What does "Refurbished" mean?

[Rich Grise]

Almost always the guaranty on a refurbished part is the same as on the
original.

MY problem with most refurbished stuff is:
They ARE inspected, repaired-as-necessary, tested the same as a new
drive, and reboxed.

What's wrong with that?
Well: The "tested the same as new" part, believe it or not.
The problem is: That same part or device *passed* that same test before
leaving the factory the first time!
It's actually only when the device is actually found *faulty* and then
*repaired* that I find it passing the original factory tests to be
sufficient.

Not every factory 100% tests everything. If it's new in the box and the
customer just didn't want it, then it's just "been bought and brought
back, but still working". If it's broken, they'll repair or replace it,
and if they replace it, it might be worth their time to fix the return,
and call it "refurb."

But this is getting pretty deep what was the issue in the first place?

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Radiosrfun]

On Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:53:26 -0500, Frank McCoy wrote:

But this is getting pretty deep what was the issue in the first place?

Thanks,
Rich

If I'm not mistaken, someone wanted to know what Refurbished meant - hence
the subject line.

My parents bought an item which was labeled "refurbished". Looking at it -
it "appeared" brand new, worked as well as it should have - and lasted
probably as long as it should have - given normal wear and tear. So - as to
the "condition" of a Refurb unit, it is anyone's guess as to exactly what it
means or if reconditioned, how much went into doing so. The best phrase to
encapsulate this whole subject - is - "CAVEAT EMPTOR".

L.

 

[Plato]

Some stores, including Fry's, sell Refurbished items. In general, what does
refurbished mean? Does it mean that the item was repaired? Does it mean a
customer returned it to the store? Thanks.

It means a customer returned a non-working PC and perhaps they fixed it
to work, or perhaps not, perhaps they just labled it refurbished.

 

[CBFalconer]

It means a customer returned a non-working PC and perhaps they
fixed it to work, or perhaps not, perhaps they just labled it
refurbished.

The one thing you do know is that, for some reason or other, they
can no longer sell it as a new item. The rest is between you and
them. Probably the most critical thing is the reputation of the
seller.

 

[AlanRRT]

Hello,

Some stores, including Fry's, sell Refurbished items. In general, what does
refurbished mean? Does it mean that the item was repaired? Does it mean a
customer returned it to the store? Thanks.

T.I.

At Fry's, "refurbished" means that you'll be spending some time in
that long return line at the front of the store.
I once purchased a Soyo motherboard/CPU combo at Fry's, upon building
the computer, it wouldn't fire up at all. After PAYING the repair
department at the same Fry's to tell me the motherboard was defective,
I returned it, and was told they were out of the Soyo motherboard, but
had another one for the same price from another manufacturer (not that
I wanted another Soyo anyway.) When I got in line at the checkout
stand, I saw the person in front of me had the SAME motherboard that
I'd just returned, and was out of stock. I'm guessing they sold him
the defective motherboard I had just returned.
I still like the F store, but be careful what you get there.

 

[Jon Danniken]

At Fry's, "refurbished" means that you'll be spending some time in
that long return line at the front of the store.
I once purchased a Soyo motherboard/CPU combo at Fry's, upon building
the computer, it wouldn't fire up at all. After PAYING the repair
department at the same Fry's to tell me the motherboard was defective,
I returned it, and was told they were out of the Soyo motherboard, but
had another one for the same price from another manufacturer (not that
I wanted another Soyo anyway.) When I got in line at the checkout
stand, I saw the person in front of me had the SAME motherboard that
I'd just returned, and was out of stock. I'm guessing they sold him
the defective motherboard I had just returned.
I still like the F store, but be careful what you get there.

Same thing happened to me at the local Fry's - and with a Soyo mainboard as
well.

Jon

 

[jameshanley39]

Actually, I had a very pleasant experience at Fry's, when one of the
motherboards I'd bought there didn't work. I went in and asked, "What
do I do"? and they sent some tech over, who let me tag along to her bench
(which was right out there where everybody can see, along with about 4
others) and she showed me what was wrong and how to fix it.

So a girl fixed your computer, in front of lots of techs. And for you,
that's nothing unusual. I guess she'd probably beat you in an arm
wrestle and wrestling match too.

Pathetic.

Oh well, I suppose you helped boost the girl's confidence though.

Turned out I had to buy a new power supply. I'm using that MB and PS
right now, as a matter of fact. ;-)

So you didn't even try changing your computer's power supply unit.
Your computer wasn't starting up, and you assumed it was the
motherboard not working. Missing the fact that there's a computer
power supply unit plugged into the Motherboard and that powers the
motherboard.

So you went there, waving a motherboard around or laying it on a
table, like a scientist. Claiming it wasn't working, when it was.

I bet they had a laugh over that one. It's a shame they have a duty
to customers, they could've had some fun.

 

[kony]

I bet they had a laugh over that one. It's a shame they have a duty
to customers, they could've had some fun.

Having a bad day?

It's quite common for people to at least try to reuse their
*old* PSU or the one that came with a case, to build a new
system. The tech at Frys probably knows a lot of the cases
and PSU they sell aren't suitable either and so they do what
anyone else would in the situation, reduce the parts to one
variable. Unfortunately not all customers are in a position
to do that, having only the one set of parts on hand to try.