scam Need advice after being scammed on a graphics card

[SpiderSnake]

If this is in the wrong place please let me know/move it or delete if necessary. Sorry i'm kind of upset so I may not be entirely rational over this and I need to decide something rather quick.

 

Hi, so yesterday I bought a 1070 off a guy on Facebook. He claimed that his brother had just upgraded to a 2070 so he was letting it go for a decent price ($150). I buy it, (meet at a Speedway, 1st mistake I'm now aware), get home and throw it in my PC and after 3+ hours of troubleshooting cannot get it to play a game.

I need advice on what action I should take. It's a Gigabyte card and after I checked their website I've found that it's about 3 months out of warranty.

Their charge list here https://ggcs.gigabyte.com/html/chargelist/chargelist_en-us.htm is kind of confusing. Does that mean I can just pay $45 and they'll fix the card???

I tried to reach out to the guy but I've since learned he immediately blocked me on Facebook, tried from another account and he blocked it as well.

I do have him, as well as a license place on my dash cam and I have screenshots of the chat and could probably get additional footage from Speedway.

Best I can tell this is theft by deception, so should I?

1. Attempt legal/criminal pursuit for theft by deception

2. Attempt to RMA the device through Gigabyte

3. Try to sell it and get most of my money back as a for parts/not working card on eBay

Thoughts/suggestions

[Devryd]

Do you have the name of the guy you bought it from?
I would try number one first, but i don't think it will work. If it doesn't you could still go with one of the other options

The problem is, that you have to proof that the card was broken when he sold it to you and not got damaged during your way home

[SpiderSnake]

That was my fear as well, but I think the fact that he immediately blocked me and then blocked me again when I messaged him from another profile would serve as proof. 

I have a license plate, the link to his Facebook profile, and the appx location of his house because he sent me a SS of Google maps with him leaving and directions to the meeting place. it's also possible he may have used a card or something inside of the gas station where we met which could be linked to him as well. (in theory anyway but unlikely since he'd just stolen $150 cash).

[Mick Naughty]

Well don’t think you can get anywhere legally as there was no paper work installed and I assume you aren’t a professional installer. 

Could try a repair option or just take the loss and try again with another card. 

[SpiderSnake]

With my finances currently the GPU was a stretch to begin with. I'm still researching the gigabyte RMA process to see if I need to try and sink another $45 into it or just try and resell. 

the consensus so far is that legal action probably won't amount to the trouble it's worth

[GenericFanboy]

It sucks to say this but, you wont be able to. wouldnt be worth the time for police. and seeing as its out of warranty. and you didnt buy it you cant get your money back from gigabyte. It might be best to just confront him personally (make him feel bad lmfao) and see what happens. Unless if you dont trust that ofcourse. You could Always have the last resort of fixing it yourself if you dare. But i highly doubt its a normal issue. probably an abused card. or even a card from wish or aliexpress. all in all; sorry bud.

[SpiderSnake]

2 minutes ago, GenericFanboy said:

and seeing as its out of warranty. and you didnt buy it you cant get your money back from gigabyte. 

If I took the RMA option I'm not looking for my money back, just a working GPU. At the end of the day I'd settle for a working 1070

[GenericFanboy]

Just now, SpiderSnake said:

If I took the RMA option I'm not looking for my money back, just a working GPU. At the end of the day I'd settle for a working 1070

Dont think they'd even do that, but worth a try.

[SpiderSnake]

I'm actively researching the RMA process and it looks like, to appease Gigabyte I'm going to have to find a second system to throw the card in to "make sure" it isn't my board even though my 580 works every single time I pull it in and out.

(I've DDU'd the drivers for both cards).

[ludicysounds]

Yes your case would stand up as long as your initial message confronting him was not belligerent ( as to justify blocking you). If they replied with"oh thats so weird It was working just before I took it to you blah blah " it would be more difficult to build a case against them. It also kinda depends on your local law enforcement and who you end up speaking to unfortunately.

[SpiderSnake]

I have the entire transaction on video with audio via my dash cam. You can't see him inside the car but you can hear the conversation and hear him before and after.

[JabroniBaloney]

15 minutes ago, SpiderSnake said:

I have the entire transaction on video with audio via my dash cam. You can't see him inside the car but you can hear the conversation and hear him before and after.

You could take that video to the police station and see what can happen from there. 

[SpiderSnake]

I did manage to get the license plate off my dash cam video and track down the cars VIN. Now to see if I can find anything else from it. I want to be prepared when/if I go to the police.

[SupaKomputa]

Audio is not proof, without visual confirmation there's nothing you can do.

[Bacon soup]

5 minutes ago, SpiderSnake said:

I did manage to get the license plate off my dash cam video and track down the cars VIN. Now to see if I can find anything else from it. I want to be prepared when/if I go to the police.

police wont handle this. They will tell you to go to take him to court. Courts are for settling disputes. Police are for taking down violent people.

[SpiderSnake]

52 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Audio is not proof, without visual confirmation there's nothing you can do.

The video I have is mostly to verify that it's him that I got the card from, that in tandem with the facebook post/chat should be enough to show that he sold me a graphics card.

 

46 minutes ago, Bacon soup said:

police wont handle this. They will tell you to go to take him to court. Courts are for settling disputes. Police are for taking down violent people.

And wisdom like that is why I decided to ask and research before running off to call 911

[Bacon soup]

2 hours ago, SpiderSnake said:

The video I have is mostly to verify that it's him that I got the card from, that in tandem with the facebook post/chat should be enough to show that he sold me a graphics card.

 

And wisdom like that is why I decided to ask and research before running off to call 911

TBH you are kinda screwed. The money is too low for court. This is what shows like judge judy are for. I heard they get people to go on these red neck fests coz the production company pays for the settlement. Your only real course of action is to publicly shame the person (which might not be legal) and other illegal things I prob shouldnt mention. I'm sure the tyres on his car are worth more than a GPU refund, and you know which car is his.

[SpiderSnake]

While the idea of posting his information on something less than reputable like 4Chan has crossed my mind I believe I'm just going to stick it on eBay and try and recoup most of my cost.

From what I can tell the broke 1070s are still going for $100+