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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think my friend has taken me for a mug?

601 replies

PenAndPaperback · 02/02/2021 19:02

Back in December, I made an online listing for my 2018 MacBook on Facebook marketplace and received a ton of 'lowball' offers or people asking me to drive an hour plus to deliver it to their place. A friend of mine messaged me, telling me that her current laptop had broken down and that she's having trouble finding work because of that (she's a freelancer).

She asked if I could 'sell' it to her first and that she'd pay it back in instalments after paying off her kids' stuff etc, before telling me that she would get back to me because she had to calculate everything. She eventually came up with a payment plan that lasted almost 2 years and I told her that I'd just give it to her as I didn't need the money and that if I were to bring it in for 'trade-in' I was told that I'd get basically nothing for it anyway.

So I dropped it off in her mailbox, and I thought that that was that. Fast forward to last week, she was sending me screenshots on her computer, and it was on a Windows laptop! I asked her in a semi-joking way, oh, did the MacBook spoil and she said that no, she's just using her old laptop and that she's using the one I sent her for 'storage'. If I had known she didn't really need it I definitely wouldn't have given it to her!

I'm not going to ask for it back, of course. But AIBU to be a bit miffed off by all this?

OP posts:
PenAndPaperback · 02/02/2021 21:53

Lol at the comment you made being shocked that "people were offering only £80 for it" when she nabbed it FOR FREE 😂😂 she saw you a mile off

My thought process was that I'd rather give it to a friend that presumably needs it than go through all the effort to sell it to a 'lowballing' stranger who was probably going to refurbish and then resell it. Clearly a flawed thought process!

I did message her 'Oh I didn't realise you were just using it for storage. Did you fix your old laptop?' days ago but I've been 'double blue-ticked' on WhatsApp...

OP posts:
Spiderbaby8 · 02/02/2021 21:57

I dunno, you sound a bit of a mug for giving away a 2018 macbook.

DrManhattan · 02/02/2021 22:02

Ask for it back just to see what she says. Tell her you might have something on there you want to get off.
Shes not your mate, she's taken the total piss out of you.

CherryBlossomTree7 · 02/02/2021 22:03

Definitely ask for it back.

You'll never get it back but she needs to know you're not a mug.

mm40 · 02/02/2021 22:06

Ask her for it back as you desperately need some files off it. And if she says they’ve been deleted then tell her that doesn’t matter as you can send it away to get them recovered.

Passthewinebottle · 02/02/2021 22:08

Jesus definitely ask for it back! CF has sold it for sure. What a dick move.

CoraPirbright · 02/02/2021 22:15

Def send the message about you being under the impression that she really needed it but as she is only using it for storage, you’d like it back. Bloody bloody cheeky. She has sold it on, of course, but I’d love to know what she says. That is, of course, unless she is now going to block you (that WhatsApp message doesnt seem like a v good sign).

toocold54 · 02/02/2021 22:16

I think I’d text her again and just say I thought you really needed it but seeing as you’re not using it can I have it back as my screen has just broken so it saves me having to get another one until I get it fixed - or something like that, so if she does have it she thinks that you’ll give it back to her afterwards. If she’s only using it for storage there’s no way she wouldn’t let you borrow it surely - then you know she’s sold it.

DK123 · 02/02/2021 22:16

What a cow. I'd definitely ask for it back or at least say you need to borrow it back to retrieve something off it and make her squirm

AhNowTed · 02/02/2021 22:17

"Hi friend (she's not your friend)

I would never have given it away for you to use as storage, certainly not for no payment. I only let it go as I thought you desperately needed it. I would like you to return it please."

She took it off you under false pretences, laid on the "after I've paid for my kids" sob story, and then manipulated you into taking no money.

She's no friend.

Ask for it back.

LemonSwan · 02/02/2021 22:21

A 2018 macbook! Your mad. I am still running fine on a 2010 because every macbook I bought after just collapsed into shite within a couple of years and I always end up back on the 2010. You definitely should of held onto it as a spare.

PenAndPaperback · 02/02/2021 22:24

OK I just sent her a message asking if I could 'borrow' it for a while as my mum could use it for FaceTime till she gets an iPad. It's kind of true so that's that.

OP posts:
PenAndPaperback · 02/02/2021 22:27

A 2018 macbook! Your mad. I am still running fine on a 2010 because every macbook I bought after just collapsed into shite within a couple of years and I always end up back on the 2010. You definitely should of held onto it as a spare.

Yeah they seem to be built differently these days. Mine was the 2018 Air and couldn't keep up with what I was doing on it so had to upgrade to the Pro sadly hence the sale/giveaway. It's tough with the coronavirus so thought I could do one good deed in this but even that didn't turn out right.

OP posts:
AhNowTed · 02/02/2021 22:29

It's the principle of the thing now OP. Don't let her take you for a mug.

BloggersBlog · 02/02/2021 22:29

Cue for her to respond that something went wrong with it and it is "being fixed" ....

IthinkIm · 02/02/2021 22:29

Good call getting it back.

You'll be lucky though as she's sold it Wink

toocold54 · 02/02/2021 22:32

It's the principle of the thing now OP. Don't let her take you for a mug.

Definitely!

diamondsr4u · 02/02/2021 22:39

That's so cheeky of her!! If she has sold it, that would taint my friendship. She's basically robbed you

Ilovemypantry · 02/02/2021 22:40

Definitely ask for it back, just make up a reason you need it back. If she hasn’t got it, dump her as a friend, she can’t be trusted.

PenAndPaperback · 02/02/2021 22:41

She couldn't have sold it off that quickly though, could she? I dropped it off around New Year's, and mid Jan she was still asking me about some error with the Big Sur update. So that leaves her with about 2 weeks from that and the screenshot thing? I had mine up on Facebook Marketplace for a week and a half and didn't receive one good offer!

OP posts:
Porridgeoat · 02/02/2021 22:42

I’m waiting with baited breath

Chuckleknuckles · 02/02/2021 22:45

I’d have taken it off your hands for around £375!

sally067 · 02/02/2021 22:47

@PenAndPaperback

She couldn't have sold it off that quickly though, could she? I dropped it off around New Year's, and mid Jan she was still asking me about some error with the Big Sur update. So that leaves her with about 2 weeks from that and the screenshot thing? I had mine up on Facebook Marketplace for a week and a half and didn't receive one good offer!
She probably sold it on eBay and she'd easily get £3-500 from there. Even Music Magpie would have paid a couple of hundred for it at least.
Ilovenewyear · 02/02/2021 22:47

Have you checked marketplace op?

2021booklover · 02/02/2021 22:47

Is there any chance she just couldn’t get on with a Mac if she usually uses windows and is just a bit embarrassed to say?