Acting on a tip from a colleague who wishes to remain anonymous, I went to Off-Lease Computers and selected a Sony VAIO PCG-F430 from the "scratch and dent" section. (These are the refurbished laptops with visable flaws.)
The total cost was $366.55 USD, which is incredibly good. ($279.00 for the laptop, $15.15 for shipping, $72.40 for an extended warranty.)
I found that shopping online at Off-Lease Computers was somewhat frustrating, in that there's no way to do a search, such as the kind that is so easy to do on the cnet.com web site, for my desired specifications. (E.g., weight in pounds, number of USB ports, operating system, random access memory, processor speed.) It's the classic case of a web site designed by people who already know where all the information is located, rather than for the convenience of first-time visitors and customers.
However, I called the toll-free number provided by Off-Lease Computers, and Dave (dave@off-leasecomputers.com) cheerfully answered my questions. He even went and weighed the laptop while I held the line. He also offered me the option of taking my credit card information over the phone if I didn't want to enter it online.
Incidentally, I did my best to point out to Dave that his time was valuable, and that he shouldn't have to spend it on the phone with me answering questions about the specs of the laptop; indeed, I could have begun and completed the purchase online without any human assistance if his web site had provided more basic information about each item that was on sale. He replied that their volume was so high that it didn't make sense to spend even the ten minutes it would take to key in the information about each item. However, when we finished our conversation, I checked and saw that he had devoted 25 minutes of telephone time to answering my questions. Is there something I'm missing here about the arithmetic involved in calculating the cost in person-hours to sell each laptop?
Nonetheless, it was a pleasure to do business on the phone with Dave, who is very smart about the products he has in stock and enthusiatic about helping me find a laptop that matches my needs. When I mentioned that I work with nonprofit professionals, Dave replied that his father was one, and commiserated on the plight of nervous social workers who are required to grapple with the world of technology.
So far, so good! I look forward to reporting on how soon and in what condition the laptop arrives. In the meantime, I'd be very interested in hearing from other folks who have made similar purchases - what sort of success and disaster stories are out there?
