Wanting to Contact Original Owner of Chromebook

I recently purchased a "faulty" chromebook on eBay. After doing the repairs I found the chromebook was managed by an organisation. The sign on requires a @vic.catholic.edu.au email address, so it's related to the catholic education system here in Vic in some manner.

Does anyone have a contact for IT or someone who manages the Catholic education systems IT infrastructure so I can return it? A google search doesn't reveal anything specific other than a generic "get in contact" type address for the whole diocese. I have a name on the charger which looks like it was the person originally associated with that organisation, a white pages search brings up a few names but I don't really want to call up randoms asking if this is their laptop.

Comments

  • +2

    Are you trying to stalk a girl or something…

    I mean why?

    • agree. why?

      • +7

        Needs root access.

  • What.

  • +1

    Is the device stolen?

    The device could have been sold by the organisation or disposed off legally before it ended up on eBay.

  • +31
  • -4

    Member Since 09/02/2015
    Statistics 1 posts / 0 comments

  • +1

    Why? Are you unable to factory reset it because it's still enrolled to the school? (https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/183084?hl=en)

    Drop them an email: http://www.cecv.catholic.edu.au/Footer/Contact-Us

  • +2

    just bring it in to police if you have some concern

    • +3

      It could be full of evidence.

      • -1

        Or wiped clean.

  • +4

    I guess the Pope, being the main man, would be the one to contact.

    Failing that, and as OP apparently is in Melbourne someone from here.

    https://www.catholicdirectory.com.au/diocese/melbourne

  • +4

    It's Sunday. Go to mass. The answer will come to you.

  • +1

    If you believe you've purchased stolen property, I suggest contacting the police so they can try to return it to the owner.

    I wouldn't assume it's stolen. I know a Catholic school teacher and was told that teachers were provided a Chromebooks by the school, but student's parents were asked purchase these Chromebooks through a particular supplier. The are supplied pre-configured with the student's login. It's quite possible that the student has now moved to a different school that doesn't use Chromebooks and the parent sold it because it was no longer useful. If you are assured that it's not stolen property, look up how to do a factory reset of that Chromebook model.

    • look up how to do a factory reset of that Chromebook model.

      If it's managed you can't wipe or reset and rebuild for your own use.

  • White pages?? Who uses white pages?

  • +8

    Thanks all. I'm actually surprised at the response. As to why, it's essentially a brick as only the organisation who has it enrolled with their organisation can get Google to remove the enrollment. It phones home constantly and there isn't a practical way to change the enrollment anymore. Google put an end to that awhile ago.

    I don't know if it's stolen, I'm not really concerned if it is or isn't. But I hate to see good tech go to waste, eapecially since all it took to fix was a couple of minutes with a soldering iron to replace a resistor. It didn't cost muc, so rather than just binning it I thought I might as well try get it back to someone who might get some use of it.

    I could take it to the cops but they will just bin it anyway, and I can't be bothered with the paperwork. The seller isn't responding to emails, but I'll presume they 'found' it. I'm pretty sure the original owner was in some way employed by the church, judging by the name tag on the charger….and no it's not K.Fiddler.

  • Just contact Ebay and you should be able to get a refund.

  • Have you tried sending an email to the @vic.catholic.edu.au account tied to the device?

  • Yeah I tried a few combinations of email address and they bounced back. Either the person is no longer associated with the organisation or I am getting the email mask incorrect.

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