What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York
Hello,
So I'm a senior in high school, and I have been trying to save money for college for the past few years by buying, fixing, and selling computers. A couple weeks ago, I sold a Dell Inspiron M5030 on Craigslist to an 85 year old (he told me his age!) man. I had only used it for a couple of days, but while I had it, everything worked fine and I showed him this. I also told him to call me if he needed any help or if anything went wrong (probably a bad idea in retrospect).
Today, he called me and said that it had stopped working the day after he bought it, and started beeping (a common issue I learned online). He then called Dell, who apparently told him to wrap it in a blanket and let it heat up, which I'm claiming actually caused more damage because it forces the laptop to overheat. I don't recall if he told me that worked, but apparently he called his own tech next, who charged him $70 to diagnose a bad motherboard. Now, when he finally found my number again and called me, he says he has to pay another $30 to Dell in order to repair the motherboard.
All-in-all, he wants me to cover part of the repair costs – specifically, $50. This is the first computer I have sold where the buyer has contacted me and wanted me to pay, and I'm not so sure what to do. I'm pretty sure I don't have any legal obligation to do so, but if there is anything I hate, it is bad customer service. However, I really need as much money as possible for school next year, and paying $50 for a laptop that I had no issues with when I used it is going to hurt a bit. I will still have made a bit of a profit on it though, but it's not the option I want to take at this point in time.
I gave the guy my email when he called, and he said he will send the bills. I feel like I shouldn't have to pay so much especially if he took it to his own tech without contacting me first (I could have pulled it apart and diagnosed it for free) and also because of that blanket stunt. But he claims he can't recommend me if I don't offer anything (well, I'm leaving the state next year, so what good will that do?), and I also feel a bit like a bad corporate customer service representative by doing so. I didn't explicitly say how much I would pay yet, nor did I really say I would pay, but should I pony up here? Seeing as I don't think I legally have to, could I offer just to pay for the cost of the motherboard repair?
Thanks,
JGAN
Hello,
So I'm a senior in high school, and I have been trying to save money for college for the past few years by buying, fixing, and selling computers. A couple weeks ago, I sold a Dell Inspiron M5030 on Craigslist to an 85 year old (he told me his age!) man. I had only used it for a couple of days, but while I had it, everything worked fine and I showed him this. I also told him to call me if he needed any help or if anything went wrong (probably a bad idea in retrospect).
Today, he called me and said that it had stopped working the day after he bought it, and started beeping (a common issue I learned online). He then called Dell, who apparently told him to wrap it in a blanket and let it heat up, which I'm claiming actually caused more damage because it forces the laptop to overheat. I don't recall if he told me that worked, but apparently he called his own tech next, who charged him $70 to diagnose a bad motherboard. Now, when he finally found my number again and called me, he says he has to pay another $30 to Dell in order to repair the motherboard.
All-in-all, he wants me to cover part of the repair costs – specifically, $50. This is the first computer I have sold where the buyer has contacted me and wanted me to pay, and I'm not so sure what to do. I'm pretty sure I don't have any legal obligation to do so, but if there is anything I hate, it is bad customer service. However, I really need as much money as possible for school next year, and paying $50 for a laptop that I had no issues with when I used it is going to hurt a bit. I will still have made a bit of a profit on it though, but it's not the option I want to take at this point in time.
I gave the guy my email when he called, and he said he will send the bills. I feel like I shouldn't have to pay so much especially if he took it to his own tech without contacting me first (I could have pulled it apart and diagnosed it for free) and also because of that blanket stunt. But he claims he can't recommend me if I don't offer anything (well, I'm leaving the state next year, so what good will that do?), and I also feel a bit like a bad corporate customer service representative by doing so. I didn't explicitly say how much I would pay yet, nor did I really say I would pay, but should I pony up here? Seeing as I don't think I legally have to, could I offer just to pay for the cost of the motherboard repair?
Thanks,
JGAN
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