A San Francisco Bay Area resident received a surprise when she opened her brand new laptop that she purchased from Best Buy. The laptop was used, and full of someone else's files.

It was Nancy Hole's first Laptop. Her niece, Maureen O' Rourke took her to Best Buy and helped with the purchase. However, when they unboxed the laptop, there were a lot of things missing. No documentation, discs, or anything. And upon booting up the system, they noticed there were photos and other things on the laptop dated Aug. 9th, a month before Hole made her purchase.

Worse, rather than taking the laptop back, Best Buy offered them a $50 gift card for her "inconvenience." Hole had to go to a local consumer action service via her local TV station to get what she should have gotten in the first place: a new laptop.

Interestingly, Hole had the Geek Squad set up the PC. For what? A boxed laptop needs to be turned on and a few things filled out. At any rate, with the help of the consumer watchdog, Hole was refunded the Geek Squad charge and also was given another $130 for her inconvenience.

What is most surprising is that Best Buy had to be "convinced" to give Hole a new laptop. Still, it's a warning: don't assume what you buy as new is really new.