For some time now I have been contemplating buying a Dell Mini 9. I even called Dell here in Holland in order to find out if I could get one that had all the bells and whistles I wanted. But I like to take a little time when making big purchases so that they are not just impulse things. So I waited. I was hoping that Apple would announce a mini that I wanted at WWDC this year but that didn't happen.

So after WWDC I called Dell to place my order only to be disappointed. It seems they have pulled the Mini 9 due to supply issues. My suspicion is that since they are using the same parts as Apple, and Apple is not happy with the Hackintoshes being made out of Mini 9s, Apple bought out the supply of parts. Pure speculation but I wouldn't put it past them.

So I of course turned to eBay. I have ordered many things off eBay before, including a $2.5k HP laptop with no problems. I always check sellers feedback and any websites and tend to only buy from "Power Sellers." I wanted a Red Mini 9 since I think they are cool looking so I shopped around a bit on eBay and finally found one at a bit of a premium price, but I took the plunge anyway.

So I ordered a cherry red Dell Mini 9 off of eBay having checked the sellers feedback and website, as always. They FedEx the laptop to me 2 days after the auction closed which is a nice enough turn around and I got it the next day. I opened it like a kid on Christmas morning. I don't make a lot of big purchases and this one had me really jazzed. I have been a bit down lately and a new toy was just the pick me up I needed.

I booted the machine and walked through the XP installer. I got to the step where I had to type in the machine name and when I hit the 's' key I got 'asa' on the screen. At first I thought I had fat fingered the tiny keys. So I deleted and tried again. Same result. Delete and repeat again being VERY careful and I got 'sa'. So I finished the install and then opened notepad.

To my horror every press of the 's' key resulted in one or two 'a's. Annoying but I figured that the seller was a refurbisher and they didn't test the keyboard properly. I was annoyed to have to send it in for service but it has a 1 year warranty so whatever. I would send it back. So I closed the lid. Then I noticed the lack of Dell logo on the back. I was a little too excited to get the machine and turn it on before. Now that I was a little sad I noticed something odd.

Notice anything strange about the one on the left? The one on the right is how it is supposed to look. The one on the left is mine.

Maybe you need a little more details to be convinced?

And they also added this sticker which prevents me from upgrading the hard drive without voiding their warranty:

Last I checked a warranty is not supposed to prevent upgrading the device! I am surprised they didn't put one on the battery as well!

Now some of you may say that the auction MUST have specified that the unit was spray painted. As proof to the contrary here is a very large image of the original auction page.

To quote from the auction:

Excellent Cosmetic Condition

And here is a very large image of their page describing their refurbished goods. Note the nice Dell logo on the back of the laptop in that photo and the nice cherry red color. I was clearly tricked into thinking this was a real red laptop!

To quote from the page:

On some occasions there may be minor scratches or wear and tear marks
on the plastics but these will be purely cosmetic and will not hinder
the operation or use of the laptop in anyway. If there is anything
severe we will always list it in the advert and the item price will
reflect this accordingly. If there is anything wrong with the laptop
operationally, we simply will not sell it and you will not even see it
advertised.

I sent them an email as soon as I discovered the problem with the keyboard which was about 5 minutes after I got it and then I noticed the spray paint and sent them another demanding a full refund! I have not heard back but will be calling them today and asking for a full refund.

Update: Long and the short of it is they admit they spray paint them but not on the auction site. Apparently this is standard business practice to provide a "like new experience!" That should really go on the auction. "Like New Experience" provided via rob in the back with a can of spray paint. LOL.

I am attempting to get them to add that to the website for everybody else. At least a "product may be spray painted" on the mention of the refurbishment process. Just goes to show the low quality of the eBay market these days.

Update: They escalated my complaint to a PayPal Claim in the hopes that I would not send the product back in time and in order to not have to give in to my demand to pay the return shipping. I sent the item back and got a full refund. They have refused to update their other auctions selling similar items. My advice is to avoid this terrible hack of a company!