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Rant: Bought a used MBP. Found out at home the opt drive is messed up.

I

impact_blue

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 2, 2005
249
0
Just got an older gen MPB from CL. Upon meeting the guy I check out the laptop and it was clean. Didn't see any dents scratches and gave it a quick test run. Everything looked good. Took it home and wanted to do a clean install of OSX even though the previous owned wiped it. As soon as the disc started spinning the opt drive made a LOUD sound. I was like WTF. I mean it still works but it sounds like the cd was going to fly out! I then notice the keyboard was very slightly indented over where the opt drive is. Im guessing something fell on it.

Sucks cuz there's still AppleCare on this and the dent probably voids every future repair I might have. :mad: Im still going to take it in the Genius bar to see what they can do and how much it's going to cost me.

Obviously the guy I bought it off is long gone. I do want to resell it, but my conscious tell me karma is gonna bite my butt if I scam someone into buying an imperfect laptop without telling them =P

What would you guys do?

/RANT
 
Should be fine if you still got Applecare, I would see what they but they're usually pretty generous with repairs.

The felt came off my old MBP, where the optical drive slot is, they replaced the whole unibody, because that was less work for them.

Speak to :apple:
 
Apple doesn't cover accidental damages, but a nice genius bar employee might approve it. YMMV

How is the guy long gone? Don't you still have his email or phone number?
 
orangepeel said:
Apple doesn't cover accidental damages, but a nice genius bar employee might approve it. YMMV

How is the guy long gone? Don't you still have his email or phone number?
Click to expand...

Considering he's not answering any of them haha. I blame myself though. Shoulda been more diligent.

Here's to playing coy with the genius bar employee in hopes he or she wont notice the dent [like I did] and get it the opt drive repaired! :D
 
I bought 2 macbook pro on clist and both had opti problems one had applecare and the other didnt apple only covered the one with ac.
 
myuncle said:
Should be fine if you still got Applecare, I would see what they but they're usually pretty generous with repairs.

The felt came off my old MBP, where the optical drive slot is, they replaced the whole unibody, because that was less work for them.

Speak to :apple:
Click to expand...

Haha never heard of anyone taking it in cuz the felt came off. Guess if you got Applecare you might as well make use of it!
 
Last edited:
Just came back from the Genius Bar. Obviously it's a Tier 4 problem. Thing is they found ANOTHER problem when they opened up the bottom. There's some sticky liquid on the fan. I guess the previous owner spilled something on it. :mad: They ran a system check and everything is fine and for the past 3 days of having the laptop it hasn't felt like over heating.

The guy is totally ducking me. What do you think I should do?

-eBay or CL it to an unsuspecting person [id feel really bad about that]
-eBay or CL for a lower price and tell potential buyer wassup with the MBP
-Sell it Apple's recycle program?

Can you guys think of any other ideas? :(:confused:
 
impact_blue said:
Just came back from the Genius Bar. Obviously it's a Tier 4 problem. Thing is they found ANOTHER problem when they opened up the bottom. There's some sticky liquid on the fan. I guess the previous owner spilled something on it. :mad: They ran a system check and everything is fine and for the past 3 days of having the laptop it hasn't felt like over heating.

The guy is totally ducking me. What do you think I should do?

-eBay or CL it to an unsuspecting person [id feel really bad about that]
-eBay or CL for a lower price and tell potential buyer wassup with the MBP
-Sell it Apple's recycle program?

Can you guys think of any other ideas? :(:confused:
Click to expand...


ebay it with full disclosure.
 
This is kind of why I would never buy a used laptop except from apple. You just never know what happened to it, even if everything is working.
 
Perhaps just use it until it breaks? Or replace the fan and optical drive yourself?
 
vincenz said:
This is kind of why I would never buy a used laptop except from apple. You just never know what happened to it, even if everything is working.
Click to expand...

Every laptop I've sold has been known good.

My last one, the Superdrive died a few months before I wanted to sell it and I bought a new Superdrive and installed it.

The people who bought my laptops got good deals on equipment that I know I took care of.

There are risks, but buying used can work out just fine.
 
snouter said:
Every laptop I've sold has been known good.

