I Got Hosed.
Yeah, I know, its been a while, but I am writing for 2 reasons; 1 I am bored, and 2, I got hosed in the world of Internet buying and selling. And who is responsible? Who you ask? EBAY? The Bank? The United States Postal Service? Me? Well, to tell you the truth it is all of the above, well except for the bank, but they made me mad...I will get to that later.
It all started in early March, when I was deeply involved in my studies of Graphic Design, and I started to realize that my laptop, as good as it is, was not made to handle graphic design software and the work that I do in graphic design. So, I decided to get a new computer. Well, at school and in graphic design I work mainly on a Mac computer and absolutely love it, even though the Mac's at school are the low end Mac's of 3 years ago, before Intel, they are still amazing machines. I got my 20" wide screen iMac with a 2.33 GHz processor and 2GB of RAM the very day the new APPLE STORE opened here in town. I had to use most of my savings because I believe in paying cash for everything (thanks Dave Ramsey), and financing as little as possible, anyway, I did and I got it 5 days later, exactly when and where they said it would arrive. GO FIGURE.
Meanwhile, I figure, I got a new Mac Computer, I should get the Adobe Suite as well (It is all the major graphic design software programs in one, for those of you who don't know what the heck I am talking about). Only problem was that I had spent most of the money I had on the awesome computer (get a mac, it's way better), and the Adobe Suite cost about $1,400.00, yeah it is expensive being a graphic designer...student...soon to be Graphic Designer? Yeah, we will go with that. SO, I turned to EBAY, where I found it for $550.00. Now that is a deal I thought, the guy had 100% positive feedback for almost a year, I figure I can't go wrong. Well, I start bidding, I am excited, I am winning, then I get blocked. The guy said because I didn't have any feedback, that I couldn't bid. CRAP! I email him, and convince him that I am serious and really need the software, so he lets me "buy it now". So I buy, he didn't use paypal, which I was a little uncomfortable about, but he did use another secure shopping cart so that put me at ease. Then another strange thing happened, only $400.00 was taken out at first. I contact him and he tells me the other $150.00 will be taken out when it is shipped. I said okay. I thought it was how it worked, this was my first time on ebay, who knew. I mean it is easy to see now. So, to continue. The rest was charged and that was it, so I figured everything was good to go. I track the package and after about 2 weeks it gets to the wrong post office, but it is in the right city. The guy said it had the wrong zip code on it, and that he fixed it and sent it on to my house. NO he didn't, the package kept trying to get back to the sender. SO I kept tracking it, calling post offices all over the country and stopping it, always being one step behind, kind of like Ed Norton's character in Fight Club trying to track down Tyler Derden...well, not really, but whatever...So I check out EBAY and the guy has been kicked off or has left. 2 other people after me hadn't gotten their packages and were pursuing fraud. I later find out it was for the same type of package. Next, I file a dispute. I am still hopeful that the package will get to me. Maybe I am naive in thinking that there aren't any truely despicable people in this world. Well, 2 months have gone by and I finally talk to a lady who has the package in her hands, saying that it is a wreck and there are sounds of broken pieces inside. She puts a new label on it and sends it to me, I just want to get it at this point. I almost go to bank to get my money back for fraud, but then I would feel bad if I got the package and it was the software and I had gotten money from my bank, so I didn't. (big mistake) After about 3 more weeks, I am starting to wonder if the US postal service can do anything right, So I call Costumer Service, because the tracking had not been updated. She tells me this, even though the website says it would be updated every evening. She does tell me that the Package is in Atlanta. 3 days later it arrives. I open it up with a gleeful co-worker standing by, camera in hand to take a picture of the end of a long ordeal, and pull out of the disheveled package a Broken Picture frame that says Mama on it, still shrink wrapped and with a sticker that says $1.99 on it. I got a $550.00 broken picture frame, essentially. It is easy to see now why the post office had so much trouble, it looked like a 6 year old had wrapped it, and definitely did NOT want the package to get to me. Here are some pictures:
It all started in early March, when I was deeply involved in my studies of Graphic Design, and I started to realize that my laptop, as good as it is, was not made to handle graphic design software and the work that I do in graphic design. So, I decided to get a new computer. Well, at school and in graphic design I work mainly on a Mac computer and absolutely love it, even though the Mac's at school are the low end Mac's of 3 years ago, before Intel, they are still amazing machines. I got my 20" wide screen iMac with a 2.33 GHz processor and 2GB of RAM the very day the new APPLE STORE opened here in town. I had to use most of my savings because I believe in paying cash for everything (thanks Dave Ramsey), and financing as little as possible, anyway, I did and I got it 5 days later, exactly when and where they said it would arrive. GO FIGURE.
