly, i'd forget about helping him and talking with him.

Is this guy serious? you sent him all the links and everything and he opened up a dispute? screw that.

you did your part, he got the computer in working condition, you went beyond your duty to help him. there are plenty of sellers who will not open a email or message from a buyer after shipment is received.

if he wants a oem apple hdd, he can buy one from the forums for pretty cheap i'm sure..so i'd say just leave it be and consider your part done.

in regards to the credit card charge back..i'm not sure, but I suggest you call your cc company and ask them. Just say someone might be contemplating a charge back on you and thus wanted to understand how the process works.

 

[akkkmed]

Honestly, i'd forget about helping him and talking with him.

Is this guy serious? you sent him all the links and everything and he opened up a dispute? screw that.

you did your part, he got the computer in working condition, you went beyond your duty to help him. there are plenty of sellers who will not open a email or message from a buyer after shipment is received.

if he wants a oem apple hdd, he can buy one from the forums for pretty cheap i'm sure..so i'd say just leave it be and consider your part done.

in regards to the credit card charge back..i'm not sure, but I suggest you call your cc company and ask them. Just say someone might be contemplating a charge back on you and thus wanted to understand how the process works.

He opened a dispute case BEFORE contacting me!!!! I received a PayPal email yesterday about the case, so I contacted him on eBay asking what's wrong. He then replied to my email address. So he never tried fixing anything before opening a case!

My issue with the CC charge back is I don't know what CC he uses... Policies seem to be different for different CC companies. I can't find a final answer, but Googling around shows that some companies are 60 days, while others are 120-180 days. And the sale was on March 13, putting us under 6 months

----------

Thanks for all the other answers! [Most] of you guys have the same opinion as I do. I said a warranty was included, and it was. No question about it.

I'm trying to think of where I could get the S/N for the MBP... I don't think I have it anywhere

 

[johnnyturbouk]

While it is a gray area, did your ad mention that the laptop still was covered under warranty until May 2011?

If so, then I'd think you're slightly more in the wrong, as you should have highlighted that everything BUT the HD would be covered under warranty. It doesn't read like you were purposefully trying to deceive him, and I can understand that it was probably just an oversight, but I think the onus is on you to fix the issue.

Since the HD is still under warranty, why don't you help buyer file a warranty claim and get a new HD shipped to him. If that takes too long, just send him some $ to help him a new HD, and you file the warranty claim and keep the replacement HD (which you can then sell). I'd guess at most you're out some time and maybe $20-40, doesn't seem like that big of a deal to make it right.

Hit the nail on the head!

Most CC have something like a 60 day chargeback policy, some lenient with 90 days. You're... 180 days in the clear. You're fine.

That said, why not do him a favor and try to help him resolve the HDD warranty issue?

The policy of CC will vary between countries - in the UK we are protected by consumer rights law.

This guy is a jerk. Frankly, I would be really pissed that he went to Paypal first, before even contacting me.

Yes, he should of been more mature and contacted you, the seller first!

Just help the cry baby rma the hd, or get him a new one. Better then to deal with all this headache

send him that hard drive but charge him for it if he wants it so bad. what ever you do, do not send him the hard drive for free. don't let him win.

Fair point - i would just RMA his HDD, but charge him for the delivery of the delivery back to him

Despite his rather surreptitious and plain out rude tactics - if you did not mention in the original add that the HDD was OEM-user replaced, and not the stock HDD, the buyer has got some grounds to make a complaint! He did not go about the right way to deal with it though.

When i sold my MBP, i had user-replaced RAM and HDD. When i sold the MBP i provided the stock items to the buyer for warranty issues, and agreed to uphold the warranty of the OEM parts. The crucial RAM has lifetime warranty, and i had 2yrs manufacturing warranty on the OEM HDD.

Do you have a link for the exact ebay add you placed?

 

[akkkmed]

Hit the nail on the head!

The policy of CC will vary between countries - in the UK we are protected by consumer rights law.

Yes, he should of been more mature and contacted you, the seller first!

Fair point - i would just RMA his HDD, but charge him for the delivery of the RMA back to him

I don't mind helping him RMA the drive, but HE has the drive. I don't have any way of doing it for him from my end without the drive.

