I bought a stolen Macbook.

kreidel, I think that you did the right thing. You certainly do not want to get into business with policemen.

I would blame the best buy for not taking care of its stuff and then take back your macbook air.

When I buy something used, I always asked whether it is legitimate or not, and call apple for verify.

 

After reading this thread in one sitting this morning, I think this is what I'd agree with, but I can't fault the OP for handling it differently. Seems to me that multiple parties were at fault...the thief, Best Buy (if they in fact didn't report the theft), and the Pawn Shop. Only one person in this scenario is innocent. The one who actually lost money.

Good on you kreidel for being honest, but in retrospect it seems that handing it over to some Best Buy manager could (imo) be seen as a sucker move. If you'd taken it to the cops with your suspicion they might have been able to check for a stolen goods report, and in absence of such a report they'd have no reason to consider it stolen. They may have ultimately released the notebook to you, since there would be no one else with any claim to it.

But you handled it honestly, so good for you. Sucks that you were the only one who got burned. I'd be pissed at Best Buy for not stepping up with at least a nice discount on a new one.

 

write a letter to steve jobs.. maybe he'll take pity on you and send ya a free Air! (can only dream)

 

Alittle over 2 years ago someone kicked in my front door and robbed my house. The thief got away with $2000 worth including my sons little red wagon. They were never caught and I even had serial numbers galore for the police, and a neighbor witnessed it. I can back that claim up to for all you that think this is one of my dreams.

It haunts me all the time, so maybe if they bust the guy who stole the Macbook Air it will help. Maybe I can file a claim against the person...who knows.

I also have that feeling like when Peter Parker let that guy get away, it cost him anyways.

Thanks for the replies.

 

Finally someone said what I have been thinking for the last 20 minutes.

You would of been doing the right thing, and you would of gotten your money, or the laptop back in the end. if not one claims the laptop after 30 days, than they would of giving it back to you.

BB would of called it shrink, givin it to their claims department, and never missed it.

If you ever think about giving 1100 away again, than just PM me, and I'll give you my email for my paypal account.

Also, How dumb is a crook that would steal a laptop from a tore, and immediately sell it to a pawn shop, that to me is the only fishy part of your story.

 

It is easy for you not in my situation and make a better judgement call since it isn't happening right now. Had I alittle more time and more information on how things worked I could have made a better call, and that hindsight is 20/20 makes it easier.

And all the TV shows always have amazing video of stupid criminals and I always make that comment, how dumb could that crook be? That could almost be a oxymoron, dumb crook. I guess crooks in Spokane are much smarter than the rest of the world.

 

We don't have anymore crooks, the Pawn shops caught them all.

 

I applaud you for your integrity.

Bestbuy should have offered some sort of reward. They can surely afford to replace a demo Air, whereas you can't.

 

i would think Best Buy have some insurance to cover their loss... you shouldn't be at lost here.

if now, best buy got your MBA, they should give you some compensation.

i would certainly wouldn't accept the outcome of going out-of-pocket.

 

I see the beginning of people stealing MBPs from BB, and them selling them back to them.

 

Yes, that's very disappointing that Best Buy would act that way. A large company/store can afford an $1100 loss much easier than a single person can. The right thing to do would have been to either compensate you or allow you to keep it.

 

sell your story to a newspaper or something.

 

All someone has to do is find out a good newpaper, News Station, Radio Station, etc. that is in the OP area and send them a link to this post. They can read up on it and if they are interested they can contact the OP. I hope this helps. God Bless

 

"Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you."

You have my admiration and respect for your honesty. And do others have trouble crediting that this thread is already 7 pages long and continues to grow?

 

7 pages? do people really leave the default with so few posts per page? its still only 2 pages for me

 

2 here.

 

That sucks and I am sorry to see that it happened to a good guy like you. I would have turned it into the cops and like one guy said before you would have most likely received it back for the fact that Best Buy made a huge blunder which ruined everything for you. If I were the manager of that store, I would have given you the laptop for your honesty and then I could have claimed the laptop on insurance or a shrinkage tax credit. It is not like BB would really be out anything. I think everyone on this forum should contact that BB until they give you that Laptop back. It was there negligence that caused you to do something and they should do something about it. This really pisses me off. I am going to call the manager myself and demand that he does the right thing. If he does not I am going to call corporate. I hope others will help me and pressure the manager to do so too.

Dan

 

67 entries, then - to yours. ; )

 

hey dont forget you can always hit the lottery in the uk. lmfao

i would call it ... sort of even!?

ha! dude you need to be smarter

 

Dude, you can quote more then one quote in a post, no need to multi post. You need to be smarter.

 

Good news! I just got the call from the investigator and the police made an arrest. They said I will need to call the State Attorneys office about seeking restituion!

 

good for you. your honesty paid off in the end.

 

kudos to what you did by returning the Macbook to bestbuy. If I were in your shoes, I'd have kept it and used it. Sure if I were rich, I'd do the right thing and return it. But these days when I can barely make enough to put food on my table, I'd put myself first and say it to Best Buy

 

I would never judge someone for handling it another way, everyone thinks and see things differently. Thanks to everyone who replied. There is still no guarantee I will get my money back but it sure looks better now.

Next Tuesday or Wednesday I am supposed to pick a copy of the police report and then I send it off to the State Attorneys office to try and recover money. I was told whether she takes a plea or is sentenced they will make her compensate me as part of it.

