Craigslist buyer of laptop threatening to sue

[hobbit42]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Alabama

I sold an old laptop a couple days ago on craigslist, for $100, to a guy locally. The laptop was perfectly fine, I had wiped the hard drive (via Ubuntu's partition manager), and installed the version of XP that came with it via the original recovery disc. It had no issues at all, it's just like 5 years old, so I didn't want it anymore. I never even connected it to wifi for Windows update or anything after reinstalling XP because I didn't want traces of my SSID and IP on the machine. The drivers were all on the recovery disc, and all were installed as part of the process. In other words, the computer was perfectly fine, fresh install on a blank HD, never connected to the interwebs after reinstall.

I gave him the computer, an a/c adapter (a new one I had recently bought, actually, as the old one crapped out), and the recovery disc. He tried it at the time, saw that he could see some wifi networks, opened a couple programs on it, had no issues, and gave me the money. Later that evening, he starts emailing me saying there is a problem with the trackpad, and mentioning stuff about an external mouse, but I emailed him back saying I never had problems with the trackpad, and that it worked fine. This morning he emailed me saying that he had taken it to a computer shop and had a virus removed, and that he had to buy an external mouse (which he then claims froze the computer? lol...) and a computer case (which made me laugh, too) for it. He didn't directly say it, but he implied that he was going to try to sue me if I don't give him more money.

Seems like a clear buyer-trying-to-scam-seller to me, but just trying to make sure. Does this guy have any actual case?

 

[Dave1952]

You can be sued by anybody for just about anything. It sure sounds like an "as-is" sale based on your description. If he's serious he may file a small claims case. I"d not worry until then.

Good luck

 

[cosine]

Technically, he can always have a case. But it sounds like he's not taking care of it very well. If you never connected it to anything after a fresh install of Windows, then he's the one that got the virus on it. Tell him to wipe the drive and install Windows back again. Offer him a free Ubuntu disk to do a reliable wipe with (and suggest actually using Ubuntu if he responds to that ... I've already switched a couple members of my own family to Ubuntu).

It is plausible the Windows driver for the trackpad, being an older one than the recent Ubuntu, might well be less reliable. If you have to show the trackpad is working, boot into the Live Ubuntu on CD to test it out. If it works well in Ubuntu and not Windows, tell him it's a Windows problem and suggest using Ubuntu.

Maybe he's not accustomed to a trackpad "mouse". I personally hate them and use an external (usually USB connected) real mouse when I can. He might be mad it didn't come with one like his last computer did (probably some old 66 MHz tower).

 

[hobbit42]

I follow all you're saying about the trackpad driver, and yeah, I know it could be an older driver or something, but the thing is, it worked fine when I was getting everything reinstalled, and it worked fine when he was testing it. Thing is, though, for $100 for a 5 year old laptop, I really don't want to be tech support. If he truly is having some sort of technical problem, then it is of his own making, and that sucks, but there weren't any issues with the laptop when I sold it. Know what I mean?

Honestly, though, I feel that there aren't actually any technical issues, and that he is just trying to scam me into getting money. Here is the most recent email he sent me:

"Hello How are you. I have finally figured out the problem. I have taken the laptop to a computer shop to run a diagnostic test. It seems that the system has many viruses. These are issues I asked you about. when we added the mouse the system shut down and locked up. The quote to repair is 165.00 which together with what I paid you is a new laptop. I have also incurred unnecessary cost such as carrying case and wireless mouse system. I feel I have been wrongly scammed. I now have a unit that I can do nothing with. I hope we can come to some kind of median as I have done nothing wrong. I am clearly the victim here. I have tried the restoration disk however, the system has locked up so it wont allow me to get in.

Please call so we don't have to go any further"

When he says "issues I asked you about," he is referring to a previous email in which he asked if there were any issues he should be aware of (pre-sale), to which I replied that there were none other than the battery only getting 1-2 hours of life. His email as a whole sounds awfully "I'm going to say some random computer stuff and try to get you to pay me," especially when he says he has incurred unnecessary costs such as a carrying case, which was not even mentioned in the craigslist posting, any email, any picture, or at any time by either myself or him.

 

[Trickster]

Keep his emails as an archive and ignore them. If you like, try advising him that he bought the computer "as is" and there was no warranty on it. It is no different than buying a used car from someone. How many times have you heard tell of a person buying a car then a week later the tranny falls out? So called "lemon laws" do not apply to you as you are not a dealer. If he gets too "threatening", have a summons or arrest warrant filed against him and let him bond out of jail. It isn't your fault he bought something and got a virus at some porn site or perhaps even dropped it. See, there are too many variable. I wouldn't worry.