Have I been sold a refurbished laptop as brand new?

[Myrddraal]

Hello all,

Long time since I've posted in this forum but I figured I need the help of the internet's most intelligent techies

My laptop was recently stolen, so I bought a replacement from the same company that I got the previous one from. The laptop is an hp touchsmart tm2t. When it arrived, I booted it up, and after the usual "Windows is configuring your computer for first use" stuff I got an intriguing message:



Naturally I was surprised to see what appears to be a recovery message on a brand new computer. I clicked Restore My Files and got the following dialog:



So no backup files found, but nonetheless I was surprised to see the dialog in the first place.

I then noticed a small scratch on the top of the laptop, underneath a protective plastic film which I have not removed. There should be three stickers on the laptop: "Windows 7" "Intel Core Duo" and "ATI". The ATI sticker is missing, glue residue is visible where it should be placed. The sticker was not in the box in which the laptop arrived.

Worst of all, the digitizer pen is broken, detecting clicks when I'm not pressing (just hovering over the screen) and failing to detect real clicks in the top right region of the screen.

Naturally I was pissed off, so I emailed the company who have sold me this laptop with the details of the defects (with the exception of the missing ATI sticker, which I hadn't noticed). This is their reply:

We are sorry to hear issues with your brand new laptop. We are not sure what really happened since usually HP has an excellent quality control of their product.

About the digitizer pen, we will ship a brand new pen as replacement to you tomorrow. You should receive it within 9-15 days.

On top of that, we would like to offer you a credit of $70 for your trouble. We regret this happened to you and please understand that this is not a typical experience that you can expect from us.

Once again, we apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you. We hope once you receive the replacement pen, you have a wonderful experience using your brand new laptop.

Feel free to let us know if you have any question. We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday.

Sincerely,

So they insist the laptop is brand new, and are sending me a new pen.

I can live with a scratch and a missing sticker. What matters to me is that this laptop is indeed new and in perfect working condition. So a couple of specific questions:

a) Is it normal for a recovery wizard to appear on first boot on an HP pc?
b) Is there any way I can check that this laptop is not refurbished or tampered with. (The laptop comes with a warranty, is that of any use to me?)

Thanks for reading all that. I realise the answers to these questions may not be obvious, but here's hoping some of you are less clueless than me

[pevergreen]

All the HP laptops I've done havent appeared like that, but I've only done the old Compaq series.

But I would suggest waiting for one of the resident pros to come along and actually help you.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Well the sticker & glue residue suggest refurbishment. I don't recall any HP computer starting with the *recovery* procedure, but then again, I've not owned any HP laptops.
An obvious way to check is the system restore points: a refurbished PC that didn't get a new OEM installation of the OS will show more restore points than it ought to.
EDIT: Another way to check is opening the machine and see if the interior is dusty. A dusty interior means it's not exactly brand new (or your house really needs a thorough cleaning if a simple first run managed to do that).

[LeftEyeNine]

Why not giving HP a call to check with the laptop's serial number to see if any registrations were made with it, a date of purchase maybe ?

[Gregoshi]

I bought an HP refurbished desktop 3 weeks ago and I got no recovery screen. Initial system setup went as clean as I'd expect a brand new system to.

[Togakure]

Just a side note: consider that "refurbished" products tend to go through a much more rigorous QA check than do new products, generally speaking. I have many professional IT friends that swear by refurbished products from a price/performance/reliability standpoint, who have just about convinced me that it's the way to go on my next purchase.

[TosaInu]

Hello Togakure,

I can see this argument. But it was supposed to be new, so price/performance/reliability is different in this case.

That e-mail tickles my spider sensors.

[Togakure]

Hi TosaInu and all,

I just re-read it, and yes, it does make one wonder too. My comment was just a general "sde note" about refurbished products, not directed at this specific instance so much.

To the OP: you could always contact HP directly and ask them if there is a way to tell whether their product is new or not. I'd think that it's in their best interests that a reseller not misrepresent their products.

[Myrddraal]

I rang HP customer support, gave them the laptop serial code and they tell me that the warranty for this laptop has already been registered under a different name (although of course they can't tell me when or who by), so it looks like I've been sold a second hand laptop.

I've written again the company, who are 'investigating'.

[TosaInu]

Hello Myrddraal,

What happens quite a few times, is that hardware is returned. The machine likely isn't refurbished, but already used by someone for a few days, just returned and sold again.

[Veho Nex]

Hello Myrddraal,

What happens quite a few times, is that hardware is returned. The machine likely isn't refurbished, but already used by someone for a few days, just returned and sold again.

Yeah... Unfortunately for Myrddraal, whomever owned this laptop before must have used it a little rougher than intended.