Tomorrow her picture should be in the crime watch of my local paper and I will post it as soon as I see it.

 

her? thats interesting!

 

good look kreidel! I am sure karma will get at least one of the culprits here

 

Yeah, the thief is a "her!?!?!" That probably explains why she was able to make off with the notebook in the 1st place... I'm not being sexist, but who "in their right frame of mind" would really suspect a lady to be a......

Anyway, it really feels good to read that the criminal has been caught & that kreidel now has a really good chance to recover all his money. Hopefully, he recovers every single penny of it & then Best Buy better do the right thing & give kreidel a massive discount on a new MBA purchase!

kreidel, I wish you all the best. Good luck.

 

If you get all of your cash back, I would just buy a new 13" MBP to avoid this again.

 

It's not everyday that you buy a stolen item.. especially a laptop... even more so an apple laptop

 

If I were in his shoes, there's no way I would even think about going used for a while.

 

I found a steal of a deal on another laptop!!!! Nope, I am buying new!

No mugshot yet but they did post the info in the Florida Today crimewatch section.


9:32 p.m. Sept. 17. Arrested: Jessica L. Funicello, 20, of 2289 Winwood Trail, Melbourne. Charge: Dealing in stolen property..

 

I was just post whorin'

 

good to see they got the slim ball who sold the machine to the pawn shop.

by the way, i'd say a 'her' is more likely than a guy, seriously. how on earth would you sneak that out as a guy? shove it in your wallet? Now one of those massive purses, easy! lol, I kid.

good to see things are working out better for you!

 

Boy, I hope she's not Annette Funicello's (one of the original Disney Mouseketeers) daughter or granddaughter!

 

In a manila folder, DUH.

nice that you got a happy ending from it. But collecting the money may be another thing.. like a thief is going to be able to pay you back.

 

this is what u should have done...

taken it back to the pawn shop, get ur $ back and let them deal with it...

that simple.

but good thing they found the thief.

"you may be able to catch one, but u cant catch them all."

 

like pokemon

Grats on catching the thief, but now the most important part is being compensated!

 

i hope you get your money back.

 

The warm fuzzy feeling left me.

I went to the police department and asked for the incident report. First issue is they have Best Buy listed as the victim. Not sure what this means as far as me getting restitution from the defendant so I am waiting to hear back from the State Attorney.

Second is Best Buy stated in this that a report was not filed due company policy. This is aggrevating to me and needs clarification for sure. How much does Best Buy pay for Apple Air's?

I never did this for any other reason than seeing justice served. I knew there was a chance I would not see my money back but it felt right to follow through. So now I might not get money back because of an error and the fact Best Buy did not feel it was necassary to report it to the police?

If they did their part and reported it to the police and the pawn shop did their part filing out all the paperwork when purchasing and the police department did their job investigating and catching the criminal then I would feel alright with what happened.

I still havent heard back from the state attorney so I might be getting worked up over nothing but I won't be mad if I get replies to this as I told you so.

 

Time for you to get the media on your side !!! God Bless

 

lol i was referring to hackers, but i guess pokemon fit too. ;x

 

The person you returned it to no doubt knew this. Now you need to be angry. Go to the store for satisfaction. Go to over their heads to corporate if they don't make it right.

 

I would second this. I would have done this a long time ago. I would also call a news agency and tell them your story. They will most likely do a news story on it and how incompetent BB is and at that point BB will give you back the laptop so that they don't look stupid.

 

So calling Best Buy customer relations was a waste of time.

Crime does pay, according to Best Buy company policy.

Talk about a slap in the face, it is like helping an old lady across the street only to have her kick you in the groin once across.

 

Please do this for yourself and for the rest of us following your story, you have too much a stake and too many things you can use to just let this slide, again good luck and keep us posted!

 

I call it a bunch of nonsense on BB's part. What do they mean by crime pays? Crime "pays" on their part but what about you? You're also the victim too!

The way things are developing, I cannot help but wonder how much "free" goodies did the manager of the store get away with... It must be convenient for him to just make some stuff "disappear" once in a while simply becuase if something is lost/stolen, BB will not make a police report, according to their company policy. LOL!!! For the store manager, it must be damn easy to "write off" some goodies & bring those home. Doesn't that encourage crime from their own store employees?

Going through the whole thread, I'm beginning to understand why people love to use the following kind of sentence:

"It doesn't pay & in fact it will hurt you if you do good!"

I've never understood why. I thought people were being sarcastic. Now I understand why.

To the OP, I hope you are able to get back what you deserve. Good luck.

 

Yes, it makes sense now!

If I had all the facts ahead of time this would be a different story for sure. I still can't believe that Best Buys policy is not to report stolen merchandise.

 

I previously wasn't aware of that too.

Man, you have to try your best (+ whatever it legally takes that is within your limits) to get your money back. You certainly do not deserve to lose anything for being totally honest.

Good luck.

 

I very rarely go into Best Buy "last time years ago"
Yet i do recall seeing police cars parked out front with officers inside the store, Best Buy catches someone shoplifting.

Is this NOT reporting stolen merchandise or the attempt of

Or is Best Buy now open for pick your own price or not?

 

I just received a phone call from Best Buy customer relations informing me they will be sending a $25 gift card in the mail. I guess a week or so ago my wife wrote them and told them about the story.

I contacted the state attorney again and they are supposed to call me before they go to court. I am praying that the paperwork that the police messed up isn't the nail in my coffin.