Friday, March 24, 2006
reply from ebay buyer
Here is the response from the ebay buyer. I doubt I will reply anytime soon or do much about it. I am busy moving to NA!
1. The picture of the item on the box is black. I, as anyone else, would have assumed that the item in the box was the same as the pictured item on the box. Yes, there is a sticker on the box, but in the picture from the auction, you con not make out what it says. Therefore I had no idea that the item was silver and not black. And because the item was listed as being new, I had no reason to question as to what the color really was.
2. Whether it came USPS or UPS is irrealivant other than USPS would be cheaper to send than UPS. You mentioned that it was a flat shipping charge and would be UPS. Hopefully you could see where I felt that I was over charged. Thank you for offering to return the difference, but it really isn't worth it.
3. The matter still stands that I have a silver keyboard and mouse with my black computer. Hence why I was purchasing a black keyboard and mouse. So how do we fix this?
1. The picture of the item on the box is black. I, as anyone else, would have assumed that the item in the box was the same as the pictured item on the box. Yes, there is a sticker on the box, but in the picture from the auction, you con not make out what it says. Therefore I had no idea that the item was silver and not black. And because the item was listed as being new, I had no reason to question as to what the color really was.
2. Whether it came USPS or UPS is irrealivant other than USPS would be cheaper to send than UPS. You mentioned that it was a flat shipping charge and would be UPS. Hopefully you could see where I felt that I was over charged. Thank you for offering to return the difference, but it really isn't worth it.
3. The matter still stands that I have a silver keyboard and mouse with my black computer. Hence why I was purchasing a black keyboard and mouse. So how do we fix this?
Sunday, March 19, 2006
more ebay hijinks
I recently sold a cordless keyboard and mouse on ebay. I went to check my feedback and saw this, which was labeled “negative feedback”:
“Seller listed item shipped by UPS but received by USPS. Overcharged on Shipping.”
Wow, this guy is actually upset about me using the post office and not UPS??? Talk about picky.
I left this reply:
“Shipping stated upfront and reasonable. Shipped by USPS a no-no? picky, picky!”
And then went on to leave this negative feedback on his feedback thing:
“Did you really leave bad feedback for using USPS instead of UPS? Pathetic”
I then checked my email and saw these messages: (the days when they are received are shown)
FRIDAY:
Hello, Just checking on the status of the auction that I won. Do you have a UPS tracking number for this item? Please let me know. Thanks. John
SATURDAY:
I received the item today. And besides the issue that you stated in you listing that it would be shipped by UPS and it arrived by USPS, it is also silver in color. The box shows it as being black. I need a black keyboard and mouse as my computer is black. I am open to suggestions as to how to rectify this situation. Thanks
I was totally insulted and shocked that this guy had the nerve to give me a hard time about using the post office. Plus, the color of the keyboard was shown in the picture and the shipping was totally reasonable.
Since this guy already left me negative feedback, I decided to devote some time into letting him have it. **after re-reading this, I realized this was way overkill, but it was pretty funny too.** Here is my reply to his last message:
my "suggestion" would be not to leave bad feedback before allowing the seller to mitigate the situation. This tends to upset the seller and make them not want to help you.
other suggestions would be:
1) look at the picture of what you are buying. In this case, there is a sticker that is SILVER, and says COLOR on it. *readers: see picture below.
2) try not to insult sellers by leaving feedback on details about the transaction that bear no real consequence. For instance, how the package gets there. is it really that important that it came by USPS and not UPS?
3) don’t include fabrications in feedback. I didn’t overcharge shipping. I stated the amount of shipping up front, and when you won the auction, you agreed to pay it. How is that overcharging? If you thought the shipping was unreasonable, you should have not bought the item. Further, if I remember correctly, the shipping was within 2 dollars of the $10.00 that was said. But, I want to be a good sport, so, if you send me a self addressed envelope I can mail you the difference. I will use regular postal mail, I hope that meets your standards.
4) my last suggestion would be to reevaluate your priorities in life. A good start would be not to invest time and energy into making your keyboard and computer match in color. Also, try not to find minor faults in people’s actions and try to see the good in the people and things around you. Tell someone that you love them, go pick a flower, or have a picnic in a soft meadow. It will make you feel better and worrying about keyboards will be a thing of the past.
After taking my suggestions, I suggest you message me back and we can chat about your progress.
“Seller listed item shipped by UPS but received by USPS. Overcharged on Shipping.”