My last one, the Superdrive died a few months before I wanted to sell it and I bought a new Superdrive and installed it.

The people who bought my laptops got good deals on equipment that I know I took care of.

There are risks, but buying used can work out just fine.
Click to expand...

I've purchased a couple used laptops in general on craigslist. Havent had a bad experience either. You can find some great deals on CL sometimes by people that need money right away. Ive purchased cell phones, laptops, and other electronics for a fraction of what they were worth because someone needed money badly. Just gotta be smart about it. Just sounds like bad luck to me. Honestly I would just use it until it dies. It doesn't sound like its in that bad of shape, and a superdrive can be had for pretty cheap.
 
dude, don't hose anyone else. You know how it feels, why "pay it forward" to someone else, so to speak.

Is Apple fixing it? What about the guy you bought it from? Did you transfer over the AppleCare?

That is why it is a great idea when buying something Apple, to make a genius appt. where both YOU AND the seller are present. That way you can see it gets an A-OK. I did that when I sold my iPhone on CL.
 
I just bought a used MacBook off eBay about 3 weeks ago. I asked the seller if there were any cracks, scratches, etc. on the MacBook and of course he said no. So I receive the MacBook and the edges and around the screen have cracks, there is a large scratch on the top lid, and the optical drive doesn't accept or eject disks, and the backlight flickers every once in awhile. Of course he doesn't respond to any messages on eBay. I decide to just work with what I have and fix it. Apple replaced the top case and screen bezel for free, I installed a new optical drive myself, and I'm going to fix the inverter board for the screen eventually. However, I have learned my lesson and will not be purchasing any more used laptops on CL or eBay anymore.
 
ryannel2003 said:
I just bought a used MacBook off eBay about 3 weeks ago. I asked the seller if there were any cracks, scratches, etc. on the MacBook and of course he said no. So I receive the MacBook and the edges and around the screen have cracks, there is a large scratch on the top lid, and the optical drive doesn't accept or eject disks, and the backlight flickers every once in awhile. Of course he doesn't respond to any messages on eBay. I decide to just work with what I have and fix it. Apple replaced the top case and screen bezel for free, I installed a new optical drive myself, and I'm going to fix the inverter board for the screen eventually. However, I have learned my lesson and will not be purchasing any more used laptops on CL or eBay anymore.
Click to expand...

You could have opened a case with paypal and eBay over this for sure. You leave him negative feedback atleast?
 
HBOC said:
You could have opened a case with paypal and eBay over this for sure. You leave him negative feedback atleast?
Click to expand...

I did leave him negative feedback. I also opened a case with PayPal but after a few days, the computer seemed fine and I withdrew my case. It wasn't until after a few days I noticed the optical drive wasn't working and the screen flicker has just appeared. The top case I knew I could get replaced because it's common on white MacBook's.

It's alright though, I'm taking this computer as a fixer upper.
 
HBOC said:
dude, don't hose anyone else. You know how it feels, why "pay it forward" to someone else, so to speak.

Is Apple fixing it? What about the guy you bought it from? Did you transfer over the AppleCare?

That is why it is a great idea when buying something Apple, to make a genius appt. where both YOU AND the seller are present. That way you can see it gets an A-OK. I did that when I sold my iPhone on CL.
Click to expand...

It's still under warranty til Aug, it's just Apple wont cover accidental damage.

Im probably just going to CL or eBay it with a full disclosure of what happened and hope only to lose minimal $. The machine works great and the Apple genius did a system check of the hardware and everything turned up good.
 
What part of the world are you in? If you're anywhere near Denver I'd be happy to swap out the optical drive for you--just bring one with you and I can do while you watch. A long shot, but what the heck . . .
 
I would definitely go to an Apple Store and ask nicely. You just might get lucky =)
 
Naimfan said:
What part of the world are you in? If you're anywhere near Denver I'd be happy to swap out the optical drive for you--just bring one with you and I can do while you watch. A long shot, but what the heck . . .
Click to expand...

I would do it but the reason the optical drive is acting the way it does it because the top unibody is bent and throwing the disc off while it spins.
 
You need THIS part, right? I mean not maybe the exact part number, but this piece, and then it won't hit the optical drive?
 
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