Toshiba laptop bought at Office Depot
Campy Happer
Recently I bought a Toshiba that was on sale
at Office Depot.
Toshiba has been a good brand for me in the past.
They have great keyboards, touchpads, and screens
and they are fast enough for me.
When I got the laptop home I found a few strange signs that it
might have been owned before:
1. The sticker that identifies the unit that is normally
on the wrist rest was missing. These stickers are normally
on every laptop, even display units at stores. But not this one.
2. The included items (power adaptor, cable etc)
seemed to be just thrown into the box, and the plastic bags
they came in appeared crumpled as if pre-used.
They definitely did not have that crisp factory-new look.
3. The computer has a Hitachi hard drive in it, which is
unusual for a Toshiba -- as far as I know, I could be wrong.
The drive is a little noisy, but I think this is normal for a Hitachi.
Nevertheless, the laptop was in a sealed bag & the box itself was
sealed as well. And the computer appears to function
perfectly as of Day 2 of ownership.
My question is, has anyone heard of Toshiba re-selling
briefly-owned laptops after re-sealing them?
If so, is there an industry term for such a practice?
This laptop seems to have the usual 1 year warranty.
Thanks.
Rod Speed
Nope, it would have been Office Depot.
> If so, is there an industry term for such a practice?
Yep, ripping off the customer.
> This laptop seems to have the usual 1 year warranty.
I'd demand action from Office Depot since they deliberately sealed it again.
sarge137
If it were me, I'd take it back for an exchange. It may be working
perfectly well, but if you didn't buy it as an open box or refurb item
(with an appropriate discount) yours should have been the first hands
in the box. You paid for brand new and apparently didn't get it.
I had a similar experience with a Sony laptop I bought at Circuit City
several years ago. By all appearances it had never been opened. But
once I got it home, like you, I found that the included accessories
had been opened. Didn't even take the laptop out of the box - took it
right back to the store, and they exchanged it for me with profuse
apologies.
Regards,
Sarge
Campy Happer
> I'd demand action from Office Depot since they deliberately sealed it again.
But in order for them to do that, they would need Toshiba's
sealing tape as well as plastic Toshiba laptop bags and
the Toshiba factory sticker.
Is Toshiba actually handing such things out?
Seerialmom
Is it possible that the laptop was "direct sold" to a consumer who
returned it to Toshiba (hence the Toshiba tape) and then Office Depot
was offered a good deal on a lot of Toshiba laptops. Perhaps whoever
re-sealed the box didn't notice the same things as you. But I agree,
I would return it.
Barry Watzman
(in fact, I would say that it is IMPOSSIBLE that it was Toshiba).
Use of non-Toshiba disk drives in Toshiba laptops is common.
However, NONE of your other observations are normal. You were sold an
"open box" item as new, for the new price. And the culprit is Office
Depot, not Toshiba
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **