p.3 #3 · WOW ebay/paypal situation - ends well in the end
wow, finally 1/8/11 I get paid. Started texting the guy again today and he finally responded. Said he hadn't checked anything for a week. arrrrrrr
On the one hand, I don't believe in the people who say everybody should be expected to be plugged in all time, I say let people live how they used to if they want to at times. I definitely think people should be allowed to live unplugged as much as they see fit.
HOWEVER, when you are in the middle of a fraud claim case communication is key and not checking your mailbox for 10 days after filing a claim is ridiculous (especially when it turns out the item was sitting in your mailbox the entire time! and you were told to ignore the tracking just a day later!) and not checking your email/etc. for periods of 7-10 days at a time in the middle of an ongoing fraud case (which has time limits) is ridiculous. And then swearing at the other person for an hour of lost time when you have their money and item and they have wasted countless upon countless hours because of your ridiculous actions and terrible communication....
Ultimately he is honest, but annoying, nervy, rude, slow, ridiculous and an utter pain to deal with.
Far and away my worst experience with any buyer on ebay ever and i've been on it for a decade.
So long as nothing the slightest goes wrong I'm sure nobody would ever have an issue with him, but god help you if anything at all unusual happens and you have to deal with him....
Oh and I am still $7 short since paypal made an accounting mistake and forget to refund my fee when they paid him back so they currently have a double fee. Who knows how long it will take to get paypal to fix their double fee charge now....
p.3 #4 · WOW ebay/paypal situation - ends well in the end
In the end I guess you just have to laugh at the whole thing and this ridiculous character. I mean a three week fraud case for non-delivery for a package sitting in the mailbox the entire time.
p.3 #5 · WOW ebay/paypal situation - ends well in the end
Nickle S. wrote:
Anthony,
You get right to the crux of the matter. Let me concur on one important point - USPS tracking is total crap (wait until the gov. start tracking our health care, sheesh). On the whole, our overseas shipping has been pretty good, but Lord help us when a package goes missing. We have actually stopped filing claims with USPS because it get us absolutely nowhere. Here's the routine:
1) call the 800 number
2) report missing package
3) give operator all relavant information including value
4) follow up by faxing copy of invoice
5) operator says USPS will trace package and contact us with status within 30 days
6) we wait and I believe hell has frozen over for any updates from USPS, IOW, we have never heard back from them on any of our claims. Therefore we are out the cost of the materials plus the shipping with NO recourse whatsoever.
We went through this process countless times until we realized it was just a waste of time. I spoke personally to a head-honcho for my district and hell is continuing to freeze over. When a missing package claim is filed, USPS simply tosses it in the trashcan. The operators then go outside, light up a cigarette and have a good laugh.
I have found that USPS generally do a pretty good job, but don't believe their delivery schedule because 'expected delivery' is the same as believing in the Tooth Fairy.
On the 12th of this past December I sent out 26 Christmas presents USPS Priority Mail, with Tracking. Their expected delivery was December 15th.
17 were delivered AFTER Christmas.
4 were delivered on the 16th of December.
5 made it to the processing center and then apparently self-destructed.
When I went to the PO to put in a trace - I was told "we don't do traces anymore."
p.3 #6 · WOW ebay/paypal situation - ends well in the end
It appears that the USPS's financial woes are already resulting in cutbacks in service. I have noticed that simple things like cards that used to take one or at the most two days to get across town are taking up to 5 or 6 days!
p.3 #7 · WOW ebay/paypal situation - ends well in the end
lukeb wrote:
I have found that USPS generally do a pretty good job, but don't believe their delivery schedule because 'expected delivery' is the same as believing in the Tooth Fairy.
On the 12th of this past December I sent out 26 Christmas presents USPS Priority Mail, with Tracking. Their expected delivery was December 15th.
17 were delivered AFTER Christmas.
4 were delivered on the 16th of December.
5 made it to the processing center and then apparently self-destructed.
When I went to the PO to put in a trace - I was told "we don't do traces anymore."
Caveat Emptor
I did notice that the 100mm macro and another package I shipped to Canada using the USPS (around the same time as the extender this thread was about) are currently listed as not having been delivered yet (the last update was like 12/22 in NJ sorting) even though I've already received positive feedback from the buyers and, in one case, the buyer has even had it for a number of days already hah. So much for the delivery confirmation on those.