Wow, this guy is actually upset about me using the post office and not UPS??? Talk about picky.
I left this reply:
“Shipping stated upfront and reasonable. Shipped by USPS a no-no? picky, picky!”
And then went on to leave this negative feedback on his feedback thing:
“Did you really leave bad feedback for using USPS instead of UPS? Pathetic”
I then checked my email and saw these messages: (the days when they are received are shown)
FRIDAY:
Hello, Just checking on the status of the auction that I won. Do you have a UPS tracking number for this item? Please let me know. Thanks. John
SATURDAY:
I received the item today. And besides the issue that you stated in you listing that it would be shipped by UPS and it arrived by USPS, it is also silver in color. The box shows it as being black. I need a black keyboard and mouse as my computer is black. I am open to suggestions as to how to rectify this situation. Thanks
I was totally insulted and shocked that this guy had the nerve to give me a hard time about using the post office. Plus, the color of the keyboard was shown in the picture and the shipping was totally reasonable.
Since this guy already left me negative feedback, I decided to devote some time into letting him have it. **after re-reading this, I realized this was way overkill, but it was pretty funny too.** Here is my reply to his last message:
my "suggestion" would be not to leave bad feedback before allowing the seller to mitigate the situation. This tends to upset the seller and make them not want to help you.
other suggestions would be:
1) look at the picture of what you are buying. In this case, there is a sticker that is SILVER, and says COLOR on it. *readers: see picture below.
2) try not to insult sellers by leaving feedback on details about the transaction that bear no real consequence. For instance, how the package gets there. is it really that important that it came by USPS and not UPS?
3) don’t include fabrications in feedback. I didn’t overcharge shipping. I stated the amount of shipping up front, and when you won the auction, you agreed to pay it. How is that overcharging? If you thought the shipping was unreasonable, you should have not bought the item. Further, if I remember correctly, the shipping was within 2 dollars of the $10.00 that was said. But, I want to be a good sport, so, if you send me a self addressed envelope I can mail you the difference. I will use regular postal mail, I hope that meets your standards.
4) my last suggestion would be to reevaluate your priorities in life. A good start would be not to invest time and energy into making your keyboard and computer match in color. Also, try not to find minor faults in people’s actions and try to see the good in the people and things around you. Tell someone that you love them, go pick a flower, or have a picnic in a soft meadow. It will make you feel better and worrying about keyboards will be a thing of the past.
After taking my suggestions, I suggest you message me back and we can chat about your progress.
Was I too hard on him, what do you think?
*picture in question
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Consumer hell on earth
I deposited my thesis today. It was over 200 hundred pages and about 1.5 inches thick. It was as long as alot of PhD dissertations.
anyway, That means I am done. Forever. It is a big day for me. It really hit me when I looked at my yellow backpack and realized that I never had to carry it around again. That backpack has followed me everywhere for 3 years. Vacations, weekend trips, shower, everywhere. It is very liberating to be free of my master.
Hooray!
But, this great day is overshadowed by something that has brought me great sadness. You see, I have been to customer hell-on-earth. I recently bought a computer from tigerdirect.com. It was a refurbished computer that came directly from gateway. From the minute I hooked it up I have had problems. It started freezing up. I called technical support and we tried to find the culprit. We uninstalled some software, reinstalled windows, and when that didn’t work, I shipped it back for repair. This took about a week. I was told to ship everything, the tower, mouse and keyboard, manuals, cords, windows, and other CD-Roms, and the remote* that came with it. I called a few days later, and the dildo that answered the phone informed me that I shouldn’t have sent in anything but the tower, and anything other than that was going to be lost forever.
“WHAT!!!? THE FUCK THEY ARE!!!“
These are words that actually came out of my mouth. Now, I generally know better than to yell and toss around the f-bomb to anyone whom I am asking for help. Besides, it is rude. I don’t condone this and wish I hadn’t done it. But on the other hand, WTF? Suddenly hearing that a good part of your $800+ brand-new computer system is now gone forever is rather alarming.
Not only that, but it is completely ridiculous. Even if they didn’t need all of that stuff for the repair, how difficult is it for them to keep everything together?
When I go in for an oil change, they don’t discard parts of my car that don’t pertain to the changing of my oil.
“Sir, next time we are going to need you to just bring in your engine.”
