Local computer guy is selling BoA laptops with illegal XP and Office 2007 - What 2 do

tankman1989

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My dad bought a Latitude D820 for $600 from this shyster a few months ago when he and I were not on best of terms. He didn't want to bother me with asking about a laptop so he looked in the free local weekly "merchandiser" paper under the computer section. He found a guy selling laptops with XP. Since my dad thought he could no longer buy a laptop with XP on it, he went to this guys house and bought immediately site.

After a little while, my dad started having a lot of problems with the machine, it was REALLY slow (maybe because it has a 4 year old 80GB HD!). Man was I ****** when I heard how much he paid for this piece of crap.

Anyway, I found that the Office 2007 he had installed is the version (key) floating around on torrents and the XP license I think is the Volume license from Bank of America. From what I understand, the volume license ends when the computer leaves BoA and it should not be supported or sold outside of the company. Is that correct? If not, what is the story?


The computer has a 1.6Ghz processor, 1Gb ram, 15" 1280x1024 screen, crappy battery, 80 GB 5400rpm HD, DVD-Rom/CD-RW, Wifi b/g and a docking port (no station) with pirated Office 2007 and I think an illegitimate XP Pro license.
My dad says that this guy has sold over 1,600 of these laptops, at $600 each, in the last few months and my jaw almost hit the floor. How the heck can I compete with this?

I recently tried to sell (for $350) a NIB Toshiba L355-S7915 with:
Processor: 2.2GHz Intel Celeron 900
Memory: 3GB DDR2
Storage: 250GB hard drive
Optical Drive: DVD±RW
Screen: 17 inches (1,440x900 native resolution)
Graphics: Integrated Intel GMA 4500M
Weight: 6.9 pounds
Dimensions (HWD): 1.7x15.7x11.5 inches
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Basic

on Craigslist and did not get one person who thought it was a good deal! How the heck is that possible! This is 2-3x the computer that my dad bought for just over half the price! I feel as if I am in the Twilight Zone...

First, what would you do about this scum bag selling these machines and second, can anyone explain this CL phenomenon?

On another note, I bought a 160GB HD for his laptop and installed it and it is working faster than ever (but not as fast as the Toshiba would have been:mad:) So total cost for this ancient laptop: $695!!:mad::mad:
 
Holy cow! I did not know this stuff! I will find out this guys name. Sounds like this is a little deeper than I thought it could be.
 
Your dad purchased this laptop and has this guy's contact information. Microsoft would LOVE to hear from him. They'll press charges and shut him down. Have him call the antipiracy line and give as much information as he can.
 
We do everything within our power to hurt companies like this, because they hurt our business. I used to be on the offensive, we had (I like saying the "had" part:D) a couple competitors doing this, we can't compete when I am playing by the rules and they aren't. a few years ago one guy had these Junk cars parked around the city for a while with big white letters "LAPTOPS $399" on them. I went and checked him out, then turned him into the city, B.e.a.r., microsoft piracy, adobe (photoshop for $75, yea.)state board of equalization, bbb and finally the IRS. when i would see one of his cars I would call the PD and report it under a city municipal code on advertising I found...:p


edit* almost forgot, turned him into the BSA, I don't know how I could forget the bsa, I had to take a shower after
 
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the one thing to remember, turning them in, etc. thru the proper channels is one thing.

Bad talking them to general public, etc. will greatly affect your reputation and have a negative impact on your business.
 
I think what that guy said selling that many is bunk/hearsay. Also, you'd need proof that they are counterfeit, not hunches. The other thing is, like it or not, you can sell anything to anyone for any price. I would sell my house for one million dollars if I could!

May sound jerky, but buyer beware. If I buy something at one store and see it elsewhere for $50 less, yeah, I'll return it and buy from the cheaper place, but say I bought it at a garage sale for $100 and saw it at another garage sale for $25, do you think I could get my money back? Nope...

Layoric
 
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