(In the U.S. by the way)

 

[DWBurke811]

If it happened on March 13, I say string him along until September 14, then forget about it. The guy is a prick/cheap bastard, and you've already done way more than I would have lol

 

[3dflyboy1]

He purchased a laptop with one hard drive not two. You two are meant to come to agreement, not have terms dictated to you, he is now being unreasonable and just simply trying his luck.

I would make my point i.e. hard drive exchange - reasonable, split the postage costs....

I never include the hard drive when I have sold a mac due to sensitive information kept on it - AC covers everything else and too be honest the hard drive warranties are as comprehensive as apple care so he really has no issue - if there are further problems with the hdd - the manufacturer should still replace.....

Caveat Emptor

This is what I'd do. He is definitely just trying his luck. It's completely unreasonable, absurd, etc. to demand the old HDD for free, especially when he can get the Seagate HDD that was in the laptop replaced through the manufacturer's warranty. If he wants the original drive so badly, then he can trade for it or buy it.

Caveat Emptor is right on. He shouldn't be blaming you for not mentioning the 3rd party HDD in the ad, and should at least try to fix his own problems before running to you about it.

If I was the buyer, I'd be glad that the Seagate drive still has a warranty and go take care of it myself. IT'S A FREE REPLACEMENT BY THE MANUFACTURER, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!

EDIT: this is why I stick to SSD's. And Seagate drives are kinda known to have problems

 

[GoCubsGo]

snip ...


this is where 'Doing research on an expensive item you're about to buy - 101" comes in...

o wait, majority of the population doesn't have common sense. oops

This is not at all the buyer's fault because he was unaware the drive was upgraded nor could any amount of research really suggest that he should have known. The seller should have mentioned that for sure but since it wasn't, I don't even know if I would have asked. Maybe you're different but I'd like to believe I'm a savvy buyer and seller, and yet I can see where this could have gone wrong. Common sense does exist more than you think.

Sure, the buyer could have asked if the drive was stock but why would he? It seems to me that if it is not mentioned as an upgrade then it was not upgraded. It's clearly implied, if clearly and implied can be used in the same sentence.

Thanks for all the replies.

Update #1:

The conversations below were through email, not eBay. He bought Apple Care for $280 (until May 31, 2013.) The hard drive has a 2 year limited warranty.

I told him the drive he has is still under a 2 year warranty (Seagate from NewEgg.) I sent him the links to get it handled. He said he doesn't mind doing that, but he wants the stock 320GB drive sent to him. He wants it in case there are "future issues". He keeps saying he feels like he wasted money on AC if it doesn't even cover the hard drive. If the drive fails again out of the Seagate warranty time frame, there's still time the MBP is covered under AC.

I said if I send you the drive, I want the other drive in return. He said he just wants the stock drive as a backup. I said that doesn't sound fair, but he disagrees.

You tell him you will send him the drive for an additional fee. Don't look for a quick buck here either. How much is this worth to you? Forget PayPal for a second and say his CC does allow the charge back? He could F that computer up, send it back and you'll be out a nice machine AND your cash. That 320 GB drive is probably worth $50, tell him you will SELL it to him for $20, that covers shipping plus your time and that will resolve this issue.

Your e-mail should say something along the lines that you understand his frustration and his concern and you are willing to sell him the drive for $20 which you believe to be a fair price to cover shipping and handling. Upon receipt of the funds, you will ship (with tracking) the drive to him. The payment of the drive will satisfactorily resolve any open disputes and you will consider this matter closed.

Don't debate right or wrong when you e-mail him. Don't get into why you believe he is being unfair. If it were me, giving up a drive would be much easier than having to deal with the potential for the charge back. Again, you're leaving it in this guy's hands way too much. You should have listed the drive as upgraded and for that, you're going to have to lose the stock drive. Suck it up and move on.

 

[akkkmed]

This is what I'd do. He is definitely just trying his luck. It's completely unreasonable, absurd, etc. to demand the old HDD for free, especially when he can get the Seagate HDD that was in the laptop replaced through the manufacturer's warranty.

Caveat Emptor is right on. He shouldn't be blaming you for not mentioning the 3rd party HDD in the ad, and should at least try to fix his own problems before running to you about it.

Agreed. After looking around Google, I've found that Seagate doesn't require a receipt for a warranty exchange. They just need the model and serial numbers.

I have no problem telling the buyer to do that himself and then get lost.

Lastly, what am I supposed to say when he tells me his Apple Care doesn't cover the hardware he thought he was paying for? I realize the 3rd party hard drive is covered for 2 years, but that leaves 1 year of no coverage from the time that warranty ends to the time AC ends...

