Review for user cybergamefan from wyvrn

  • wyvrn (104)

    I agreed to purchase his Umax Laptop. We started this deal on April 5th. He has posted a sale for $550 and listed his specifications. There was no mention of any problems with the laptop in his post. We agreed on the details and he mailed out the item on the 7th of April.

    wyvrn was the Seller on May 24, 2001 AnandTech

    I asked him specifically what was wrong/damaged on the laptop before we finalized terms. He said the only problem was that the battery would not hold its charge, and even searched the net for replacements. Well, I received the laptop on April 10th, and there were a few major problems. The laptop bios (and consequently Windows) sometimes only reports 64 MB of ram, even though a 128 MB sodimm is installed. This happens most of the time, but every once in a while the bios will recognize all 128 MB. I set the bios settings to default just in case, but that did not fix it. Secondly, the left hinge was completely shattered, which made the lcd screen open funny and not close fully (did not lock in place). Thirdly, the laptop did not restart at all. I could cold boot fine, but if I had to issue a restart command, the laptop would power on (I could see lights) and the hard drive would spin once, then die. I had absolutely nothing on the screen. I could take out the battery and unplug it from the wall outlet, replug it back in, and it still would not boot up (not even POST) for about 45 minutes. Then it booted normally (still could not reboot again though). The battery itself had a decent life, I do not know where his information on that came from. I contacted Jon on the telephone, and his response to these problems was "well it is used, Rob..." He never answered my question about why these problems were not disclosed, when I specifically asked him prior to purchase what was wrong with the laptop. On top of that, it took me almost 6 weeks from start of trade to get my money back as he seemed to procrastinate. I contaced Umax support in order to see what could be fixed, and they told me they did not carry the hinge parts and did not have a bios upgrade as of that time. I would have had to send it to them, out of warranty, and the repair would likely have been half the cost of what I paid for it in the first place. In addition, I see Jon has removed his thread (or I cannot find it in a seach) in order to remove evidence of this deal. Overall, I feel very cheated. I suggest to Jon that he learn the virtue of truth , and try to be honest in his further dealings online. I find this trade experience very unacceptable.

    May 24, 2001