Laptop -- ebay purchase

[jay santos]

OK, so I purchase a refurbished laptop on ebay. It comes to me and the hard drive's dead. The seller calls me immediately and apologizes, says he switched out the hard drive to a new one, and doesn't understand why it's not working. Told me to send it back, he'll fix and resend.

It was a good purchase for me, exactly what I was looking for, at a good price.

Question: does this series of events give me new information to the point that I should cancel the order? Or should I still assume it will be a good purchase?

[Flystripper]

OK, so I purchase a refurbished laptop on ebay. It comes to me and the hard drive's dead. The seller calls me immediately and apologizes, says he switched out the hard drive to a new one, and doesn't understand why it's not working. Told me to send it back, he'll fix and resend.

It was a good purchase for me, exactly what I was looking for, at a good price.

Question: does this series of events give me new information to the point that I should cancel the order? Or should I still assume it will be a good purchase?

What is the guy's record? I assume he has a ton of positive feedback? If he has a bunch of good reviews I would trust that he will work it out and send you what you need.

[jay santos]

What is the guy's record? I assume he has a ton of positive feedback? If he has a bunch of good reviews I would trust that he will work it out and send you what you need.

Yeah, big seller with all positive feedback. I'm not a hardware guru, but I wonder if a hard drive going out in a laptop could be a sign of a bad processor or something else I should be concerned about. ie, he fixes it, it works, I get it, then it goes bad in the next few months.

[old_gregg]

is he putting in a refurb hdd?

[jay santos]

is he putting in a refurb hdd?

I don't know that. Would that change your answer?

[doctorcoug]

Take the HDD out. Does the thing load BIOS?

[jay santos]

Take the HDD out. Does the thing load BIOS?

I already sent back. It was coming up asking you boot options, and I think I might have gone into the BIOS menu but I can't remember. derrr

[WashingtonCoug]

I don't know that. Would that change your answer?

It depends a lot on what price you're paying and what kind of a warranty you're getting. A refurbed HDD doesn't necessarily mean other parts are going to go out soon. Especially if the machine has been pieced together as is. I would certainly want at least a year or two warranty on any refurbished product.