As a side note, I just emailed him asking for the serial number. I doubt he'll send it, but we'll see.

 

[gullySn0wCat]

I think charging him $20 to send the stock drive is fair and equitable. It would be quite frustrating to have Applecare tell you to f### off after spending ~$200 on the extension.

 

[SPNarwhal]

give him three options.

1.) Keep the harddrive he has now and get it replaced by SeaGate. (free upgrade)

2.) Exchange the original Hard Drive for the SeaGate one.

3.) Send him the original stock Hard Drive and charge him the price you paid for the SeaGate one if he wants to keep that one so bad. Or charge him the price of the replacement harddrive, since realistically to you it's just a ___gb harddrive, but to him it's an warrantied harddrive.

I was on the buyer's side but it seems like he's getting greedy and trying to guilt you into giving him something for free which he probably feels he deserves for all of this hassle he's had to go through.

I can see his point though, he probably wants the size you promised/advertised to him when he bought the laptop, but also wants to coverage/safety from Apple that you promised him as well. Nothing wrong with that, and he probably doesn't want to put out more money after buying AppleCare which should have covered the harddrive in the first place.

SeaGate is fine, but it's not as fast as Apple is, and you have to uninstall/reinstall the drive yourself, and go a few days inbetween replacement without a laptop.

I can see his point, but I can see your point also. But to be honest I probably would feel the same way if I were the buyer, I mean you should have been more clear. If someone's going to spend a lot of money on something, they should know exactly what they're getting.

 

[3dflyboy1]

Lastly, what am I supposed to say when he tells me his Apple Care doesn't cover the hardware he thought he was paying for? I realize the 3rd party hard drive is covered for 2 years, but that leaves 1 year of no coverage from the time that warranty ends to the time AC ends...

As a side note, I just emailed him asking for the serial number. I doubt he'll send it, but we'll see.

Hmmm. Well, you could just tell him that he should buy a computer from apple if he wants undeniable, complete coverage. But that would most likely make him really mad.

give him three options.

1.) Keep the harddrive he has now and get it replaced by SeaGate. (free upgrade)

2.) Exchange the original Hard Drive for the SeaGate one.

3.) Send him the original stock Hard Drive and charge him the price you paid for the SeaGate one if he wants to keep that one so bad. Or charge him the price of the replacement harddrive, since realistically to you it's just a ___gb harddrive, but to him it's an warrantied harddrive.

great advice here.

 

[akkkmed]

The $20 buy-back option seems fair, as do the 3 potential options.

I think I'll go the 3 options route.

The thing that irks me is he insists that the RAM is 3rd party. It's not! I don't understand why he/Apple is claiming it is. This is why I feel like I'm being taken advantage of. Like he's creating issues for himself...

 

[3dflyboy1]

The thing that irks me is he insists that the RAM is 3rd party. It's not! I don't understand why he/Apple is claiming it is. This is why I feel like I'm being taken advantage of. Like he's creating issues for himself...

If the RAM is stock, then you can tell him in all honesty that it is. There's nothing wrong with the RAM, and he shouldn't have a problem with it. Apple would know if it's stock or not. Seems rather fishy.

 

[akkkmed]

If the RAM is stock, then you can tell him in all honesty that it is. There's nothing wrong with the RAM, and he shouldn't have a problem with it. Apple would know if it's stock or not. Seems rather fishy.

Yupp...
And I have told him multiple times now that it's stock RAM.

 

[mac jones]

It hasn't been too long, because the buyer went and purchased AppleCare, which extended the warranty so the buyer is still under warranty. The buyer purchased AppleCare since the OP didn't state anything was 3rd party, so the working assumption is that everything would be covered.

As someone above wrote, when OP put up the ad stating laptop was still under warranty, he had a responsibility to highlight the items that would NOT be covered by said warranty. OP didn't do this.

If you want to be technical, he lied by omission re: the 3rd party HD.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie#Lying_by_omission

This entire thread strikes a nerve with me, as I was on the receiving end of something similar with eBay and found out about 6 months later when I went to get warranty work. Eventually PayPal sided with me, I got a full refund plus shipping but was NOT worth the hassle and back & forth to get it resolved.

Oh, thanks. Somehow i missed that! So this changes everything for my take on this.

