Got burnt. (Learn from my lesson)

[yearziro]

so i have a sad story and a lesson to anyone wants to buy a macbook pro learn from my mistakes.

I bought my a macbook pro of craigslist (first mistake) and so far i love it but i should have met the guy at an apple store but i didnt (second mistake) anyways i checked it out and everything worked check the serial number to make sure it wasnt stolen and was legit through apple.

My problem started when i got home the computer shut off after i upgraded to lion which i thought was odd so i googled it and some people said try resetting the pram or smc which i did but the problem persisted so i just took it into an apple store and they confirmed what i thought water damage moral of the story i got burnt.


Anyways i know it has water damage and so forth but i was wondering since it still works has the damage been done the machine doesnt over heat or do anything else it will just randomly shutdown maybe 1 or 2 times a day does this get worse or is this a bad as it gets?

 

[Medic278]

Thats a tough question to answer. It depends on a lot of variables such as how much water, where it got and how quickly it was removed. I would recommend putting it in a bag of rice to remove any excess moisture that maybe inside. Sadly this may only be the beginning of a much larger problem if the logic board is affected. I hope you didn't pay too much

 

[yearziro]

Thats a tough question to answer. It depends on a lot of variables such as how much water, where it got and how quickly it was removed. I would recommend putting it in a bag of rice to remove any excess moisture that maybe inside. Sadly this may only be the beginning of a much larger problem if the logic board is affected. I hope you didn't pay too much

i have no idea how much water was spilled on this and it was some time ago i guess because the guy at apple said they have actually seen this machine a couple of times from different people so basically people are playing hot potato with this

 

[trikky]

so i have a sad story and a lesson to anyone wants to buy a macbook pro learn from my mistakes.

My problem started when i got home the computer shut off after i upgraded to lion which i thought was odd so i googled it and some people said try resetting the pram or smc which i did but the problem persisted so i just took it into an apple store and they confirmed what i thought water damage moral of the story i got burnt.

So...do you know who the seller was, or at a minimum, their contact information? If so, you should consider filing a small claim suit against them. Although most things are sold "as-is", if the seller said the computer was in good working condition or that there were no problems (that kind of thing), if it can be established they made a misrepresentation, you could quite easily win.

That's up to you to decide what your options are.

 

[yearziro]

So...do you know who the seller was, or at a minimum, their contact information? If so, you should consider filing a small claim suit against them. Although most things are sold "as-is", if the seller said the computer was in good working condition or that there were no problems (that kind of thing), if it can be established they made a misrepresentation, you could quite easily win.

That's up to you to decide what your options are.

i have the phone number we talked on to setup the deal and an email he sent im going to look into it but like you said pretty much everything sold second hand is now sold as-is so im guessing im SOL he did say it was working just fine etc.

 

[dukebound85]

i have the phone number we talked on to setup the deal and an email he sent im going to look into it but like you said pretty much everything sold second hand is now sold as-is so im guessing im SOL he did say it was working just fine etc.

What would prevent him from merely saying you must have caused the water damage?

The fact that you looked it over, paid what he asked and it was working all work in his favor

 

[Medic278]

Its a tough call either way. You could try filing a claim but as others have pointed out its kind of 50/50 because it was used and all that. I would not recommend doing what he did to you however I would eat the loss and let this machine die instead of passing it around the community.

 

[yearziro]

What would prevent him from merely saying you must have caused the water damage?

The fact that you looked it over, paid what he asked and it was working all work in his favor

nothing hence the title of this post stating i got burnt im just trying to help other people learn from my boneheaded mistake that fact that i could possible try to file fraud charges is an option but unlikely due to many factors

Its a tough call either way. You could try filing a claim but as others have pointed out its kind of 50/50 because it was used and all that. I would not recommend doing what he did to you however I would eat the loss and let this machine die instead of passing it around the community.

yeah looks like im in the market for another machine and am now the proud owner of a giant paperweight.

