Wednesday, March 24, 2010

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! 

12 comments:

  1. Who ever heard of buy one get one free tooth extraction! Hope you are feeling much better soon. A pain in the mouth and a pain in the ass(e-bay)! Take a pain pill and go back to bed!

    Anna

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  2. awwww damn, sorry to hear about a bummer and painful day!

    And the nerve of that seller... I'd be sure to leave a well-written NEGATIVE feedback. They can't leave you a neg, just a nasty comment, and judging by their email response, they will have a knee-jerk reaction on your feedback comment and make themselves look bad... Tee hee...

    I hope, if you also sell on eBay, that you have a separate buying and selling ID like I had when I was doing both.

    In fact, I'm going to hunt down the two auction numbers via paypal and give those sellers the neg they deserved a couple years ago. It's BS to pull what some of these people do.

    On the other hand, the boomerang ashtray I just bought: seller emailed to apologize for a chip she had overlooked before, and was willing to refund some of the cost or cancel the sale. Very cool of her to be up-front and honest, so there ARE good sellers on eBay. Don't let a bad one cheat you from any future eBay fun shopping!

    (((hugs)))

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  3. Oh, I'd respond. You shouldn't have closed the case. Holy God, neg those sellers!!

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  4. You end up dealing with the good, the bad and the ugly on Ebay at some point. But THAT was vulgar. That is no way to do business. I wouldn't have trusted them to refund me after I sent it back. I hope you gave them negative feedback!

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  5. Yep, negative feedback for sure. I do a fair amount of selling on eBay, just to get rid of perfectly good stuff I no longer use, and I take that very seriously. Many buyers won't consider buying from you unless you have 100% positive or a goddamned good reason why it isn't, so if you leave negative feedback, you get the sellers where they live.

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  6. Oy, I have been a seller and a buyer on Ebay. Its a frustrating endeavor either way. I think that the emails, comments and pos/neg feedback can really spiral out of control. I think its just a simple case of those folk's not knowing what they (or the 3rd party) were selling. Let's face it, they probably got a whole mess of stuff from an estate sale and tossed it up online hoping for the best. It is so hard to keep a cool tone in an email and so easy to sound nasty. I've been there too. I have learned it is best to just close the email and mellow out for a while....and enjoy your pain killers

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  7. I'd already left VERY positive feedback which I always do after unwrapping the package--if it's in good condition and it got here in a reasonable amount of time I see no reason to hold up the feedback. I'm also the type of customer who pays for the item just as soon as I've won it. Unless the seller says something further, I'm just going to treat this as the bummer experience that it was and move on. Even though the cookie jar is a repro, it's sitll beautiful and I can still enjoy it, though now I OVERpaid for it instead of getting an insanely good deal! Thanks everyone for your feedback!!!

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  8. Bless your heart, it was a wretched day for you all around! I'm sending you a great big cyber Okie Hug right now! And I sure hope your jaw feels better soon!

    Cyber hugs,
    Liz (aka Ninny)

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  9. Such a pain in the tooth!!! I would try to work out something with them for sure and not an apology. They should have responded quicker. Hey we live and learn. Sorry you are hurting...drugs my dear, take drugs!

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  10. Oh Christine...you poor thing! I've had few bad experiences on ebay - once as a buyer and once as a seller. Ebay-er Beware, take the good with the bad - know exactly what you mean about sending back with shipping, etc... - hopefully you can make things right (I'd think they'd be please, like you said, what are they going to do with a reproduction?!!) Anyway, hope your tooth is feeling better - and hope you have happiness the rest of the week :)
    By the way, love your egg banner - it brighted up our rainy day!

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  11. Wow! That seller really lives according to " the best defense is a good offense" ! The part about no one having the time to reproduce a piece of glass was priceless ~ depression glass was widely reproduced. Definitely deserving of negative feedback.
    Feel better.

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