Fighting Fire with Fire.

There is only one word I can think of that adequately describes how I feel about this current paypal claim against me: Flabbergasted.
I cannot believe this buyer has the gall to actually file a pay pal claim after receiving a MacBook I sold him on eBay on OCTOBER 28TH - 3 DAYS AGO. (USPS Delivery Confirmation # 0307 1790 0002 6840 5350.) I received an email from the buyer on the 28th that only stated the MacBook was a 2.0GHz model and not a 2.16GHz model. He never said anything about the MacBook having any technical problems. So why did he wait until Saturday night? In the email, he says:
"hi, did you know that is NOT Core 2 Duo? Or you just sent me the
wrong item? Anyway, it is 2.0G core duo. Not 2.16 G Core 2 Duo as
in the ad. Thank you for your fast shipment though."

He asks a question about the processor speed, but it is apparent he is content with the item as he says "Thank you for the fast shipment THOUGH."
So why did he wait until Saturday to file the claim? Very suspicious.
Yes we were all new to eBay once, however my track record as a seller speaks for itself. I have been an eBay member since 2005 and I have NEVER had to have an item returned to me, and issue a full refund due to it being defective, which brings up another point:

Defective, really? Defective..... Interesting.

I purchased the item from a fellow eBayer on 18, September 2008 for $650. (See eBay item Auction # :330271361525) Funny, the seller said the laptop was in excellent working condition and so did I in my listing. In fact in the 1 month I had that MacBook, I logged at least 10 hours a day on that MacBook and never ONCE had a problem with it. I used that MacBook to sell it on eBay and used it right up until the day I sold it and shipped it out (With $500 shipping insurance) with a heavy heart. I get attached to all of my Apples.

My question is, what happened when it reached Rhode Island?
Surely the buyer would've voiced his malcontent if the item was damaged upon opening it - he didn't.
So we know it wasn't USPS who "damaged" the MacBook.
I used it without any problems. I boxed it and shipped it, and I know I could've re-opened that box, turn it back on and it would work perfectly.
So what happened when it reached Rhode Island?
The buyer never said anything was wrong with the MacBook in the email he sent me - sent the day he received the item.
To see if it is a 2GHz model MacBook, you have to boot it up fully to the operating system...So it worked fine then too.
What happened in those 48 hours after?
The item was purchased by me for $650 a little over a month ago and re-sold by me for $550. Funny....Technically it would've been completely logical to re-sell the MacBook at $650 and expect to get the full $650. However, I am an HONEST seller and I know if I was a potential buyer, I would be very disappointed to get a MacBook that is in fair cosmetic condition regardless of how flawlessly it performs mechanically. Thus I removed $100 from the item, and this buyer bought it within 2 hours. Not only did I ship the MacBook out to him four days after him purchasing the item, I was constantly harassed by him during those 4 days with incriminating emails calling me a "scammer" and "deadbeat". (It's not meaningless made-up slander. I have the emails.) Regarless I left him positive feedback after he sent me that email letting me know he received it.

Thus we can make the conclusion it was in perfect mechanical condition leaving Florida and arriving at his house in Rhode Island. It must have been fully functional that Thursday he received it, or he would've complained then.

So what happened in those 48 hours?
Regardless it is not my fault or problem.
The laptop was in perfect functional condition when I shipped it.
What this buyer says is extremely suspicious.
The fact of the matter is, if the MacBook was having technical problems like he described - he would have NOT been able to even boot to the operating system and see that the laptop is indeed a 2GHz model and not 2.16 GHz. (Why he wants $50 for it being a 2GHz model is beyond me.)
By my statements alone, we can fully see the MacBook was in functional condition as described by my listing in eBay. Whatever happened in the last 48 hours that made the MacBook do what it is currently doing now, is not caused by myself, or by my actions directly or indirectly when I had owned this MacBook.

What's my plan?
Well more than likely it's going to get shipped back to me.
Know what I'm going to do? I'm going to take my G4 Powerbook's hard drive, and put it in there and say "OH LOOK IT DOESN'T WORK! HE DID SOMETHING!THERE'S A DIFFERENT HARD DRIVE IN IT!!! "

Why am I doing that? The laptop worked perfectly when I sold it. I'm not dealing with this BS and having to refund a jerk money. Is it a jerk thing to do? Absolutely. However to survive in life, sometimes you gotta fight fire with fire.

