Oh, I Hurt THEIR Feelings? Wah.

Before I went to the dentist yesterday (due to an incredibly painful toothache) I lodged a complaint (at the urging of several of my fellow bloggers/suckers) with eBay about the repro cookie jar I'd purchased, since I still hadn't received a response from the seller.  Almost immediately (surprise!) I received a message from said seller saying I could return the items for a full refund, and then got another message saying that they (the shipper who was doing the selling for a second party) were simply told by the seller that the cookie jar was Westmoreland.  So ok, that's fine.

So I go to the dentist and wind up having the painful tooth AND an adjacent tooth that was just as rotten extracted.  Good LORD that was painful, even with 4 shots of painkiller!  The dentist said he'd pull the second tooth for free, which was nice, considering that he'd just inflicted more pain on me than I ever expected.

So I get home and after thinking about it, decided that it was going to be horrendously expensive to ship back the item due to its weight and fragility.  They also wanted me to return the sugar and creamer (the creamer had a fracture on the handle but I knew that when I bought it) since that was part of the purchase price of $61.  I sent them an email offering a compromise--I'd keep the items and they could just refund me the original shipping costs of $24.  What were they going to do with a reproduction Westmoreland cookie jar that they now knew had no value, anyway.

This morning I get up and had received this email back from them:

"We received your request to provide a refund of the initial shipping instead of you returning the product. Your initial message to us, which blatantly accused us of trying to trick you by selling a reproduction product was very inappropriate and offensive. The very idea that we, or anyone else for that matter, has enough time or interest to fake a piece of glassware is ridiculous. We have much better things to do than trying to "fool you" into buying a $60 item. We'll consider your alternative, but would expect an apology for your inappropriate message and accusation. I would suggest that you consider how to appropriately react before launching an attack."

Now, maybe I DID sound a little hysterical in my first email but I'm sorry, I truly felt like I'd been hoodwinked.  I shouldn't have made the compromise offer since I think that weakened my position.  HOWEVER, my message was not inappropriate under the circumstances, and anyway, if they didn't know what they were selling was a fake why didn't they respond to my initial email?  They sure responded fast enough once eBay got involved, didn't they?  And oh, "the very idea that we, or anyone else for that matter, has enough time or interest to fake a piece of glassware is ridiculous"????  Are they kidding?

I wrote several responses but then decided to just close the case and be done with it. 

Lesson learned: If it seems too good to be true . . . TURN OFF THE COMPUTER!!!!!

PS--and that free tooth extraction I mentioned?  After I'd gotten home and the painkiller wore off I looked at the bill and lo and behold--I'd been charged for it!   AMAZE-freaking-zing!