would you like some sun? ‘CAUSE YOU’RE SHADY AS FUCK

I apologize in advance for this post being so long. Please bear with me – I need to vent, and I have just got to share this story with you guys!

So, towards the end of this past January, I went on eBay and won an item that I was really excited about since it was something that I really liked and wanted!

Two weeks passed, and no item. I checked the listing again. It was shipping from Canada. Ok, I thought to myself, so it’s technically an international item – I’d give it a little bit more time. After the third week, I thought this was getting kind of ridiculous. So I looked up “what to do when you don’t receive your item”, and eBay advises first to contact the seller because in many circumstances like this, the buyer and the seller are able to resolve their own issue. For example, the seller might offer the buyer a refund or might compromise by sending the buyer a similar item. You get the idea. In the case that they still aren’t able to resolve the issue, the buyer can then open and escalate a case through the Resolution Center where eBay customer support is able to review the case and make a final ruling.

Following the eBay guidelines, I decided e-mailed the seller, notifying her that it had been close to a month by that time, and I still hadn’t received the package. I kindly asked if it was possible for her to give me a full refund since, at the time, she was in possession of all my money, and I’d never even as much laid a finger on the item I’d been so been looking forward to receiving. In addition, it was impossible to even know where the package is, seeing as how the package had no tracking on it. She counteroffered by asking if I’d agree to splitting the cost of the total amount (ie., total amount = item price + shipping cost) [My reaction: Uh, no – accepting half of the amount would still be unfair to me, since it’s less than the value of the item itself!]. I replied back stating my reasons as to why this would be unfair, and that if she couldn’t see eye-to-eye with me, I would open a case through the Resolution Center. She retorted by saying that her offer of half was a ‘generous offer’ but if I would rather leave her negative feedback than take the offer, then I could go ahead and do so. But she said she ‘sensed’ that I was angry, so there was nothing else that she could do or say.

Wow? That negative feedback comment just really stuck out like a sore thumb for me – so childish. Ok clearly this woman has never heard of the term “customer service”. Not only was she being petty – seriously, for a small item that costs less than $40, shipping included, it would hardly be breaking the bank to issue a full refund – she’s being a bit rude and threatening. Furthermore, I wasn’t even angry at all – frustrated and disappointed, if anything . Not sure where or how she ‘sensed’ anger. I was just following eBay protocol in contacting her, then mentioning that I would open a case if we couldn’t come to an agreement. All I wanted was the item or my money back! For someone who has so much selling experience on eBay - over 2,000 transactions and 100% feedback – you’d think that they’d first of all have the sense to automatically include shipping on all items, and secondly have enough sense to just cut their losses and make the customer happy. I guess not.

*SIGH*

Time for the Resolution Center.

Since the first part of the resolution process is to try to work it out with the seller, I couldn’t immediately escalate the issue without us both stating the same info we’d previously discussed via eBay mail. I also added that I, too, have sold items on eBay and that in my experience, in order to avoid any confusion, I automatically included tracking into the cost of shipping. Besides, if you take on the responsibility of selling items, wouldn’t you do what you can to safeguard yourself against possible mishaps like this? I guess that riled her up, since she then continued on to post two additional responses, one after another. Among the things she ranted about:

• Because the item was sent standard mail, there was no tracking included and therefore she is not responsible for items that do not arrive.
  [Seriously, this was about the 100^th time she mentioned this – this is an old argument, and a really weak one at that. It’s like you might as well put in your listing “please buy my item, but hey good luck getting it”]

• She is an honest, hardworking buyer who has never had an item gone missing, and her 100% feedback speaks for itself. “Check my feedback!!!!!!!!!” she insisted emphatically.  
  [Again a weak argument - unless her feedback covers her hand-delivering items to customers to ensure that they actually get there *sarcasm*. Likewise, I’m an honest buyer who has never had any issues receiving items I’ve ordered.]

• She feels that offering me half of the amount is a very generous offer and as a buyer would be thankful if a seller offered this to her, and would accept it.
  [Repetitive!]

• She said I could just be ‘claiming’ to have not received the item
  [Again, repetitive and a pretty bold assumption. And how do I know that she’s also not ‘just claiming’ to have shipped the package? There is no tracking to prove that she did, right?]

• She checked my profile and found that I’ve only sold two items in my entire existence on eBay, therefore I am NOT a seller nor am I an authority on selling.
  [Ok, I simply stated I’ve sold items - period. I never claimed to be an authority on anything. Also: uh, hello STALKER].

• Since I use my first initial and last name in my shipping info, she speculated that it probably got detained by customs because it appears be shady due to the fact that my shipping address is not one with a full proper name.
  [Her argument is moot since I’ve never had any issues with my shipping name or info, and never had any issues with items clearing customs as I’ve ordered items from many different locations including China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Turkey.]

• Lastly, she posed the question – if the tables were turned, would I offer her a full refund? Probably not, she stated.
  [Okay? But the fact of the matter is that this is NOT the scenario we are currently dealing with, so why even bring this up as an argument? I think if I’d want someone to buy from me again, I would offer a full refund or try to negotiate something to make the customer happy. After all, the customer is always right. I would have, however, tried to avoid this situation by INCLUDING TRACKING ON MY STUFF.]

Her posts left me stunned. Not only was she being rude and petty, as I had previously observed, but she was also a poor businesswoman with terrible judgment (as well as terrible grammar and spelling) and was now resorting to being super immature and childish. I mean, she wasn’t even TRYING to resolve the issue anymore, just trying to dig up info about me so that she could attack me. Never once did she try to counteroffer again or even offer to send me a replacement item. But hey, if she wanted to dig her own grave by putting her immaturity on full display for eBay Customer Support to see, then that’s her own fault.

