Dark Virtue
New Member
My dad bought a laptop on Friday from a little mom and pop type shop in a strip mall. Unfortunately, it was NOT what he was expecting.
It's kinda complicated, so here goes.
He bought a HP dv8000 that was a display unit, but was told that other than that, it was new. My dad was adamant that he didn't want a used computer and the salesperson assured him that it was new.
There were several warning flags that he didn't pick up on. No manuals, no Xp booklets or cd, heck, the salesguy didn't even want to give him a box, but he got one anyway.
The price was in question as well. They offered him one price, then offered him a lower price if he paid in cash, basically lowering the price and making it tax free. How that works, I have no idea. When he uses his debit card, which is treated as cash at other places, they won't give him the deal because the no tax thing can be tracked. There's another red flag. They drop the price $50 but still charge him tax. They even decide to throw in a free laptop bag. Too bad it's not exactly a laptop bag, but a document bag with no laptop protection. My dad brings this up, but the salesguy is adamant that it's a laptop bag, even though the tag on the stupid thing says DOCUMENT BAG.
So my dad takes it home and everything was hunky dory until my dad noticed that some lady's name was listed under the system properties. My dad then calls the store and they tell him that someone was probably goofing off in the store and changed the user name of the laptop since it was a display. First of all, this sounds pretty goofy to me. If I was going to go through that trouble, I would have changed it to a stupid name, not a proper first and last name. My dad called back later and spoke to the owner and the changed their story. They then told him that they used an American name to register Windows or some story like that. The owners are Middle eastern. More warning flags right there. I went over to my parents house last night and my dad found a small information packet for the laptop...in big bold letters it says REFURBISHED HP. Yeah, he flipped.
So they tell him they will charge him a 20% restocking fee to take it back. It says that on their receipt right next to "all sales are final". He complains a bit more and they then tell him they will only charge him a 10% fee since he used it for three days. Umm...it's refurbished, so it's already used.
Tomorrow I'm heading over to this place at lunch to help him return it. What I need is some leverage to use to get them to give my dad his money back with nothing taken off. I'm assuming they have to be licensed or registered to sell not only HP products but Microsoft products as well. I am going to tell them I have no problems talking to both HP and MS to get this straightened out. I'm sure MS will be quite interested in their licensing techniques.
Can anyone offer me any other hints or tips or things to bring up? Or something that I haven't thought about.
PLEASE, before you respond, only helpful comments. No snarky comments....you know who you are. If you can't offer anything positive, don't post. Thanks in advance for the help!
It's kinda complicated, so here goes.
He bought a HP dv8000 that was a display unit, but was told that other than that, it was new. My dad was adamant that he didn't want a used computer and the salesperson assured him that it was new.
There were several warning flags that he didn't pick up on. No manuals, no Xp booklets or cd, heck, the salesguy didn't even want to give him a box, but he got one anyway.
The price was in question as well. They offered him one price, then offered him a lower price if he paid in cash, basically lowering the price and making it tax free. How that works, I have no idea. When he uses his debit card, which is treated as cash at other places, they won't give him the deal because the no tax thing can be tracked. There's another red flag. They drop the price $50 but still charge him tax. They even decide to throw in a free laptop bag. Too bad it's not exactly a laptop bag, but a document bag with no laptop protection. My dad brings this up, but the salesguy is adamant that it's a laptop bag, even though the tag on the stupid thing says DOCUMENT BAG.
So my dad takes it home and everything was hunky dory until my dad noticed that some lady's name was listed under the system properties. My dad then calls the store and they tell him that someone was probably goofing off in the store and changed the user name of the laptop since it was a display. First of all, this sounds pretty goofy to me. If I was going to go through that trouble, I would have changed it to a stupid name, not a proper first and last name. My dad called back later and spoke to the owner and the changed their story. They then told him that they used an American name to register Windows or some story like that. The owners are Middle eastern. More warning flags right there. I went over to my parents house last night and my dad found a small information packet for the laptop...in big bold letters it says REFURBISHED HP. Yeah, he flipped.
So they tell him they will charge him a 20% restocking fee to take it back. It says that on their receipt right next to "all sales are final". He complains a bit more and they then tell him they will only charge him a 10% fee since he used it for three days. Umm...it's refurbished, so it's already used.
Tomorrow I'm heading over to this place at lunch to help him return it. What I need is some leverage to use to get them to give my dad his money back with nothing taken off. I'm assuming they have to be licensed or registered to sell not only HP products but Microsoft products as well. I am going to tell them I have no problems talking to both HP and MS to get this straightened out. I'm sure MS will be quite interested in their licensing techniques.
Can anyone offer me any other hints or tips or things to bring up? Or something that I haven't thought about.
PLEASE, before you respond, only helpful comments. No snarky comments....you know who you are. If you can't offer anything positive, don't post. Thanks in advance for the help!