Meanwhile, I figure, I got a new Mac Computer, I should get the Adobe Suite as well (It is all the major graphic design software programs in one, for those of you who don't know what the heck I am talking about). Only problem was that I had spent most of the money I had on the awesome computer (get a mac, it's way better), and the Adobe Suite cost about $1,400.00, yeah it is expensive being a graphic designer...student...soon to be Graphic Designer? Yeah, we will go with that. SO, I turned to EBAY, where I found it for $550.00. Now that is a deal I thought, the guy had 100% positive feedback for almost a year, I figure I can't go wrong. Well, I start bidding, I am excited, I am winning, then I get blocked. The guy said because I didn't have any feedback, that I couldn't bid. CRAP! I email him, and convince him that I am serious and really need the software, so he lets me "buy it now". So I buy, he didn't use paypal, which I was a little uncomfortable about, but he did use another secure shopping cart so that put me at ease. Then another strange thing happened, only $400.00 was taken out at first. I contact him and he tells me the other $150.00 will be taken out when it is shipped. I said okay. I thought it was how it worked, this was my first time on ebay, who knew. I mean it is easy to see now. So, to continue. The rest was charged and that was it, so I figured everything was good to go. I track the package and after about 2 weeks it gets to the wrong post office, but it is in the right city. The guy said it had the wrong zip code on it, and that he fixed it and sent it on to my house. NO he didn't, the package kept trying to get back to the sender. SO I kept tracking it, calling post offices all over the country and stopping it, always being one step behind, kind of like Ed Norton's character in Fight Club trying to track down Tyler Derden...well, not really, but whatever...So I check out EBAY and the guy has been kicked off or has left. 2 other people after me hadn't gotten their packages and were pursuing fraud. I later find out it was for the same type of package. Next, I file a dispute. I am still hopeful that the package will get to me. Maybe I am naive in thinking that there aren't any truely despicable people in this world. Well, 2 months have gone by and I finally talk to a lady who has the package in her hands, saying that it is a wreck and there are sounds of broken pieces inside. She puts a new label on it and sends it to me, I just want to get it at this point. I almost go to bank to get my money back for fraud, but then I would feel bad if I got the package and it was the software and I had gotten money from my bank, so I didn't. (big mistake) After about 3 more weeks, I am starting to wonder if the US postal service can do anything right, So I call Costumer Service, because the tracking had not been updated. She tells me this, even though the website says it would be updated every evening. She does tell me that the Package is in Atlanta. 3 days later it arrives. I open it up with a gleeful co-worker standing by, camera in hand to take a picture of the end of a long ordeal, and pull out of the disheveled package a Broken Picture frame that says Mama on it, still shrink wrapped and with a sticker that says $1.99 on it. I got a $550.00 broken picture frame, essentially. It is easy to see now why the post office had so much trouble, it looked like a 6 year old had wrapped it, and definitely did NOT want the package to get to me. Here are some pictures:
So needless to say, I was mad and am currently trying everything in my power to find this guy. Or guys I should say, it turns out there were 2 rats involved in this scam, hence the two charges, at least that is what I can make of it anyway. I tried to get my money back with the bank, but it was too late, even with all the documentation that I had. Apparently these guys knew what they were doing, sending it all over, taking over 60 days to get to me, (that is the time frame I have to file fraud with the bank, yeah, I didn't get that memo). I filed a mail fraud complaint as well, as you can see in the picture to the above and left. I mean, would you send a package that looked like that, even if it was your first day working at the post office? I am trying to track these guys down, I know one of the guys email address's but I haven't decided what I want to do with that. Maybe I will send him spam and chain letters to start as an appetizer. If anyone would like to help in my venture, write me, and I will send you all the info I have on the guys. I won't post that on this blog though, security reasons. I already wrote Oprah, and I am planning on writing Ellen, I might at least get my Software for free from them, just for taking time to write a letter. Anyway, that is all, sorry for the longevity, but it has been a while and it is indeed a long story. I will never use EBAY again, (they're currently investigating this guy, yeah right!), so if you do, beware, and don't make stupid mistakes like I did, and most importantly, don't get blinded by the sight of a good deal. Paesan Out.
posted by Joey at 9:53 PM
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