marketplace, pc, broken, returned, money and pc now gone

simon1138

Hello,
About a week ago I bought a pc on marketplace for £160 (I offered from £180)
I went to collect, asked if it was working, he said yes, told me he removed a graphics card, reinstalled windows, had a few pictures of the computer working on marketplace. 
I gave him the money, took the pc home, plugged it into a monitor and nothing. I tried two monitors and three tvs, I tried dvid and hdmi connectors with multiple cables and adaptors. no screen. The pc would come on, the fans would turn, lights would come on but no screen. I told him this and asked for the £160 while he was going to take it away and either return it working or refund the money. He said give him the pc and two days and either he would return a refund or working pc. Sunday was the third day, I contacted him by facebook and no response. At this point he has my money and pc, so I am thinking this is theft or is it? Would the police get involved? or would I need a court? I understand that I would have to pay a court fee of £35 (and percentage of something)
If I went to court and paid this money (£35 and any extra) can I add this money to the amount the seller owes me, so £160 + £35 (pc and court fees)? or is that not allowed. This is stressing me out. To some this may not seem like a lot of money but I can not afford a lot. 
Thanks

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

You'd need his name and address for court, yes you'd add the cost of the fees to the claim. 

Was this person a business or just selling their old PC?

Worth a note, whilst it's no excuse, it's been half term and very sunny, the panic might be premature   

pinkshoes

simon1138 said:

Hello,
About a week ago I bought a pc on marketplace for £160 (I offered from £180)
I went to collect, asked if it was working, he said yes, told me he removed a graphics card, reinstalled windows, had a few pictures of the computer working on marketplace. 
I gave him the money, took the pc home, plugged it into a monitor and nothing. I tried two monitors and three tvs, I tried dvid and hdmi connectors with multiple cables and adaptors. no screen. The pc would come on, the fans would turn, lights would come on but no screen. I told him this and asked for the £160 while he was going to take it away and either return it working or refund the money. He said give him the pc and two days and either he would return a refund or working pc. Sunday was the third day, I contacted him by facebook and no response. At this point he has my money and pc, so I am thinking this is theft or is it? Would the police get involved? or would I need a court? I understand that I would have to pay a court fee of £35 (and percentage of something)
If I went to court and paid this money (£35 and any extra) can I add this money to the amount the seller owes me, so £160 + £35 (pc and court fees)? or is that not allowed. This is stressing me out. To some this may not seem like a lot of money but I can not afford a lot. 
Thanks

Did you collect it from their house?!

If you met at some random collection place then it could be you have been scammed. I'd do some research and stalking via facebook to see if you can get any more details.

born_again

simon1138 said:

Hello,
About a week ago I bought a pc on marketplace for £160 (I offered from £180)
I went to collect, asked if it was working, he said yes, told me he removed a graphics card, reinstalled windows, had a few pictures of the computer working on marketplace. 
I gave him the money, took the pc home, plugged it into a monitor and nothing. I tried two monitors and three tvs, I tried dvid and hdmi connectors with multiple cables and adaptors. no screen. The pc would come on, the fans would turn, lights would come on but no screen. I told him this and asked for the £160 while he was going to take it away and either return it working or refund the money. He said give him the pc and two days and either he would return a refund or working pc. Sunday was the third day, I contacted him by facebook and no response. At this point he has my money and pc, so I am thinking this is theft or is it? Would the police get involved? or would I need a court? I understand that I would have to pay a court fee of £35 (and percentage of something)
If I went to court and paid this money (£35 and any extra) can I add this money to the amount the seller owes me, so £160 + £35 (pc and court fees)? or is that not allowed. This is stressing me out. To some this may not seem like a lot of money but I can not afford a lot. 
Thanks

Sounds like that is the issue.
Without a graphics card, there is no display. Unless there is a built in one on the motherboard & it has been set up as main display.

simon1138

I contacted him via facebook and he got back to me. He said that he was getting someone to look at it and that I would either have the pc working or the money back and an apology. That was promising but turned out not to be, I have not heard anything yet and there has been no money. He knows what time I work and when to come round but nothing. I have asked him for the money back on facebook messenger. I have his address, he has a laptop for sale which he has mentioned is a little faulty. He did have a graphics card in this pc and removed that as a separate sale. I don't know if that is the issue as mentioned above that may have been the primary graphics card and not the onboard graphics which it does have. I have no idea how to work on it and did not want to try. If that is the only issue, getting the motherboard to use the onboard graphics, then I would have the pc. I think that without a graphics card it would default to the onboard graphics but that is not the case. 

born_again

Might be better to get board ambassador to move thread to tech section. Where advise will help with getting display sorted. 

Alderbank

born_again said:

Might be better to get board ambassador to move thread to tech section. Where advise will help with getting display sorted. 

I don't think the OP has the PC.

He says, 'At this point he has my money and pc...He said that he was getting someone to look at it and that I would either have the pc working or the money back and an apology. That was promising but turned out not to be, I have not heard anything yet...'

bris

If he removed the graphics card that means you bought it without a graphics card.

What you need to do is go into the BIOS and change the setting to use the on board Graphics, this is the the graphics that use the main board rather than a separate graphics card, its not going to play games but will function as a PC with word etc.

Not sure if he has conned you here or not because by you knowing the graphics card was removed he was selling it without the card but showing you it working with one.

km1500

all desktops I have used when there is no graphics card present it defaults to the onboard graphics

you don't have to do anything other than make sure you plug the display into the motherboard

simon1138

I spoke to citizens advice and they gave me a letter template to send to the seller. That way if I go the civil court route I can tell the judge that I did everything I could. I asking for a full refund of the money. It is annoying that I am waiting for a response, all he has to do is let me know what is going on. He mentioned a daughter and family in london (60 miles away from portsmouth), that he goes there at the weekend. but again, a message to let me know what is happening. is that too much to ask?