Anyhoo, after the naughty words, I ask to talk to a supervisor. I am on hold for about an half of an hour, intermittently talking to this snooty girl in Utah with a 4th grade education. She tells me repeatedly that I will never see any of this stuff again. I finally get through to a supervisor (7th grade education) named Ryan. This guy talked at a mile-a-minute and had a dirty New York accent (think the Bronx version of Speedy Gonzalez). He said “LikeIsaid” preceding every 3rd statement.
I hate him immediately.
Actually, the first time I talked to him, he told me that when they received my PC and peripherals, they would just ship back the peripherals. Or, if they had already thrown them away, he would send me new stuff.
After hearing the warnings from the gal I talked to before, I was very happy to hear this, and I thanked him and let him go.
I called back about 3 days later to check the progress of the fixing of my computer. I asked to talk to the same guy, and he informed me that my peripherals were never received, and therefore he couldn’t help me. I went back to steaming mad. Why would they say this? I know I sent them, and it was basically my word against whomever unpacked my box (whom he emailed). He was taking their side. I couldn’t believe it. What ever happened to the “customer is always right?” My guess is that he or someone else threw them out and they just didn’t want to get in trouble.
I stayed on the phone with him for about 30 minutes, where I tried to convince him that I sent in my peripherals and he should replace them since they were lost somehow. He contended that I never sent them in, and I was SOL. It was the most frustrated I have ever been and I was shaking with rage at the end of the conversation when he hung up with me. The worst part was, I couldn’t talk to his boss, and “he didn’t know how to file a complaint”.
After this episode, I called sales at gateway. I finally talked to someone helpful, and she tried to help me. Unfortunately, the direct sales from Gateway, and the retail refurbished gateway people are two totally different places and ultimately always got directed back to that original call center which would lead me back to said doushbag.
I decided to give this call center one more shot, and I called them and asked to talk to “a supervisor that wasn’t Ryan”. When I talked to this guy, I laid out my sob story, and told him that if I wasn’t satisfied then I would “talk to corporate”. That was a total stab in the dark, but was apparently what these guys needed to hear to snap into action. He told me that he would replace the wireless mouse and keyboard, but he couldn’t order anything else (BS). I told him that I needed everything replaced, but he asked if he could have some more time to rustle up the other stuff. I told him I would call him back on Friday. This happened on Tuesday. This same day, my “fixed” computer came back sans peripherals. Luckily I had a working mouse. I plugged in the PC, and tested to see if it would freeze.
It froze.
Is there no end to this? Given all of the crap I went through, I think the least they could have done was to fix the very thing that I sent it in for.
At every level they displayed incompetence. The managers can’t replace stuff, the unpacking guys throw stuff out instead of keeping it with the tower, and the techs cannot fix the computer. Poor customer service and a lack of communication abounds. The whole outfit should be swallowed by the earth.
So here I am with an unfixed computer tower, no peripherals, and plenty of fiery rage.
I am glad I made my next call to Tigerdirect, the place where I bought it. I was skeptical that they would go for it, but I told them my story, and they allowed me to take it back for a full refund, without all of the peripherals.
The happy ending to this story is that I bought a Dell and got a good deal and Gateway can go to hell. In fact, Gateway went to the top of my list of products to boycott along with Cingular, Hitachi, and Orville Redenbacher popcorn**.
**UPDATE** today I received 2 wireless mice, 2 wireless keyboards, and 1 receiver. What a bunch of idiots. I bet I get Ryan’s sandwich next.
*It was a “media center” PC and came with a TV tuner and remote that would have allowed me to record TV from the comfort of my own fat hiney, among other stuff.
** This man was a murderous blood-thirsty pirate, who later founded a popcorn company when he wanted to escape the pirate life. More on this later.
anyway, That means I am done. Forever. It is a big day for me. It really hit me when I looked at my yellow backpack and realized that I never had to carry it around again. That backpack has followed me everywhere for 3 years. Vacations, weekend trips, shower, everywhere. It is very liberating to be free of my master.
Hooray!
But, this great day is overshadowed by something that has brought me great sadness. You see, I have been to customer hell-on-earth. I recently bought a computer from tigerdirect.com. It was a refurbished computer that came directly from gateway. From the minute I hooked it up I have had problems. It started freezing up. I called technical support and we tried to find the culprit. We uninstalled some software, reinstalled windows, and when that didn’t work, I shipped it back for repair. This took about a week. I was told to ship everything, the tower, mouse and keyboard, manuals, cords, windows, and other CD-Roms, and the remote* that came with it. I called a few days later, and the dildo that answered the phone informed me that I shouldn’t have sent in anything but the tower, and anything other than that was going to be lost forever.
