Good deal gone bad... need advice. (also a bit of a rant)

michael_w

Hey People,

Yesterday I picked up a broken ipod photo for a reasonable price. The ad said 30gb ipod photo (needs repair) that came with headphones, the usb charger and the usb cable. He went on to explain the problem and I thought I could fix it so I went for an hour bus ride and picked it up.

Now the problems... He told me that he didn't really want to bother to try and fix it since he already has another one. I got home and noticed the edges where the backplate and the white base come together is all hacked up, as if it's been opened a few times. So I pop it open to see if I can see anything and whaddya know I find an aftermarket battery and cracked motherboard. I also later just found out that the harddrive is a toshiba HDD1422 MK2004GAL - meaning it's 20gb, not 30 like he claimed despite the box and backplate showing the 30gb logos.

edit: after a bit more searching it seems the mk2004gal was the stock hd for 4th gen ipods... I'm nice and pissed off now
second edit: yep... the stock hd for 30gb photo was 1524-30gbdrive toshiba aka - mk3006gal. stock 4th gen was mk2004gal. He screwed me over with a 4th gen ipod not a photo.

I thought to myself, well damn... at least I got **** headphones out of the deal. So I go and try the headphones and they're blown!! Not cool. :mad:

The display will come on, but only get stuck at a frozen recharging menu. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be colour or not so now I'm not even sure if this guy gave me an ipod photo or some 4th gen crap.

I don't want to jump to conclusions here but it looks like like this guy swindled me and knew what he was doing every step of the process. Is there anything I can do or throw at him here? I mean he did never say the headphones ... worked but I'd assume that was implied. As for the 10gig short harddrive, I'm pissed off and that's false advertising. I'm going to call him today but I wanted to ask you guys here first to see what you'd do if you were in my shoes.

Thanks,
Michael.

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ND13

Here in the US, you'd just be screwed, unless you bought it from a business of some sort, but even then you'd probably be screwed because of it being sold used and as is.

BUYER BEWARE seems the appropriate saying for this type of transaction.

Unless you are of larger stature and can intimidate the crook into giving you your duckets back, I'd say lesson learned.

Sorry you got screwed.

michael_w

Yea that's kind of what I thought... now all I care about is that he sold me something totally different from what the ad says. He even threw in an ipod photo box too (*mumble*sneakybastard*mumble*).

Not really much bigger (he has a couple inches on me and about 30 years) but I'd give it a shot if I saw him again

Thanks for the resonse though...

ND13

Maybe he really thinks what he sold is what he says it is, because he bought it used from someone else that screwed him over and he just isn't as electronically inclined as you are to be able to know any better. After all he did say he was getting rid of it because he got another, right?? Let's hope that's the case and he'll be a stand up guy and refund you your cash.

I say this in hope that a 50+/- year old might have more of a conscience.

Use the "I'm a poor college student and can't afford to throw that kind of money away" angle on him.

michael_w

I seem to recall he mentioned he bought it about two years ago when they first came out so I would think that he bought it new. I'll call him later today to see what he thinks about the situation. If he chooses to be an **** out of it I'll have to see if I can dig up some info on him.

Do you know if Telus (his cell phone provider) would release information about him in a situation like this?

sucks2beme

I know the feeling. I've had people at a garage sale tell me "it worked last time I used it" on stuff, only to find out later that it was all hacked up, gutted out ETC. And this is on couple of buck items. Why would any one **** out there personal integrity for $2 amazes me. One lived down the street. Needless to say, he didn't get any Christmas cards from me.

SWFalken

Michael, the guy obviously pulled a fast one on you. iPod photos came in two configurations, 40 gig and 60 gig. They all have color screens, not black and white. I'm not usually down with vigilante violence or anything of that nature but lying, cheating, dishonest people need to be clubbed like a baby Harp Seal!

michael_w

They actually did release a 30 and 60 gig second generation (I think second) photo. They had a couple mods to them (brighter screen, thinner). I knew about the color screen part, but had thought the boot screen might have been b&w.

Link to info

Just going to cross my fingers and give the guy a call.

PolkThug

Simple solution. Take the ad and the ipod back to this guy's house and get your money back. If he doesn't compy, you have two choices, one, beat him into submission or two, tell him your next step is taking the ad and the ipod directly to the police station and filing a report.

michael_w

That's the problem... I don't know where he lives. I had to bus into vancouver so he met me at a starbucks to make it much much easier for me to make the transaction...

But anyways, some good news! I just got off the phone with him and it sounds good. He told me that he bought it used and when he bought it it was broken. He was very genuine about it and told me he had no idea the backplate was swapped out to make it look like a 30gig ipod (in a 30gig photo box). I told him the story about how the harddrive in it now came stock in the 4th gen one as well as the apple not showing up in colour. Long story short (not really but anyways) he's going to meet me again later this week (both working opposite shifts) so that he can give me my money back.

I guess my trust in people wasn't totally shot down. I still have to get the cash, but it does sound like a much better situation than before. Again, I might have jumped the gun by starting this thread but I wanted to think it over and get some help before I called him just in case he decided to try and screw me over. You guys are awesome for times when I just don't know who to turn to for advice. I really appreciate it.


Thanks for the suggestions and help,
Michael.

madmax

Probably a nice guy and all, just be cautious and aware when you meet him for the refund.
madmax