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Purchased a 23" Cinema display on craigslist for $500 but..

Anonymouslives

Anonymouslives

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 26, 2008
303
0
the guy told me he purchased it like 6 months ago. When I got home and checked the serial number, it looks to be out of warranty. I then emailed the guy and asked him when he purchased it. He said he would look for the receipt and get back to me the next day. Well that was a couple of days ago and nothing.

I have plugged it in and it seems to look okay. I'm not sure what to look for or how to look for it, in order to discover if this thing is truly in good shape, or about to die. Any tips on how to deal with this or how to make sure the display is in good shape?
 
I mean it's probably fine, and monitors don't typically just "die", but with that amount of money and the place you bought it from, you should be more careful.

Here's to hoping it works fine, though.
 
I went to the guys house, and bought it after he showed me that it appeared to work fine. I was still under the impression that it was under warranty though.
Now that I know it's NOT, what should I be looking out for as signs that this thing could be damaged? The pixels all appear to be fine, there is no pink hue, etc. I don't know what else to be looking for.
 
Even then...$500 for a 23" ACD that IS working. For that kind of discount you just have to put your faith in Apple hardware.
 
Bacong said:
These are all things you should have done before paying the person. Consider it a lesson learned.
Click to expand...

tMac85 said:
hate to say it, but its true. should have done this beforehand.
Click to expand...

??

He did do it beforehand; he specifically asked about it.

He then bought the item with the sellers representation (i.e. the answer) in mind. The seller is at fault, not him. Otherwise you're advocating punishing the buyer for trusting a seller who lies. That's wrong; punish the lying seller.

OP: I'd email the seller reminding him what he said to you, and that you bought under that assurance. State it's unfair. Personally I'd ask for a partial refund, but it's up-to you where you then go with it. I wouldn't go in guns blazing or you'll get his back up. As for the screen, they tend to dim over time. I'd be surprised if it outright failed in your ownership - most owners upgrade their screens well before they die.

AppleMatt
 
He didn't state that he looked at it in his original post -- his original post made it seem as if he didn't even turn it on before purchase, which we now know he did. So I obviously rescind my first post.
 
Just because a product is out of warranty doesn't mean it's about to die. Yeah, the fact that the guy potentially lied to you sucks, but $500 for a working ACD is sweet, just use it until it dies(likely years from now).
 
AppleMatt said:
??

He did do it beforehand; he specifically asked about it.

He then bought the item with the sellers representation (i.e. the answer) in mind. The seller is at fault, not him. Otherwise you're advocating punishing the buyer for trusting a seller who lies. That's wrong; punish the lying seller.

OP: I'd email the seller reminding him what he said to you, and that you bought under that assurance. State it's unfair. Personally I'd ask for a partial refund, but it's up-to you where you then go with it. I wouldn't go in guns blazing or you'll get his back up. As for the screen, they tend to dim over time. I'd be surprised if it outright failed in your ownership - most owners upgrade their screens well before they die.

AppleMatt
Click to expand...

If he wanted to be sure he could have asked for the S/N number b4 hand to check it out on the apples website which is what i have done b4 and most ppl are happy to let you know. He obviously wasnt checking everything out fully which is what one should do when buying something on ebay so he just has to bite the bullet if it bums out on him.
 
Nocturnal22 said:
If he wanted to be sure he could have asked for the S/N number b4 hand to check it out on the apples website which is what i have done b4 and most ppl are happy to let you know. He obviously wasnt checking everything out fully which is what one should do when buying something on ebay so he just has to bite the bullet if it bums out on him.
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OK. Perhaps he didn't know about that, perhaps he's not as thorough as you, but in my mind that's irrelevant; the seller hold his product out as being one thing but it was something different. As far as I can see, you're advocating punishing the buyer because the seller lied? Buyers should expect to be lied to?

edit: Just to be clear, I agree with you re doing prudent checking before buying. However that's overridden when the seller makes an express statement about the item. So had he not specifically asked before buying but then complained about it's age I would also say 'tough luck'. It was the question and answer that turned the tide.


AppleMatt
 
I believe in today's world, Matt, you're slightly foolish if you just go around taking everyone's word for it. Sure the person is wrong for lying but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be thorough.
 
