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Notaboy21

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 31, 2005
4
0
West coast
I just purchased a "reseller refurbished" PB G4 from these guys.
800Mhz/512 RAM/40G/AirportCard/Combo drive...
and well...
They were recommended to me by a friend, however, what I recieved in the mail yesterday is NOT a refurbished powerbook....it looks like somethign that someone loved quite nearly to its death for a few years- and then shipped it off to me for a whole lot of money.

I was aware of typical problems with the casing on these machines (tend to get really hot, corrosion of paint, thus the chipping, etc...) and fully expected to see some of that HOWEVER-
The plastic rim around the keyboard is clear broken and prying up in front of a screen hinge, the bottom of the case is literally prying itself away from the computer itself. It wont start without being plugged into the wall (and I triple checked- the battery is charged). Its got a whine going on in it that is loud enough to make it difficult to hear the speakers over it. The screen is...well, kinda scary. I know its typical for these models to have some horizontal line issues- HOWEVER- this is like, colors inverting and not returning to "normal"...it isnt coming out of sleep mode without freezing up.
And then the kicker- they advertized a 40G drive....I GOT a 30.
I totally got screwed.
Any suggestions?
I cant decide if I should plain out ship it back and demand a refund- or give them the opportunity to make amends?
Ive been researching these machines for FOREVER- I was a regular PC user- but am surrounded by Mac users- and really fell in love with these machines.
Any suggestions or help that you could give me would be fantastic.
 

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,521
Give them a chance to make good on it. Hopefully you paid with a credit card so you can dispute the charge.
 

nospleen

macrumors 68030
Dec 8, 2002
2,719
1,560
Texas
Call Roger at Expercom, he will make it right. I am not sure about those ratings. I have purchased over 20K worth of items from them, and their service is top notch. Plus when you call, you actually talk to a human and not a machine. Give them a chance, they are great to work with!
 

macphisto

macrumors regular
Jun 29, 2002
233
13
At home
nospleen said:
Call Roger at Expercom, he will make it right. I am not sure about those ratings. I have purchased over 20K worth of items from them, and their service is top notch. Plus when you call, you actually talk to a human and not a machine. Give them a chance, they are great to work with!

I would definitely call them and talk to them. I know Roger personally (through doing business for him) and he is a pretty nice guy. I have bought a few pieces of equipment from them and they are good and should take care of you.
 

Notaboy21

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 31, 2005
4
0
West coast
The Final arrival

Thanks for all of your advice....I wasnt going to give them a chance to "fix" this one- but based on the information I recieved here,I did, and am glad I did so.
Just thought I would let y'all know.
Called expercom, began to tell my story or woe, and the gentleman that answered the phone calmly told me that they MUST have shipped me the wrong machine, and that as soon as they revcieved the powerbook that they had originally shipped me, they would ship me a new one.

The hours I work keep me from getting to a UPS/Fed-Ex place with ease, so it took me a few days to get it back out. In the end, the old book arrived at Expercom on 1/10 @ around 12:30 PM. The new book arrived in my arms at work, at 11:45 AM on 1/11. (Overnight shipping! WOOT!)

Im thrilled with this machine. You can hardly tell if the thing was ever used. Its quiet, it functions, and I am happily downloading updates, etc...
and by the way....they shipped me a larger drive than what I had ordered. *grin*
Sucked that it had to be wrong in the first place- but I am totally thrilled that they really righted the whole situation. I'll be purchasing from them again, I am sure.
 
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