I'm looking for advice for anyone who's been in this position before, as buyer or seller.
I won a R720, with shipping, for less than $120. It was supposed to come with the motherboard, PSUs, H710 mini 512MB, Broadcom 4-port gigabit NIC, and, surprisingly a bezel. The photos on the listing all confirmed those items. Intentionally missing were CPUs, RAM, drives, caddies, rails, etc.
I got it today, and unpacked it. I'm still waiting on the CPUs from another seller so I can't test for DOA. It was pretty well packed which was nice... and then I noticed the bezel missing. No biggie, whatever... but then I see the NIC is missing. Uh oh. Popped open the case to check the CPU pins and everything else (they kept the heatsinks on without covers for the socket, looks like a bit of thermal paste cleanup is needed. sigh.). And I got a bit further and noticed the H710 is also missing!
All told, this R720 I got so cheaply is now missing things that will cost me almost as much as the server itself, if you don't count the shipping I paid.
So I took photos and sent a message to the seller explaining the missing pieces, with photos, using "I have a question about using my item or I want to send the seller a message". I didn't want to open a case immediately for not as described. As this just happened, I don't believe it's right to shame them just yet until I see their response (or lack of one). I don't know if it was an honest mistake, or if they didn't like the fact I won the R720 as the only bidder for so cheap (but that seems like a dangerous game - they might end up having to pay for return shipping too!).
What would you do in this situation? I already have a bunch more parts for a R720 coming in, so it's basically either keep this and get this rectified (either by them shipping the missing pieces, offering a partial refund, or just eat the loss), or forcing a return and refund and finding a probably more expensive R720 option.
I won a R720, with shipping, for less than $120. It was supposed to come with the motherboard, PSUs, H710 mini 512MB, Broadcom 4-port gigabit NIC, and, surprisingly a bezel. The photos on the listing all confirmed those items. Intentionally missing were CPUs, RAM, drives, caddies, rails, etc.
I got it today, and unpacked it. I'm still waiting on the CPUs from another seller so I can't test for DOA. It was pretty well packed which was nice... and then I noticed the bezel missing. No biggie, whatever... but then I see the NIC is missing. Uh oh. Popped open the case to check the CPU pins and everything else (they kept the heatsinks on without covers for the socket, looks like a bit of thermal paste cleanup is needed. sigh.). And I got a bit further and noticed the H710 is also missing!
All told, this R720 I got so cheaply is now missing things that will cost me almost as much as the server itself, if you don't count the shipping I paid.
So I took photos and sent a message to the seller explaining the missing pieces, with photos, using "I have a question about using my item or I want to send the seller a message". I didn't want to open a case immediately for not as described. As this just happened, I don't believe it's right to shame them just yet until I see their response (or lack of one). I don't know if it was an honest mistake, or if they didn't like the fact I won the R720 as the only bidder for so cheap (but that seems like a dangerous game - they might end up having to pay for return shipping too!).
What would you do in this situation? I already have a bunch more parts for a R720 coming in, so it's basically either keep this and get this rectified (either by them shipping the missing pieces, offering a partial refund, or just eat the loss), or forcing a return and refund and finding a probably more expensive R720 option.