Rick wrote:

snip

I went through an IBM parts distributor that sells "refurbished by IBM"
parts and new parts. Translates: IBM tested board with warranty,
possibly a pull. (I asked them what "refurb" meant before I ordered.)
But not an EPay mystery part with the usual "NEW PART BUT I HAVE NO IDEA
IF IT WORKS NO REFUNDS" disclaimer.

The wrong main board as a refurb. cost $155.00 and the correct one is
$151.00. Free shipping. No hassles at all about the return. But the
"Ouch!" is the distributor has a 25% restocking fee policy.

It's a racket many online companies seem to indulge in. I returned a 19" TFT
monitor to an online seller here in the UK which was completely dead and
tested thoroughly before I returned it to make sure I hadn't screwed up.
They claimed it worked perfectly when they received it back of course, and
tried to keep 60UKP of my money!

One rather insistant phone call later and they agreed to drop the restocking
fee, no doubt because I pointed out this was the second duff monitor they'd
sent me- the first was damaged!

I'm going to
ask them if they will knock the restocking fee in half, since I got the
RMA for the wrong board and placed the order for the correct board in
the same phone call. The restocking fee is a bit stiff, but I certainly
wasn't expecting IBM to give me bad information about compatible part
numbers.


I'd try getting the fee waived, remind them they are getting another sale
and they may relent. You can always fall back on getting it halved if they
won't waive it altogether.

New, the main board would have cost $575.00 - just ridiculous.




Yep, HP charge 800UKP for a display assembly (complete lid) for the Omnibook
6100, and they don't, or at least didn't, sell spare parts like inverters
or backlight tubes so you have to fork out 800 UKP or buy a new laptop.
Even the hinges, which are highly prone to failure, were non-replaceable.

FWIW they are at:

http://www.serversupply.com/

And sell a ton of stuff and parts - not just for IBM lap tops. Just make
sure you know what you are ordering because of that restocking fee.


I had to chuckle at this:

Part No. F1711-69103

Description: HP - PENTIUM II 300MHZ 32KB L1 CACHE 512KB L2 CACHE 66MHZ FSB
SLOT-1 PROCESSOR FOR OMNIBOOK (F1711-69103). REFURBISHED. IN STOCK. 90$

I think that'll be on their shelves long enough to become a valuable
antique. In fact, at that price it looks like it already has!

I'd love to know how one refurbishes a CPU anyway!

Morse