Their tracking was never good along the way but it always used to register upon arrival.
The extender this thread was about was actually delivered cross country, by regular service, in just three days, which was most impressive, even if their main tracking sticker showing delivery to a different state was rather less than impressive.
p.3 #8 · WOW ebay/paypal situation - ends well in the end
lukeb,
I believe the USPS problems go much deeper than recent financial cutbacks. Their tracking performance has been terrible for a couple of years at least, it is night and day compared to UPS and FedEx. And they NEVER did do any tracing for my "lost" parcels, so for them to say they no longer trace packages is actually hilarious.
Again, there are many fine people working for the postal system, the ones in my town are all conscientious to a fault. But as you go down the trunkline, you get highly overpaid incompetents and a fair share of thieves. It wouldn't surprise me if UPS spins off a snail-mail service within 5 years or so and the USPS can pick up the crumbs.
p.3 #9 · WOW ebay/paypal situation - ends well in the end
skibum5 wrote:
oh dear god, maybe it was true after all then
unless that law tabloid got badly snookered
or hacked by the onion or something
but you know after my first talk with PP this morning, it really does seem quite believable!
Pretty crappy violin, hardly a loss to the violin world, but still a major loss to the seller if the story is true as presented. What is true is that the label is one of the least important things in establishing the pedigree of a fiddle.
Glad your paypal fiasco finally got resolved in your favor. I hope the $7 fee is refunded too, though it will not make up for all the time and effort you lost!
p.3 #10 · WOW ebay/paypal situation - ends well in the end
Photon wrote:
Pretty crappy violin, hardly a loss to the violin world, but still a major loss to the seller if the story is true as presented. What is true is that the label is one of the least important things in establishing the pedigree of a fiddle.
Glad your paypal fiasco finally got resolved in your favor. I hope the $7 fee is refunded too, though it will not make up for all the time and effort you lost!
yeah the way they went on about it made it sound like a strad or guarneri (not that a truly top modern one can't be just about the match, although one of that level would still likely be considerably above the $2,500 level; smashing a $2,500 for a bad label seems quite bizarre)
that said, as you say though, to the seller $2,500 is quite a massive and horrendous loss, hopefully the seller can get a quick win in court, or more realistically an eventual win in court or payapl will just be wise and drop her a quick $2,500 to quit their bad press before it builds more
p.3 #12 · WOW ebay/paypal situation - ends well in the end
I believe the problem seems to be in the USPS sorting facilities. I've had the same problem with FED-X. One of my orders dropped shipped from Millers went to Miami Lakes, Florida. It was supposed to go to Fairfax VA. That one is a real puzzle.
I agree with you and skibum5 that the USPO tracking system is pretty lame.
As of today, none of the missing USPS packages have shown up.
BTW - when FED-X messes up, you get next day service on the re-route (or at least I have).
p.3 #13 · WOW ebay/paypal situation - ends well in the end
lukeb wrote:
I believe the problem seems to be in the USPS sorting facilities. I've had the same problem with FED-X. One of my orders dropped shipped from Millers went to Miami Lakes, Florida. It was supposed to go to Fairfax VA. That one is a real puzzle.
I agree with you and skibum5 that the USPO tracking system is pretty lame.
As of today, none of the missing USPS packages have shown up.
BTW - when FED-X messes up, you get next day service on the re-route (or at least I have).
The thing that was really weird here though is that it DID end up at the intended destination. But it took the buyer 10 days to bother to actually look in his mailbox for it and realize it had been there the entire time (all the while accusing me of non-delivery and strongly implying he had checked his mailbox and somehow managing to win a paypal case against me!) and then another week to respond with repayment.
p.3 #14 · WOW ebay/paypal situation - ends well in the end
Yep, I have been following the pain you've been going through. Unfortunately the web if full of complaints of sellers were PayPal just takes their money, and in many cases hold it for a month.
Personally, I have purchased several items on the FM Board, but I won't use PayPal. I ask the seller if I can send a Postal Money - and if they agree, I send it priority mail, same day.
I'm glad you got your bucks! Sorry you had to go through hell to do so.
So much for the violin. 