I Have a Moral Dilemma...

I have not had a moral dilemma like this since I bought my new compressor. One day after buying a Craftsman compressor I had to return it as it was broken when I unboxed it. When I wheeled the new one out to my truck after returning it the guy ran out after me with my "return cash" and counted out $376 to me.... In essence they paid me to take a compressor off their hands and I ended up with it for free. I tried to tell the guy at the time that he was making a mistake but all he could do was apologize for the bad compressor. I tried twice to explain but then all I could do was stand there with this awe-struck look on my face as he counted the dough out to me.... (That and thinking about what else I could buy with the money.) I drove around the parking lot and pulled into a spot right around the corner and called my buddy. He said that there was a thing called a "Stupid Tax" and the guy had just paid his... That I should count my blessings and go home. After thinking about all the times I had gotten the raw end of the deal... I drove my new, free compressor home. I think about that every time I use it.

So... To the crux of my dilemma. I just received my new CF-29. I paid $310 for it on ebay. It was advertised with no hard drive. In their words... "None (hard drive slot is defective)" It also said that WinXP would NOT be loaded on it since there was no hard drive and since the hard drive connector was "defective." I thought something was amiss when I saw the weight of the package they shipped. Twenty pounds! Well... The UPS man just brought me my present.... I hurriedly unwrapped it. First was the packing... They use a foam packing that form fits whatever is in the box. (Pretty cool!) I pulled the top off. I see a very nice Samsonite case! NICE! It even has the wheels on the bottom and the handle that pops out from a zippered enclosure. Very nice! It weighs a ton... I undo everything. WOW!!! It's the CF-29 Toughmate sling I was getting ready to buy for $79 online! Holy luck-out BATMAN! It's a little dirty but will cleaned up nicely! I explore a little more... Hmmmm.... Nice... An A/C Adapter... And a floppy... AND the cable to hook the floppy or CD up the the back of the laptop... I certainly wasn't expecting that! The picture on ebay showed a DVD caddy... THAT was what I was looking for... Even though they didn't advertise it as having it. I pull out the battery... Nice... Looks new. Now... I opened the hard drive slot. I wanted to try to peer into the well to see what I could see before I pulled it all apart to see what was wrong. CRAP! there was something in my way! It was the HARD DRIVE CADDY! I pulled it out. Looks fine to me... Let me plug it in and see what's what. I fully expected it to belch flames... Nope... It starts right up. Win XP loads just like on a brand new laptop. I sign "New User" like I do with all my PCs.... It fires right up... the drivers load... EVERYTHING looks fine! I thought this thing as broken? NOPE! NADA! Works great! I have it on right beside me... Maybe it will up and die in the next few minutes but right now I am a HAPPY CAMPER. As soon as I get my Recovery CDs I plan on swapping in a 100GB hard drive. (Yes Pappy I will make a tutorial.) Then I plan on ordering the GPS module since I got this thing so cheap. I figure with that... It will allow me to duplicate the procedure with the EM-408!

So... I ask you... Should I email the seller and tell them about this? I'll let you guys make the decision!

EDIT - Jesus! I was just typing away after enjoying a J&C while thinking about my luck... er... uh... moral dilemma... I didn't realize I typed THIS much... My apologies for boring you guys to death!

Double EDIT - Uh... I voted in my own poll. (Not to sway you guys) Right now I am at 100% to.... um... not mention anything.

 

The laptop I'd not worry about. They either shipped you the wrong one, or didn't check it.

I'd feel slightly bad about the compressor... But I'm not sure if I'd lose sleep over it.

 

Just my humble opinion.
You did not ask for the hard drive. You did not expect a hard drive.
You bid accordingly.
Leave the seller a "glowing" feedback, thank your lucky stars, and sleep good tonight.
The balance sheet will surely fall the other direction at some point.

 

I dont see how youre in dilemma; they made a mistake and you profited.

Like inspectorgene said,

 

No... I didn't think the hard drive or caddy would be coming! I sniped a CF-29 caddy off of ebay for $56 the other night because I just knew I'd need one...

Modly... Judging from the caliber of people they staff at that Sears Outlet... He's probably manager or higher now! I haven't felt bad about that since the day after it happened...

 

I’m with you toughbook take it and run and try to pass it forward by continuing to be the honest seller that you are on EBay.

With all the cork suckers ripping everyone off it’s nice to hear that someone got a little extra for once.

Jim

 

you still could donate these 376$ for some charity funds..... maybe not the full amount. you should go and send the guys that "sold" you the compressor a box of doughnuts....

but the laptop, well i wouldn´t worry too.

 

SSZero... You changed your post... In answer to your question, "What do I think they would do if I told them?"

I'll bet they'd say, "Don't worry about it!" For 20 pounds it cost them a small fortune to ship it... To pay for shipping back to them and them back out to me again.... Plus whatever shipping they would have to pay for whomever else to make things square....


But them if Mr. Plum was in the Library with the lead pipe...

 

Man... The non-regs are coming out of the woodwork! I love it!

Donuts... I need to bring the guy BRAINS!

 

If thats what you think then what the problem is?????

