My Computer Saga

So several weeks ago my laptop died, with all the important data on it. We managed to extract most info from hd and then decided to go for a second-hand notebook, to save money. In the mean time, I had to share with my husband, which was a bother for both of us. We visited a pawn store in town, but they had nothing special so we turned to the internet.

We found what we were looking for (or so we thought) and ordered it last week Monday, paid in advance, too. It would be sent to me within 1-3 days but by the end of the week, there was still nothing. So we phoned them next Monday, and they told us the model was sold out, but they would get new ones the very same day, and send it the same day.

Three days days later, nothing. My husband phones again and they say that they only can offer us another type laptop, for the same price, but with a smaller screen. Or we can opt for cancelling the order but it will take at least three weeks or longer before we get our money back. We discuss it together and I think we should go along with it, because we start getting a sinking feeling about the whole situation. So we agree.

Next day, no computer. So we phone the store again. They promise to phone back. They finally phone me instead of my husband and say that I'll get it next day. Friday comes - hooray, I finally receive an email telling me my computer arrives soon and it does. It has no DVD drive and a really small screen. I decide to wait till my husband comes home before trying it out.

He comes from work and turns it on. THERE IS NO SOUND! He spends the whole evening trying to make it work. No such luck. We discuss our next steps and both come to the same conclusion - if we send it back, it'll only cost us more money and we start doubting that we ever get anything decent in return at all. We have neither time no energy to go to court with them if the need arises and the store is like 3 hours driving from where we live.

My husband takes the laptop to the computer specialist he knows. The guy also has second-hand stuff in his shop. He promises to look into it but is not sure of success. I suggest to my husband to try and sell the darn thing to the man and may be pay something extra and buy a refurbished notebook from him, if he has one.

In the end, it's exactly what my husband had to do. It cost him 100 euros more but he came home with a functioning laptop which has a DVD drive and a normal size screen. So now hopefully my problems are all solved and I'll be able to answer all those emails that kept waiting:)

I'm also writing it as a cautionary tale - don't order second hand computers on the internet, especially when you have to pay first! In the interests of privacy, I won't name the store on this blog but we both agreed it's our citizen duty to write a 1-star review and warn other potential customers. 

UPDATE
This is funny: we've had such horrible communication problems with these folks, but half an hour after my husband had written a negative review on their site, they contacted us on Sunday! Said we'd get our money back or a new computer real quick which may very well be true but still doesn't really change my opinion about buying second-hand computers online. May be, if you can afford waiting a month or two - otherwise patronising your local computer shop is a much better option.