In early December I decided to do my Christmas shopping for my wife–so as is a tradition with me I got on-line and got it done in 20 minutes. I decided to purchase my wife an IPOD Nano. Sure, I could have paid full price at our local Best Buy, but I’m somewhat a cheapskate so I decided to see if I could get a good deal.
I went to pricegrabber.com and typed in IPOD Nano and sure enough I see a number of good prices. Now, I’m not exactly sure of the protocol but IPODs have different generations. They’re at the 4th or 5th generation, so for those places that have a 3rd generation Nano, they’re screwed. There’s nothing wrong with a 3rd generation…it just doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles that a 4th or 5th may have. Hell, my wife just wants to listen to music…
I saw a 4 GIG 3rd generation IPOD Nano for $79.90…now, that’s a deal. I did all of the investigation and decided to pay for it. I used my Paypal account to pay for it (BIG mistake–soon to be explained).
I get the Nano in a few days and noticed that it was a ‘Refurbished’ Nano. I immediately called the company and they said sales are final. I told them that they did not state that the item was Refurbished…I wouldn’t have bought it. Still, the sales representation (apparently from Pakistan) wouldn’t budge. Apparently through Pricegrabber there’s a middle man who does it. So I contact him…nothing.
I filed a complaint with Paypal basically asking for my money back and I’d ship the product back. Within minutes I get a response (from Brian) who indicated that he couldn’t do that, but that he would reimburse me 1/2 of my money for my inconvenience. OK, a reburished 4 gig 3rd generation nano for $39.00? DEAL!
I responded back on the Paypal complaint form that I would accept his offer. He indicated he would reimburse my Paypal account within a few days.
A week passes, nothing. I sent him an email and he indicated he had forgotten so he’ll get it done within a few days.
Another week…nothing.
I escalated the complaint with Paypal but since I did receive a product they couldn’t do anything about it.
So, basically, I’m screwed.
Now, I don’t like getting screwed. Had I paid with a credit card I could have had better luck…not with using Paypal.
I’m a firm believer in not getting mad…getting even.
So here is what I’ve done.
I first found out that the HEDIR has the capability of registering people and prohibiting them from posting. So I registered Brian for the HEDIR. Henceforth he’s going to get all HEDIR messages. But wait…it’ll get better…I’ve reconfigured the HEDIR so that all error messages from the HEDIR will now go to Brian. There are about 1600 people on the HEDIR…anytime you send a message there’s a good chance that about 100 won’t receive it (due to some temporary technically). Each time an email is processed to send to the ‘owner’–me, informing me of that.
In the past I created a dummy email to direct these…imagine getting 100 error messages on days in which we have 10-15 messages?
So effectively immediately, Brian is now getting all error messages sent from the HEDIR. I hope he chokes on it!
So, how was your Christmas?
Kelly House
rodneybbowden
donchaney
bethchaney
billcissell
karllarson
Jody Early
Joan Cowdery
Hilarious, Mark! I stopped using Paypal a long time ago because of similar issues. You'll have to teach me how to direct dummy email to someone. There's some executives I know that need an extra 100 emails a day..
Mark,
You are giving female dogs a bad name. My Chihuahua is not too happy with you at this time.
You should get lots of reactions to this blog. Given all the unsubscribe messages to HEDIR everytime a controversial topic is discussed, lots of people hate getting extra email messages.
BTW, I am surprised you did not tag this blog as mental-emotional health therapy.
Jody,
You wouldn't really direct dummy emails to anyone, would you? If so, I will try to always stay in your good graces.
Mark… Must say that is the best payback sceme I have heard of forever. I am still laughing here in my office. The pros and cons to technology… And the effectiveness of word of mouth… Pricegrabber and paypal are now infamous (in lowly health education circles anyway).
Mark, What ever happened to turn the other cheek? or letting karma do its thing? I understand your frustration. However, I've never had a problem with Paypal and when I once or twice did, the dispute process worked. There will always be cheats and scoundrels but most internet transactions are smooth and time saving. Sorry to hear about your experience.
Sorry Mark, The guy has already adjusted his spam filter to auto delete your messages.
Never to you, Bill! But this was too clever not to consider saving for a few "choice" individuals!