I responded back by directly addressing each one of her accusations, and stated that her “negative feedback” comment and her subsequent statements via the Resolution Center were rude and and a turn-off. Furthermore, I stated that I wasn’t angry or upset, I just wanted my money, or better yet, the item itself, and that she wasn’t doing much to help me out!

I then proceeded to escalate the case to eBay customer service for review.

I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly eBay responded to my case. They ruled in my favor and agreed that since I didn’t receive my item, and that since the buyer didn’t have any shipping information to prove that she did indeed send it, that I was entitled to a full refund. They’d contacted her to do so.

YAY!! I was so happy :) Vindication!

So all is well, right?

Ugh, well, so there I was the other day, back on my My eBay page, happily going about my business, when my purchase list at the bottom of the page popped out at me. I saw my ‘lost’ item. It was a shame that it had gone missing, died, and gone to postal service heaven – I liked it so much :( So I decided to click through the link to take one last look at the pictures of the item.

As soon as the page loaded, my heart sank. At the top of the page read “The seller has relisted this item or one like this.”

WHAT?! I took a breath and thought, okay, calm down, maybe it’s just an item like it.

I looked at the pictures. It was an item like it alright – so much like it that it was THE item!

Okay, so HERE’S THE THING. Of all the items in this seller’s store, I’d say that 90% of them were pretty much unique to each other, and there wasn’t much overlap in styles.

The particular item I ordered had (in the original listing) pictures and descriptions of a particular item flaw, which I saw and was okay with. This new listing, had the EXACT SAME PICTURE of the EXACT SAME FLAW.  Not only that, it was listed with the EXACT same size, shape, color, EVERYTHING. I mean, what are the odds of this second item being exactly identical to the original – the item which this lady CLAIMS she shipped - right down to the identifying mark. If this new item does indeed have this particular product flaw, then I am 99% sure that this is the exact item that I’d originally ordered.

I wasn’t angry before but you can bet your ass I am now. I am LIVID. I mean, the nerve?! And seriously, if she did lie about shipping it to me (meaning: she didn’t) then decided to re-list it, WHY would she re-list it with the same description, pictures, and details just days after this case closed? I mean, wow you’ve got to be a moron to think that you wouldn’t get caught. And you’ve got to be a bigger moron to not see that there is something unbelievably fishy going on here.

It makes me wonder how many times this lady has done this – pretend to send items without tracking, then when the customer doesn’t receive it, compromise by taking half of the money. What a scam!

A friend of mine told me that I should just forget about it, and let it go since I’ve said myself that she was creating so much trouble for such a small dollar amount, and I’ve already won the case and gotten my refund.

But I can’t just let it go – this is unfair! I know I should do something, but I just don’t know what yet. Should I re-buy the item and send her a smart ass email telling her to include shipping this time? Should I have a friend buy it and see if she pulls the same stunt? Or should I contact eBay and report this item – and the seller?

What should I do!?

random thoughts on the 84th annual academy awards

I know I’m probably (correction: DEFINITELY) the worst person to write about the Oscars, especially considering the fact that I haven’t (yet) seen ANY of the movies that were nominated by the Academy this year. BUT, seeing as how I started this blog as a place to keep my newfound random musings about movies and entertainment-related things, I figured eh… WHY NOT?

So without further ado, here are some of my random thoughts on this past Sunday’s awards show:

• Who isn’t talking about Angelina Jolie’s leg? I mean, come on… it even started talking about itself via its own Twitter page. But the moment she stepped on stage and vogued for the entire world, I thought, SERIOUSLY? This is not a runway, and you’re hardly one to be striking a pose. But more importantly, is it just me or does anyone else think its a wonder that we could even see her leg, despite the fact that her entire body - namely her arms - are quickly disappearing? I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference had a skeleton with a black gown and a brown wig had walked on stage and stuck its bony leg out at us. Angelina, please allow me to buy you a large pizza – I’ll even feed it to you. YOU NEED TO EAT FOOD.
  

• Prior to the Golden Globes, I hadn’t even heard about The Artist. Once I had, I was a little skeptical about the whole silent movie thing, but the more I hear about it, the more I want to see it. I’m really curious how they pulled off the whole black and white/silent movie thing, in an era of ‘the more sound and visual effects, the better’.

• Speaking of The Artist, how awesome was Jean Dujardin’s acceptance speech?! The elation in his face, his excitement in winning, and that little jig he does at the end of his speech… it just makes me so happy :)

• I really want to watch The Help, but I’m afraid of crying my eyes out.

• Emma Stone, why are you so adorable??
  

• Should I be wanting to see Hugo? I know it won a lot of awards, but I still don’t really even know what it’s about.

• Brad Pitt, please take a shower and get a haircut. I keep mistaking you for Kid Rock. Or the homeless guy on the corner.
  

• Should J.Lo’s boobs start their own Twitter page too?
  

• Why does Rooney Mara still look like this? Did she not get the memo that The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has long completed filming??
  

• And lastly… yes, Gwyneth Paltrow’s dress was sleek and elegant, blah blah fucking blah. MY favorites? Tina Fey (oh, how I love Tina Fey), Natalie Portman (oh, how I love polka dots!), and Ellie Kemper (oh, how I love The Office!).
  
  
  Not your conventional ‘elegant’, ‘evening’ dresses, but I really liked them. Eh, I’m quirky like that :)