So, I had acquired a MacBook Pro from my work that by some odd chance was a used laptop. The previous owner still had their Apple Account associated with it and therefore I couldn’t wipe it without their password. I searched and found who the owner was and reached out to her for help. She was, as I figured, unwilling to give me her password to reset the Mac. So I had agreed to send it to her to unlock it and ship it back (written log of our conversation). After she received it, I had asked for an update a week later and then again 3 days after that with her not responding back. Today, I texted her saying “look it is now 3 weeks since I’ve sent you the Mac and I haven’t heard any updates. If you don’t respond, I can only assume you are keeping it and therefore if I don’t hear from you by end of this week, I will pursue theft charges”. She immediately responded back and said she’ll ship it out today. I guess we’ll find out. AITA for threatening to pursue theft charges?
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So, I had acquired a MacBook Pro from my work that by some odd chance was a used laptop. The previous owner still had their Apple Account associated with it and therefore I couldn’t wipe it without their password. I searched and found who the owner was and reached out to her for help. She was, as I figured, unwilling to give me her password to reset the Mac. So I had agreed to send it to her to unlock it and ship it back (written log of our conversation). After she received it, I had asked for an update a week later and then again 3 days after that with her not responding back. Today, I texted her saying “look it is now 3 weeks since I’ve sent you the Mac and I haven’t heard any updates. If you don’t respond, I can only assume you are keeping it and therefore if I don’t hear from you by end of this week, I will pursue theft charges”. She immediately responded back and said she’ll ship it out today. I guess we’ll find out. AITA for threatening to pursue theft charges?
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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> The action I took was to threaten theft charges in order to get my property back. This action might make me the asshole because she said she has been busy and out of town so she hasn’t had the time to ship it back to me.
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
NTA. You didn’t threaten her out of nowhere you gave her three weeks, followed up multiple times, and only escalated when she ghosted you. That’s not being petty, that’s being responsible. You sent her a company-owned device with a clear agreement and written proof. She had every opportunity to communicate, and she chose silence until you mentioned legal consequences. That’s on her.
You weren’t asking for her password. You were asking for her cooperation to unlock a device that no longer belongs to her. If she didn’t want to help, she could’ve said so instead, she held onto the Mac and ignored you. That’s not just inconsiderate, it’s borderline theft.
You’re not the asshole for protecting your property and setting boundaries. You’re the adult in this situation. Good on you for keeping receipts.
NTA but did you get your boss/manager’s permission to ship THEIR property to a stranger? If you don’t get the laptop back you could be in some trouble with work….how were they dealing with the fact you didn’t have a fairly essential work tool for three weeks?
I was assuming this woman was an employee or former employee….if she was a total stranger, you’d best be careful doing crap like that in the future…pretty risky.
I mean… NTA, but why didn’t you go back through your place of employment to get this sorted out?
NTA. You waited weeks, she ignored you, and only responded when you mentioned charges. Totally fair.
NTA. Even if she was busy, she received the communication from you and chose not to respond. Amazing how quick she responds when threatened with charges. She was planning to keep the laptop.
NTA. It was 3 weeks. Sure, life happens, but that’s a bit much. What were you supposed to assume?
Honestly though, your company is TA here. If that’d been me I’d have gone straight back to IT or whoever does your asset management and told them to try again. Lol.
NTA, she could have given you the password, and saved time and money but instead she made you mail it to her then did not take care of her obligation to get it back to. She is the AH, not you.
INFO: This doesn’t make sense. I’ve had MacBooks from work from a number of clients and they’ve always come to me wiped by the client. In addition, the client assigned me passwords for any program I needed to work with, and we were not allowed to use our private Apple ID on those computers (as in, they came with an Apple ID for the company that couldn’t be modified to or supplemented by a personal account). If you’re using the computer for work, how have you been working for three weeks? Did you purchase the computer from your work to use as your personal laptop? Why can’t you bring the laptop back to your work to have them wipe it?
NTA
But honestly, if you received this from work, whoever bought it should have followed up on this.
NTA but an employer providing you with a used laptop to deal with this is suspect.
I‘m surprised you can’t wipe it without the prior owner’s password, but at any rate 3 weeks with no word from her is more than enough.
…. You mailed your laptop to a stranger?
No worries mate, just send me a check in the mail and I’ll get this all squared away for you…
NTA but you should have taken the problem to your employer
Why worry if she’s sending it back?
Good luck pursuing theft charges. If Apple won’t remove her account, because your work couldn’t document ownership, the laptop probably was stolen.
NTA but if this is a work problem, you let work IT deal with it.
I think you should post this in r/stupidfuckingquestions – they’ll give you all the advice you need
So it was used as a work laptop with no issues but after they wiped it and gave it to you suddenly it’s associated with a third-party Apple ID? That seems highly unlikely and suspicious.