Re: neighbor ruined my laptop.... what to do...
Fairlainman - I am meticulous with my equipment. I rarely even get fingerprints on it as I wear latex goves when using it in the field. And it is not just using it for manuals. With Diacom I plug this laptop into engines. I order parts, do emails, do everything. I need to bring it onto boats. Thats the reason I spent 1500 bucks on it in the first place. I wanted a good one and was willing to pay for it. 3 years ago 1500 was alot for a laptop, still is today.
Triumphrick - Hey neighbor!! With the move i've been so busy and forgot to change my location.
Again guys with the ebay. You don't know what you get from ebay until after you pay for it.
That was how this fiasco started in the first place. Neighbor purchased a "new" trim pump from ebay. All the valves in it are stuck. It may have been new, but it was probably sitting on a shelf for 10 years.
Besides, what recourse would I have had if I agreed to an ebay unit. And for whatever reason that ebay unit lasted 3 weeks and crapped out, where would I have been then?
Sure this new laptop has better specs, and the latest and greatest hardware wise. If Durabook made one that was identicle to mine, with the same cpu, hard drive and ram specs, I would have been fine with that. But they don't.
3 years ago they made a laptop for 1500 bucks that I bought. Today they make a laptop for 1500 bucks that has better specs for the same amount of money. Thats not my problem, nor my fault.
You know, its funny listening to alot of your opinions. Saying my neighbor only should pay 1/2 of its depreciated cost. That is the same thing as saying if you break something of somebody elses, you would only be willing to pay 1/2 of what you think its worth.
How about I come over, test drive your BMW and smash it, and because I feel its 1/2 your fault for letting me borrow it. I'll buy you a used Honda instead of a comparable beemer. You know your BMW depreciates 20% as soon as you drive it off the lot right?
The other fact of the matter is. Regardless if he buys me a new one or not. He is 100% responsible for getting mine repaired. If he has to shell out $200 just to find out wether or not it is repairable is a gamble he would have been willing to take, not me. Like I said, I know it needs an LCD, I don't know how much ATF is sitting on the main boards or cpu.
I may have goofed a little bit earlier. The laptop is splash resistant, not water (or atf) proof.
If this was my fault, and I did this to my neighbors laptop, I would do the exact same thing. I'd buy him a new one and the old one becomes mine. I wouldn't sit there and say "well because it's 3 years old i'm only going to give you this amount, take it or leave it". No wonder we are a sue happy nation... to many cheapskates unwilling to stand up and own situations for which they are responsible for.
