New G5 Quad for $2,300?

[Khashyar]

you handled things really well. man, i would have been freaked out. i'm glad you made it out of there in one piece and that you shared your story with us. it's definitely something to tell the kids one day.

My friend and I were a bit freaked out after we were safe in our car and were driving away.

My wife was very freaked out after I told her about it....

Khashyar

 

[Khashyar]

Uh, that's Detective Alexander, Robbery Detail...

Great story. I would be really, really surprised if the "sealed box" actually
contained a Quad––sounds like a total BS scam. Like all new Macs, it would most
certainly have OS 10.4 pre-installed. I envision a scenario where someone
would take the box home to discover that it contained something like dead weight.

That's exactly what I was thinking... It smelled too fishy to be true...

Once I found out that the reason for selling the Mac was not how he advertised, then I became very suspicious about everything he said, and felt like it was fishy that I could not open the seaeld Quad box, and that the guy who was going to buy the monitor did not show up to pick it up, that he bought the Macs at an auction, etc...

My friend (who is a former Private Investigator, actually) was very uncomfortable the very first moment, when this guy who was supposed to be selling us a $2,300 computer, asks us to sit on his front porch while he non-chaulantly walks to the unmarked fruit van to buy some fruit, and has a relaxed unhurried conversation with the fruit truck man. (We think that he was looking down the streets to see if there were any police cars or suspicious vans, in case we were undercover police.

Khashyar

 

[Khashyar]

Not letting you open the
box to inspect the contents is so utterly absurd, that I'm surprised you didn't laugh out loud,
saying something like: "Do I look stupid or what?... Pullleeeeeze!!"

I didn't know if the guy had a gun, or a whole team of criminals in or around the house, so I didn't want the guy to feel uncomfortable at all (so that he wouldn't panic and so that we could leave safely). That's why I tried to be friendly, shook his hand at the end, and wished him well in his business.

My friend and I couldn't wait to get out of there, because it could have been a dangerous situation.

Khashyar

 

[tonyl]

I didn't know if the guy had a gun, or a whole team of criminals in or around the house, so I didn't want the guy to feel uncomfortable at all (so that he wouldn't panic and so that we could leave safely). That's why I tried to be friendly, shook his hand at the end, and wished him well in his business.

My friend and I couldn't wait to get out of there, because it could have been a dangerous situation.

Khashyar

That's smart, thanks for sharing! I was waiting for your story. It's really a nice story to teach you kids: Too good to be true.

 

[Acehigh]

I didn't know if the guy had a gun, or a whole team of criminals in or around the house, so I didn't want the guy to feel uncomfortable at all (so that he wouldn't panic and so that we could leave safely). That's why I tried to be friendly, shook his hand at the end, and wished him well in his business.

My friend and I couldn't wait to get out of there, because it could have been a dangerous situation.

Khashyar

Hey you said you saw this on Craiglist... Did you check if anybody replying about this yet. I wonder if anybody got scammed yet..

which city?

 

[interlaced]

Ahh! I buy things off of the LA Craigslist all the time! Usually cheaper-than-cheap IKEA furniture, but still!

Creepy. You gotta be so careful on there now. My cousin just bought a sealed Dell laptop on CL for $400 that was also picked up from "a store going out of business". ...Who sells Dell computers besides, well, Dell?! Oh geez.

 

[Snide]

I didn't know if the guy had a gun, or a whole team of criminals in or around the house, so I didn't want the guy to feel uncomfortable at all (so that he wouldn't panic and so that we could leave safely). That's why I tried to be friendly, shook his hand at the end, and wished him well in his business.

My friend and I couldn't wait to get out of there, because it could have been a dangerous situation.

Khashyar

Yeah, it's easy for me to say what I would have done™ if I had been there
(from the comfort of my cushy office chair, sipping a cup o' Joe)...
It sounds like you handled it perfectly. I loved reading your story,
especially the part when you were heading to the car. I was half-expecting
you guys to take off on a dead run––under a hail of gunfire... LOL.

With all the crap that Hollywood puts out these days, you should write a screen play!

 

[Khashyar]

Hey you said you saw this on Craiglist... Did you check if anybody replying about this yet. I wonder if anybody got scammed yet..

which city?