 

Uh oh... We have a purist among us...

 

Okay... They kinda got even in a way... There is no wifi card installed and there is supposed to be one... I should email them and complain!

EDIT - And according to the model number there was supposed to be bluetooth installed... Dang... They just got even....


Okay... They are even now!

 

Probably the guy that sold you the notebook!

 

Just tell them what happened but I wouldn't give it back or pay them more just let them know,

 

Any reason in particular that you feel you don't deserve to be blessed by this gift? You bid accordingly, with no further expectations. What you did for that Marine was extremely giving on your part. The Lord tells us that as we bless others, he will in turn bless us. Why can't this be your time? As I see it, you weren't deceptive or conniving in any sense of the word. They made a mistake and it is not wrong, morally or otherwise, to benefit from it. Quit beating yourself up and enjoy it.

 

Tell them what happened; more than likely they'll say, "Oh, well blow me down. That's funny. Sure, keep it by all means!"

 

Well... It's like this... The problem reared its ugly head. I jumped the gun....


NO OPERATING SYSTEM FOUND!

I took it downstairs to see why the wireless wasn't working. I took it apart and the wireless card is in there. I put it all back together... It doesn't bot. So it is most likely a loose connection somewhere because I see nothing else it could be at the moment. I'll know more tomorrow when I tear it apart all the way. So... Stop voting! You purist out there can sleep tonight knowing it was as advertised... However with a caddy and some extras... So the auction WAS correct... Just with some goodies included. (That they could have sold separately for $150 easy.)

 

Ummm... TB, you really need to knock on wood or somethin... don't wanna jinx it...

mnem
Probability is a force of chaos which has been proven alterable by consensus. In other words, we make our own luck.

 

HEH... SEE? perhaps the issue is in the caddy, and you WILL need the new one...

mnem<~~~ Hates being right...

 

Well... I took the bottom off to poke around in there again. Nothing loose... I cleaned the contacts on the hard drive conectors. (Inside & on the caddy) and put the floppy in to flash the BIOS since it was at V12 and they are up to V17 now. I rebooted to go into the BIOS but decided to let it boot normally to see what would happen... It went all the way into XP. I went ahead and flashed the BIOS and tried to make it NOT work... It rebooted as it should every time. I tried all sorts of variations... All sorts of boot variations , on batteries and on AC, floppy in/floppy out, etc. So... I will put it through its paces tomorrow and see what's what.

By the way... For those of you who flash... The 28 is a little different in one respect. The lag-time on reboot after flashing the BIOS. On a 28 it reboots almost normally. (After going back into the BIOS to set the correct time, date & year!) With the 29 it is a little different. There is a L O N G wait after you reboot! You will think you fried something for sure. You start second guessing yourself... Was there static? Did I pick the correct BIOS version? All the thoughts going through your head. Then about the time you are ready to panick... A good 30 seconds or more... It boots up normally!

So... remember that if you flash a CF-29!

 

So it's working now? If so, that's awesome!

I'm buying myself some goodies this week actually... so I get to feel the same way you do when they arrive

I sold my P.O.S. Ford Focus that I put 12 miles on in 16 months of ownership, and I'm using some of the cash from that to buy a nice 22" LCD monitor, and the rest is going to gas money for my move. Now if only I could sell my PowerMac G5 tower...

 

yeah... t seems to be working now... Except I can't get the wireless activated for some reason. Device Mgr doesn't even see it but I know it is on there. Also... The bluetooth IS in there... But I can't find the right drier for it.

I'll slow down a littleand tear into it again tomorrow morning. I'll be putting in a new 100GB drive so I'll be redoing the whole thing. It looks like there ight be some conflicting drivers installed. We'll see. I guess I need to order 1GB or RAM for it too. Does it ever end?

 

TB,
Duuuuuude, for those of that flash; what kind of a site is this? heh heh

 

Its an AUCTION. They're a BUSINESS. If they're a poorly-organized business, shame on them.

Look, part of what drives the price up on auction items is the (mostly ill-founded) belief that the winner might get more than they paid for. The experience you just had is factored into the prices of everything you ever bought on ebay. Don't worry, you'll eventually win something that is LESS than you expected, and the seller will tell you to pound sand. Chalk this one up to the win column and move on.

 

Grav... Sound advice... I've BEEN moving on.

On a side note.. I put a 100GB drive in it today and am loading XP and all the drivers. For some reason it doesn't even see the Wifi card. I'm going to swap in one of the 600mw ones and see if that works.

It shows bluetooth in there but I can't find a driver or program for it to use. BT isn't on ANY of the Panny sites. Device manager is showing UGX & no driver... After Googling it... It shows as a bluetooth device.

Ayone know where to get one of these drivers for it?

 

TB -

A lot of the BT modules I've seen are actually listed based on the part # on the chip; have you tried Googling for that?

mnem
*Maybe-ily*

 

No.... I haven't. Good idea though. When I tear it apart again tomorrow I'l take a look. Thanks!

 

Did you forget that Sears = K-Mart = The Devil reincarnated as a corporation? Don't believe me? Ask a K-mart retiree or former stockholder..