“WHAT!!!? THE FUCK THEY ARE!!!“
These are words that actually came out of my mouth. Now, I generally know better than to yell and toss around the f-bomb to anyone whom I am asking for help. Besides, it is rude. I don’t condone this and wish I hadn’t done it. But on the other hand, WTF? Suddenly hearing that a good part of your $800+ brand-new computer system is now gone forever is rather alarming.
Not only that, but it is completely ridiculous. Even if they didn’t need all of that stuff for the repair, how difficult is it for them to keep everything together?
When I go in for an oil change, they don’t discard parts of my car that don’t pertain to the changing of my oil.
“Sir, next time we are going to need you to just bring in your engine.”
Anyhoo, after the naughty words, I ask to talk to a supervisor. I am on hold for about an half of an hour, intermittently talking to this snooty girl in Utah with a 4th grade education. She tells me repeatedly that I will never see any of this stuff again. I finally get through to a supervisor (7th grade education) named Ryan. This guy talked at a mile-a-minute and had a dirty New York accent (think the Bronx version of Speedy Gonzalez). He said “LikeIsaid” preceding every 3rd statement.
I hate him immediately.
Actually, the first time I talked to him, he told me that when they received my PC and peripherals, they would just ship back the peripherals. Or, if they had already thrown them away, he would send me new stuff.
After hearing the warnings from the gal I talked to before, I was very happy to hear this, and I thanked him and let him go.
I called back about 3 days later to check the progress of the fixing of my computer. I asked to talk to the same guy, and he informed me that my peripherals were never received, and therefore he couldn’t help me. I went back to steaming mad. Why would they say this? I know I sent them, and it was basically my word against whomever unpacked my box (whom he emailed). He was taking their side. I couldn’t believe it. What ever happened to the “customer is always right?” My guess is that he or someone else threw them out and they just didn’t want to get in trouble.
I stayed on the phone with him for about 30 minutes, where I tried to convince him that I sent in my peripherals and he should replace them since they were lost somehow. He contended that I never sent them in, and I was SOL. It was the most frustrated I have ever been and I was shaking with rage at the end of the conversation when he hung up with me. The worst part was, I couldn’t talk to his boss, and “he didn’t know how to file a complaint”.
After this episode, I called sales at gateway. I finally talked to someone helpful, and she tried to help me. Unfortunately, the direct sales from Gateway, and the retail refurbished gateway people are two totally different places and ultimately always got directed back to that original call center which would lead me back to said doushbag.
I decided to give this call center one more shot, and I called them and asked to talk to “a supervisor that wasn’t Ryan”. When I talked to this guy, I laid out my sob story, and told him that if I wasn’t satisfied then I would “talk to corporate”. That was a total stab in the dark, but was apparently what these guys needed to hear to snap into action. He told me that he would replace the wireless mouse and keyboard, but he couldn’t order anything else (BS). I told him that I needed everything replaced, but he asked if he could have some more time to rustle up the other stuff. I told him I would call him back on Friday. This happened on Tuesday. This same day, my “fixed” computer came back sans peripherals. Luckily I had a working mouse. I plugged in the PC, and tested to see if it would freeze.
It froze.
Is there no end to this? Given all of the crap I went through, I think the least they could have done was to fix the very thing that I sent it in for.
At every level they displayed incompetence. The managers can’t replace stuff, the unpacking guys throw stuff out instead of keeping it with the tower, and the techs cannot fix the computer. Poor customer service and a lack of communication abounds. The whole outfit should be swallowed by the earth.
So here I am with an unfixed computer tower, no peripherals, and plenty of fiery rage.
I am glad I made my next call to Tigerdirect, the place where I bought it. I was skeptical that they would go for it, but I told them my story, and they allowed me to take it back for a full refund, without all of the peripherals.
The happy ending to this story is that I bought a Dell and got a good deal and Gateway can go to hell. In fact, Gateway went to the top of my list of products to boycott along with Cingular, Hitachi, and Orville Redenbacher popcorn**.
**UPDATE** today I received 2 wireless mice, 2 wireless keyboards, and 1 receiver. What a bunch of idiots. I bet I get Ryan’s sandwich next.
*It was a “media center” PC and came with a TV tuner and remote that would have allowed me to record TV from the comfort of my own fat hiney, among other stuff.
** This man was a murderous blood-thirsty pirate, who later founded a popcorn company when he wanted to escape the pirate life. More on this later.