Bacong said:
I believe in today's world, Matt, you're slightly foolish if you just go around taking everyone's word for it. Sure the person is wrong for lying but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be thorough.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, although I'm confident that I'm not foolish because I've already commented about prudent checking (read the thread*). Whilst I wouldn't have done as the buyer did, I don't in any way think he is foolish. It would have been foolish if he didn't either check or ask, but he did, and that became part of their agreement; he didn't agree to buy a monitor for $500, he agreed to buy a 6 months old or less monitor for $500.

I do hope that one day you'll appreciate the importance of pre-contractual statements and representations in today's world, partly because people you sell to might care more than you do and partly because I'd be surprised if, when similar thing happened, you simply sat there and said 'Oh well, as I educated Matt on, this is the real world. I'd better just lump it then.'

AppleMatt
* thoroughly!
 
What does your viewpoint serve towards solving the problem? Assessing blame, that gets things done. Your arrogance is unneeded, as well.

I agree that the seller is at fault and that he is the one in the wrong but sitting here and telling the guy he got hosed does nothing. It's like someone who is 21 sleeping with a 16 year old girl who tells him she's 18. Sure, she lied to him but is the judge going to care? Fact is he should have found proof of the warranty before purchase, if he was so concerned with it.
 
Bacong said:
It's like someone who is 21 sleeping with a 16 year old girl who tells him she's 18. Sure, she lied to him but is the judge going to care?
Click to expand...

Actually, if her statement is verifiable, then yes. Mistake of fact is a viable defence.

Regardless, it's a terrible analogy.
 
This is bizarre - are you having me on? In case you're not...It seems to me you've contradicted yourself on all three things you accused me of! Maybe we're just both awful:

Bacong said:
What does your viewpoint serve towards solving the problem?...sitting here and telling the guy he got hosed does nothing
Click to expand...

* Your first reply to the OP was: "These are all things you should have done before paying the person. Consider it a lesson learned."
* My first reply to the OP was: "I'd email the seller reminding him what he said to you, and that you bought under that assurance. State it's unfair. Personally I'd ask for a partial refund, but it's up-to you where you then go with it. I wouldn't go in guns blazing or you'll get his back up. As for the screen, they tend to dim over time. I'd be surprised if it outright failed in your ownership - most owners upgrade their screens well before they die."

Bacong said:
1) Assessing blame, that gets things done...2) Fact is he should have found proof of the warranty before purchase, if he was so concerned with it.
Click to expand...

1) Don't waste time assessing blame.
2) It's his fault.

Bacong said:
Your arrogance is unneeded, as well.
Click to expand...

You said; "I believe in today's world, Matt, you're slightly foolish if you just go around taking everyone's word for it."

Out of interest, under UK law consensual sex between a 21 and a 16 year old is legal. Also it's not strict liability until the child is 13, so assuming the belief was reasonable and honestly held (which in your example it would be, unless she looked about 10), he still wouldn't be liable had, through unfortunate timing, she been 15 & 364 days.

AppleMatt
edit: Again, if you're having me on then well played. Otherwise, I really can't see why you're annoyed about this - I agreed that people should check and I stated that I would have checked. The only deviance here is differing opinions on fault.

For total clarity, my thought process is this: 1. This is a contract of sale (offer/agreement/consideration present). 2. The (express) statement re age is part of that contract as it was in the minds of both of them (question asked and answered). 3. The misrepresentation re age partially (or fully) induced him into buying. Therefore; seller at fault.
 
out of all those posts, consultant's was last, and when I got there, I was disappointed that I didn't get to say exactly the words I was thinking because he just did.

:p
 
Bacong said:
Cinema Display is a rip off, IMO.
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same.


and yeah you you're going to want to research serial numbers + dating evidence like model names + shapes, I/O's. basics.


if it still works i don't see what the big deal is. YOU THOUGHT you were getting a good trade but now that it's out of warranty you're not anymore?


i've been scammed on craigslist before. namely when i got my mini the keyboard stopped working and the mighty mouse stopped working. also iWork and Office were installed, but were trial versions. and he gave me the install disc for leopard but it was hardware specific.


luckily the guy traded keyboards and i got a new slimline one - and i cleaned the mighty mouse and it has worked fine. i had office 2008 already so not a big deal and iWork+iLife '09 were installed recently :)
 
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