What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? IL
On December 11, 2008 I posted an ad to Craigslist.com under Computers selling a 9 month old Macbook Air. I got a response from a gentleman by the name of Will. He wanted to know if I would be interested in a trade. The purpose of my posting my Macbook Air was so that I could sell it and then buy a more powerful computer because that is what the Air lacks. Will wanted to trade me a Macbook Pro with really good specs. I thought about it for a week and a half. Finally three days ago I started to make some plans to go ahead with the trade. I had to ask him twice, but Will finally sent along some photographs of the computer, which I needed to ultimately make my decision. The photos, appeared to look amazing. The computer looked great. I have to make it very clear that I asked him in an e-mail what the TRUE condition of the computer was. Here are some excerpts from the e-mails:
"What is the condition - any scratches/dents, etc?" -me
"No dents/scratches. the macbook is in excellent condition. it looks brand new. I will take a picture and send to you. it rarely left my home. i usually used it connected to an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse." -him
So, I decided to go ahead because I felt that transaction would be successful and we would both get what we want.
Now, I must add that the gentleman runs a Photography Studio and he has a number of programs on the computer which he could have used to doctor the photos.
I was not available to meet with Will so I ahead my fiance' meet with him. We had a pretty solid arrangement. So, my boyfriend called me after he met with him and I asked him about the state of the computer. He said that there were a lot more scratches on the computer than what appeared in the photos that Will sent to me. It practically looked like a different computer according to my boyfriend. When he brought it home, I started to use it. The button on the track pad does not work properly. It works but it does not work on the left side. So -- I feel that this was something that should have been mentioned. I also feel that Will should have mentioned the scratches. I mentioned all of the flaws that were on my computer. Also -- he was misleading about the specs of the computer, stating in his e-mail, that the RAM was 2.16 but it is only 1.5 GB, that is a big jump from what he told me. He lied a lot. I have all of the e-mails. You cannot use the computer unless it is plugged into the power source, otherwise it dies instantly.
So, it took me about 5 minutes to realize that I have been duped. We immediately started to call Will but he did not pick up his phone. I e-mailed him and received no response. We have been calling him continuously but he has since turned off his phone. We have been leaving him very civil messages, pleading with him to contact us back so that we can set up a re-trade. We have since stopped because we don’t want to harass him.
I cannot use the computer and I don't want to because he misled me. I need my computer back for school very soon. I want to know how I can move forward to small claims court. I believe that by not responding to our phone calls and ignoring them that he is self-incriminating himself and he knows that I got the short end of the deal. I want to go to his place of business tomorrow with this computer to try to get mine back but if that does not work and if I do not hear a response from him soon I'd like to know what my legal options are and how we can get this started. My boyfriend paid $1,900 for my Macbook Air and this computer he gave me is barely worth $1000.
On December 11, 2008 I posted an ad to Craigslist.com under Computers selling a 9 month old Macbook Air. I got a response from a gentleman by the name of Will. He wanted to know if I would be interested in a trade. The purpose of my posting my Macbook Air was so that I could sell it and then buy a more powerful computer because that is what the Air lacks. Will wanted to trade me a Macbook Pro with really good specs. I thought about it for a week and a half. Finally three days ago I started to make some plans to go ahead with the trade. I had to ask him twice, but Will finally sent along some photographs of the computer, which I needed to ultimately make my decision. The photos, appeared to look amazing. The computer looked great. I have to make it very clear that I asked him in an e-mail what the TRUE condition of the computer was. Here are some excerpts from the e-mails:
"What is the condition - any scratches/dents, etc?" -me
"No dents/scratches. the macbook is in excellent condition. it looks brand new. I will take a picture and send to you. it rarely left my home. i usually used it connected to an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse." -him
So, I decided to go ahead because I felt that transaction would be successful and we would both get what we want.
Now, I must add that the gentleman runs a Photography Studio and he has a number of programs on the computer which he could have used to doctor the photos.
I was not available to meet with Will so I ahead my fiance' meet with him. We had a pretty solid arrangement. So, my boyfriend called me after he met with him and I asked him about the state of the computer. He said that there were a lot more scratches on the computer than what appeared in the photos that Will sent to me. It practically looked like a different computer according to my boyfriend. When he brought it home, I started to use it. The button on the track pad does not work properly. It works but it does not work on the left side. So -- I feel that this was something that should have been mentioned. I also feel that Will should have mentioned the scratches. I mentioned all of the flaws that were on my computer. Also -- he was misleading about the specs of the computer, stating in his e-mail, that the RAM was 2.16 but it is only 1.5 GB, that is a big jump from what he told me. He lied a lot. I have all of the e-mails. You cannot use the computer unless it is plugged into the power source, otherwise it dies instantly.
So, it took me about 5 minutes to realize that I have been duped. We immediately started to call Will but he did not pick up his phone. I e-mailed him and received no response. We have been calling him continuously but he has since turned off his phone. We have been leaving him very civil messages, pleading with him to contact us back so that we can set up a re-trade. We have since stopped because we don’t want to harass him.
I cannot use the computer and I don't want to because he misled me. I need my computer back for school very soon. I want to know how I can move forward to small claims court. I believe that by not responding to our phone calls and ignoring them that he is self-incriminating himself and he knows that I got the short end of the deal. I want to go to his place of business tomorrow with this computer to try to get mine back but if that does not work and if I do not hear a response from him soon I'd like to know what my legal options are and how we can get this started. My boyfriend paid $1,900 for my Macbook Air and this computer he gave me is barely worth $1000.
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