Wow, that jerk has SOME nerve. We don't know exactly what happened. Maybe he was away when it arrived, and got back on Saturday to find something happened during shipping or something. Or maybe he got it the day it arrived, but was too busy/ lazy to open it then. Aye, we never know what happened but I think you should take that Macbook back and give that user sour feedback.

BlueMac said:

I think you should take that Macbook back and give that user sour feedback.

Click to expand...

He already left me negative feedback...Here's a follow up too:
Him:
Dear afattarantula,

I send a message Oct 28 to you through eBay (I can prove it is in
my sent box).You never replied. I sent an email to you through
my email. You never replied. If you kind of gave me a kind
apology, I would just let it go. It is only about $100 difference. I
can take that lost. But your silence plus your excuses of Paypal
problems made me feel you are a scammer. I understand the
economy is bad and there are many scammers but scamming
will help you. I can help you find a job but please do everything
in a way it should be. Give me an answer if the reasons why it is
different. (Core 2 Duo 2.16 vs Core DUO 2.0 that I got)

Me:
Dear nanoherding,

Hello,
I am very sorry everything was not as descriptive as you would have liked. I hope there aren't any defects in any way with the MacBook. It was a great computer for me. If there is a way to work out between us instead of paypal, that would be great. You did get this MacBook for a steal. The only difference between the 2.0GHz model and the 2.16 model is an optional larger hard drive to store things. The 160MHz difference is not even noticeable. (I have had both.) If hard drive space is a concern with you, I would suggest getting an external hard drive anyways. They are much better for the welfare of your laptop and can store much more than a standard hard drive and is much much less expensive then having to return this MacBook to me, having to pay for the shipping with $550 worth of insurance and having to go an find another laptop and end up paying more - much more than you spent on this MacBook in the first place. Once again I apologize and God bless.

Him:
Sir,

If you have NOT used the execuse of Paypal frozen up thing and if you have answered my questions in time, I would have taken the loss.But given that you are saying I have NOT sent any question for you (in PayPal), I am fighting for my right.

It is not only the difference of 160Mhz, it is Core 2 Duo vs Core Duo. A difference of two cores, OK?

Now that it is your fault, I want to send it back and you need to eat the shipping cost. My credit card has a coverage better than Paypal. I am not a scammer at all and I have two international businesses. I do not have time to scam for just a macbook. My price for scamming somebody would be in the price range of near-billion dollars. I am fighting for justice. I hate dealing with lies.

I think you are from East Greenwich, RI. I must somebody who knows you and you must know somebody who knows me. It is a small world. So I just want to treat you fairly. I think sending-it-back with your shipping fee is the best option for you.

Good luck with your study.

Who knows. Hope your rant helped. Usually helps me vent some frustration when stupid stuff happens ;P

I feel bad for you. You're not the only one who got screwed by that jerk, look here:
eBay Feedback Profile for michael11272

Don't worry. It happens, you just have to go with the flow. Technically, the buyer can see all of the specs without turning on the computer by using the serial number/specs in the battery compartment. He probably just wants to be a little person and mess with small problems because he has no life.

By the way, the hard drive for a G4 doesn't work with a Macbook, Macbooks use SATA hard drives, G4s use IDE's.

Let that rude person live in his own sadistic world. That guy seems to have some mental issues and seems to be paranoid just by looking at his emails.


Anyways, I am certain that you can find a better deal with another buyer. Its an awesome Macbook. Plus it is in awesome condition based off of the pictures. Okay, it has yellowing, Doesn't every white macbook have that? Sell it for at least $600 in my opinion.


Good Luck!!!!



EDIT: Just for a side note, I noticed that a seller left you contradicting feedback. (Ny.queens), you might want to get that removed (since ebay doesn't allow the practice). Just tell them that you want that feedback taken care of and removed.

Wow That's It...this Little Puke Is Going Down.

He would scam people in the near-billions but can't buy a new MacBook from the Apple store?

I also like when he says: "A difference of two cores, OK?" Umm, no, it's a difference of 32 bits, its not a quad-core chip. lol.

Put this liar in his place.

xj6jaguar1985 said:

It is not only the difference of 160Mhz, it is Core 2 Duo vs Core Duo. A difference of two cores, OK?

Click to expand...

RAGE

Guys, guys...I think this is safe to say...Screwing this guy over is in order.