 

[Medic278]

Yeah that sucks but what can you do? We all get screwed at some point. Look at the bright side, a brand spanking new machine maybe?

 

[imlovin]

that blows. Is it possible perhaps to sell it for parts? I am not sure if anyone would want to take it on if the logic board would need replace but never know..someone may want to just buy for other parts. Maybe that way you could get back some of your money?

 

[yearziro]

that blows. Is it possible perhaps to sell it for parts? I am not sure if anyone would want to take it on if the logic board would need replace but never know..someone may want to just buy for other parts. Maybe that way you could get back some of your money?

who knows im just thinking i should be the one to take "old yeller out behind the barn" if you know what i mean.

 

[jdsingle]

So...do you know who the seller was, or at a minimum, their contact information? If so, you should consider filing a small claim suit against them. Although most things are sold "as-is", if the seller said the computer was in good working condition or that there were no problems (that kind of thing), if it can be established they made a misrepresentation, you could quite easily win.

That's up to you to decide what your options are.

How are you going to prove misrepresentation? The guy would have to prove that it is fraud in the inducement to allow the contract to be voidable. You would have to prove that there was misrepresentation of a material fact with an intent to deceive that you justifiably relied on and received some type of monetary injury. The law does not protect people from making poor choices when they purchase something. Not trying to be a dick to the OP but that is what it would take to get something through in small claims. If you can prove these then I say go for it!

 

[Ccrew]

Sounds like a "live and learn" but frankly I can't see where you could have done much differently, short of not buying one on CL. I'm not going to jump on the inevitable pile and say you did wrong.

Sucks no matter how you slice it.

Apple still doing flat rate Depot repairs? May be an option on getting it truly fixed, versus losing your shirt on an unusable computer.

 

[yearziro]

Sounds like a "live and learn" but frankly I can't see where you could have done much differently, short of not buying one on CL. I'm not going to jump on the inevitable pile and say you did wrong.

Sucks no matter how you slice it.

Apple still doing flat rate Depot repairs? May be an option on getting it truly fixed, versus losing your shirt on an unusable computer.

they said it would be 750 to fix but at that rate i already paid 750.00 for the machine i would be looking at 1500.00 and i dont have to tell you its not worth it

 

[trikky]

How are you going to prove misrepresentation? The guy would have to prove that it is fraud in the inducement to allow the contract to be voidable. You would have to prove that there was misrepresentation of a material fact with an intent to deceive that you justifiably relied on and received some type of monetary injury. The law does not protect people from making poor choices when they purchase something. Not trying to be a dick to the OP but that is what it would take to get something through in small claims. If you can prove these then I say go for it!

If the ad had words to the effect of "works fine", "no problems", or anything else that would lead a potential buyer to believe that the computer was in good working order, that would be a misrepresentation of a material fact and could be interpreted as a 'warranty'.

Remember, that Small Claims court basically has a lower standard for victory...I believe it's along the lines of a "preponderance of the evidence" as opposed to 'beyond a reasonable doubt'.

As I wrote earlier, used items are normally sold on an 'as-is' basis, and if there was no assertion as to the condition or quality of the merchandise being sold, then the OP doesn't have much of a case to go on. However, if there was an assertion that the computer was problem free, then I would definitely go with a small claim suit if no other options were available to me. What have you got to lose other than the filing fee...which if OP were to win, the other guy would also have to pay.

 

[jekyoo]

So upgrading to Lion caused it not to work because of water damage? I would expect the laptop to not be operable at all if it had water damage. That's weird.

I've bought a handful of mbp off craigslist and I'm glad that I haven't had these problems yet *knock on wood*.

 

[MJL]

Perhaps let a non-Apple firm do a logic board repair? Seen one on eBay that seems OK (listed in the Mac mini threads) which runs at approx $200. I've posted some links in the past too. Apple's prices are designed to get you to buy a new machine.