I live in Los Angeles...

Here is the text of his ad:

I have Apple Power Mac G5 Quad Core system 2.5GHz Desktop Computer
Power Mac G5 Quad Core system 2.5GHz G5; 4 GB of 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-4200); 500GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA; 16x SuperDrive(DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW); OS X.
23" Cinema HD Display
This 23" TFT active-matrix LCD supports 1920-by-1200-pixel resolution. DVI.

Retail Cost over $6,200 must Sell for half the price, Child going to college decided he wanted a Laptop instead. So I'm stuck with this Computer Still brand new in Box, still has waranty on it.
must see it.
email me your phone and I will give you more details.

Khashyar

 

[Khashyar]

Yeah, it's easy for me to say what I would have done™ if I had been there
(from the comfort of my cushy office chair, sipping a cup o' Joe)...
It sounds like you handled it perfectly. I loved reading your story,
especially the part when you were heading to the car. I was half-expecting
you guys to take off on a dead run––under a hail of gunfire... LOL.

With all the crap that Hollywood puts out these days, you should write a screen play!

Thanks for the kind words... I actually was a newspaper reporter before, and now I'm a documentary film director, and am currently finishing the editing on a documentary about the Dalai Lama.

Khashyar

 

[Snide]

The ad is still there:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sys/148249901.html

I love the "must see it" part...LOL

 

[iamhammill]

The ad sounds pretty legit, hope someone else doesn't get scammed.


Glad everything worked out alright for you.

 

[bigandy]

The ad is still there:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sys/148249901.html

I love the "must see it" part...LOL

methinks we should all flag it...

 

[Demon Hunter]

Scary

You're brave, I would've turned around once the neighborhood came into view. Good to hear it was alright.

The ad sounds pretty legit, hope someone else doesn't get scammed.

What do you consider legit?

Hardly any detail, typos. I've never used Craigslist for this reason. There's just no way of knowing... sure you could say the same about newspaper classifieds... but those are relayed through a person!

Flagged.

 

[interlaced]

i flagged it because if i had the money, i would have fallen for it. i dont live too far from pasadena.

 

[Snide]

I sent e-mail to abuse@craigslist.org with a link to the ad...

BTW, I'm typing this on a 400 Mhz Pismo I bought on Craigslist a month ago.
For $250.00, I got the following:

12 GB hard drive
512 MB RAM
Original Airport Card (these sell used for $100.00 and up).
After-market battery with 2 1/2 hour capacity
Original owners manual with install CD's
Fresh Tiger install (runs great, BTW)
Original power adaptor

-so there are good deals to be had. This one was on Craigslist for
several days before I got it. Part of the reason is that the guy
was hard to get a hold of, and partly because he lived in Fairfax,
a semi-remote town in the SF Bay Area. Generally speaking,
ads on Craigslist get lots of calls and e-mails, but a surprising few
number of buyers actually show up––despite expressing great interest
on the phone. It's the same story when trying to rent out apartments.

 

[Khashyar]

Hi guys...

Just please don't mention my name or me specifically, because I think that the guy has my address (We exchanged addresses and phone numbers via email), and I wouldn't want the Mexican Mafia knocking on my door ...

Although I am moving in about one month.

Khashyar

 

[snakelda]

you should've gave him a fake number and fake address

 

[Khashyar]

you should've gave him a fake number and fake address

I know...

After he sent me his phone number (and asked me to call him), and after he sent me his address for me to come see the Mac, I felt that I wanted to show trust and email him my address and phone also.

In hindsight, it wasn't the best idea. I will learn for the future in a similar situation.

But, in any event, people give one another addresses all the time when they are buying and selling cars and other items. That's pretty standard.

Khashyar

 

[Sharewaredemon]

Have you contacted the police yet?

 

[Khashyar]

Hi Shareware,

I haven't contacted the police yet because I don't have any evidence that the Macs are stolen, only a feeling that they might be stolen.

The thing that I felt he did wrong has give one story about why he was selling them (because he bought it for his son, and then he son didn't want it), and then change the story when I came to his house. So, he wasn't honest with me (or in his ad). For that reason, the ad should be removed from Craigslist.

I can still think about whether it would be appropriate to call the police if I feel that it is the right thing to do.

Khashyar