Does anyone have a faulty, non working MacBook hard drive they can give to me??? PM me if you do. Please, I want to stick it to this guy so he doesn't get his money refunded...That or I'm going to mess up the hard drive myself.

Wait, the way I see it, you said in the auction that it was a Core 2 Duo, but it was in fact a Core Duo? If you did not accurately describe it, then he has every right to demand a refund.

Whooo it's minutely faster...Just like the 667MHz Ti Book and 800MHz TiBook...*rolls eyes*..Don't worry...I'll get my money back. ;D

This guys a bunny, but in fairness, it wasn't described accurately, from what I understand.

2.16 Ghz -> 2.0 isn't a big difference, but I'd be mad. I didn't pay for a 2.0.
Core 2 Duo -> Core Duo I'd also be pretty bunny since this isn't as described..
After that happening I'd wonder what else could possibly be different.

Look, if I was in his shoes, I'd brush it off and try and not act all bunny mocho man, but hes obviously very picky. Just screw him over if you can, from the looks of it, he deserves it.

Yeah, I would be really mad. You can't just say it is one thing, then ship something different, and expect him to be OK with it because you say it is only a small difference. It doesn't matter if it is a small difference, it still isn't what you described it as. Staging some kind of phony hard drive upgrade so it looks like he messed it up is just completely dishonest and frankly despicable. The issue here is that the item you sent him is not what you told him it would be, and I would be very angry too if I were him.

I am just trying to put myself in his position, it sucks that you will probably have to refund his money and deal with the negative feedback, but in my opinion it is deserved.

I can definitely see where he'd be tweaked if you advertised it as a 2.16GHz machine instead of a 2.0GHz. The Core Duo and Core 2 Duo models are distinctly different - and not just by a margin of 160MHz. The Core 2 Duo is a completely 64-Bit CPU and can address more RAM than the Core Duo. If you deliberately misrepresented the product, you deserve a fraud claim - especially if you didn't immediately offer to rectify the problem when he mentioned it initially.

cwa107 said:

I can definitely see where he'd be tweaked if you advertised it as a 2.16GHz machine instead of a 2.0GHz. The Core Duo and Core 2 Duo models are distinctly different - and not just by a margin of 160MHz. The Core 2 Duo is a completely 64-Bit CPU and can address more RAM than the Core Duo. If you deliberately misrepresented the product, you deserve a fraud claim - especially if you didn't immediately offer to rectify the problem when he mentioned it initially.

Click to expand...

Dude...
It was by accident...He said he was okay with it...And then completely changes his mood the next. You're trying to rationalize feelings for a completely irrational person.

Where did he say he was OK with it? All he said was thanks for the fast shipping, which does not imply that he is OK with the item itself.

I sell on ebay on a regular basis. I can tell you one of the biggest problems is out of control buyers. Ebay has allowed buyers full reign to do whatever they want. I would advise not messing with the harddrive Paypal is just going to rule in his favor. I understand how it is to sell on ebay,The buyer should have waited and worked things out negative feedback wasn't necessary yet. the problem is that most buyers are stupid for lack of a better term.I don't mean to sounds bias,But I know where your coming from Jaguar. Good luck with this matter.

bargsbeer said:

I sell on ebay on a regular basis. I can tell you one of the biggest problems is out of control buyers. Ebay has allowed buyers full reign to do whatever they want. I would advise not messing with the harddrive Paypal is just going to rule in his favor. I understand how it is to sell on ebay,The buyer should have waited and worked things out negative feedback wasn't necessary yet. the problem is that most buyers are stupid for lack of a better term.I don't mean to sounds bias,But I know where your coming from Jaguar. Good luck with this matter.

Click to expand...

Exactly. I'm not going to mess with the hard drive, however if anything is missing from the laptop such as RAM, I will be refunded the money.

xj6jaguar1985 said:

Exactly. I'm not going to mess with the hard drive, however if anything is missing from the laptop such as RAM, I will be refunded the money.

Click to expand...

no doubt. Ebay & paypal suck when it comes to taking care of their sellers. Sellers pay the ebay fees yet ebay/paypal never back up their sellers. I just recently got screwed for $417.00

Keep us updated.

To be honest I'd be upset as well. He might have needed the Core2Duo for a specific reason (Java 6 on a Mac requires a 64-Bit processor for example... something I'm going to need for Uni).

But he should have gone about things a different way and talked to you directly about getting his money refunded and the macbook back to you.