In this case I would have to deal with it and make him happy, ethically , and of course, try to make sure he leaves positive feedback (which is important to me). I have over 600 100%. And a lot of big ticket items.

The point is; someone may purchase Apple care, so I would have to make sure something like this doesn't happen.

 

[teleromeo]

My issue with the CC charge back is I don't know what CC he uses... Policies seem to be different for different CC companies. I can't find a final answer, but Googling around shows that some companies are 60 days, while others are 120-180 days. And the sale was on March 13, putting us under 6 months
(

Actually, he paid with paypall, not with his credit card so CC charge back doesn't apply to you.
If he talks with his CC company they will ask paypall a charge back and paypall will answer that they rejected the dispute.

 

[akkkmed]

Actually, he paid with paypall, not with his credit card so CC charge back doesn't apply to you.
If he talks with his CC company they will ask paypall a charge back and paypall will answer that they rejected the dispute.

Really...? Are you positive? (I see your point, I just want to make sure the CC company can't come after me)

 

[Kristine]

actually, he paid with paypall, not with his credit card so cc charge back doesn't apply to you.
If he talks with his cc company they will ask paypall a charge back and paypall will answer that they rejected the dispute.

+1

 

[wpotere]

Yep, if he payed with PayPal they CC company will go there and as mentioned PayPal will reject the claim.

If you want to try and help the guy, you could sell him the old drive, but other than that, I think you have done enough.

 

[SPNarwhal]

Did you happen to buy the laptop refurbished from Apple?
Apparently they're not too organized on that, since I bought a MBP from the marketplace here and the guy bought the machine refurbished from Apple with a 500gb Hard Drive, the drive failed and Apple replaced it with a 320 and wouldn't give my 500gb back, or a replacement 500gb.

Their argument was that the drive was 3rd party anyway and they were not obligated to even help me in the first place since the original specs of the machine said 320, but the original specs of the machine also said glossy screen and it was an anti-glare.

I realize in my case of the drive it's a choice of who to believe, the seller who sold to me (Foxer, who turned out to be a huge liar and unreliable, but I do believe the drive was stock since by the point of him telling me this, he had nothing to lose, or I guess nothing to gain from lying.)

Even with all of that aside, Apple's argument was that it shows the stock/ship information as 320, but the screen was wrong even, and I've seen multiple cases of accidental "free upgrades" from the refurbished store.

Sorry I made this message way longer than it shouldhave been, was your laptop by any chance refurbished though?

Maybe someone before you installed 3rd party RAM and Apple missed it before re-selling. ?

 

[akkkmed]

Did you happen to buy the laptop refurbished from Apple?
Apparently they're not too organized on that, since I bought a MBP from the marketplace here and the guy bought the machine refurbished from Apple with a 500gb Hard Drive, the drive failed and Apple replaced it with a 320 and wouldn't give my 500gb back, or a replacement 500gb.

Their argument was that the drive was 3rd party anyway and they were not obligated to even help me in the first place since the original specs of the machine said 320, but the original specs of the machine also said glossy screen and it was an anti-glare.

I realize in my case of the drive it's a choice of who to believe, the seller who sold to me (Foxer, who turned out to be a huge liar and unreliable, but I do believe the drive was stock since by the point of him telling me this, he had nothing to lose, or I guess nothing to gain from lying.)

Even with all of that aside, Apple's argument was that it shows the stock/ship information as 320, but the screen was wrong even, and I've seen multiple cases of accidental "free upgrades" from the refurbished store.

Sorry I made this message way longer than it shouldhave been, was your laptop by any chance refurbished though?

Maybe someone before you installed 3rd party RAM and Apple missed it before re-selling. ?

Hahaha, I wish that would work in this situation. But no, it was brand new.

 

[englishman]

Yes I think even if you accept that perhaps you should have been more helpful in describing the item more fully, he is demanding more now than he deserves.

His option is either to replace the HD under warranty himself, or with your help

OR

you provide him with the original Apple disk and he returns the current one.

I think a CC chargeback is highly unlikely due to the time lapse and Ebay/Paypal rules but its not a good thing usually to have disatisfied buyers. But sometimes buyers ARE unreasonable.

 

[akkkmed]

For the record, he already left me eBay feedback months ago, as soon as the transaction was completed. So I'm not worried about bad feedback. Plus, I don't use eBay that often.

 

[akkkmed]

Uhhhhhh....so he sent me the serial number.

Does this mean he lied about AC?!?