[mdc]

some background. i sold a friend my ibook and have been waiting until i got back to america to buy myself a new powerbook. today is the day, and i finally get to go buy my new 12" 1ghz powerbook. yay!

not so yay.
i go to compUSA today and the salesman says that he only has one powerbook left in stock, lucky for me. yeah right!
i get home, take it out the box, and boot it up. instead of the startup chime, i hear crackle crackle crackle... like i just bought a 1ghz bowl of kellogs rice crispies. os 10.2.7 booted up and i plugged in my ipod and tested some music. everytime the speakers are supposed to work all i hear is crackling. i plugged in some headphones and those work just fine.

i am so very not impressed right now.

i thought that powerbooks are supposed to have 10.3 installed? or at least 10.3 in the box so you can upgrade it? this has neither.

all i can think of is that this was a return and the salesman made an honest mistake.

tomorrow i am going back to the store and will be making them call their other branches and get me a new one... and i will open it right there in the store to test it all out.

question:
are there any ways i can tell if a machine has been used before?
just wondering since when i open the new one in the store tomorrow i wanna make sure it is brand-spanking-new.

thanks

[urrl78]

Return the unit to CompUSA and they should exchange it for you. They even exchanged my 400 Ghz Ti for a 500 Mhz with no penalty; just the difference in price when I only claimed I wasn't happy with the 400 Mhz Ti performance. They are good about exchanging merchandise. Since you have a very legitamate claim don't take no for an answer, even if it take awhile for them to order a new one for you. Aceept no restocking fee.

Hope it works out.

[Lateralus]

I used to work at CompUSA. They can be hard asses about taking returns without restocking fees, regardless of the reason. If you want my advice, you should more or less bypass the Customer Service counter where the drones work and ask to speak to the manager directly.

[PowerTower Fan]

Originally posted by mdc:
i thought that powerbooks are supposed to have 10.3 installed? or at least 10.3 in the box so you can upgrade it? this has neither.

all i can think of is that this was a return and the salesman made an honest mistake.

Not having 10.3 doesn't necessarily mean the Powerbook was returned. CompUSA might have received that shipment of 12" Powerbooks before Panther was released and yours is the last one. If everything inside is still sealed including the cables and stuff having twisties, its definately a new model.

[wallinbl]

Originally posted by PowerMacMan:
I used to work at CompUSA. They can be hard asses about taking returns without restocking fees, regardless of the reason. If you want my advice, you should more or less bypass the Customer Service counter where the drones work and ask to speak to the manager directly.

In retail, the customer is always right (no matter how wrong the customer is). Ask for a manager, and you will get what you want. They want you to come back in the future, and they know that if they don't give it to you, you won't come back and you'll tell your friends what happened. That negative word of mouth is more expensive than TV ads.

[mdc]

all done.

i called compusa this morning and spoke to the manager, i explained the situation with it being bought 24 hours ago and the speaker, and he was totally cool. i told him i knew they did not have the combo drive model in stock and i was totally happy with paying the difference and getting the superdrive model. he said that was fine.

i went through to compusa earlier tonight and the manager i spoke to was not there anymore. i spoke to the guy at customer service and explained it all and he got on the phone to a manager (or someone) and eventually got of the phone with him and he says to me "we will check in the powerbook for you and order the new part and have it fixed for you". i was shocked, and then asked him to get back on the phone and get the manager to come here so *i* could speak to him personally. the manager came round and we went to the tech center place and i showed him the powerbook and i told him that it was bought the day before and there is no way i am letting them send it away to get fixed or anything. he was fine with me paying the upgrade price for the superdrive model.

i paid the difference and took the new powerbook to the tech center and opened it up and checked for any dead pixels or anything else wrong. it is perfect. nothing wrong with it. i am so happy with it.

moral of the story: go straight to the manager.

[parsec_kadets]

Just so you know. If you had kept that computer you could have gotten Panther from Apple for $25 shipping and handling.

[sktrdie]

wow!! nice move!!
when u dont wanna wait i would do that too